5 Iowa football players who showed improvement in 2023 season opener

IOWA CITY — Iowa football’s 24-14 win over Utah State, of course, is a small sample size when looking at an entire season.

Assuming Iowa goes to a bowl game, Saturday’s game will make up one-thirteenth of the Hawkeyes’ results in 2023. If Iowa wins the Big Ten West, it will make up one-fourteenth of the season’s results.

That being said, the season opener did offer a glimpse at some of the athletes who made significant strides in the last nine-plus months.

Here are five players who showed improvement between last season and Saturday’s season opener:

LB Jay Higgins

Higgins had a new role to start the 2023 season — the team’s starting middle linebacker — after playing mostly at weakside linebacker in 2022.

The new role came with a new level of production.

Higgins had a career-high 16 tackles, which were more than the two next-best Hawkeyes combined.

He had more tackles in the first game of 2023 than he did in all of Iowa’s November and December games last year combined.

“He is a guy that even though, quote, unquote, wasn't a starter last year, we've always considered Jay to be a starter,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. “He is a strong leader. Just a tremendous young guy. Totally committed. … We're counting on him.”

WR Kaden Wetjen

Wetjen did not see any game action in 2022 after transferring from Iowa Western Community College.

One game into the 2023 season, and the Williamsburg native is already making an impact.

The wide receiver picked up 22 yards on three carries via end-around/jet-sweep routes, including a 14-yard gain on Iowa’s second touchdown drive.

“Last spring we started to see him come alive, and he had a really good August,” Ferentz said. “I think he is going to be a guy that's going to be able to play a role for us. It's a credit to him. He just stayed focused, and he has really worked hard.”

DB Xavier Nwankpa

Nwankpa, the former five-star recruit out of Southeast Polk High School, continues to live up to the hype.

Nwankpa dove to intercept Utah State quarterback Cooper Legas in the second quarter to set up the Hawkeyes in Aggie territory. Legas targeted Nwankpa’s receivers three times, according to Pro Football Focus, but only had one completion for 10 yards.

In two career starts, he now has two interceptions. (He also returned an interception for a touchdown against Kentucky in the 2022 Music City Bowl.)

Whether it is an improvement from last year or simply a capitalization of the opportunity since Kaevon Merriweather began his NFL Draft prep last December, the sophomore’s recent results are an encouraging sign for Iowa’s secondary.

P Tory Taylor

The bar is high for a preseason first-team All-American to be on a list of improved Hawkeyes, but Taylor surpassed it with Saturday’s punting performance.

Taylor officially averaged 48.7 yards per punt on six punts. (The tipped punt officially counts as a “team” punt, but even when including it, Taylor’s average would have been 47 yards.) Three of the six punts landed inside the Utah State 20-yard line, and Utah State only returned two of his punts.

Last year, Taylor averaged 45.4 yards per punt and had 38 punts inside the 20 versus 11 touchbacks.

An average of 48.7 yards per punt would have been second-best in FBS last season (closely following Michigan State punter Bryce Baringer’s 49 yards per punt).

RT Gennings Dunker

The offensive line was certainly not perfect against Utah State, as run blocking remains a work in progress. Iowa’s pass protection was respectable, though.

Cade McNamara had 2.79 seconds to throw on average against the Aggies, per PFF. To put that in perspective, Michigan’s nationally acclaimed offensive line gave McNamara 2.50 seconds to throw on average in 2021.

While the pass protection success is reflective of the entire offensive line, Dunker’s progression is especially noteworthy.

Dunker took a career-high 59 offensive snaps Saturday, and it was his first college game at right tackle.

Should Dunker’s progression continue, it would shore up a position that experienced adversity in the previous two seasons.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com