By Richard Podhajsky

IOWA CITY, Iowa – If there’s one thing the Iowa offensive line has accomplished already, it’s identifying its leader.

"What Keegan (Render) does a great job of from a leadership standpoint is he maintains being himself,” offensive line coach Tim Polasek said of his senior center at media day. “Sometimes when we're like, 'Hey guys, here's the leadership role. It's yours,' guys all of a sudden want to change and become really vocal or they act out of character. Keegan has been unbelievable with doing what he can do from a leadership standpoint with those five guys.”

What Polasek hoped to do during the first week was surround Render with a few future leaders. Instead, starting tackles Alaric Jackson and Tristan Wirfs will be watching the team’s season opener against Northern Illinois after being suspended one game, Jackson for an unspecified violation of team rules and Wirfs for a drunk driving arrest.

"I really felt like Tristan and A.J. were on the track to becoming leaders,” Polasek said. “Obviously, they took a little change out of their pocket but we still value their voice. Those two kids are so aware but they've got to earn it back."

That leaves Render as the only offensive lineman with more than one career start, though he’s also shifting to a position where he’s only played once: center.

“Everyday is a learning experience for me.,” Render said. “Different position, different play calls, there's different looks that happen. So, just kind of take every day as a learning experience and realizing that there's always something that's going to be a little different that I might not know and have to figure out on the fly."

Render says he’s tapping into the knowledge of offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz, a former center, and head coach Kirk Ferentz to ease the transition.

“So far what we've seen out of him has been very good,” Brian Ferentz said. “And I'm not sure Keegan isn't a better center than he is a guard, which surprised me. And pleasantly. I’m very excited.

"The leadership role, he's embraced and doing it. It has been really positive in how he's interacting and how he's been with the other guys, I couldn't be happier right now.”

With Jackson and Wirfs sidelined, “the other guys” are going to have to step up, with senior Dalton Ferguson, redshirt freshman Mark Kallenberger, and junior twin brothers Landan and Levi Paulsen all mentioned as possible replacements.

Kallenberger says he keeps his eyes on Render, who he says has perfected leading by example.

“He goes out to practice and he never has a bad practice,” Kallenberger said. “He may seem like he did in his head some days, but really when you watch the tape, he's doing all the right things. His steps, assignment-wise the calls that he's making at center, he just does it so precisely. And he's so focused in on that stuff. So, that right there is a good leadership quality.

"And he's so involved with us. He'll talk and he'll ask – it's not just football with him. To kind of take your mind off football a little bit is really nice.”

Render has made 21 career starts but 20 of those came at guard. Still, he’s on the watch list for the Rimington Trophy and is aware of the history of center at Iowa, where the last three starters have all played in the NFL.

"Obviously, there's high expectations but, you know, I'm just trying to focus on this year and lead our group the best I can, have a good season, make sure we're all gelling together, we're all on the same page."

Though they may not have foreseen these circumstances creating the openings, the coaches say they are confident someone will emerge.

"Thankfully we talk a lot about Murphy's Law,” Polasek said. “There's going to be injuries, there's going to be things that come up. And it's not necessarily just a 'next man up' mentality. It's whoever gets called on has to be ready when their opportunities come. So, in our room right now, I just think we've got some guys that are really trying to take advantage of their opportunities.”