Ahead of the Hawkeyes' ReliaQuest Bowl matchup against No. 14 Vanderbilt, it is never too early to look to next season and beyond.
The Iowa roster contains 27 seniors and graduate players, meaning Kirk Ferentz and his staff will potentially have a lot of holes to fill after this season concludes.
While this season has been fun for many players and coaches despite dropping four close games, it is time to look to the future.
The program locked up 23 players on early signing day for the 2026 recruiting class, and has been actively offering talented prospects in the 207 recruiting class, especially over the past few weeks.
Overall, Iowa has offered 69 prospects in the recruiting class, with a few position groups getting more attention than the others.
The Hawkeyes have already offered 13 defensive linemen, nine athletes, and eight wide receivers and edge prospects in the class, and now they are heavily focused on the running back group.
Iowa has made offers to seven total running back prospects, two in the past few weeks.
Over the weekend, the Hawkeyes offered another intriguing running back prospect who has been shooting up recruiting boards.
Hawkeyes offer Class of 2027 RB Kelsey Gerald https://t.co/fJsQ0FQ0N0 https://t.co/Eb70HbphuL
— Blair Sanderson (@BlairASanderson) December 15, 2025
2027 running back prospect Kelsey Gerald announced he received an offer from the Iowa program over the weekend.
Gerald, a five-foot-eleven, 190-pound prospect from Santaluces Community High School in Boynton Beach, Florida, has been slowly racking up offers from some of the top college football programs in the country.
Even though it is still early in the 2027 recruiting cycle, Gerald is up to nearly 20 offers from a variety of programs.
Both Rivals and 247Sports have not ranked Gerald to this point, but he is ranked as a three-star prospect by ESPN.