Iowa football: Mekhi Sargent doing more with less last season

The Iowa football team struggled to run the ball last season, but don’t blame Mekhi Sargent for that. He did everything he could to be productive last year.

Iowa football player Mekhi Sargent was a pleasant surprise last season as he ended up leading the Hawkeyes in rushing yards after joining the team as a walk-on from Iowa Western Community College.

He had to do that though without much help from his offensive line, specifically the interior which consistently struggled to get much push off the ball.

If it wasn’t for Sargent’s running skills, his 4.7 yard per carry average could have actually been worse last season.

Pro Football Focus was able to specifically quantify this by looking at missed tackle per rushing attempt. The numbers don’t lie. Sargent was outstanding at getting extra yards.

Out of all Big Ten running backs, Sargent finished second in missed tackles forced per attempt with .23 right behind Illinois’ Reggie Corbin and Heisman Trophy candidate Jonathon Taylor.

Just watch the highlights below and you’ll find multiple clips of Mekhi Sargent making Nebraska wallow in his dust.

When looking at those numbers, it clear to see how strong of a push Jonathon Taylor got from his outstanding offensive line from Wisconsin whereas Sargent was forced to operate without much room.

If those numbers remain the same, the Iowa football team could easily surpass their goal of 4.5 yards per carry. Both Alaric Jackson and Tristan Wirfs are expected to maintain the edge and with the Paulsen twins entering their final season in Iowa City, this offensive line should be much improved from last season.

Contributor Ryan Sikes predicts that Sargent will just miss the 1,000 rushing yard threshold, which is on track with what the data suggests. If the Iowa football team does rotate the backs like it attempted to do last year, Sargent will likely get around the same rough amount of carries. If his yard per carry average increases as expected, it’s reasonable to expect Sargent to get near that 1,000 rushing yard mark.

If the line does continue to struggle run blocking during the 2019 Iowa football season, at least Sargent has the ability to make the first defender miss.

If it takes the next big leap, Sargent could break out this year.