Iowa football: Tristan Wirfs leads way in loaded tackle class

In The Athletic’s Dane Brugler’s scouting series, he lists Iowa football player Tristan Wirfs as the top tackle in the 2020 draft class.

A lot can happen between now and the end of the season, but the hype is real for Iowa football player Tristan Wirfs. While I’ve seen his 2020 draft stock literally all over the place (from top-10 to not on a top-50 list), more often than not he’s ranked pretty high.

Now, a respected draft analyst from The Athletic, Dane Brugler went as far to say Tristan Wirfs is the top tackle in the possible draft class of 2020. To add to that, Wirfs teammate holding down the left side, Alaric Jackson, also makes the list as the 7th best underclassmen tackle.

In his article, Brugler goes on to say that Wirfs’ best trait is his balanced attack while the trait needing the most improvement is Wirf’s vision and excitement in the moment, but he clearly is head over heels for the true junior.

Just look at this quote:

"With his athleticism, strength, body type and a general understanding of how to finish, Wirfs could step into an NFL lineup right now and hold his own."

That is some incredibly high praise for the talented Mount Vernon product, but as we’ve seen over the past few months, the hype is warranted. Wirfs is a monster in the weight room and he’s a heck of a person off of it (despite a few slip-ups) as chronicled by Marc Moorhouse at The Gazette.

With this hype, Wirfs just needs to perform in year three with the Iowa football program, and he could be a lock for the top-10 picks in the 2020 NFL Draft. At 6’5” and 320 pounds, he’s got the requisite size to play at the next level, and he’s got the skill set.

If he can just keep Nate Stanley clean in 2019 and help move the run game forward (literally), he could be the highest-drafted offensive lineman out of the Iowa football program since Brandon Scherff.