Hawkeyes special teams coach LeVar Woods delivers inspiration before 2023 season
Replacing great people ain’t easy. Few do it better than Iowa football. After all, the Hawkeyes are one of just five teams in the country that has won at least eight games since 2015.
And this season, the team will be needing to fill the voids of some excellent players. For example, both starting linebackers Jack Campbell and Seth Benson are gone. But special teams coordinator LeVar Woods reminded everybody that not too long ago — everyone wondered how Iowa would replace consensus All-Americans Josh Jackson and Josey Jewell.
“Some faces are up on that wall right there like, ‘How the heck are we going to replace Josh Jackson?’ Like, ‘Oh my gosh — what are we going to do?’ Josey, one of the greatest linebackers in Iowa football history. Like, ‘How are we going to replace those guys?'” Woods said. “Well, insert a young Jack Campbell and young Seth Benson.”
“As I sit and I look and you think about it — at one time we had to fill Josh Jackson’s role in a young Riley Moss. A guy I’ve never even heard of. I didn’t know this kid at all coming out of high school. He’s in our drills in fall camp as a freshman 2018 and playing his butt off and has done that all the way through and you can see where he’s going to go here next weekend.”
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“What are we going to do when you graduate to try to answer the first round the NFL with Hockenson and fans are like, ‘What are we going to do?’ Well, here’s a young kid named Sam LaPorta. So it’s kind of where we’re at right now replacing all these guys that have been phenomenal players for us, we have the guys on this team. We just don’t know their stories yet.”
Some positions are more of a mystery than others. Xavier Nwankpa is slated to start at strong safety, filling the void All-American Kaevon Merriweather left. Luke Lachey showed flashes of greatness in 2022, leading the team in touchdowns. Now he’ll take Sam LaPorta’s place of TE1 next season.
We think cornerback Jermari Harris will build off of his four interception 2021 season. Linebacker Jay Higgins has three letters under his belt, but can he provide a similar impact of a Jack Campbell?
As LeVar alluded to, there will be players who rise to the challenge who we don’t even know yet. Cooper DeJean was a prime example last season. Freshman running back Kaleb Johnson stepped up in the second half of the season, maybe he’s next.
Or, maybe it’s sophomore interior lineman Aaron Graves? Or sophomore wide receiver Alec Wick, who Brian Ferentz raved about? The answers — we don’t know.
But whether it’s Josey Jewell, Fant and Hock, Josh Jackson or Dallas Clark, the Hawkeyes always found a way.
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