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Iowa football: Hawkeye superlatives for the 2019 season

By Andrew Wade

BLOOMINGTON, IN - OCTOBER 13: Mekhi Sargent #10 of the Iowa Hawkeyes runs with the ball against the Indiana Hossiers at Memorial Stadium on October 13, 2018 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, IN - OCTOBER 13: Mekhi Sargent #10 of the Iowa Hawkeyes runs with the ball against the Indiana Hossiers at Memorial Stadium on October 13, 2018 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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IOWA CITY, IOWA- SEPTEMBER 22: Running back Ivory Kelly-Martin #21 of the Iowa Hawkeyes breaks a tackle during the second half by safety D’Cota Dixon #14 of the Wisconsin Badgers on September 22, 2018 at Kinnick Stadium, in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images)
IOWA CITY, IOWA- SEPTEMBER 22: Running back Ivory Kelly-Martin #21 of the Iowa Hawkeyes breaks a tackle during the second half by safety D’Cota Dixon #14 of the Wisconsin Badgers on September 22, 2018 at Kinnick Stadium, in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images) /

Needs to rebound: Ivory Kelly-Martin

Ivory Kelly-Martin is a speedster who can literally take it to the house every time3 he touches the ball similar to wide receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette, but last year those big plays never happened. Instead, Kelly-Martin was consistently getting dragged down after just 1 or 2 yards.

To make matters worse, he hurt his ankle early in the season, and he never appeared to fully recover.

That’s a big reason why Mekhi Sargent got so much playing time down the stretch for the Iowa football team. The Hawkeyes will almost always play two back while rotating in others and Toren Young has the bruising tailback position wrapped up.

Sargent’s got the consistent yard-gaining mentality with great quickness.

Kelly-Martin has homerun potential. We saw it his freshman season when he averaged 9.2 yards per carry on 20 attempts. Last year though, his yards per carry average fell to 3.5 on 97 attempts in 8 games.

For Kelly-Martin to rebound, he needs to not be so boom or bust. Homerun runs are awesome but if every other run is a 2-yard loss, he’s not going to get off the bench. Sargent doesn’t possess elite speed and Kelly-Martin has had a full offseason to recover so the opportunity is there for him to carve out a nice role in the Iowa football team’s offense.

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