Iowa wide receiver Kaleb Brown to opt out of rest of 2024 season, enter transfer portal

IOWA CITY — Iowa wide receiver Kaleb Brown has opted out of the rest of the Hawkeyes’ 2024 games and will use his redshirt year, he announced Monday morning on social media.

“I wish my teammates the best of luck this season and hope for continued success of the program,” Brown said in a social media post.

Iowa football confirmed on Monday that Brown has left the team and plans to enter the transfer portal. The next football transfer portal window will open on Dec. 9.

Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz in a statement issued Monday thanked Brown and fellow upcoming transfer portal entrant Leshon Williams “for their contributions to the program and wish them the best as they move forward.”

Brown transferred from Ohio State to Iowa in 2023 as a much-ballyhooed prospect and appeared in 11 games for the Hawkeyes last season. He had 22 receptions for 215 yards and one touchdown in Iowa’s last six games of the season after not having any catches in September or October.

The 5-foot-10 receiver from Chicago had a much more limited role this season. He appeared in three games and had one reception for 18 yards. He took 19 snaps this season, according to Pro Football Focus, including only one in Iowa’s Sept. 21 win over Minnesota.

Offensive coordinator Tim Lester said during the Hawkeyes’ bye week after the Minnesota game that Iowa has “got to find ways to get him the ball.”

“We've had him targeted a couple times, and he just hasn't run the route quite like we needed him to,” Lester said.

Brown was listed as “out” on the Hawkeyes’ pregame availability report against Ohio State, which Ferentz attributed afterward to a “soft tissue” injury in practice. Brown also missed Iowa’s season opener with a one-game suspension following his OWI arrest this summer.

Players can appear in up to four games while still exercising a redshirt year. He still had his redshirt year available because he appeared in five games as a true freshman at Ohio State in 2022. Brown will have two years of eligibility remaining.

Redshirt freshman Dayton Howard replaced Brown as a second-team wide receiver on Iowa’s Week 7 depth chart, which was released Monday afternoon.

Brown’s announcement, which coincides with his 21st birthday, follows a trend of college athletes opting out midseason while using the four-game redshirt rule to preserve eligibility.

This most notable happened at UNLV, where quarterback Matthew Sluka and running back Michael Allen have foregone the rest of the their 2024 seasons. (Brown and Sluka had the exact same first sentences in their announcements — “I have decided to utilize my redshirt year and will not be playing in any additional games this season.”)

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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