It has officially become game week and there are just six days to kickoff. Here are six bold predictions for the Hawkeyes in 2023.
It is game week. For the first time in over nine months, it is time to get ready for the Iowa Hawkeyes to strap up their helmets and play a game inside Kinnick Stadium. The buzz around this team is palpable this year and there is a sense of urgency for Iowa to perform with the immensely talented roster they have. The schedule is set up nicely, the Big Ten realignment hasn’t occurred yet, and this is Iowa’s chance to show something.
To perform at those levels and live up to their expectations, it is going to take some primetime efforts from primetime players. Each year a few select individuals step up, some units come together when it matters most, and teams find a way to win.
With the 2023 college football season just six days away for the Hawkeyes, the countdown is truly on now. As we approach kickoff, today looks into six bold predictions for the Iowa Hawkeyes in 2023.
Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson earned a signature NIL deal, signing with Powerade for their “It Takes More” campaign.
Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson has inked his first major sponsorship. The sophomore was one of five athletes announced to sign with Powerade on an NIL deal.
The sponsorship marks the sports drink brand’s largest NIL push yet in the college football world. Powerade has been a sponsor of the NCAA since 2010, with partnerships at more than 20 schools.
The Coca-Cola Company launched its first NIL campaign during this spring’s March Madness, signing contracts with 37 men’s and women’s college basketball players. This latest venture signifies the brand’s push to be “synonymous” with college football.
As the official hydration partner for many big-time programs, we want Powerade to be synonymous with college football – and there was no better way than to team up with several of the best athletes in the country for our newest campaign.
These top players embody who we are as a brand, putting in the work in hopes of getting to the next level. Given the huge reach of college football, we’re excited to tap into that network of fans and consumers to showcase that POWERADE offers more than the competition. – Tom Gargiulo, Body Armour’s chief marketing officer.
Kaleb Johnson was one of five college football stars to sign NIL deals with Powerade. He joins Florida State‘s Jared Verse, LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels, Georgia cornerback Malaki Starks, and USC wide receiver Mario Williams. The five will take part in Powerade’s “It Takes More” campaign.
According to Sports Business Journal, the first 30-second spot will air Sept. 3, with subsequent spots to follow. They will release two 30-second ads, with 15-second ones to follow focusing on the athletes and their respective school traditions. The brand is calling the campaign their largest marketing campaign in college football, with planned ads on TV, digital, radio, and social media.
Watch Johnson’s feature from Powerade below.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]
Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes, and opinions.
After a dazzling freshman campaign, Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson has been named to the Doak Walker Award Watch List.
Running the ball well is something that the Iowa Hawkeyes have long prided themselves on. Block well up front and hand it off to a strong running back to wear down defenses.
Luckily, Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson is not only strong but brings speed as well to provide the full package. The sophomore running back is looking to expand on a freshman season that saw him prove to be a catalyst for Iowa’s ground game. His expectations and talent have landed him on the Doak Walker Award Watch List ahead of the 2023 college football season.
The Doak Walker Award is handed out each year to the most outstanding running back in college football. Some of the past winners are highly-touted running backs. Last year saw Bijan Robinson of the Texas Longhorns and recent first-round NFL draft pick take home the award. Featured alongside him as finalists included two Big Ten running backs, Illinois’ Chase Brown and Michigan’s Blake Corum.
Kaleb Johnson was outstanding for Iowa in his freshman year as he set the Iowa freshman rushing record with 779 yards. Johnson averaged 5.16 yards per carry and found the endzone six times. He played a minor role in the passing game with four receptions for just 27 yards, although Iowa could look to capitalize on that this upcoming season.
Expect Johnson to get the bulk of the work this year as Iowa’s lead back as he works to top his already stellar freshman season.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]
[affiliatewidget_smgtolocal]
Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes, and opinions.
Iowa football is all about running the rock. The next piece of our positional preview series features the Hawkeyes’ running backs.
Iowa football is running the football. While the rest of the Big Ten and college football world may be demonstrating a philosophy change, Iowa’s viewpoint hasn’t wavered. They will continue to play and win the same way they have for years now. They play tough defense and they run the ball at will against you on offense.
Unfortunately, they haven’t been running the ball at will in recent years. They’ve posted some of their lowest rushing numbers over the past two seasons, and have looked outmatched at times against top defenses. Part of this is due to the offensive scheme by Ferentz, partly by the offensive line, and partly by the passing attack having no bite to it. Iowa has asked a lot out of its running game, and there’s only so much it can do given the competition that they face in the Big Ten.
There is absolutely talent in this running back room, though. In particular, Kaleb Johnson. A true freshman last year, Johnson showed star potential for the Hawkeyes. Here is a look at the running backs ahead of the 2023 season.
The Jacksonville native will participate in this NFL fellowship program, learning from Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson and his coaching staff.
Johnson joined the staff for organized team activities (OTAs), with opportunities to learn from different offensive position groups throughout his stay with the Jaguars.
What is the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship program?
The Bill Walsh Fellowship program allows minority coaches to learn and participate in an NFL setting. All 32 NFL teams participate in the program, with several active coaches receiving positions after participating. To qualify for the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship program, you can be a former NFL player or have coaching experience in high school, college, or pro football.
[lawrence-related id=27304]
Johnson’s playing and coaching career
Johnson played for seven NFL teams in four seasons from 2015-18. While at Rutgers (2011-14), Johnson was a four-year starter and played in 50 straight games for the Scarlet Knights, two seasons under current head coach Greg Schiano. Johnson was a two-time all-conference selection in 2012 and 2014. Also, he won the Iron Knight Award for exceptionally high mental and physical toughness throughout his career.
Johnson spent several seasons on the Rutgers coaching staff as an assistant strength and conditioning coach and now works at the University of Florida as a quality control offensive assistant.
What’s next for Kaleb Johnson at running back in 2023? Is he officially a star for the Hawkeyes and in the Big Ten? His snapshot profile.
The Iowa Hawkeyes will always be about running the ball. Until an entirely new set of leaders at the top of the football team and athletic department are put in, this is who the Hawks are.
The mentality has been the same: strong running to pair with stifling defense. Over the years for Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz, this mentality has worked. It would be a lot easier to rattle off the years under Ferentz in which Iowa was bad versus the opposite. By following the fundamentals of the game, this team has won a lot and will look to continue doing so.
Last year, the offense took a hit from the year prior. While all of the numbers were down in 2021, they still had a talented back in Tyler Goodson to overcome some of those issues. Last year, there was a big change. Goodson departed for the NFL, as did first-round center Tyler Linderbaum. Iowa had even more to figure out with its running game.
Early on, it looked as though the Iowa running game was going to be miserable in 2022. At times, because of the line and scheme simply not working, it was. However, a shining star in the backfield was able to overcome a lot of those issues and put the team on his back despite his young age.
Enter Kaleb Johnson.
Though just a freshman, the Hamilton, Ohio, native showed all of the potential in the world his freshman year. He could break off the big touchdown, and, when given the keys to the offense, he excelled.
He’s going to need help from the boys up front, but Johnson could be something special over the next two years in Iowa City.
How can the Hawkeyes unlock their offense in 2023? Here’s the personnel group that can help Iowa do so.
So, now that the talent will be in Iowa City, there are no more excuses. Bluntly put, it is time for the Iowa Hawkeyes’ offense to perform. The transfers of Cade McNamara, Erick All, Seth Anderson, and most recently, Kaleb Brown, have set the stage for an offense desperately searching for answers.
That’s what we are here to look at today. What is a personnel grouping that could unlock this Iowa offense in 2023? Before we get into it, I will give some foundation to where this thought process stems from and why I am comfortable laying it out.
I attended Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, just a short 45-minute trip east of Iowa City. I played four years of football there as a wide receiver. Now, life wasn’t easy for a 5-foot-9, 185-pound slot receiver that wasn’t the fastest or strongest as you could imagine. Due to that, I had to win with a high football IQ, an understanding of matchups, and quick processing of mathematical advantages (which we will get into later). For example, if a linebacker was on me, that was the time to use my best move. Or if we spread it out and it was a run play, I had to know how to handle a linebacker while giving up quite a bit of size.
Due to experience, countless hours of seeing schemes in film meetings, and studying Iowa’s offense, I believe one personnel grouping could unlock this offense. That is ’12’ personnel.
Let’s get into what ’12’ personnel means and how it could change the Hawkeyes’ offense.
A look at five Iowa Hawkeyes who can become the next stars of the Iowa football program during the 2023 college football season.
A new spring season of Hawkeyes football is upon us, folks! If you know anything about Iowa ball, they have an established pipeline to the NFL. You’ll rarely find a draft without Hawkeye representation and this year is no different.
Iowa has five candidates for the upcoming 2023 NFL draft in defensive lineman Lukas Van Ness, linebacker Jack Campbell, tight end Sam LaPorta, cornerback Riley Moss, and safety Kaevon Merriweather. Van Ness, Campbell, and LaPorta have been the talk of the NFL Draft community after their stellar NFL Combine performances.
Despite being known as a program greater than the sum of its parts, every year Iowa football manages to produce stars who go on to the NFL. That team-first mentality really aids in preparing players for the next level. Five key stars are moving on, but who will be the next breakout stars in Iowa City?
With the depth charts released for the spring season, we now have a better idea of how these players are viewed by the coaching staff. With that in mind and combined with what we already saw last year, here are five breakout candidates to keep an eye on throughout spring ball.
Rutgers football strength and conditioning assistant Kaleb Johnson is leaving the program.
Kaleb Johnson is leaving Rutgers football for a role on the Florida Gators football staff. The former Rutgers football standout offensive lineman is taking a new direction in his coaching career in a move that takes Johnson back closer to home.
A former All-Big East selection at Rutgers, Johnson was an undrafted rookie free agent who spent four years in the NFL. Following a season in the Canadian Football League (CFL), Johnson retired from football in 2019.
At Florida, he will join former Rutgers offensive lineman Darnell Stapleton. Now an offensive line assistant with the Gators, Stapleton was one of the best linemen in the history of Rutgers football. He went on to an NFL career that included a Super Bowl win with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Coming out of high school, Johnson was a three-star recruit according to Rivals. He played at Ed White High School in Jacksonville, FL.
It’s almost time for spring football in Iowa City. What are five burning questions about the Hawkeyes’ offense heading into spring football?
Slowly but surely we are escaping the pit that is the college football offseason. Full of transfers and coaching changes, the offseason can feel like a real slog to get through. This isn’t aided by the weather being bad either, just heightening our offseasonal depression.
While Iowa managed to put together a good recruiting class, it all felt overshadowed by the guy they weren’t able to bring in. While many will try to criticize Proctor’s decision calling it short sighted, mind you Alabama also routinely sends linemen to the NFL, it’s really hard for me to envision anything but success for the young man. I truly do wish him the best, unless it’s in a national championship against Iowa to which I hope he gives up four sacks.
What else was there? Oh yeah, there was the entire “will they fire him” situation with offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz. If it were up to most of the fanbase, the coach’s son would’ve been out the door a long time ago. Even before Iowa’s offense put up horrendous numbers this past season. Iowa did issue him an “ultimatum” though: bring the offense to passable levels and you sir get a raise and a pat on the back.
It still does feel like a bad dream.
It’s felt like all offseason the fanbase has received just kick in the pants after kick in the pants. I’m not sure if the same feeling of optimism is there that I noticed last year. So, how do you fix that? Well, it’s easy folks.
Win.
Winning is the remedy to literally any problem in sports. All of the down moments of the offseason will seem like little blips on the radar if Iowa football gets back to doing what they do in winning.
Of course, the biggest factor in that is the offense. Anyone who is familiar with last year’s team can tell you just how bad it is, and looking back on some of the box scores it truly is the stuff of nightmares. It cannot go on that way. No more wasting Phil Parker’s fantastic defensive efforts and no more wasting the fans’ time!
With the offense in mind, here are five questions about Brian Ferentz’s unit that should be on the minds of every single Iowa football fan.
