5 Iowa football players who showed improvement in Week 1 win over Illinois State

IOWA CITY — Someone judging Iowa football’s first half against Illinois State would probably come to some much different conclusions than someone judging the second half.

“The second half is a better indicator of the kind of the team that we are and what we're capable of,” acting head coach Seth Wallace said after the game. “We have a lot to clean up. We certainly do.”

Amid the ups and downs of each half in Iowa’s season opener — the six-point first half and the 34-point offensive clinic in the second half — some Hawkeyes showed significant strides since last season.

Week 1 results come with the obvious caveat that Illinois State is a far cry from the competition Iowa will face in this week against Iowa State and throughout Big Ten play. It also represents a small sample size — about 8 percent of the regular season.

That being said, here are five of the Iowa players who showed improvement in the first game of the 2024 season:

QB Cade McNamara

Hawkeye fans saw a different version of Cade McNamara in the second half against Illinois State than they have since he transferred from Michigan to Iowa in late 2022.

The sixth-year senior went 13-of-14 for 177 yards and three touchdowns in the second half.

It was a stark contrast from his 2023 season, when he completed 51.1 percent of his passes while throwing four touchdowns and three interceptions before suffering his Week 5 knee injury. (His preseason quad injury surely did not help matters in those five games.)

It also was a stark contrast from the first half of the Illinois State game, when he went 8-of-17 for 74 yards.

The more that Iowa sees the second-half version of McNamara, the higher the ceiling will be for the 2024 Hawkeyes.

DL Aaron Graves

Aaron Graves is tied for the FBS lead after recording three sacks in his first career start on Saturday.

The third-year defensive lineman also would have had a fumble recovery, had it not been for a defensive holding penalty on Jay Higgins that negated the turnover.

Graves accomplished all of that in 33 snaps, according to PFF. That translates to an extremely-efficient pace of one sack for every 11 snaps. For perspective, Joe Evans — Iowa’s sacks leader in 2023 — averaged about one sack every 76 snaps.

DL Brian Allen

Whether it be in the preseason Kids’ Day open practice or in bowl prep, defensive lineman Brian Allen seemed to increasingly put himself on coaches and teammates’ radars.

“He’s an extremely hard worker,” fellow defensive lineman Deontae Craig said of Allen during Iowa’s Citrus Bowl preparations. “He’s a sponge in the film room. He’s always asking questions, always trying to figure out little things he can do better.”

Fast-forward to Saturday’s 2024 season opener, and Allen saw the most substantial playing time of his Hawkeye career.

He was second on the team with four tackles and had one sack. He had three “defensive stops” — tackles PFF defines as a “failure” for the offense — which were tied for the most on the team with Graves.

WR Reece Vander Zee

Four months ago, Reece Vander Zee still was a high school student.

Now, he is the Hawkeyes’ leader in receiving yards through Week 1.

Vander Zee had five receptions for 66 yards and two touchdowns in his college football debut. That included a touchdown reception that seemed highly improbable as McNamara heaved a throw amid heavy pressure into a crowded part of the field.

“Some guys — that's the way they are,” Wallace said. “Desmond King, Cooper DeJean, you talk about guys that you've seen around here before that they make plays, and sometimes you're just sitting there wondering like, ‘How the hell did that happen?’”

Vander Zee became the first true freshman to have a touchdown reception in the season opener since Dominique Douglas did so in 2006. He also became the first true freshman wide receiver to record multiple touchdowns in a game since Ihmir Smith-Marsette did so in 2017.

“We knew he was going to be a special player,” linebacker Jay Higgins said after the game. “I was not ready to do that my freshman year, so I’m really excited the see the player he’ll actually become.”

K Drew Stevens

Especially for a kicker, one game is a small sample size.

But Drew Stevens’ 2-for-2 day against Illinois State was a welcomed sight for the Hawkeyes — he made attempts from 41 and 28 yards, respectively — after a shaky end to the 2023 season.

Stevens was 1-of-4 on field goals in his last two regular season games, and he was benched in the second half of the Nebraska game in favor of walk-on Marshall Meeder. Stevens did not have any opportunities for redemption in Iowa’s shutout losses to Michigan in the Big Ten title game and Tennessee in the Citrus Bowl.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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