By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Kaden Wetjen knew he was good enough to play for the Iowa football team, even before he had a chance to prove it.

The Williamsburg native was convinced that he could not only play for Iowa, but that he could be a key contributor despite his lack of size and despite having been lightly recruited in high school and junior college.

Wetjen, a receiver and return specialist, just needed an opportunity, and Iowa gave him that opportunity as a preferred walk-on.

Wetjen joined the team in the spring of 2022 after having spent the 2021 season playing for Iowa Western Community College, which he helped reach the NJCAA national championship game.

“Right away, I knew I could make an impact,” Wetjen said Thursday. “But it was just a matter of learning the system. It takes a while. It’s a different level, even coming from junior college.

“You just have to learn a whole bunch of new stuff, and you have to have a certain maturity to you. And once I had that, then I knew I was able to play.”

Wetjen didn’t see any game action for Iowa in the 2022 season, but then he became a key contributor last season as a return specialist.

He averaged 23.9 yards on 14 kick returns and 9.0 yards on seven punt returns.

Wetjen has come close a few times to breaking a long return, and he feels he is on the verge of busting one.

“I’ve been frustrated,” he said. “Me personally, I want to take a couple to the house. Hopefully, this year we can get a couple and actually break loose.”

Wetjen said he likes returning punts more than kicks, partly due to the opportunities that come with punt returning.

‘I think punt returning is easier to score on,” he said. “(Kick returning) is super hard, especially when half the dudes kick it out of the end zone and don’t give you a chance. I feel like you have more of a chance in a punt return.

“But I’m looking forward to both of them.”

Wetjen also hopes to make his mark as a receiver, and the much-maligned Iowa offense certainly needs help at that position under new offensive coordinator Tim Lester.

“I love it. I love it, personally,” Wetjen said of the new offense. “I think it fits all of us well. We’ve got a bunch of speed and a bunch of talented guys in our receiver room and tight ends and running backs as well. We’re getting into the pass game, so I think it’s a perfect fit for us.”

Lester takes over an Iowa offense that ranked at or near the bottom nationally in multiple statistical categories in each of the past two seasons.

The situation became so bad on offense that Brian Ferentz, who is the son of Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, was fired by UI Athletic Director Beth Goetz with four games left in the 2023 season.

Brian Ferentz was allowed to coach through the season, but the offense continued to struggle after he was fired.

Lester was among four candidates that Kirk Ferentz said he seriously considered for the job.

And based on what the offensive players said Thursday, the transition has gone smoothly so far in spring practice.

“We all love coach Lester,” Wetjen said. “He’s been a great guy, a fun guy to be around. He’s told us that it’s going to take time to develop and kind of get used to. But it will be very successful at the end once we get it all down.”

Wetjen beams with confidence. It’s just how he is wired.

It’s a good thing, too, because he has faced more than his share of doubters despite having been a star in football and track and field in high school.

He earned all-state as a junior and senior in football, and he helped Williamsburg win a state title in track and field as an accomplished sprinter.

But then Wetjen had to prove himself all over again in junior college, and he did so by compiling 952 all-purpose yards, and he had to prove himself again as a Hawkeye.

“I was one of those guys that loved having a chip on my shoulder and I knew I could come in and prove myself and eventually end up playing and helping out this team,” Wetjen said.

Wetjen credits Iowa Assistant Head Coach Seth Wallace and special teams coordinator LeVar Woods for being honest and realistic about his chance of making an impact.

They made no promises, other than giving him the opportunity to prove himself in a program that has a long-standing tradition of success with walk-ons.

“They really just let me know that it might be rocky for the start,” Wetjen said. “But once you get in the system and once you become a guy, they really trust you and you can become a big part of the team.

“So, that’s really the main thing that brought me here.”

Wetjen didn’t garner much recruiting attention in junior college, but he turned down scholarships offers from Massachusetts and UConn to be a Hawkeye.

“I just felt like this was the best fit, closer to home, too, a half hour away,” Wetjen said.

The first step in becoming a walk-on at a Power Five school is believing that you can do it.

Wetjen had that belief, even before he attended junior college.

“I was very confident,” he said. “I knew a bunch of guys who came here and played, and I played against them in high school and saw that they were playing. I knew I was capable of this all along.

“Everybody welcomed me in the spring, and I knew I was capable of it, and it was just a matter of time before they would allow me to play.”

Self-confidence runs deep in the Wetjen family.

His father, Lee Wetjen, was a star running back for Williamsburg in the late 1990s and now coaches running backs for his alma mater, which won a state title for the first time program history this past fall.

“He’s always told me everybody is going to be doubting you,” Kaden Wetjen said of his father. “I mean a shorter guy, all I have is speed.

“So, the doubt has always been there. And he just told me to prove everyone wrong and that’s all he ever taught me.”

Kaden’s younger brother, Braylon Wetjen, was a star as a skill player on both offense and defense for the state champion Raiders.

Braylon Wetjen was among three Wetjen family members on the 2023 Williamsburg roster.

They all like to remind Kaden that the 2023 Raider squad has gone where no other Williamsburg team has gone before by winning a state title.

Williamsburg reached the playoffs in each of Kaden Wetjen’s four years in high school, but never won a state title.

“It was really cool seeing them finally get the championship and they’ve already been talking smack to me, especially my brothers, and my dad is the running backs coach at Williamsburg,” Kaden Wetjen said.

Kaden Wetjen is listed at 5-foot-10 and 196 pounds on the Iowa spring roster.

He is under-sized by Power Five standards, but compensates with his blazing speed.

And while nobody is ready to call him the second-coming of former Iowa All-America return specialist Tim Dwight, trying to reach the incredibly high standard that Dwight set is part of what motivate Wetjen.

“I went to his football camp when I was younger,” Wetjen said of Dwight, who was even smaller than Wetjen in college. “I’ve seen clips of him. Coach Woods has shown me videos of him.

“I go, ‘hey, that guy is just like me, a little short guy whose super fast and just runs around guys. He’s one of my idols that I look up to.”

Wetjen was asked Thursday if he believes that his opponents take him lightly or under-rate him because he’s a small kid from small-town Iowa.

His answer put his self-confidence on full display.

“I hope they do,” Wetjen said. “I hope that’s what they all do because then when I score one on them, they’ll just feel worse.”