By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – There seems to be a difference of opinion about who is the fastest player on the Iowa football team.

Second-year running back Braeden Jackson, who once won a crawling contest when he was about 1 years old, declined to say who is the fastest Hawkeye when asked on Tuesday, and he suggested that his teammates should answer that question.

Jackson’s speed has been on display this season as he has returned two kicks for touchdowns, the most recent coming in last Saturday’s 24-10 victory at Northwestern as he weaved his way for a 96-yard return in the third quarter.

Jackson also had a 99-yard kick return for a touchdown in the first quarter of Iowa’s 20-19 win against Michigan on Sept. 26 at the Big House.

His next goal is take one to the house at Kinnick Stadium where No. 16 Iowa will face unranked Purdue on Saturday.

So Jackson is well on his way to establishing himself as Iowa’s next great return specialist.

Nobody is ready to call him the second coming of Kaden Wetjen just yet. But Jackson is now being asked a lot about Wetjen, who set a program record with six return touchdowns – four punts and two kicks – during his Hawkeye career, which ended last season.

“When they trust you enough to put you back there, you’ve got to go out and you’ve got to uphold the standard,” Jackson said. “We’ve had some great returners.

“Watching Wejten last year was just a blessing because I was able to see the best returner in the country showcase what he can do.”

Asked if there is one thing that he learned the most from watching Wetjen, Jackson said:

“You’ve got be a little crazy to be a returner, I would say because you’re running full speed into guys that are running the whole length of the field at you. Just have no fear and just go out there and make plays for the team.”

As for who is the fastest Hawkeye, fellow Iowa running back L.J. Phillips when told that Jackson declined to say had this response:

“That’s why he didn’t say anything; he probably didn’t want to get his feelings hurt, but it’s me,” Phillips said. “It’s me. B Jack knows that. I want to race him. It’s me.

“B Jack, I’m the fastest player on the team. I don’t know why you didn’t just tell everyone straight up. Let’s be better next time.”

Asked if was being serious, Phillips flashed a huge grin, but he didn’t budge.

“Yeah, I’m being so serious,” Phillips said as his smile widened.

Phillips then was asked who would win between he and Jackson in a 40-yard dash, or in a 100-meter dash”

Again, Phillips didn’t budge.

‘Forty yards, two yards, three yards, six yards, yeah, I got B Jack,” Phillips said. “I’m taking me.”

Jackson was standing about 15 or 20 feet away from Phillips as they met with the media on Tuesday.

When told what Phillips had said, Jackson paused briefly, smiled ever so slightly and then issued a challenge:

“I would say at the end of the day I don’t think he thinks that’s true,” Jackson said. “You can tell him, if he wants to, we can line it up wherever.”

And while this was just two teammates having some fun, it’s likely that the 5-foot-11, 206-pound Jackson was being more serious than the 5-8, 211-pound Phillips was about who actually is the fastest Hawkeye.

They’re obviously both among the fastest on the team or they wouldn’t be playing running back.

But there are different levels of being fast, and based on what Jackson accomplished as a celebrated high school sprinter in track and field, it makes sense that he would challenge Phillips to a race.

Jackson was named Sprinter of the Year Award and was Mr. Iowa Track recipient at Ankeny Centennial High School. He was also a Drake Relays Champion and four-time state track champion, school record holder in 200-meters (21.54), and a state record holder in 4×100 relay (40.13) and 4×200 relay (125.6).

Phillips, on then other hand, didn’t participate in track and field in high school according to his Iowa profile. But he did rush for for 4,113 yards and 59 touchdowns for Northwest High School in Wichita. He also set a single-season record by averaging a whopping 14.9 yards per carry and averaged 10.9 yards during his prep career while scoring 65 total touchdowns overall.

Phillips also played baseball and basketball in high school.

But he was built best for football, and is now Iowa’s featured running back with starter Kamari Moulton lost for the season due to a shoulder injury.

Phillips is also finally healthy after being slowed by a nagging ankle injury, and he showed what he is capable of by rushing for 128 yards in the win over Northwestern.

He and Jackson were key contributors in the victory, and they will continue to have key roles, assuming both can stay healthy.

Running back was considered maybe the deepest position on the team heading into the season, and that is proving to be true as the season progresses.

Losing Moulton certainly hurts since he starts at running back for a reason.

But the cupboard hardly is bare with Phillips, Jackson, Xavier Williams and Nathan McNeil all with considerable game experience at running back.

Phillips transferred to Iowa from South Dakota where he rushed for 1,921 rushing yards and 19 touchdowns on 294 attempts last season. The 1,921 rushing yards were the most in FCS in 2025.

If you need four tough yards on 4th-and-3, Phillips would be an ideal option since he runs low to the ground, and with violence and leverage.

If you need a running back to break a big play, Jackson would be an ideal option since he clearly has breakaway speed and good vision.

Iowa’s running backs come in all different shapes and sizes and have different strengths and weaknesses.

The group has struggled with fumbles at times this season, but the way in which the running backs have filled Moulton’s void is one of the biggest reasons why Iowa at 7-2 still is alive in the playoff hunt.

Iowa has had five different running backs rush for at least 100 yards in a game this season: Moulton, Jackson, Phillips, Williams and McNeil.

“I don’t think I’ve every been involved in a season where you have five backs that have had 100 yard games,” said Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz. “That’s hard to do. It may have happened in my career, I can’t remember like at any level, any time.

“But it just talks about everybody stepping in and doing their jobs when they need to.”

You could say that Jackson was destined to play running back as the son of former NFL running back Fred Jackson, who also played for Coe College in Cedar Rapids.

Fred Jackson gave his son some advice for returning kicks.

“You don’t ever want to look back, but you can look up at the big screen and you can kind of get to see where everyone is around you,” Braeden Jackson said. “So I definitely do do that.”

Braeden Jackson was asked Tuesday if he ever has been caught from behind in practice?

“No. No,” he said.

Braeden Jackson credits his father for laying the foundation for him as a running back.

Of course, it also helps that Braeden Jackson was blessed with great speed, almost from the time of his birth.

“I just remember being fast in elementary school, but I did win a crawling race when I was like one years old,” Braeden Jackson said. “It’s in the newspaper. My mom has it.

“So I guess I’ve always been fast.”

**********

Purdue (3-6, 2-4) vs. Iowa (7-2, 4-2)

When: Saturday, 6:30 p.m.

Where: Kinnick Stadium, (69,250)

TV: NBC

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network

Series history: Purdue holds a 50-41-3 advantage in the series that began with a 16-0 Iowa win in 1910. Iowa has won two straight in the series.

Iowa won the last meeting, 20-14, in 2023 in Kinnick Stadium. The Hawkeyes are 23-21-2 all-time in games played in Iowa City.

Saturday’s game is the first time Barry Odom has squared off against the Hawkeyes as a head coach. Odom was an assistant coach at Missouri in 2010 when Iowa beat the Tigers in the 2010 Insight Bowl.

Iowa and the Boilermakers battled to a 21-21 tie at West Lafayette in 1994. That contest marked the last tie game for Iowa before the college football tiebreaker system was put in place.