Iowa Hawkeyes among 247Sports’ top breakout candidate teams
The buzz around Iowa football is legit, and it’s not for the reasons you think.
Typically when you get excited about Iowa football, you primarily have your eyes on the fantastic defense. The Phil Parker-led unit has been one of the best in the nation in recent years, keeping Iowa a force in the Big Ten despite some lackluster production from the offense.
It is actually the potential of the offense—of course in tandem with the expectation that the Hawkeye defense will be great as usual—that has 247Sports’ Raymond Lucas Jr. pegging Iowa as a potential breakout team in 2023.
Iowa is a contender in the Big Ten and it’s not purely due to dominant defense. There are capable weapons on the offensive side of the ball largely because of the transfer portal. The Hawkeyes added quarterback Cade McNamara (Michigan), tight end Erick All (Michigan), and receiver Kaleb Brown (Ohio State). Iowa’s potential boils down to offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz, who has caught heavy criticism as of late and must silence the noise in order to have a successful season. – Lucas Jr., 247Sports.
I think this is notable just solely based on the fact that the excitement for Iowa’s weapons has extended further than just the local fanbase. Sure, the local crowd will always have hope for the players on their team to break out.
Last year everyone went into the season with the idea that Spencer Petras had made great improvements over the offseason and that the offensive line would actually be better despite losing consensus All-American and Rimington Trophy winner Tyler Linderbaum.
This is what we do as fans. We always have those special fan goggles on before the season. When we see some folks outside the fanbase start to notice, though, that should definitely mean something. When there’s smoke, there’s bound to be fire. Trust me, my New Jersey skyline is literally covered in a thick layer of smoke due to the multitude of wildfires in the Northeast.
Right now, there is some serious smoke around the college football world about the potential of this Iowa team.
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