After up-and-down 2024, Iowa’s cornerbacks have more confidence ahead of 2025 season

IOWA CITY — Iowa’s defensive backs and wide receivers enjoy giving each other a hard time in practice.

“We talk a lot of crap on the daily,” Iowa cornerback Deshaun Lee said. “It’s just a great feeling to be able to do that because you know you’re making them better, and they’re making you better at the same time. Because you can’t talk crap and go out there and lose the rep.”

As for how much chirping the Iowa cornerbacks can do in games, some who experienced highs and lows in 2024 now have newfound confidence ahead of the 2025 college football season.

“My confidence is way higher than what it used to be,” Lee said. “I’m really ready to make more plays, man, and play more aggressive instead of more timid.”

Asked where he has grown the most since the fall, fellow cornerback T.J. Hall took little time to point to the top of his head and similarly listed “confidence, focus, discipline, play recognition.”

“Never get down on yourself,” Hall said. “There’s going to be some bad moments. There’s going to be some good moments, but really just stay levelheaded. Never get too ahead of yourself and never get too down.”

Any offseason strides by either of the aforementioned cornerback will be welcome news in Iowa City as the Hawkeyes enter 2025 with a secondary that lost an abundance of experience. Cornerback Jermari Harris and safeties Sebastian Castro and Quinn Schulte all exhausted their eligibility in 2024.

Harris was Iowa’s most efficient cornerback in 2024, allowing receptions on only 16 of 37 targets (43.2 percent) in 10 games, per Pro Football Focus. (That’s a lower percentage than former Hawkeyes Cooper DeJean and Riley Moss posted when they were named the Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year in 2023 and 2021, respectively.)

“The biggest thing I took away from J-Mar was his preparation,” Lee said. “He prepared very well, so it was no surprise by the things he did on the field. … That’s one thing he told me that’s a really big factor when it comes to DB.”

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Hall similarly learned from Harris to “take care of the daily discipline.”

“Do your daily disciplines, your daily habits,” Hall said. “Stick to your routine.”

Hall allowed receptions on 18 of 34 targets (52.9 percent), according to Pro Football Focus. Lee, meanwhile, gave up receptions on 33 of 47 targets (70.2 percent).

Both cornerbacks had some highlights in 2024, along with some areas for improvement.

Hall, for example, did not allow any receptions on five targets in the 2024 season opener against Illinois State, according to PFF. Then he allowed five receptions on six targets in Week 2 against Iowa State, and Troy burned him for a 63-yard touchdown in Week 3. He later had impressive performances in Iowa’s wins against Washington and Maryland.

Lee caught his first career interception in Iowa’s blowout win over Wisconsin, and he allowed only one reception for eight yards on four targets in Iowa’s win over Maryland. But in between those wins, he gave up five receptions on five targets in Iowa’s loss to UCLA.

Hall and Lee — a senior and junior, respectively — were Iowa’s two first-team cornerbacks on the pre-spring depth chart. The Hawkeyes’ alternatives at the position are much younger.

The second-teamers in the spring were Jaylen Watson and Rashad Godfrey Jr. — both second-year players. Watson appeared in 10 games in his first season on campus, with most of his opportunities coming on special teams.

Looking ahead to the 2025 season, Hall appears to be at least close to the lead in one thing — in-practice chirping among the defensive backs.

“I’m going to have to give that one to either Koen (Entringer) or T.J.,” Lee said. “They be giving the receivers a hard time, man.”

Hall, Lee and Co. have another two-plus months before seeing whether their expanded confidence leads to expanding in-game chirping opportunities.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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