The Iowa Hawkeyes pride themselves on having a stingy defensive front. Through the first five games, they played solid football, but they weren’t up to their own standard. At least not according to defensive lineman Aaron Graves.
Through the first five games, Iowa had registered just three total sacks. That all changed against Purdue. Iowa tripled their season total to nine by getting to the quarterback six times against the Boilermakers.
One of those sacks was from Aaron Graves who was asked about the Hawkeyes’ performance.
“We held a defensive line unit meeting on Friday before we left the hotel, and we just talked about how we have been playing super stuck up, tight and stressed about messing up our jobs. We said we’re going to go out there, have fun, and play together as a unit. I can speak for everyone on the line and say that we had more fun today than we had in any of the other games,” Graves said about the breakthrough performance by the defensive line.
Graves isn’t the only Hawkeye getting home. Deontae Craig, Logan Lee, and Joe Evans each have two sacks. Max Llewellyn, Nick Jackson, and Graves have all tallied one sack.
When Iowa kicks things off against the Wisconsin Badgers this upcoming weekend, the defensive line is going to be one of the most important units in this game. They need to be able to slow down Wisconsin’s strong ground attack and be able to pin their ears back in passing situations.
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