'Anybody's game right now' in Iowa football OL competition

The 2025 Iowa Hawkeyes were built upon a bulldozing rushing attack that was fueled by the best offensive line in the country, as evidenced by winning the Joe Moore Award as the nation's best offensive line. A few have departed for the NFL, and there are opportunities for those next in line to step up.

As Iowa continues through spring ball, the competition for those starting spots is heating up. Head coach Kirk Ferentz was his usual cautious self about not giving too much away, but did make it clear that there are roles up for grabs and anyone could snag the job.

"Yeah, not yet. We've only had pads on twice. I'll say this, it's really hard to practice against each other, period. And it's almost impossible when we don't have pads on. Nobody wants to give an inch. It's just the nature. I mean the defensive guys are competitive, the offensive guys are competitive.

"It really is hard. But it's a little bit easier now. So that helps.

"But so far so good. It's early. We are not totally together yet, so wouldn't/shouldn't be totally in sync. But see some guys that certainly look better than they did back in December. That's one of the things about spring practice and spring ball will have a little better grip and feel for it.

"And that's a position where you graduate three really good players. It's anybody's game right now. Anybody can step up and take a role there, and the more the merrier. Like ideally we'd have six, seven guys we can throw into the football game and have confidence they'll play well," Ferentz said on early impressions of the offensive line.

Whoever should be suiting up for the Hawkeyes on the offenisve come Week 1 will have had ample time to work with George Barnett, the Hawkeyes' offensive line coach, who has a long resume of developing offenisve linemen into top Big Ten talent that makes the move to the NFL.

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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire : 'Anybody's game right now' in Iowa football OL competition