By Tyler Devine

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Whether you like it or not, the NCAA transfer portal isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

The Iowa football team has utilized the transfer portal in recent years, but offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz said Wednesday that the main goal still is to recruit high school players and retain them.

“We want to make sure we’re bringing in guys that we’ve evaluated in a proper way and figure it out,” Ferentz said. “These are guys that are worth working with, these are guys that can develop into football players and help our team. So we certainly want to keep as many of those guys around as possible.”

Last season, offensive lineman Coy Cronk and defensive lineman Jack Heflin transferred from Indiana and Northern Illinois, respectively.

Cronk started the first two games at right tackle before missing the final six games due to injury, while Helfin started all eight games at defensive tackle.

Iowa currently has five players on its roster that came from the transfer portal.

Receivers Charlie Jones and Jack Combs came from Buffalo and Central Michigan, respectively.

Defensive back Xavior Williams came from Northern Iowa and punter Nick Phelps came from North Dakota State.

Defensive end Zach VanValkenburg is entering his third year with the program after transferring from Hillsdale College.

Jones and VanValkenburg are the only ones listed on the spring two-deeps, but the other still provide crucial depth.

VanValkenburg started all eight games in 2020 and was named second-team All-Big Ten.

“We’re trying to bolster our roster more than build it,” Ferentz said. “But ultimately this is an evolving process. I think we’re going to need to be open to things changing in the future. We need to kind of learn what we’re dealing with here first. I think we’re still all in the process of that.”

Ferentz said Wednesday that building depth through the transfer portal has become increasingly important in recent years because of how the NFL Draft process has changed.

More players than ever are choosing to forgo their eligibility in favor of entering the NFL Draft, even if they’re not guaranteed to be selected early.

Geno Stone, Amani Hooker and Josh Jackson are other names to have done so in recent years.

Stone was drafted in the seventh round by the Baltimore Ravens in 2020, Hooker was a fourth-round pick in 2019 and Jackson was a second-round pick in 2018.

“That standard has just changed,” Ferentz said. “Once upon a time guys were waiting until they were surefire first-round picks. Now, that’s changing. And that’s fine, that’s good. It’s a great opportunity for those players. But it does hurt your development on your roster. You’ve got a guy and he’s going into that third year, and you’re hoping you get him back because you’re counting on it. It’s difficult when you’re trying to develop at certain positions and you’re bringing guys along. It can kind of screw your depth up.

“We’re dealing with that a little bit at the tight end position, still kind of the reverberation of three years ago when two third-year players are gone. Those guys made great decisions. They should have left, but it does screw with your numbers a little bit. And what you do is you try to look at the transfer portal to address that.”