By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The end of the 2026 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships this past weekend also marked the end of the Iowa Hawkeyes’ 2025-26 college sports calendar year.

So as part of a long-standing tradition that started when I worked for the Iowa City Press-Citizen; it’s time to release my annual list of the top 10 UI men’s student-athletes for this past year.

This is never an easy task because there always are so many worthy candidates, with this year no exception.

Trimming the list to 10 is always hard enough. But then you have to rank them from one to 10.

So after careful consideration; here is this year’s list:

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10. Caleb Wulf, senior, baseball: The West Liberty native led the team with a .383 batting average, and with 49 RBI. He also committed just three errors as a first baseman and was named third-team all-Big Ten.

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9. Gable Mitchell, senior, baseball: The Iowa City native hit .366 with 15 doubles, five home runs and 43 RBI while also committing just one error all season as a second baseman. He is the grandson of former Iowa wrestling coach Dan Gable.

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8. Gennings Dunker, senior, football: The Lena, Illinois native made first-team All-Big Ten (media) and third-team All-Big Ten (coaches). He was also part of an offensive line that won the Joe Moore Award as the nation’s top collegiate offensive line.

His list of individual honors include making AP second-team All-Big Ten; NFF Hampshire Society inductee; CSC second-team Academic All-America; CSC Academic All-District; Academic All-Big Ten, and the Forest Evashevski Academic Achievement Award and Hayden Fry Award, offense.

He started at right tackle in all 13 games last season, marking his 38th career start.

The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Dunker in the fourth round of the 2026 NFL Draft, and with 96th pick overall.

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7. Patrick Kennedy, senior, wrestling: The fifth-year senior from Kasson-Mantorville, Minnesota placed third at the 2026 NCAA Championships at 174 pounds. He finished the season with a 23-5 overall record, a 15-2 dual record and was 8-2 against ranked opponents. He also placed fourth at the 2026 Big Ten Championships and recorded 10 bonus-point victories, including five major decisions and five technical falls.

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6. Beau Stephens, senior football: The Blue Springs, Missouri native was named a first-team All-American by the Associated Press, USA Today and PFF, and second-team all-American by the Sporting News, The Athletic, and On3.

He was also named first-team All-Big Ten (coaches) and second-team All-Big Ten (media), and was part of offensive line that won the Joe Moore Award. He tarted at left guard in all 13 games, marking his 34th career start.

The Seattle Seahawks selected Stephens in the fifth round of the 2026 NFL Draft.

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5. Michael Caliendo, senior, wrestling: The Geneva, Illinois native placed second at the 2026 NCAA Championships at 165 pounds, and also finished runner-up at the 2026 Big Ten Championships.

He finished the season with a 22-4 overall record, a 15-3 dual mark and went 9-3 against ranked opponents. He also led the team with 65 dual points and recorded 17 bonus-point victories, including seven technical falls, six major decisions and four pins.

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4. Ryan Johnson, junior, track and field: The Springboro, Ohio native was the NCAA weight throw champion indoors, throwing a meet and facility record-setting 84-1 1/2 (25.64m) to earn first-team All-America status.

He also finished third in the hammer throw at the 2026 NCAA Outdoor National Championships.

Johnson won the Big Ten weight throw, throwing a world-leading 84-2 1/4 (25.66m), earning Big Ten Men’s Field Athlete of the Championships honors. That mark broke his previous school record, as well as shattering collegiate, meet, and facility records in that event. He currently ranks third all-time among American weight throwers and fourth in history in the event overall.

3. Kaden Wetjen graduate, football: The former walk-on from Williamsburg now ranks as one of the greatest return specialists in Big Ten history after becoming the first two-time recipient of the Jet Award since the award was created in 2011.

He earned consensus All-America honors last season and was named the Big Ten Return Specialist of the Year for the second straight season. He played in all 13 games last season, starting at wide receiver six times. He returned 21 punts for 563 yards (long of 95 yards) and three touchdowns, 16 kickoffs for 476 yards (long of 100 yards) and one touchdown, caught 20 passes for 151 yards (long of 28 yards) and one touchdown, and rushed 15 times for 79 yards (long of 21 yards) and two touchdowns on the season.

Wetjen is the only player in program history and the nation (since 2009) to score a rushing, receiving, kickoff return, and punt return touchdown in the same season. He is also the only player in Big Ten history to have three punt return touchdowns and one kickoff return touchdown in the same season.

He led the nation in combined kick return yards by 301 yards (1,039-476 kickoff, 563 punt) and in punt return average (26.8 yards) and punt return touchdowns (3). His 26.8-yard punt return average is a NCAA Division I and Big Ten single-season record and the three punt return touchdowns are tied for third-most in a single season in Big Ten history.

The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Wetjen in the fourth round of the 2026 NFL Draft.

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2. Bennett Stirtz, senior, basketball: His impact goes beyond his statistics and individual accolades, although they were also very impressive, including making first-team All-Big Ten and leading Iowa in scoring (18.9), assists (163), 3-point baskets (92) and minutes played (37.7).

The Liberty, Missouri made the most of his only season as a Hawkeye, leading Iowa to the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time since 1987.

His rise to stardom while playing for four seasons under Ben McCollum at three different schools is the stuff of legends, proof that almost anything is possible with the right amount of hard work, talent and coaching.

The 6-foot-4 Stirtz now projects as  a late first-round pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.

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1. Logan Jones, graduate, football: The Council Bluffs native distinguished himself as the nation’s top collegiate center by winning the Rimington Trophy, which is awarded to the nation’s top center. He was also an Outland Trophy finalist; a unanimous consensus All-American; a first-team All-Big Ten selection by the coaches and media; and was part of offensive line that won the Joe Moore Award.

The Chicago Bears selected Jones in the second round of the 2026 NFL Draft, and with the 57 pick overall.

Jones came to Iowa as a defensive lineman, but then switched to center in 2022, following the path as former Hawkeye star center Tyler Linderbaum, who now plays in the NFL

Also considered: Mark Gronowski, football; Zach Lutmer, football; Drew Stevens, football; Karson Sharar, football; Ryan Shellberg, golf; Kyle Alivo, baseball; Ben Swails, baseball; Drake Ayala, wrestling, Ben Kueter, wrestling; Tavion Banks, men’s basketball; David Akhalu, track and field.