KIRK FERENTZ AND THE SEASON OF 2025
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KIRK FERENTZ AND THE 2025 SEASON
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A new era? Not exactly. But Iowa football has turned the page to something different in 2025
Des Moines Register
Aug. 27, 2025, 6:01 a.m. CT
IOWA CITY — For a head coach entering his 27th season at the helm of a program, it’s not easy for something to feel like a new era.
Kirk Ferentz’s tenure with Iowa football stretches far and wide, marking an improbable run of stability among an evolving college landscape. All three coordinators are back from last season. Almost all of the Hawkeyes’ position coaches returned. The only exception is running backs coach Ladell Betts, who left to join the New York Giants and was replaced by Omar Young.
So calling the 2025 season a new era for Iowa would be an exaggeration.
But it does feel pretty close.
Eleven of Iowa’s 22 starters (offense and defense) for the 2024 season-opener are no longer with the program. That includes seven of 11 on defense. Not to mention Kaleb Johnson, who did not start the season opener but went on to have one of the best seasons of any running back in Iowa history.
Hawkeye staples across multiple seasons are gone: Jay Higgins, Nick Jackson, Sebastian Castro, Connor Colby, Mason Richman, Luke Lachey and more.
Less established players are now set to take on larger roles, along with newcomers who will make their Hawkeye debuts: Koen Entringer, Mark Gronowski, Zach Lutmer, Jaden Harrell, Karson Sharar, Bryce Hawthorne and others.
That dynamic ushers in some excitement, intrigue and a sense of the unknown.
The new-look Hawkeyes will debut against UAlbany on Aug. 30.
“This team is really interesting in that we’ve lost a lot of really good players the last couple years, got a lot of new faces,” Ferentz said. “Last year, Kaleb Johnson just grabbed that running back role in a short time. I’m not sure that’s going to happen this year, but who’s going to do what when the door does open, when opportunity is there.”More: Leistikow: Mark Gronowski has the green light to run and 4 other Iowa football thoughts
From a personnel standpoint, there was a sense of familiarity at this time last year. The Hawkeyes’ roster-building efforts ahead of the 2024 season featured the mass return of key players who could’ve moved on with their careers. Even with Iowa’s offense being dramatically different schematically under offensive coordinator Tim Lester, the players themselves were not all that dissimilar.
But now those players who extended their Hawkeye careers by one season have departed, creating an opportunity for others to ascend and opening the door for Iowa to be more active in the transfer portal.
Iowa’s backfield is no longer headlined by Johnson. Gronowski and receiver Sam Phillips, two of the transfer portal additions, are set to make their Iowa debuts vs. UAlbany. Offensive linemen Kade Pieper and Trevor Lauck are expected to make their first starts at the college level.
“Mentally, they’re going to crap themselves first play, probably first drive,” said Beau Stephens, one of three veteran starting offensive linemen to go along with that less experienced pair. “It’s not going to be pretty at first, but once they settle in, they’ll find a rhythm and it should be just like practice. That’s something you’ve got to learn whenever you’re first going in. It doesn’t feel like practice, but it’s just like practice and you’ve got to make it like that.”More: What Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz said before Hawkeyes face UAlbany in season opener
The personnel changes on Iowa’s defense are even more drastic than on the offense.
Max Llewellyn, Bryce Hawthorne, Jaden Harrell, Karson Sharar, Koen Entringer and Zach Lutmer are all listed on the depth chart as first-teamers ahead of the Week 1 matchup with the Great Danes.
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Those six have combined for a total of one start in an Iowa uniform.
Entringer is the lone Hawkeye out of that group to start a game, doing so in place of the injured Castro against Michigan State last season. Even someone like Llewellyn, who had been featured in a reserve role, is now taking on more responsibilities.
“We have a lot of guys that, like you said, haven’t started or haven’t had quite as much playing time in the past years or last year,” defensive lineman Aaron Graves said. “But I think with that comes guys that are really hungry and ready to step into their role. So I’m really excited to see that on Saturday, too. Just guys making big splash plays. If (Sebastian) Castro was making a big hit last year, seeing Koen (Entringer) come down and lay a big hit on somebody. I’m really excited for new guys stepping into that role who maybe haven’t in the past.”
There isn’t a whole lot of certainty about this roster other than the fact that it’s not going to look like last season. To a certain extent, the 2024 season felt like a continuation of the 2023 season. But now, it feels like the page has been turned to something new.
How is this all going to come together? That’s a great question.
We’ll get an early glimpse this weekend.
“We really don’t know at certain positions what our depth is,” Ferentz said. “I think that could go as much as a couple weeks here before we really kind of settle into who’s who and what’s what. Some of the names are in permanent ink, a lot of them are in pencil.”
Follow Tyler Tachman on X@Tyler_T15, contact via email at ttachman@gannett.com
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