Iowa football releases Week 8 depth chart vs. Minnesota

The No. 14 Iowa football team is returning to the gridiron on Saturday after a much-needed bye week.

The Hawkeyes are 5-1 at the midway point of the season and are playing some really good football. The run game is coming off one of its best performances of the season at Washington. Kamari Moulton rushed for a career-high 208 yards in that 41-24 victory. The defense has had its ups and downs, but it should improve with Phil Parker in charge.

With a Week 8 road trip to Minnesota (4-2, 2-1 Big Ten) ahead, Iowa released its depth chart for the matchup with the Gophers. There were a few changes from the last time Kirk Ferentz dropped a depth chart. The most noticeable difference was the “OR” returning to the quarterback position.

Ferentz announced in his Tuesday press conference that quarterback Jeremy Hecklinski will start for Iowa at Minnesota.

“So Hecklinski will be our starter Saturday. Since the start of the season, it’s been even. What’s good for us is they’ve both done good jobs and both won on the road in tough circumstances. So that gives us a lot of encouragement. I think we have two good quarterbacks, which a couple years ago we couldn’t say that…

“As a determining factor, it’s kind of like the first time. It’s not a coin toss, but it’s awfully close. Both guys, you can make an argument either way that makes sense. We just decided that was the best thing at this time to do, and we’ll just keep playing forward here,” Ferentz said.

The other big difference was Xavier Styles officially getting the start at strong safety. Tyler Brown is still absent.

Here’s a look at Iowa’s full Week 8 depth chart:

Week 8 \ Depth Chart \ at Minnesota pic.twitter.com/DYKjHQydPf

— HawkeyeFBNotes (@HawkeyeFBNotes) October 19, 2026

• No. 1: Jeremy Hecklinski OR Hank Brown
• No. 3: Jimmy Sullivan

• No. 1: Kamari Moulton
• No. 2: Xavier Williams

• No. 1: Reece Vander Zee; Evan James; Tony Diaz
• No. 2: Jarriett Buie; KJ Parker; Dayton Howard

• No. 1: DJ Vonnahme OR Addison Ostrenga
• No. 3: Thomas Meyer OR Zach Ortwerth

• No. 1: Trevor Lauck
• No. 2: Bodey McCaslin

• No. 1: Leighton Jones
• No. 2: Will Hahn

• No. 1: Cael Winter
• No. 2: Michael Myslinski

• No. 1: Kade Pieper
• No. 2: Lucas Allgeyer

• No. 1: Jack Dotzler
• No. 2: Cannon Leonard

• No. 1: Ken Merrieweather
• No. 2: Kahmari Brown

• No. 1: Will Hubert
• No. 2: Devan Kennedy

• No. 1: Bryce Hawthorne
• No. 2: Luke Gaffney

• No. 1: Iose Epenesa
• No. 2: Drew Campbell

• No. 1: Jacob Wallace
• No. 2: Jaylen Watson

• No. 1: Landyn Van Kekerix
• No. 2: Derek Weisskopf

• No. 1: Cam Buffington
• No. 2: Nolan DeLong

• No. 1: Jayden Montgomery
• No. 2: Preston Ries

• No. 1: Jaylen Watson
• No. 2: Rashad Godfrey Jr.

• No. 1: Xavier Styles
• No. 2: Anthony Hawkins

• No. 1: Zach Lutmer
• No. 2: Ty Hudkins

• No. 1: Deshaun Lee
• No. 2: Jacob Wallace

• No. 1: Caden Buhr
• No. 2: Eli Ozick

• No. 1: Boston Everitt
• No. 2: Tanner Philpott

• No. 1: Ike Speltz
• No. 2: Matty McLaughlin

• No. 1: Tanner Philpott
• No. 2: Boston Everitt

• No. 1: Braeden Jackson
• No. 2: Xavier Williams

• No. 1: Reece Vander Zee
• No. 2: Evan James

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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Iowa football releases Week 8 depth chart vs. Minnesota