By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – For more than a quarter century, Kirk Ferentz has been a model of consistency, a master at doing more with what is perceived as less.

His offenses haven’t always been fun to watch, or very productive.

But more times than not, the Iowa football team has been pretty good under Ferentz, having just four losing seasons since he took over as head coach in 1999, the most recent in 2012 when Iowa finished 4-8.

You can almost always count on Iowa to win anywhere from seven to 10, or even on rare occasion, 11 or 12 games in a season; and if the preseason polls are an indication, Iowa will easily meet the low end of that standard again this season as it is ranked 22nd in both major preseason polls.

Fans will start to learn more about the 2026 Hawkeyes in the season opener against Northern Illinois on Sept. 5 at Kinnick Stadium, though Iowa is currently favored by 31.5 points against a team that finished 3-9 last season, so it might not be a true test.

What we already know about this particular Iowa team is that even with a program record 16 players added from the transfer portal, it’s still business as usual from a personnel standpoint.

Instead of trying to land players from other power-conference programs, Ferentz and his assistant coaches focused more on recruiting players from both mid-major and FCS programs.

It is similar to how Iowa recruits high school players where much of the focus is on landing unheralded recruits, or in other words, recruits that don’t have a four- or five-star ranking.

Ferentz certainly is against recruiting star prospects, and every now and then, Iowa will land a gem.

But for the most part, Iowa’s approach under Ferentz is to recruit players that sort of fall under the radar, players that are overlooked and under-appreciated.

Ferentz and his staff have a knack for identifying talent and potential where other coaches don’t see it, and that seems to be the approach they used in building this portal class.

Of course, we won’t know if it is the right approach until the games start being played.

Of the 16 players that Iowa added from the transfer portal this offseason, defensive back Cody Haddad and receiver Lance Beeghley are the ones that transferred from a power-conference program, coming from Ohio State and SMU, respectively.

And while wide receiver Tony Diaz has created the loudest buzz amongst the new portal additions; he played for Texas Rio Grande Valley last season.

Diaz clearly showed last season that he was capable of playing at a higher level, finishing with 875 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns.

He also reportedly had an offer from Alabama.

So it isn’t as if Diaz took the only power-conference offer that came his way.

But he still fits the Iowa mold as someone who is determined to show that he can play at the highest level in college.

That description fits for almost every player in Iowa’s record-breaking portal haul.

Almost all of them are motivated by the chance to compete on a bigger stage, whereas often times when a player transfers from one power-conference team to another, it’s from being disgruntled.

Almost all of them also have multiple seasons of eligibility, meaning they’ll have time to develop at Iowa, which is known for its player development under Ferentz.

Villanova transfer Anthony Hawkins is poised to start at one of the safety positions, while South Dakota transfer LJ Phillips is expected to play a key role at running back.

Phillips rushed for 1,921 yards last season, which was the most in FCS.

Furman transfer Evan James also should be in the rotation at receiver, while North Dakota State transfer Eli Ozick is competing for the starting place-kicking job with former walk-on Caden Buhr.

Iowa has to replace all four starters on the defensive line, so maybe it isn’t a coincidence that Iowa added four defensive linemen from the transfer portal; Kahmari Brown from Elon, Lance Ingold from Northern Illinois, Emmanuel Olagbaju from North Dakota, and Brice Stevenson from Holy Cross.

It’s reasonable to assume that Iowa tried to land some players from power-conference schools because you have to at least try.

But it also seems unlikely that Ferentz wasted much time pursuing more coveted players from power-conference schools, because for one, they probably cost a lot more, and because Ferentz seems to know Iowa’s limitations.

His philosophy seems to be why waste time pursuing expensive long shots from the portal when there are plenty of players that fit the Iowa developmental mold?

Ferentz believes in his ability to develop players, and rightfully so given his success in that area.

The risk in using this approach is that the step up in competition might be too much for some of the players to handle, while some might play so well for the Hawkeyes this season that they land a better deal from a more prestigious program and then move on.

Rosters are always fluid, in some cases changing from semester to semester.

Iowa didn’t add a quarterback from the transfer portal, and that was reportedly by choice.

However, the two quarterbacks competing for the starting job – Hank Brown and Jeremy Hecklinski – both came from the portal last year, from Auburn and Wake Forest, respectively.

In both cases, Ferentz turned to another power-conference team for help at quarterback, while Brown and Hecklinski weren’t necessarily disgruntled at their previous school, but they were looking for a better chance to get on the field.

Most of the players in Iowa’s 2026 transfer class already had earned significant playing time at their previous school and they almost certainly would have had key roles if they had stayed.

But they wanted more, a bigger stage, which Iowa offered.

Now it’s time for both sides to make it work.

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2026 Iowa football transfers

Lance Beeghley WR 6-2 194 So. New Braunfels, Texas New Braunfels/SMU

Kahmari Brown DL 6-2 245 Jr. Jacksonville, N.C. White Oak/Elon

Tyler Brown DB 5-11 194 Jr. Annapolis, Md. Archbishop Spalding/James Madison

Tony Diaz WR 5-11 176 So. San Marcos, Texas San Marcos/UTRGV

Boston Everitt P 5-11 196 Fr. Hope Island, Australia Carey Baptist/University of Melbourne

Cody Haddad DB 5-11 186 #Fr. Cleveland, Ohio St. Ignatius/Ohio State

Anthony Hawkins DB 6-3 195 So. Annapolis, Md. Broadneck/Villanova

Lance Ingold DL 6-5 255 So. Rochester, Ill. Rochester/Northern Illinois

Evan James WR 5-11 170 So. Apopka, Fla. Leesburg/Furman

Emmanuel Olagbaju DL 6-3 295 Jr. Osseo, Minn. Osseo/North Dakota

Eli Ozick PK 5-11 191 Jr. Liberty, Mo. Liberty/North Dakota State

Lendon Phillips, Jr. RB 5-9 225 Jr. Wichita, Kan. Northwest/South Dakota

Tanner Philpott P 6-2 200 Jr. Waukee, Iowa Waukee Northwest/Simpson College

Brice Stevenson DL 6-1 295 Jr. Tampa, Fla. Berkeley Prep/Holy Cross

Xavier Styles DB 6-2 190 So. Lakewood, Ohio St. Edward/Robert Morris

Trent Wilson OL 6-4 300 So. Southlake, Texas Southlake Carroll/James Madison