After one of the great defensive seasons in Iowa history, the Hawkeyes have undergone some retooling across the board.
Gone is starting defensive end John Waggoner. Cornerback Riley Moss and safety Kaevon Merriweather are off to NFL careers, too.
Then, there’s linebacker where the Hawkeyes might be feeling the biggest departures of them all. Of course, Iowa boasted the Butkus Award winner in linebacker Jack Campbell last season. But, the Hawkeyes also had very-steady longtime starter Seth Benson in that position group as well.
Between the two, Iowa is replacing 62 career starts and 563 tackles.
The Hawkeyes had senior Jay Higgins in house as one of the likely candidates to step in and replace one of the pair. Higgins started the Wisconsin game last season as Iowa’s Leo backer and has tallied 46 tackles across 31 games played in his Hawkeye career.
The 6-foot-2, 233 pound linebacker was a natural to step into one of Iowa’s starting backer positions and has done so at middle linebacker. But, the Hawkeyes needed more help after Jestin Jacobs bolted for Oregon.
So, the Iowa staff got busy on the trail and lured two-time, second-team All-ACC linebacker Nick Jackson to Iowa City out of the transfer portal. The former Virginia Cavalier has three consecutive seasons to his credit with 100-plus tackles.
Though he missed the spring, Jackson has picked up what he’s needed to quickly and locked down the Hawkeyes’ starting weak side linebacker job.
“Pretty much like what we had hoped for. He’s just a really mature guy, operates at a high level. He’s playing catch-up, and there’s a lot of communication that goes on. Looks like we don’t do a lot on defense, but there’s a lot of communication, a lot of intricate little things, and the linebackers are the switchboards for that, so he’s really been playing catch-up on that since he wasn’t here last spring.
“But he works at it. He’s got a lot of pride, and he’s an intelligence guy, so he really works at it. I think he’s getting it down, and he’s versatile, too. He can play both positions, inside, middle linebacker and Will. I think he’s everything we hoped for and he’s also assumed a leadership role on top of that,” Ferentz said.
The 6-foot, 237 pound graduate transfer linebacker brings a wealth of experience into a position that lost so much. Over the course of his career with the Cavs, Jackson started 33 games and played in 46.
Now, he will star alongside Higgins.
Iowa’s starting Leo backer in its initial depth chart was senior Kyler Fisher. Fisher is also listed as Jackson’s backup, while sophomore Jaden Harrell is slotted as the backup to Higgins.
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