IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Iowa football team’s 2017 recruiting class is highly acclaimed and some of its members showed why this past weekend.

Running back recruits Ivory Kelly-Martin and Eno Benjamin rushed for 222 and 156, yards, respectively, while leading their teams to a victory.

Benjamin, who is from Wylie, Texas, also led his team in passing, completing both of his attempts for 37 yards.
“It was good to get back on the field after a good offseason,” Benjamin said Sunday. “We’re looking for a huge year as a team this year.”

Fellow Texas native Gavin Holmes caught 12 passes for 147 yards in his senior debut, while Mississippi receiver Cameron Smith had seven catches for 51 yards during his team’s lopsided victory.

“It was a hard-fought game,” Holmes said. “I feel as a team we didn’t play our best. But we were able to push through and find a way to win.”

Kelly-Martin made his debut for East High School in Oswego, Ill., this past weekend after transferring from Nazareth Academy for the second semester of his junior year. He led Nazareth Academy to the Class 5A state title last season.

Kelly-Martin scored on runs from 1, 40, 1 and 26 yards on Friday, leading his team to an easy 49-14 victory over Joliet West.

“I carried the ball twenty-four times, but the last seven or so was garbage time just to run out the clock,” Kelly-Martin said.

Iowa quarterback commit Peyton Mansell, who is from Belton, Texas, performed well in his team’s 28-20 loss to rival Temple this past weekend, completing 25-of-35 passes for 226 yards and one touchdown. He also scored on a 41-yard run in the second quarter.