Mekhi Sargent quickly making an impact with Iowa teammates and coaches
By Tyler Devine
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Familiarize yourself with the name Mekhi Sargent, because chances are you’re going to see the former Iowa Western running back on the field this fall.
Barely one month on campus and Sargent already has made a strong impression on his Iowa teammates.
“He’s fitting right in with those guys and I think they’ve embraced him as a brother and just part of the group,” said Iowa running backs coach Derrick Foster said. “Toren (Young) and Ivory (Kelly-Martin) get with him and make sure that he’s on board with everything that we’re doing since they’ve been here longer than him and I think it’s just been a natural fit and he’s fitting right in with those guys.”
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The 5-foot-10, 210-pound Sargent took an indirect route to Iowa City from his hometown of Key West, Fla.
Sargent was lightly recruited out of high school, but found a home at Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs.
After redshirting his first year at Iowa Western, Sargent became the featured back in year two and would go on to lead the NJCAA with 1,449 rushing yards.
“Coming out of high school I wasn’t highly recruited so Iowa Western was the best fit for me going to the junior college level,” Sargent said Friday at Iowa's annual media day event. “My thing was just seizing the opportunity. My first year at Iowa Western I redshirted so my second year I just seized the opportunity and made the most of it and I’m thankful to be here today.”
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Sargent now is competing for playing time with the aforementioned sophomore running backs Toren Young and Kelly-Martin, both of whom saw playing time in relief of Akrum Wadley and James Butler last season.
Replacing the production of Wadley, who accounted for 1,733 all-purpose yards and 13 touchdowns last season, and left Iowa fifth on the all-time rushing list, is a tall task.
Iowa already had two running backs coming in from its 2018 class in Wisconsin native Henry Geil and Illinois native Samson Evans. But with the departure of Toks Akinribade due to health reasons, head coach Kirk Ferentz wanted another player with college experience on the roster.
If things go as planned, Ferentz would like to see a role for all three running backs this season.
“Well, I think I speak as a staff, I think we're all hopeful that we can get to that point,” Ferentz said. “That was one of the primary reasons we made that move. As I've said before, Mekhi got on my radar back in December when (recruiting coordinator) Kelvin Bell had been up and saw him play in the bowl game up in the UNI Dome. He came back and made a comment to me that he just thought the guy was a quality player.
“We didn't know a lot about him at that time, so after that we started doing research, not knowing what Toks' (Akinribade) situation was going to be, and then unfortunately Toks was not able to play anymore, so that opened the door for us, and it was good to get another guy — Toks would have been a third-year player, to get a guy that's going to be a little bit older. We have two freshmen that we really like, but we wanted to have at least three guys on campus.”
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The 5-foot-11, 221-pound Young isn’t concerned with playing time or number of carries. He knows that it takes a committee to withstand the Big Ten grind.
“Depth charts don’t mean too much,” Young said. “It’s going to take more than one guy. The Big Ten is a tough conference, college football in general is tough. All teams are good teams. It’s going to take a group of guys, there’s not going to be one guy that carries the load and does all the work.”
The adjustment to life in the Big Ten hasn’t been easy for Sargent, but his quiet demeanor suggests otherwise.
“There’s been a learning curve but I think I’m doing a pretty good job with it,” Sargent said. “The playbook is more in-depth than it was at the junior college level. I just want to help the team any way I can.”
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