Iowa football: Mekhi Sargent in store for big season

Mekhi Sargent began his Iowa football career as the third string running back but now finds himself as the starter. Is he in for a big 2019?

Flashback to 2017, and Iowa football running back Mekhi Sargent had no Division I offers. The 5′-10″ 200 pound back was barely recruited coming out of Key West High School, so he decided to enroll at Iowa Western Community College.

"“It’s extremely hot and humid,” Sargent said. “You have grass fields down there because it’s so hot. No turf fields. It was hard getting noticed. We’re an island cut off from the mainland. Every away game, we have to travel three hours. Teams that come to us have to travel three hours. A lot of recruiters don’t want to come that way.” – The Gazette"

In ten games, he rushed for 1,449 yards and 14 touchdowns while averaging a crazy 7.1 yards-per-carry. That was more than enough to catch the eyes of the nearby Hawkeyes who needed some help at the running back position. Sargent transferred to Iowa City after just one season at the junior college.

He figured to be the third running back behind Ivory Kelly-Martin and Toren Young who both had some experience heading into the 2018 season. Oddly enough, Sargent got the very first carry for the Hawkeyes to open the 2018 season against Northern Illinois.

Kelly-Martin sustained an ankle injury in that game and, suddenly, there was a lot of playing time available for Sargent. He had just 40 rushing yards against Northern Illinois, but his production increased nearly every week capitalized by back-to-back 100-yard rushing performances against Illinois and Nebraska to close out the regular season.

Against Nebraska, Sargent ran for 173 and averaged 6.7 yards per carry. He’s also been a go-to receiver out of the backfield for quarterback Nate Stanley. Last year, Sargent caught 17 balls for 156 yards and a touchdown.

Looking ahead to this season, the junior tailback figures to be the feature back at the position with support coming from Young and Kelly-Martin. He’s more than earned his carries and could be a valuable weapon in the Hawkeye offense that needs to have a productive running game to be successful.

Iowa’s schedule is more challenging than it was a year ago and they will need everyone to step their game up a notch. If the Hawkeyes can get back to their bread and butter of a solid running game, they should be very happy with their record at the end of the 2019 season.

And it all starts with running back Mekhi Sargent.