Iowa football: 3 hawks mocked in 1st round of 2020 draft

In the first 2020 mock draft by Rotoworld, the Iowa football team has three players going in the first round. Is there potential for a fourth as well?

The Iowa football team just saw four players get drafted by NFL teams in April’s draft. Both tight ends T.J. Hockenson and Noah Fant were first-round picks, with Hockenson being selected eighth overall by the Detroit Lions and Fant going 20th overall to the Denver Broncos.

And both defensive end Anthony Nelson and safety Amani Hooker were selected in the fourth round. Nelson went to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the 5th pick and Hooker went to the Tennessee Titans with the 14th pick.

The Hawkeyes figure to send several more players to the NFL Draft in 2020 and Rotoworld has released a mock draft indicating three players going in the first round:

• A.J. Epenesa – 2nd overall pick (Dolphins)
• Alaric Jackson – 20th overall pick (Vikings)
• Tristan Wirfs – 27th overall pick (Chargers)

Epenesa could be the highest draft pick since Robert Gallery went number two overall to the Raiders back in the 2004 NFL Draft.  He’s already on several watch lists for this season and has wreaked havoc as a part-time player in his first two seasons.

Jackson to the Vikings makes a ton of sense since they badly need offensive line help. They selected three offensive linemen in this year’s draft but their first-round pick was an interior lineman. Jackson would be a great pick to protect Kirk Cousins‘ blind side as that is the role he has served on the Iowa offensive line.

I was actually surprised to see Wirfs below Jackson.  The former four-star prospect was ranked as the third-best recruit in the state of Iowa and the 33rd best offensive tackle in the country coming out of high school. Listed at 6-5 and 320 pounds, Wirfs has been a beast on the offensive line for the Hawkeyes. He allowed zero sacks and just four quarterbacks hits last season. Look for Wirfs to climb up the draft board as we get into the season.

One guy they failed to mention who could potentially get into the first round conversation is quarterback Nate Stanley. This mock draft has just one quarterback going in the first round, Justin Herbert from Oregon. With a solid season against a challenging schedule, Stanley could easily find himself in the middle to late first round slot.