By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – In my line of work, you get asked a lot of questions about Hawkeye sports, obviously.

Most of the questions are about either football or men’s basketball, and one recent question about the 2022 Iowa football team was the inspiration for writing this column.

I was asked to pick one player, just one, that I feel will emerge as a star this coming season.

The first thing I did was eliminate linebacker Jack Campbell, tight end Sam LaPorta, cornerback Riley Moss and punter Tory Taylor because they already have achieved star status to a certain extent.

I then listed candidates on offense and defense before starting the process of elimination.

It eventually came down to three players: sophomore defensive lineman Lukas Van Ness, sophomore receiver Keagan Johnson and redshirt freshman defensive back Cooper DeJean.

A strong case could be made for all three players, but I ultimately picked Van Ness, partly due to my concern that Johnson might be limited by Iowa’s offensive shortcomings, and because he is further along in his development than DeJean.

Van Ness is a key piece to what might be Kirk Ferentz’s best front seven on defense in quite some time.

The fact that the 6-foot-5, 269-pound Van Ness isn’t even listed as a starter on the preseason depth chart speaks volumes about Iowa’s depth on the defensive line.

Van Ness is listed behind senior Noah Shannon at left defensive tackle, while junior Logan Lee and sophomore Yahya Black are listed first and second, respectively, at right defensive tackle.

That’s a lot of experience and potential mixed together.

Van Ness appeared in all 14 games last season as part of defensive line rotation.

And though he only played maybe half of the time, he still tied for team lead with seven sacks and was second on the team with 8.5 tackles for loss, while earning freshman All-America accolades.

Van Ness seems capable of playing both inside and outside on the defensive line because of his size and athleticism.

One play from last season really stands out in showcasing Van Ness’s power and explosiveness.

It was against Northwestern when Van Ness bull rushed Northwestern tackle Peter Skoronski, who is considered one of the top offensive tackles in college football.

Skoronski was no match for Van Ness on this play as Van Ness literally just ran him over in pursuit of the quarterback.

Fatigue never should be a problem for Van Ness, or for any of the Iowa defensive linemen this season, because of the depth at those positions. That should allow Van Ness, who is from Barrington, Illinois, to always have the energy that is needed to win battles in the trenches.

This isn’t meant to put any added pressure on Van Ness because playing Big Ten football at a high level already comes with pressure.

I was asked to pick who I feel is a star on the rise, and Van Ness is my choice.

I’m not suggesting that he is the second coming of Alex Karras, but Van Ness showed last season in limited playing time that he can make a big impact at this level.

With another year of experience and weight training, it’s reasonable to think he will be even more productive this coming season.

Van Ness only weighed about 235 pounds when he joined the Iowa football team in the summer of 2020.

He spent the 2020 season as a redshirt before cracking the rotation last season.

Van Ness was ranked as a three-star recruit by Rivals coming out of high school, and though he had over 30 scholarship offers, most of them were from mid-level programs, and from the three service academies.

So, in many ways, Van Ness fits the Iowa profile as a development player whose potential was appreciated more by Kirk Ferentz than any other coach.

Van Ness, of course, has to stay healthy, and he has to stay hungry during the season-long grind.

All of the defensvie linemen will have to bring it strong in every practice because the competition for playing time will be fierce.

That’s another reason to think that Van Ness is on the verge of taking his game to the next level.

Because he might have to do that just to earn more playing time.

…so this Lukas Van Ness kid has some power! Looks like f'n Justin Smith here lol

Whoa.

And against Peter Skoronski – who might be the best OT in CFB this season pic.twitter.com/jLp3Bg7cVN

— Ben Fennell (@BenFennell_NFL) August 6, 2022