Iowa football Week 1 depth chart released

Who doesn’t love the smell of a freshly printed depth chart in the morning early afternoon?

Things are largely the same as the pre-camp depth chart with a couple exceptions:

• Nico Ragaini is out with an injury which moves Arland Bruce IV to the one-line and Jack Johnson onto print
• Jack Plumb is also listed as backup left tackle after spending some camp there due to Mason Richman being sidelined. If Richman cannot go on Saturday, Plumb is likely to kick out on the left with Connor Colby moving to right tackle, in line with what was seen at Kids’ Day.
• Cooper DeJean is CASH/backup CB with Jermari Harris serving his single-game suspension for an offseason OWI. Coaches and teammates remain high on Harris, as he was announced to the Leadership Council (below) earlier today. Sebastian Castro is now backup strong safety.
• It remains hilarious to see Lukas Van Ness continued to be listed as a backup defensive tackle. My sense is that it’s more a function of not liking a fourth true DT and that he and Evans will be functional co-starters along the line.
• Aaron Blom is in pole position for the kicking job.
• No returners are listed. Keeping things spicy!

Iowa’s leadership council has been something I’ve monitored post-2020 with 2021 being a slight step back in terms of age & racial diversity, as well as just being a smaller group. This season, we see a return to adding sophomores on the committee, though the emphasis remains on tenure. 23 is the most players they’ve had on it since 2015.

There are no real surprises but it is cool to see guys like Kyler Fisher & Jay Higgins carve out leadership roles as special teams-oriented players. By position, defensive backs take the cake with five on the council. There are four linebackers and four defensive linemen. Fisher, Joe Evans, & Monte Pottebaum are the (former) walk-ons on the council.