Six Iowa players named to The Athletic's preseason All-Big Ten teams

In just over a month, the Iowa football team will return to Kinnick Stadium to kick off the 2026 season.

They’ll do so without the services of numerous key contributors from last season, most of whom are on NFL rosters now. It won’t be easy, but the Hawkeyes pride themselves on their ability to build quality depth through high school recruiting and savvy transfer portal additions.

Despite losing a lot of talent this offseason, Kirk Ferentz’s team still has plenty of stars ready to lead the way.

That was clear in the The Athletic’s preseason All-Big Ten teams, which were revealed on Sunday. Six Hawkeyes were selected to the preseason All-Big Ten first-, second- or third-teams.

‘s preseason All-Big Ten team selections from The Athletic

• OL Kade Pieper: First-team All-Big Ten
• OL Trevor Lauck: First-team All-Big Ten
• DB Zach Lutmer: First-team All-Big Ten
• TE DJ Vonnahme: Second-team All-Big Ten
• LB Cam Buffington: Second-team All-Big Ten
• DL Bryce Hawthorne: Third-team All-Big Ten

The three first-team selections don’t need a lot of explanation. Pieper, Lauck, and Lutmer have received a ton of preseason hype and praise, all of which is completely warranted. There’s a good chance all three of them are early NFL draft picks next spring.

Vonnahme showed what he was capable of in the back half of last season. If he puts together a full season of that, there’s no reason why he couldn’t make an all-conference team. Buffington is a popular breakout candidate on Iowa’s defense and got a lot of love from Scott Dochterman. The Winfield, Iowa, product turning into an all-conference linebacker would do wonders for the Hawkeyes’ defense.

The final player mentioned is Hawthorne on the third team. With four starters from last season’s defensive line gone, Iowa is going to rely on Hawthorne to elevate his game. Hawthorne showed flashes in limited snaps last season. If those flashes turn into consistency, he could be in all-conference discussions.

The Hawkeyes are going to need all six of these players to be at their very best this fall. Iowa could do special things this season if they are.

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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Six Iowa players named to The Athletic’s preseason All-Big Ten teams