ESPN highlights Iowa football's top transfer portal add for 2026
Iowa played in the portal this year and swung big on an offensive skill player, running back L.J. Phillips.
hawkeyeswire.usatoday.com
Good article on Iowa’s RB room and LJ Phillips
- Thread starter JerseyCityHawk
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Can't wait to see him and Moulton. Hope our OL gels quickly.
My biggest concern is not the running backs, as I think at least one will emerge, but the O-line has only two returning starters, and one has a brand newposition to learn. It just seems as though our best years usually come with a veteran offensive line. So I really hope they can come together quickly, like by the start of Big 10 play.
I hear you on cohesiveness, but I think the years they’ve really struggled. It’s been breaking in new starters and the talent just not being there. The Paulsen’s, DeJong and Plumb just weren’t B10 quality linemen for example.
I think they like the talent they have, it’s just a matter of bringing them all together.
I think Iowa just reloads … they have some very promising young players coming up and a good nucleus to build around… but I do see your point.
And evidence of that would be Pieper and Lauck. They stepped in this last year and played as well as the rest of the veterans.
Iowa doesn’t just reload….We are not Ohio State or any other blue blood football program. Are we following the same team?? Lol…
Buy the positions of need. Our OL should be able to reload. TEs reloaded. RBs reloaded. QB??? Who knows. Biggest questions are on defense
This. The OL is definitely my biggest concern, with quarterback being right there.
Pieper and Lauck will certainly anchor the line. Myslinsky and L Jones will see lots of action and have played a good deal already. Time for some of the hearelded youngsters to step up... I'm looking forward to see who has made the leap.
Hahahaha oh hahaha … so funny bro … knee slapper …. Yes Iowa does reload
We have some quality depth in our OL room now, but Dunker and Stephens were big maulers. They will not be easily replaced. Hopefully our pass game will be more effective so we don’t have a loaded box all year.
Yeah, sure hope we can have more than one winning season in a row.
I think KF hiring OL coach Barnett was a big step in improving O-Line play and thus the offense. It took him a few years after Polacek's coaching. The last two years have been very good especially, and his players really like Barnett.
Amazing how we all wanted his head on a stick early on but Kirk knew something and stuck with him.
There were plenty of skeptics about our left tackle spot coming into this past season.
Lauck played great at the toughest position.
Gives me hope that now our pipeline is set with quality newcomers ready to go .
Be nice to land that guard from Mizzou,kuhn, to keep that pipeline replenished.
Lauck played great at the toughest position.
Gives me hope that now our pipeline is set with quality newcomers ready to go .
Be nice to land that guard from Mizzou,kuhn, to keep that pipeline replenished.
What about this Cannon Leonard? isn't he about six-ten and thick? where do you guys see him fitting in this year?
You are right, his name is being bantered about quite a bit at right tackle. Hopefully he's one of the young guys that steps up. Given that height I can't see him anywhere but tackle. And left tackle is going to be anchored for the next few years.
This is interesting. Can you post your source so I can read up on it.
No source, it just seems when I've read about a 6-9 or 6-10 tackle recruit I don't hear much about him later. Granted, there aren't a lot of them.
What planet do you live on???? And this is why we cannot anything nice, because we have fans who live in fantasyland?
Does anybody redshirt? McNeil and Williams are looking at the 3-4 RB slot for two more years. Will one of them leave? Hope not.
I hope not also, but we have to be realistic about where things are in life (to quote Steinbrenner). the RB job will probably be a comittee between Moulton and Phillips, and these two guys will get some carries,but both of them know that they could probably start elsewhere. I think we will be lucky to retain even one of McNeil and/or Williams. Just the new world in which we live.
does anyone redshirt anymore? Hard to imagine doing that with transfer portal madness and the promise of playing of playing time or NIL
The word a few years back was that the Reserve/Scout team OL was one of the best looking young groups they had seen in awhile.
Starting to see that come to fruition.
Starting to see that come to fruition.
Considering the new(ish) guys we’ll see on the OL in ‘26 due to graduation:
If Barnett is actually a good coach, we won’t see a noticeable drop-off this coming season. This is his test.
How did he do with Pieper and Lauck who were new last year? And friggin Joe Moore.
How about your Husker's OL coach?
appreciate that insight.
Can you maybe be more specific in which year that comment was made, and maybe to whom they were referring specifically? We do appear to have some good talent on OL, and the incoming class and ones we are recruiting look positive. (i.e. Hudson Parliment, etc.)
Rhule kept an inferior OL coach from the Frost staff because his nephew was a 5* QB. He put a recruit, later player, later player who quit, ahead of the team.
And Cornholer fans still don't see the writing on the wall. They are going to be hiring yet another head coach in a couple of years.
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And paying out the Rhuler over years. Has to be one of the dumbest extensions in college football history
Well time flies. I tried to see what older articles I could find where Barnett talked about that younger group.
And what I found was that 2022 was Barnett’s 2nd year, which was about the time I remember that comment coming out. And the guys mentioned in the 2022 article were some of the guys that just left after this year.
Along with Pieper, Lauck, and Dotzler.
So obviously they are no longer the young up and comers anymore. Pieper and Lauck have already validated those comments from 2022. Hopefully Dotzler becomes a third.
I think a lot of us may not have fully understood how big of a task Barnett inherited when he came on board. KF was steadfast that Barnett was a good coach.
Hopefully we are beyond that painful rebuilding period and it will be mostly be reloading going forward.
It will be interesting to hear what names get brought up this year, regarding the next wave.
https://www.thegazette.com/iowa-foo...was-offensive-line-competition-in-2022-works/
Agreed. I think it is hilarious that they extended his contract because he was being considered for the PSU job. Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth -if you want him you can have him!
When you lose 60% of your starting lineup to the NFL it would be illogical not to expect some drop-off. Still should be a talented, solid unit though. Opportunities for some guys to reward hard work.
Improvement also coincided with a certain OC losing his job.
I mean Lester introduced motion to the offense haha….
There is no OL that can block 9-10 man fronts and they know the play
Lester gave them a chance with motion and counters….small adjustments made a huge difference
Now let’s see what is waiting in the wings. This year will be true test if Barnett coaching.
I still have my doubts only cause of the head man