Iowa Football: 5 early signees who’ll have instant impact in 2019

Another year, another solid recruiting class for Kirk Ferentz and Iowa football, which five will buck the trend of waiting for development?

As long as Kirk Ferentz has been the head coach at Iowa, the Hawkeyes haven’t been known to be the ones to land flashy recruiting classes. In fact, the Hawkeyes have only had a handful of five-star recruits come to Iowa in Ferentz’s 20-year stint as head coach, the most recent being defensive end A.J. Epenesa.

But Iowa doesn’t pull in the flashy recruiting classes for a reason: they know who they want, and what they want to see from that player. Iowa has prided itself on being a developmental program, not a program who pulls in four or five-star recruits and bases their team on talent. Players that won’t be listed in this article may end up becoming All-Americans when all is set and done, because that’s what Iowa does as a program.

However, for those listed in this article, they have a great shot of contributing early and often, as Kirk Ferentz has shown over the last few seasons that he is unafraid of sticking in a true freshman in meaningful situations if he has the confidence in that individual. In 2017, Tristan Wirfs, A.J. Epenesa and Matt Hankins all saw crucial playing time and the trend continued this season with Julius Brents, Riley Moss, Tyrone Tracy and a smattering of others.

Here’s a look at five players who could instantly impact the Hawkeyes.