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Iowa football takes place next Saturday. 

There's certainly a lot of excitement for football in Iowa City, and the week before a new season means it's time to release our season predictions. 

Prediction week on HawkeyeRoundtable.com began with our bold predictions for the season, and it will ultimately come to a close with our game-by-game predictions on Friday and a depth chart prediction on Sunday night. 

You've already read through our thoughts on what the national experts have said about the Hawkeyes along with our floor/ceiling prediction earlier today, so let's round out this busy day of predictions by listing the five players likely to have breakout seasons in 2026. 

Here we go. 

WR Tony Diaz 

I know I'm opening with a safe option, but Tony Diaz has to be included on here. We've all heard what he can do at the FCS level, but the truth is that we've never seen him play an FBS football game before, so he has to break out in order to truly be the explosive wideout Iowa has lacked for so long. 

Diaz is very capable of it, though. He tallied 881 yards and 11 touchdowns in Texas Rio Grande Valley's inaugural 2025 campaign and earned Southland Freshman of the Year honors from Phil Steele. Alabama showed interest in nabbing Diaz out of the transfer portal before he ultimately committed to the Hawkeyes, so that's all you need to know. 

Diaz should get plenty of opportunities in Tim Lester's Shanahan Offense this year. 

LB Cam Buffington 

If you've read my bold predictions piece, you know I'm very optimistic about Cam Buffington's potential in 2026 and beyond. Buffington hasn't played a ton yet, but he's had two years to learn the system from the veterans ahead of him. 

Now it's his time to shine. The Winfield native impressed scouts with his ridiculous playmaking ability at the eight-man football level in high school, and he showed what he can do in the Big Ten last year when he secured an impressive interception against Minnesota. 

The traits are there, and now Buffington just needs the game experience to be a big factor for this Iowa defense. 

TE Thomas Meyer 

DJ Vonnahme gets a lot of talk in this tight end room (deservedly so), but this room is absolutely loaded from top to bottom. Addison Ostrenga is probably going to be the No. 2 tight end for the season opener, but it's not out of the question for Thomas Meyer to emerge as the No. 2 option by the end of the season.

The Clear Lake native didn't register any game action as a freshman last year, but he's got a ton of hype going for him right now. He was ranked by 247Sports as the No. 1 player in the state of Iowa for the Class of 2025 after recording 512 yards and nine touchdowns as a high school senior. 

Standing at 6-foot-4 and 258 pounds, Meyer has the size and resume to be a perfect fit in this offense, and Hawkeye fans may know his name very well by the end of the season. 

RB Brevin Doll 

Doll is a very interesting player to keep an eye on this year. Injuries have kept him from seeing much action over his two years as a Hawkeye, but like Meyer, he came to Iowa City with a lot of hype after his high school career. 

Though Doll is listed as a running back, he's a guy that can play all over the field. Iowa's loaded running back room may keep him from collecting many carries this year, but the impact Doll could have on special teams is massive. He was a speedy track star and kick returner at Adel DeSoto Minburn High School, and that could carry over to the Hawkeyes' return game. 

Zach Lutmer will likely return punts, but it wouldn't be surprising to see Doll back there returning kicks for Iowa in 2026. 

DE Iose Epenesa 

The final breakout candidate to watch for the 2026 season has a familiar last name. The Epenesa family – father Eppy, brother A.J. –  has a rich football history at the University of Iowa, but can the youngest, Iose, make his mark in the black and gold. 

Epenesa only played in four games as a true freshman last season – recording one tackle for loss – but he's probably going to need to play a big role this season. The Hawkeyes' defensive line lost a lot of experienced players to graduation/transfer portal in the offseason, so it's all about the "next man up" mentality for Kelvin Bell's front five. 

Iowa will likely be rotating several guys around the line in the non-conference portion of the year, and it's hard not to see Epenesa being one of the guys to emerge out of that. He came to the Hawkeyes as a five-star recruit (per 247Sports) and the No. 5 defensive lineman prospect in the country for his class and even predicted Epenesa as someone with first round NFL Draft potential if he can put it together in college. 

Keep an eye for this talented prospect to make an impact on the defensive line this year.

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HawkeyeRoundtable publisher Brad Schultz has covered the Iowa Hawkeyes since 2023. To send him story ideas, scoops, or criticize his writing, reach him at bradschultz@roundtable.io

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