Staying at home and developing one more season were reasons why Ethan Hurkett is returning to Iowa Hawkeyes

IOWA CITY — He has his degree, is getting married in early July and will turn 24 years old a couple of months later.

But instead of hurtling toward what he hopes eventually will be a career in the National Football League, Ethan Hurkett will return to the Iowa Hawkeyes for one more season. His sixth season.

“I still think I have a lot to work on, improve on,” Hurkett told reporters Friday. “I couldn’t pass up another opportunity to come back here and play with these guys again.

“I considered (going pro), for sure. But with this D-line, the room that we have, the coaches, I wanted to squeeze that last bit out of my career here before moving on.”

The Cedar Rapids Xavier graduate ended the regular season with what just might have been the best game of his career. So far.

The defensive end wreaked havoc on Nebraska in Iowa’s 13-10 walk-off win Nov. 29, tying his career high with nine tackles, five solo. He had two quarterback sacks and a forced fumble.

Iowa is preparing for Dec. 30’s TransPerfect Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn., against Missouri.

“It wasn’t a super tough decision to come back, just being from here,” Hurkett said. “I considered my options in the League, which is the ultimate goal. But I think I can come back and still develop as a player and as a leader. Just with that, having my family close by and my fiancee’s family close by (she’s a Linn-Mar graduate) definitely helped.”

  Buy Photo

Hurkett said he asked the advice of multiple current and former Iowa teammates before announcing his return. One of those was former Xavier teammate Quinn Schulte, who decided to come back for a sixth season this season and was Iowa’s starting free safety.

“He gave me some good input,” Hurkett said. “He said he definitely did not regret it. Just to have another year to add to your career and your legacy was a good thing.”

Hurkett played in every game in 2022 and 2023, his highlight play coming again against Nebraska last season when he intercepted a pass and returned it 16 yards to set up another 13-10 walk-off win. He redshirted as a true freshman in 2020 and played in Iowa’s first three games in 2021 before injuring his knee and having season-ending surgery.

“That’s another thing. I didn’t get that full year, so I need to make up for it on the back end, I feel,” he said. “I’d like to work on my get off, my explosiveness in general. As well as my bend. Another thing I’d like to work on is just my verbal leadership. I feel like I try and do a good job of leading by example, but if I can be more vocal with these guys, that would definitely help.”

Iowa got additional good news recently when first-team all-Big Ten center Logan Jones announced publicly he also was returning to the Hawkeyes for a sixth season. Junior defensive lineman Aaron Graves told reporters Friday that he, too, will eschew turning pro and come back for another season of college football.

Losing up-front starters Yahya Black and Deontae Craig to graduation will hurt Iowa, but the return of Graves and Hurkett is a good starting point. Then there will be other guys with experience around, such as Max Llewellyn, Brian Allen and Jeremiah Pittman.

“The obvious first statement is you can't go out and recruit guys like those guys,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. “Maybe you can, but it's like I talked about with (linebacker) Jay (Higgins), you have to wait three or four years to get that from them. Same thing with those guys.

“Those guys didn't knock it out of the park their first year, in terms of everybody knowing who they were. They've both been works in progress. They've been so consistent since they got here. All the nice things I said about Jay, I can say about Ethan and Logan and other guys, too.”

Ferentz compared Hurkett to former defensive end Joe Evans, another guy Hurkett said he talked to when making his decision.

“He's not Joe Evans exactly, but there are some parallels,” Ferentz said. “The energy he brings, the tempo he works at, the focus he brings to everything. He's an unbelievable leader just by his example.”

Comments: (319)-398-8258, jeff.johnson@thegazette.com