Iowa football gains ‘needed depth’ at cornerback, safety with spring transfer portal additions

CEDAR RAPIDS — Iowa football’s 2025 spring transfer portal shopping appears to be over.

“We’re probably not in the market at this point for any more transfers,” said Seth Wallace, Iowa’s assistant head coach and linebackers coach, at a Linn County I-Club event Thursday night. “So probably what you see on our roster is what we’re going to work with.”

As for the Hawkeyes’ two spring additions on defensive side of the ball — South Dakota transfer Shahid Barros and Purdue transfer Ty Hudkins — Wallace expects the defensive backs to “provide us with needed depth at the corner position and safety position.”

“They’re both eager learners,” Wallace told reporters after the event at Big Grove Brewery’s Cedar Rapids location. “They want to get into the mix, so in return, they’ve done the legwork on their end since they committed to us to try to get caught up to speed. And then when they get there that first Monday in June, we’re just going to try to keep pushing forward.”

The two incoming defensive backs are in different positions, literally and figuratively. Barros is a cornerback, whereas Hudkins is a safety. Barros also is a college football veteran with one year of eligibility remaining, whereas Hudkins has just gotten his feet wet and has three years of eligibility remaining.

Barros joins the Hawkeyes after four seasons at South Dakota, where he appeared in 36 games (and started 23 games over the last two years). He allowed receptions on 32 of 50 targets in 2024, according to Pro Football Focus.

Wallace values not only what Barros has done at the college level, but where he has done it.

“The first thing that he brings is the obvious depth piece, but more so than that, he’s bringing experience within our system,” Wallace said.

South Dakota’s 2024 staff included Hawkeye alum Miles Taylor as the co-defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach and Steve Ferentz as the outside linebackers coach. Elijah Hodge, the younger brother of Iowa tight ends coach Abdul Hodge, was the inside linebackers coach. Nathan Nelson — an Iowa alum and brother of former Hawkeye standout Anthony Nelson — was (and still is) the defensive line coach.

“What they were doing defensively is a carbon copy of what we do,” Wallace said. “We’ve met with their staff multiple times over the last four or five years. … So Shahid — he knows our terminology. He knows the technique and fundamentals that are coached with it. He’s got just immediate familiarity with what we do defensively.”

Wallace anticipates there being “five guys there” in the mix at cornerback while also being “obviously hopeful” about this year’s freshmen. T.J. Hall and Deshaun Lee have starting experience at Iowa (and were the first-teamers on the pre-spring depth chart).

Then there’s Rashad Godfrey, Jaylen Watson and now Barros competing for opportunities. Godfrey and Watson — both coming off their true freshman seasons — each had a “real good spring,” Wallace said.

Hudkins, meanwhile, joins the Hawkeyes after appearing in all 12 games for the Boilermakers as a true freshman. The bulk of the former three-star recruit’s opportunities — 145 of his 154 snaps, per PFF — came on special teams. His two games with limited defensive snaps were Purdue’s 49-0 win over Indiana State and 66-0 loss to No. 10 Indiana.

“Not as much experience although being in college football for a year — it kind of takes the edge off in some ways,” Wallace said. “Ty’s going to come in, and he’s going to be a piece. The one thing he has done is he played special teams at Purdue, and he is a very mature kid.”

Wallace specifically noted Hudkins’ background as the son of a high school football coach ahead of the Grand Rapids, Mich., native’s official arrival as a Hawkeye in early June.

“So there’s a lot of things that we look for, a lot of parallels that we’ve got amongst our team that should give him a head start,” Wallace said. “It’s just a matter of trying to get all the tutoring in that needs to be going on right now.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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