Koen Entringer’s hustle puts spotlight on Iowa defensive back who has ‘really good upside’

ORLANDO — As Phil Parker spent time with some of the best assistant coaches in college football while in Little Rock, Ark., for the Broyles Award reception, they had a question for him.

“Who’s No. 4?” Parker said.

The answer: Koen Entringer, the second-year safety who made a name for himself last month in an unconventional manner during the Big Ten championship game.

Parker called it “probably the most impressive play I saw in the game,” but it was not a game-changing interception or bruising tackle for loss.

Entringer was the gunner on the punt coverage unit. All-America punter Tory Taylor bombed a 52-yard punt, and Entringer appeared to be in position to tackle Michigan’s Semaj Morgan.

“I ran down there, and I was thinking I was going to be able to make that tackle inside the five,” Entringer said.

But Entringer “whiffed,” ending up on the ground as Morgan sprinted downfield in what appeared to be a likely punt return for a touchdown.

“I just remember getting up and seeing that somebody hadn’t tackled him yet and … ran my hardest to just try and get him,” Entringer said.

By the time Entringer reached the 15-yard line, he knew he “had a chance to maybe get” Morgan. He pushed him out of bounds at about the 5-yard line in a touchdown-saving play.

The effort became a moot point when Michigan scored a touchdown one play later, but Iowa special teams coordinator LeVar Woods believes Entringer’s play was a “teachable moment” and “microcosm or metaphor for life.”

“When you screw something up or you mess something up,” Woods said, “you give yourself up, you bust your tail and you finish. … It’s a play that people should show often when you’re talking about effort.”

The play reminded Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz of a play Bob Sanders, the eventual NFL star, made against Michigan in 2003. It also was a “flashback” to when a young Cooper DeJean made a touchdown-saving tackle two years ago against Kentucky.

“It tells you a lot about a player,” Ferentz said. “It just tells you that the guy plays start to finish, and Koen has been that way since he’s been here.”

As coaches have raved about the play, Entringer was not patting himself on the back for it.

“The first thing he said was, ‘Hey Coach, I missed the tackle,’” Parker said. “He’s thinking right and doing right.”

Entringer has ‘really good upside’

Ferentz said Entringer is a “tremendous young guy, really great prospect.” The 25th-year head coach is “excited about his future.”

Parker similarly believes Entringer has a “really good upside.”

“I’m happy to be able to have a chance to coach him for a couple more years,” Parker said. “He’s really on the rise.”

Entringer, in the opinion of his award-winning defensive coordinator and position coach, “represents exactly what we want here at Iowa.”

“He’s really doing a good job in just the way you think and how you go about your work,” Parker said.

Since his eye-opening hustle play, the extra month of practices for Citrus Bowl prep helped Entringer in “recognizing formations and then kind of getting underneath routes.”

“I think I’ve gotten a lot better at playing the Cash position,” Entringer said.

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Most of Entringer’s in-game contributions have been on special teams although he also has been on the field when Iowa is in the dime formation.

Entringer, from Ypsilanti, Mich., theoretically stands to gain if either of Iowa’s senior safeties — Sebastian Castro and Quinn Schulte — choose not to use their extra COVID-19 year of eligibility.

But the second-year defensive back does not have that mindset. If Schulte and/or Castro return, Entringer said it would be “amazing for the team.”

“Whatever decision they make, I know I’ll still be here next year, and I know that I’m just going to keep working hard and trying to find a way to help my team win games,” he said.

With three years of eligibility remaining, Entringer has plenty of time to make more plays that catch the attention of coaches across the country, preferably with one key difference from the play in Indianapolis.

“I just wish he would have tackled the returner on the first 7-yard line instead of the opposite 7-yard line,” Woods said.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com