Photo - Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com
Tyler Linderbaum in Running for Top Awards
IOWA CITY, Iowa - As the 2018 season headed for the finish line, Iowa football Coach Kirk Ferentz was already looking ahead.
“Part of my job is to look down the road and I’ve been doing that for quite a while,” he said.
Ferentz projects his next team position by position. As he looked to 2019, the center spot had him concerned. Starter Keegan Render and backup Dalton Ferguson would be gone. The only player on the roster with any experience at the position was starting guard Cole Banwart.
“What I kept coming back to is that we really had a little bit of a void at the center position,” Ferentz said.
The coach found the answer to his dilemma on the defensive line. Shortly after the regular season ended with a 31-28 victory over Nebraska, Ferentz called redshirt freshman defensive tackle Tyler Linderbaum into his office and told him he was switching him to center.
“I think he’s going to do just fine,” Ferentz said in what turned out to be quite the understatement.
Linderbaum liked playing defense. But if his coach wanted him to move, he was all in. As Iowa started practice to prepare for a meeting with Mississippi State in the Outback Bowl, Linderbaum got acclimated to his new position.
“The toughest thing about it was we were taking a good player off our defense,” Ferentz said. “But it felt like it was something we had to address.”
Ferentz hit a home run with the move. Linderbaum will start his 35th consecutive game when Iowa meets Kentucky in the Citrus Bowl Jan. 1 in Orlando, Fla.
“It’s not going to be easy, but 11-3 sounds better than 10-4,” Linderbaum said. “That’s going to be our goal.”
Linderbaum could become the most decorated player in Iowa history at his position. He’ll be in Houston, Texas, Wednesday night, joining Aidan Hutchinson of Michigan, Kenyon Green of Texas A&M and Mike Rose of Iowa State as finalists for the Lombardi Award.
“It’s going to be a cool experience,” Linderbaum said.
The junior from Solon is also one of three finalists for the Outland Trophy, which goes to the nation’s best interior lineman, and the Rimington Award, which goes to the nation’s top center. The Outland and Rimington winners will be announced Thursday during the Home Depot College Football Awards show that will be on ESPN starting at 6 p.m.
Linderbaum was also a finalist for the Rimington Award last season. Former Hawkeyes Austin Blythe (2015) and Bruce Nelson (2002) are Iowa’s previous finalists. This year’s other finalists are Alec Lindstrom of Boston College and Olusegun Oluwatimi of Virginia. Oluwatimi, who has 35 career starts, entered the transfer portal on Monday.
The Outland Trophy, selected by the Football Writers Association of America, is the third-oldest major college award. Joining Linderbaum as finalists are defensive tackle Jordan Davis of Georgia and offensive tackle Ikem Ekwonu of North Carolina State.
Offensive tackle Brandon Scherff is the last Iowa player to win the Outland, in 2014. Three other Hawkeyes have also won it - Robert Gallery in 2003, Alex Karras in 1957 and Calvin Jones in 1955. Only three programs - Nebraska (nine), Alabama (six) and Oklahoma (five) - have more Outland Trophy winners. Ohio State also has four.
Joining Scherff and Gallery as native Iowans to win it was Chad Hennings of Air Force (Elberon) in 1987. His high school coach was Reese Morgan, who recruited and coached Gallery, Scherff and Linderbaum as a member of the Hawkeye coaching staff.
Minnesota’s Greg Eslinger was the last center to win the Outland Trophy, in 2005. Cal Jones was the first African-American to win the Outland Trophy. He was also the first African-American to grace the cover of a new magazine called Sports Illustrated. It was the seventh issue.
“This is the greatest thing that has happened to me,” Jones said of the Outland. “I’m thankful from the bottom of my heart.”
Later, at an event honoring members of the Look Magazine all-American squad, Jones said, “Football has taught me a lot. It taught me how to win and lose in life. You can’t always win, but you can always play to win.”
Karras nearly pulled off a rare double. In addition to receiving the Outland Trophy in 1957, he was a runner-up to John David Crow of Texas A.and M. for the Heisman Trophy. Late this season, when there was no leading candidate to win the Heisman, a grassroots effort pushed Linderbaum’s name for the award. Eight centers have finished in the Top 10 in Heisman balloting between 1937 and 1982. Oklahoma center Kurt Burris was a runner-up to Wisconsin running back Alan Ameche in 1954.
Nebraska’s Dave Rimington was the last center to be a finalist, finishing fifth in 1982. Now, Linderbaum would appear to be the leading candidate to win the trophy named in honor of Rimington. It wouldn’t be his first connection with the former Cornhusker star and seven-year NFL veteran.
Linderbaum won the Big Ten’s Rimington-Pace Award last week that goes to the league’s best offensive lineman. He became the ninth Hawkeye to win the award and first since Tristan Wirfs in 2019.
A preseason and mid-season first-team all-American pick by the Associated Press, Linderbaum should finish the season in the same place. He will likely land on several all-American teams and have his portrait hanging in the football facility.
A junior, Linderbaum could return to Iowa in 2022. But it’s hard to pass up first-round NFL Draft money. He is graduating later this month, earning his degree in just 31/2 years. “Graduating from the University of Iowa and getting my degree (in enterprise leadership) is important to me,” Linderbaum said.
Linderbaum was considered the second-best center last season, but passed on the opportunity to enter the 2020 NFL Draft.
“The chance to play football in the NFL is a dream of mine, but I’m not done being an Iowa Hawkeye,” he said.
He’s sidestepping any talk of future plans for the time being.
“I’m not really looking too far ahead,” Tyler said Sunday. “When the time comes, it will come. I’m more focused on the game ahead. A decision has to be made and it will be made, and we’ll worry about that later.”
