Iowa WR Earns Big Ten Award for Historic Performance

The Iowa Hawkeyes senior receiver/kick return specialist, Kaden Wetjen, shattered and set multiple records in a dominating win over the UMass Minutemen on Saturday. The 23-year-old stole the show as Iowa crushed UMass 47-7 to clinch their second victory of the season.

Wetjen scored a 20-yard rushing touchdown near the end of the first quarter before exploding for a 95-yard punt return touchdown in the third minute of the second half. He recorded four punt returns for 182 yards and one touchdown, one carry for 20 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown and one kick return for 34 yards.

The Hawkeyes star seems to be carrying the momentum from last year when he was named the Big Ten Return Specialist of the Year and earned a First-Team All-American and First-Team All-Big Ten honor.

Wetjen was named the Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week for his exceptional performance against the Minutemen on Saturday. He is the first Iowa player to earn the honor this season. This is the return specialist's second POTW honor, with the last one coming on the same day last year.

Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week ➡️ @WetjenKaden pic.twitter.com/UD907ALECB
— Hawkeye Football (@HawkeyeFootball) September 15, 2025

The 2024 Jet Award winner rewrote the history books at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday. He became the first player in the Hawkeyes history to score a receiving, rushing, kick return and punt return touchdown.

Wetjen's 182 punt return yards are only behind William Likely (233), Nile Kinnick (201) and Kevonte Martin-Manley (184) in Big Ten History. He is now tied with Kahlil Hill and Martin-Manley for second-most punt return touchdown (2) in Iowa history. Only Tim Dwight (3) has more 80+ yard punt return touchdowns than Wetjen (2).

The hometown hero broke Bob Longley's record for the longest punt return TD in Kinnick Stadium history. Wetjen's 95-yard punt return touchdown toppled Longley's 94-yard punt return touchdown record, which he set in 1949 against Oregon. He is tied with Al Brenner and Bill Happel for the longest return in Big Ten and the Hawkeyes' history.

"I'm glad my performance and I mean the rest of the team's performance as well," Wetjen said following the 40-point win. "I think we I mean like KF said, we had a really good bounceback win tonight and I mean all cylinders were firing and we kind of went back to the details because we kind of go away from it and some stuff and me personally with punt return last week was not my best week at all. So I kind of went back to the basics and thankfully that helped out."

Wetjen hopes to build upon the historic performance as the Hawkeyes gear up for their Big Ten opener against Rutgers. In the coming weeks, they will face Indiana, Penn State, and Oregon.

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