Next wave of Iowa defensive backs seek to maintain standard while ‘also making our own way’

IOWA CITY — Iowa’s defensive backs picked up the “Doughboyz” nickname in 2021 on their way to grabbing an FBS-best 25 interceptions, and the moniker has still stuck.

“Of course, every year,” Iowa cornerback T.J. Hall said. “We’ll never get away from that.”

As Iowa’s defensive back room graduated the last of the original 2021 “Doughboyz” following the 2024 season (with Sebastian Castro, Quinn Schulte and Jermari Harris), the Hawkeyes will look for that high level of production from a less established group of football players in 2025.

“It’s just like a new time, new players,” Hall said. “We’re keeping the standard, but we’re also making our own way as well.”

The changing of the guard at defensive back follows a 2024 season that included some ups and downs for Iowa’s veteran-laden secondary.

Iowa had a respectable 16 interceptions in 2024 — tied for 14th nationally — but also allowed completions on 61.9 percent of passes. The Hawkeyes’ 6.29 passing yards per attempt ranked 20th nationally, but it was not quite as impressive as 5.27 in 2022 and 5.06 in 2023.

“We want to get our hands on the ball more, limit explosives, limit catches and get interceptions,” Hall said. “That’s what we take pride on is getting the ball back to the offense.”

The ups for the 2024 secondary included an outstanding showing in the season opener against Illinois State, as the Redbirds completed only 48.3 percent of their passes. Iowa also strung together four consecutive multi-interception games against Northwestern, Wisconsin, UCLA and Maryland.

But the downs included giving up 256 passing yards on efficient 22-of-30 passing to Michigan State’s Aidan Chiles in what was easily one of the sophomore quarterback’s best performances of the season.

Hall’s biggest takeaway of 2024 was to “probably just be patient.”

“Not trying to force anything,” Hall said. “Trying to just do your job and let everything, let the game settle down.”

Hall made the first seven starts of his college career and appeared in all but one game in 2024. The Fresno, Calif., native allowed 18 receptions on 34 targets (52.9 percent), according to Pro Football Focus. The only other cornerback with past starting experience is Deshaun Lee, who allowed 33 reception on 47 targets (70.2 percent) in 2024.

“Last year was, I would say, my first year working with that starting role,” Hall said. “Now, it’s time to exceed that, make a way for the younger guys, but also play at a standard that is, we say, a championship-level standard.”

Meanwhile, Xavier Nwankpa is listed as the first-team free safety on Iowa’s spring depth chart — a change from strong safety in his first two years as a starter. Koen Entringer is the first-team strong safety and the top option at Cash safety after having the seventh-highest snap total among Iowa defensive backs in 2024.

“We’re all kind of playing a little bit of everything — Cash, strong, free safety,” Entringer said. “We’re all just trying to get reps and trying to increase our value and learn the defense.”

Zach Lutmer is officially listed as the second-team strong safety and also could be an option at Cash, as evident during the portion of Iowa’s practice on Thursday that was open to media. Lutmer took 155 defensive snaps as a redshirt freshman in 2024, per PFF.

“I played behind (Castro and Schulte) for two years, two football seasons, so I definitely got a lot of knowledge from them,” Lutmer said. “They helped me quite a bit.”

The rest of Iowa’s returning second-generation “Doughboyz” each took fewer than 50 defensive snaps in 2024, per PFF. Entringer mentioned Kael Kolarik as someone that has been “standing out” along with Watts McBride, Jaylen Watson and Rashad Godfrey Jr.

“We got, what? 10 more practices?” Entringer said. “So we just got to keep building the chemistry and keep stacking by the time the season comes.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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