Iowa football: Hawks ranked as high as 10th heading into 2019

The Iowa football team has been projected all over the board heading into 2019, but this is the highest ranking we’ve seen so far.

Just two days ago, I saw the Iowa football team predicted to finish 6th in the Big Ten West behind everyone but Illinois. I’ve also seen media outlets put the Iowa football team in the mid-teens. What I haven’t seen until yesterday was the Hawkeyes sitting in the top-10 of the preseason rankings.

Yes, you read that correctly. One media outlet put the Hawkeyes in the top-10.

According to Pro Football Focus, the Iowa football team should have been better than they were last year (we all know that), and they have two key players returning that should soften the blow of losing four underclassmen in the draft.

As many predictions are noting, AJ Epenesa is an instrumental piece to the Iowa football team’s defensive puzzle, and if he has a monsterous season (say, All-American, single-season sack record, etc), Phil Parker’s defense will be humming. Some say Epenesa could make this defense the best in the nation.

PFF had this to say about the true junior defensive end:

"A.J. Epenesa, with 80 total pressures the last two seasons, has the potential to be one of the nation’s best defensive players and will help curb the loss of Anthony Nelson (Bucs) up front and Amani Hooker (Titans) on the back end."

Offensively, PFF is anticipating senior three-year starter, Nate Stanley, to carry the load after being mostly safe and protective of the football in his first two years. As we’ve seen with great quarterbacks (such as Tom Brady and Peyton Manning), they can make their average wide receiver group look good.

Can Stanley turn Ihmir Smith-Marsette and Brandon Smith into gold? Possibly, but that’s quite a lot of emphasis on  Stanley, and I am not ready to go there yet.

At this point, there seems to be a lot riding on two guys carrying this Iowa football team to glory, and while I don’t necessarily trust Stanley to be Justin Herbert, but I do think he will make a huge jump this year. Moreover, Iowa has a lot of talent elsewhere with Geno Stone, Matt Hankins, Tristan Wirfs, and Alaric Jackson all returning.

Coming in at 10 is about the highest I would put the Hawks at prior to the season beginning. Let’s see this team beat Iowa State and Michigan on the road first. They do that, open up a spot on the hype train because the Hawkeyes should be firmly in the discussion for the College Football Playoffs at that point.