After preparing as if 2024 was ‘my last season,’ Iowa’s Logan Jones embraces another year of developing

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — As Logan Jones went through the 2024 regular season, it looked like he was on the precipice of several “lasts” as a Hawkeye.

His last time carrying the Heartland Trophy (alongside fellow offensive lineman Mason Richman toward the southwest tunnel) in early November. Later in the month, his last game at Kinnick. The list goes on.

“Going into the season, I was treating it as it was my last season,” Jones said.

But any farewells to Jones — Iowa’s starting center for the last three seasons — would be premature after the Council Bluffs native announced plans earlier this month to return for a sixth season in 2025 rather than pursue NFL opportunities.

The first-team all-Big Ten honoree’s decision to stay in 2025 marks a clear vote of confidence in head coach Kirk Ferentz and offensive line coach George Barnett.

“Any time you get another opportunity to represent this university and play for Coach Ferentz and Coach Barnett — two guys that I have a lot of respect for — I’m not going to pass that up,” Jones said last week in his first media availability since making the decision to stay.

Ferentz and Barnett have “done a great job with developing O-linemen,” Jones said.

“That’s what I need is one more year so that I can play a lot longer in the NFL,” Jones said. “I think that’s going to help me out a lot.”

To Jones’ point, 19 offensive linemen have been drafted since the Kirk Ferentz era began in 1999. The offensive line had experienced down years in 2022 and 2023, but 2024 was a notable rebound as the Hawkeyes were semifinalists for the Joe Moore Award.

That most recently includes Tyler Linderbaum, who was the top center drafted in the 2022 draft and starts on the Baltimore Ravens. Tackle Tristan Wirfs also was a first-round pick in the 2020 draft.

“We’ve seen like Lindy, Wirfs, (Brandon) Scherff, you’ve got all these guys, James Daniels, playing in the league for so long,” Jones said. “If you want to play offensive line at a high level, you come here.”

A sixth season of college football did not seem to be on the radar for the 23-year-old Jones — “didn’t really think about it much,” he said — until Barnett and Ferentz brought it up this year.

“I didn’t know what I was going to do,” Jones said. “You have an opportunity to go play in the NFL. That’s something you dream of. But also playing here is also something you dream about, too. So I was literally right in the middle of everything I wanted to do.”

Barnett and Jones met during Iowa’s second bye week — after the UCLA loss and before the Maryland and Nebraska wins. Jones had some other things to worry about, though, with the season still ongoing.

“We had two more games — big games, too, in Maryland and Nebraska — so I knew I needed to lock in and focus on that,” Jones said. “And then after that, I can relax a little bit, think about things, talk to the coaches, talk to my family and figure things out from there.”

Jones has been a team captain for much of the last month of the season, replacing quarterback Cade McNamara. He appears to be a front-runner to be a captain again in 2024, and his leadership will be especially important on the Hawkeyes’ 2025 offensive line.

The offensive line that Jones will lead is “going to be a lot different” from the line that he has worked with for the last three years — a line that had not changed much from a personnel standpoint from 2022-24.

Iowa is expected to lose starters Mason Richman and Connor Colby via graduation along with key rotational players like Tyler Elsbury and Nick DeJong. That leaves Iowa with Jones, Beau Stephens and Gennings Dunker as the three returning starters, and the rest of the position group will have little in-game experience (barring any transfer portal additions).

“All these guys have a great opportunity this spring to get better,” Jones said. “They have a chance to play on Saturdays next fall. … I’m really excited for them. They’re going to do a great job.”

As the next generation of offensive linemen experience many “firsts” in their Hawkeye careers in 2025, the Hawkeyes’ center will be going through many “lasts.” For real, this time.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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