Iowa Football Navigating a Special Teams Facelift

Arguably, no team in college football has won or stolen more games via outstanding special teams play than the Iowa Hawkeyes have over the last decade.

It's a third of the game Iowa pours more time and resources into than most teams, and have seen the dividends pay off with game-changing plays flipping losses to wins.

Entering 2026, Iowa has questions on this unit, which will need some patience paired with growth.

Iowa's special teams unit will be brand new

KF at the mic. 🎙️ pic.twitter.com/dXhG86rJys
— Hawkeye Football (@HawkeyeFootball) July 28, 2026

Calling Iowa's special teams unit brand new is not just due to the losses on the field, which we will get to and are abundant, but also due to the coaching staff changes.

Iowa lost long-time special teams coordinator LeVar Woods to Michigan State this offseason, creating a big gap for this team. With him, Iowa lost some of its most key players on the field, who they will have to replace.

Kirk Ferentz urges for patience on special teams

"Probably the most significant portion of our football team that is going to bear watch, our special teams phase, point being there that we lost every specialist that we had.

We lost our placekicker. Certainly had a great career, Drew Stevens, did an unbelievable job. We lost our deep snapper, is gone. Have a new punter. Contention there, a battle going for that position. Then Kaden Wetjen is the

best return guy I've ever been around in my career. He graduated, too," Ferentz said about what Iowa has to replace.

How important are Iowa's special teams?

With the way Iowa wants to play low-scoring games, things naturally end up tight down the stretch, with field position becoming a huge factor. To put it bluntly, special teams are maybe more important to Iowa than any team in America, something Kirk Ferentz knows.

"Some of the advantages we gained through special teams over the last couple of years, we're going to have to ride the train a little bit this year and exhibit some patience. The new specialists, there's always going to be a little bit of an up-and-down factor. At least that's been my experience.

That's an area we're keeping our focus on as well," Ferentz said of the special teams' importance.

Predicting Iowa's Special Teams Starters

I dug into this unit over the summer and tried to get a feel for what this unit looks like. Entering 2026, there are favorites in certain spots, but a misstep in fall camp is liable to shake things up.

Kicker: Eli Ozick
Punter: Boston Everitt
Long Snapper: Ike Speltz
Kick Returner: Nathan McNeil
Punter Returner: Zach Lutmer

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