97 Days Until Hawkeye Football: Caden Crawford & Liam Reardon

Welcome back to our countdown of the Iowa Hawkeyes football season.

Caden Crawford, RS Freshman
6’4”, 253 lbs.
Lansing, Kan. (Lansing)
2023 projection: Reserve defensive lineman

Crawford committed to the Hawkeyes as their second 2022 recruit and arrived as an early enrollee. Hailing from Kansas, he received regional Power 5 offers from Nebraska, Kansas State, and Minnesota (among others).

As a prep, he played both ways as a linebacker and quarterback. The latter was a well-known trope for Hawkeye players in the aughts where having a half dozen or so high school quarterbacks contributing elsewhere was often recited.

While he’s on the light side of what one might expect at defensive line but could contribute at the weight and has bulked up 20 pounds in his 18 months on campus. AS a prep, he was an absolute wrecking ball on the edge (181 tackles his last two seasons, including 35 for a loss).

As a redshirt freshman, his absence from the depth chart isn’t a huge deal, as the only second-year Hawk along the line is Aaron Graves, an absolute freak. With three senior starters, spots will open up over the next year and his name is likely to be in the mix.

Liam Reardon, Junior
6-1, 223 lbs.
Chicago, Ill. (Mount Carmel)
2023 projection: Backup long snapper

Information is tough to come by for reserve long snappers but Reardon aka Buddy came to Iowa as a highly touted long snapper. A May 2019 camp labeled him as a top 5 midwestern long snapper available for 2020. He looked sharp in this weather-affected game in his final season as a high schooler.

However, fellow junior Luke Elkin took over the starting spot in 2021 which hampers Reardon’s ability to jump into the mix. Elkin came in after a couple snaps went awry against Iowa State so if he gets sideways, it’s likely Reardon who would hear his name.