Iowa offensive tackle Gennings Dunker shrugs off preseason praise

IOWA CITY --- Gennings Dunker appears to have progressed from the getting-interviewed-is-fun stage of his Iowa football career of a couple years ago.

Maybe it was reading too much into things at a media session with some of the Hawkeyes’ key offensive players last Wednesday, but Dunker seemed more getting-interviewed--is-obligatory-and-I’m-more-interested-in-being-a-monster-offensive tackle.

Dunker is a senior-to-be, someone who might have been a 2025 NFL draft pick had he turned pro in the offseason. He did not, and it seems like a prudent choice. With the right kind of year with the Hawkeyes on an offensive line that could be their best in a while, this 6-foot-5, 315-pounder could go up the 2026 draft boards.

He’s got the larger-than-life physique, he has a bushy mustache and flowing and flaming red hair, and he enjoys the quips. Which means if he makes a mark on the field in the NFL, he surely will make one off it as a character the public would embrace.

Two years ago at Iowa football’s August media day, Dunker was someone with one career start who was better known for winning back-to-back Solon Beef Days hay bale-toss competitions.

He had teammates laughing as he entered the Iowa practice field holding a sandwich, a bag of pretzel chips and a sport drink as he came out for interviews. His reason: “I’m hungry.”

He said all sorts of funny things that day, unconventional things for garden-variety college football players in media settings.

Naturally, we in the media loved him for it. Oh, for players who walk their own paths and say what pops into their heads instead of whatever is safe, dull and coach-approved.

Of course, there always was a lot more to this big redhead than being what fellow Iowa starting center Logan Jones called “the funniest kid I ever met.”

Back at that 2023 media day, Dunker told us he favored reading books over watching television and didn’t even own a TV. Iowa offensive line coach George Barnett said Dunker was “so darn smart and analytical.”

Dunker has been Academic All-Big Ten the last three years and a multiple-time Dean’s List honoree. He added football accolades last year. Big Ten coaches tabbed him a second-team all-conference tackle.

Ask him about being a good player, though, and he almost tells you he isn’t.

“I think I made some decent progress (last year),” Dunker said. “There’s a lot of things I’d like to redo and get back and fix. ... So I’m just doing whatever Coach Barnett tells me to do.”

Barnett is Dunker’s guru. Dunker said Barnett is the main reason he stayed a Hawkeye for one more reason. Dunker was holding a container of coffee as he answered our questions last Wednesday. Barnett is a big coffee guy.

Phil Steele, whose annual college football preview magazine is about as thick as Cedar Rapids’ phone book when such a thing existed, ranks Dunker the No. 7 offensive tackle in the nation and No. 2 in the Big Ten. That’s pretty high. Dunker doesn’t necessarily agree with it.

“I’m not sure if the people that say that watch the same film that I do,” he said. “So I honestly have no idea what they’re watching.”

Dunker sees “a lot of stuff that needs to be fixed. I mean, a lot of things. I wish I could take back almost every game from last year, but I guess that’s what this time is for.”

He has started 24 games over the last two seasons, going from part of an offensive line that got bested in many games in 2023 to one that started finding its mojo in ’24.

With three returning O-line starters of quality in front of a quality new quarterback in Mark Gronowski, there’s reason to be optimistic about Iowa’s offense this season.

Until summer camp opens, Dunker will continue to study football film, attend yoga sessions, lift weights, eat considerable quantities of food, and work part-time at a research lab in North Liberty. Doing what, you ask.

“Actually, I’m really good at taking the cardboard to the recycle bin. I’m a good cardboard runner.”

That sounds almost mundane. But “mundane” has never been a description of Gennings Dunker, nor is it likely to be in the autumn of 2025.

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com

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