Iowa football veterans embracing leadership roles during summer workouts – The Daily Iowan

As the rain and howling wind beat down on the Hansen Football Performance Center just steps away from Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Hawkeye football players and local media gathered in the lobby of the facility on Wednesday, June 17, to discuss recent happenings in the program.
While Iowa is not holding any padded practices or installing any new plays and schemes, the players have been grinding behind the scenes in the weight room.
“Just trying to improve our individual things right now,” junior offensive lineman Trevor Lauck said. “Getting stronger, faster, stuff like that. The team’s chemistry is building, so that’s been really good. The energy is high and the season’s right around the corner, so [we] just got to keep getting better.”
The Hawkeyes are coming off a 9-4 season in 2025, capped by a 34-27 win over No. 14 Vanderbilt in the ReliaQuest Bowl on New Year’s Eve. Last season’s campaign was full of historical feats for Iowa, including head coach Kirk Ferentz becoming the all-time winningest Big Ten coach after a 47-7 win over UMass on Sep. 13.
Quarterback Mark Gronowski set a near-70-year-old program record for the most rushing yards by a quarterback in a single season with 491. He also scored at least one rushing touchdown in 12 games in 2025, the most ever by a Big Ten quarterback.
After just one season of Gronowski under center, Iowa will have to choose between two quarterbacks who spent most of last season on the bench. While both Jeremy Hecklinski and Hank Brown had limited time on the field in 2025, the Hawkeyes will have faith in whoever wins the job.
“Whoever’s back there, I have confidence in them,” Lauck said. “They’re kind of going back and forth, so at the end of the day, I’m confident in whoever’s going to be back there.”
While the offense seems to present some intriguing uncertainty, Iowa’s most consistent group, the defense, also has many questions approaching the 2026 season.
All but one starter in the defensive line and linebacker rooms departed after last season for the Hawkeyes, meaning the Iowa coaching staff needed to dig into their depth and attack the position in the transfer portal.
One portal pickup who looks to make an immediate impact is defensive end Kahmari Brown, who became the first player in Elon’s program history to reach double-digit sacks in a season with 12 in 2025.
Brown also collected 16 tackles for loss as part of a tackle total of 66. He also forced three fumbles last season and knocked down one pass. While Brown has only known his teammates for less than six months, he believes that summer workouts will help him gel with the team.
“We’re together a lot inside the facility, but even when we’re outside the facility, I would say that we’re together quite a bit,” Brown said. “Even though it’s not mandatory to be around each other, we do activities. A lot of them golf, trying to get me into that. Just bonding.”
For returning defensive players like cornerbacks Jaylen Watson and Deshaun Lee, having new faces around the facility allows them to take younger players under their wings and improve their leadership.
Watson said he’s trying to carry on the same role that players like Xavier Nwankpa and TJ Hall served for him as a young player in the Hawkeye program.
“We always spend extra time with each other, just watching film, or going over footwork and technique stuff,” Watson said about his role with the young defensive backs. “I’m definitely trying to be that role model for them, like how TJ [Hall] and [Xavier Nwankpa] and everybody was for me.”

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