IOWA CITY, Iowa – University of Iowa senior return specialist Kaden Wetjen has been named to the 2025 Jet Award Watch List, announced by the Jet Award Foundation on Friday.

The Jet Award honors the most outstanding return specialist in college football. Wetjen was the 2024 honoree after a stellar junior campaign.

Wetjen was chosen as an All-American by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and Sporting News, was voted the Big Ten’s Rodgers-Dwight Return Specialist of the Year, and earned first-team All-Big Ten accolades in 2024.

Wetjen’s 1,055 combined kick return yards led the country by a wide margin in 2024. He was first in the FBS in kickoff return yards (727) and second in punt return yards (328).

The native of Williamsburg, Iowa, native had two returns for scores in 2024, including a 100-yard kickoff return against No. 19 Missouri in the Music City Bowl. The return is tied for the longest in program history and tied Iowa’s longest bowl game kickoff return (C.J. Jones against USC in the 2003 Orange Bowl) and the Music City Bowl’s longest kickoff return (LSU’s Leonard Fournette in 2014). Wetjen had three returns for 151 yards against the Tigers, averaging 50.33 yards per return, which is an Iowa bowl game record.

During the regular season, Wetjen also returned a punt 85 yards for a score against Northwestern, the seventh-longest in school history. He had 100+ kickoff return yards in three straight games (Washington, Michigan State and Northwestern) in 2024, a first by a Hawkeye since at least 1978.

The preseason watchlist features 16 standout players from across the nation who have demonstrated exceptional abilities in the return game. The winner of the 2025 Jet Award will be selected by a distinguished panel of voters including members of the FWAA, former winners of the Jet Award, and co-founders Johnny Rodgers and William Reed.

The award, named in honor of Heisman Trophy winner and College Football Hall of Famer Johnny “The Jet” Rodgers, will culminate with the presentation at the Jet Award Gala on April 2, 2026, in Omaha.

The Hawkeyes kickoff the season against UAlbany on Aug. 30 at Kinnick Stadium beginning at 5 p.m. (CT).

HAWKEYES ON 2025 WATCH LISTS
* Rhys Dakin – Ray Guy Award
* Gennings Dunker – Outland Trophy // Wuerffel Award
* Aaron Graves — Nagurski Trophy
* Mark Gronowski — Maxwell Award
* Logan Jones – Outland Trophy
* Drew Stevens – Lou Groza Award
* Kaden Wetjen – Jet Award

IOWA CITY, Iowa – University of Iowa sophomore punter Rhys Dakin has been named to the 2025 Ray Guy Award Watch List, while senior place-kicker Drew Stevens has been named to the Lou Groza Award Watch List. The announcements were made Friday by the Augusta Sports Council and Palm Beach County Sports Commission.

The Ray Guy Award is presented to the nation’s top collegiate punter, while the Lou Groza Award goes to the country’s best place kicker.

Dakin (6-foot-4, 223 pounds) earned Freshman All-America honors Football Writers Association of America and was recognized on the all-conference second team in 2024.

The native of Melbourne, Australia, averaged 44.1 yards on 64 punts, which ranked fourth in the Big Ten and 24th nationally. Thirty-three of his punts were fair caught, 29 were downed inside the 20 and 16 traveled 50+ yards. Only five of his punts were touchbacks.

Established in 2000, the Ray Guy Award is named after College and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Ray Guy. The recipient of the 2025 Ray Guy Award will be announced in December. Former Hawkeye Tory Taylor won the award in 2023 — and was a semifinalist in 2020 and 2021 — while Ryan Donahue was a finalist in 2010.

Stevens (6-foot-1, 205 pounds) was a semifinalist for the award in 2022 and 2023. He is the third Hawkeye to be a two-time Groza Award semifinalist; Nate Kaeding won the award in 2002 and was a finalist in 2003, while Mike Meyer was a semifinalist in 2011 and 2012. Iowa has had a Groza Award semifinalist four of the last six seasons: Keith Duncan (2019), Caleb Shudak (2021) and Stevens (2022 and 2023).

The native of North Augusta, South Carolina, ranks seventh in school history scoring (245), converting 54-of-67 field goals and 83-of-84 PATs. His 54 field goals are fourth most in program history. Stevens enters his senior season having made a school-record eight field goals of 50 yards or more. He has twice been successful with career-long 54-yard field goals (Northwestern, 2022; Maryland, 2024). Stevens was a third-team all-conference selection in 2024, scoring 100 points (20-of-23 FG; 40-of-40 PAT).

Semifinalists for the award will be announced on Nov. 18. From this list, a panel of FBS head coaches, SIDs, media members, former Groza finalists, and current NFL kickers select the top three finalists, announced on Nov. 25. The national winner will be announced on Dec. 12.

The award is named for NFL Hall of Fame kicker Lou Groza, who played 21 seasons with the Cleveland Browns. Groza won four NFL championships with Cleveland and was named league player of the year in 1954.

The Hawkeyes kickoff the season against UAlbany on Aug. 30 at Kinnick Stadium beginning at 5 p.m. (CT).

HAWKEYES ON 2025 WATCH LISTS
* Rhys Dakin – Ray Guy Award
* Gennings Dunker – Outland Trophy // Wuerffel Award
* Aaron Graves — Nagurski Trophy
* Mark Gronowski — Maxwell Award
* Logan Jones – Outland Trophy
* Drew Stevens – Lou Groza Award

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State redshirt sophomore kicker Kyle Konrardy has been named to the watch list for the 2025 Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award, announced Friday by the Palm Beach County Sports Commission.

Konrardy earned All-Big 12 honorable mention accolades as a redshirt freshman, breaking the school record for kicking points scored (109) and connecting on an ISU freshman record 21 field goals and finishing 46-for-48 on extra points.

Konrardy, who made 1-of-28 field goals, is one of 11 returning FBS kickers nationally who made more than 20 field goals last season.

The Dubuque, Iowa, native went 15-for-16 from inside 40 yards, but also connected on a pair of kicks from 50-plus yards. He made a 54-yard game winner at Iowa with just seconds remaining and later in the season drilled a 52-yarder against Cincinnati.

Konrardy is one of 30 kickers on the list.

Iowa State opens the 2025 season on August 23 in Dublin, Ireland, against Kansas State in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic. Season tickets are on sale, here.

IOWA CITY, Iowa – University of Iowa volleyball has announced the hire of Olivia Larsen as the program’s Director of Operations. The announcement was made by head coach Jim Barnes on Friday.

Larsen returns after earning her BA in Elementary Education from the University of Iowa in 2024. She served as a student manager with the program from 2021-2023. Additionally, she was tabbed as interim director of volleyball operations during the 2021 season. In that role, Larsen created weekly itineraries for the staff and student-athletes, arranged all aspects of team and staff travel and served as the primary contact between the program, support staff and departmental staff.

Prior to her return to the University of Iowa, Larsen was a fourth-grade teacher, head volleyball coach and co-head softball coach at Sidney High School in Iowa.

After finally settling on a home Iowa center Trevin Jirek is preparing for his freshman season. The 6-10 Jirek led West Des Moines Valley to three straight state titles and originally signed with UNI. He changed his mind after Ben McCollum was named the new Hawkeye coach.

Jirek says he needed to start the process before he could speak to McCollum.

After getting his release from UNI Jirek reached out to McCollum.

McCollum tried to recruit Jirek while he was at Drake.

A busy weekend at the Iowa Speedway is capped off by Sunday afternoon’s Iowa Corn 350. Chase Briscoe is currently eighth in the NASCAR Cup Series standings and won an ARCA Menard Series race at the Iowa Speedway 2016 and registered an Xfinity Series win in 2019. He finished 28th in the Cup Series debut last year.

Briscoe says it is a much different surface from the one he won on.

Austin Cindric says being the second year on the track all of the teams will be better prepared.

Practice for the Cup Series cars begins at 12:30 Saturday afternoon followed by qualifying. Action begins Friday night with an ARCA Menard Series race. There is an Xfinity Series race Saturday afternoon.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa senior offensive tackle Gennings Dunker has been named to the 2025 Allstate Wuerffel Trophy Watch List, the Wuerffel Foundation announced Thursday.

Dunker (6-foot-5, 315 pounds) started 11 contests as a junior and was a dominant force on the right side of Iowa’s offensive line that was recognized as a semifinalist for the Joe Moore Award in 2024. The Lena, Illinois, native was a second-team all-conference honoree, as well as an Academic All-District selection. Dunker, who is also a candidate for the 2025 Outland Trophy, helped pave the way for Iowa’s offense rushing for more than 200 yards in seven games last season.

Now in its 21st season, the Allstate Wuerfel Trophy is college football’s premier award for community service. The trophy is named after Danny Wuerffel, the 1996 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback from the University of Florida who parlayed his success on the football field into a lifetime of service and humanitarianism.

Dunker has spent several hours volunteering at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, Safe Haven Animal Shelter, Legacy Pointe Senior Living Center and Iowa City Regina High School. The human physiology major is a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree, two-time Academic All-District selection and three-time Presidential Committee on Athletics medallion recipient.

The 2025 Allstate Wuerffel Trophy finalists and recipient will be selected by a national voting committee along with a fan vote component. The winner will be announced on Dec. 12th. The Allstate Wuerffel Trophy Presentation Gala will take place Jan. 31, 2026, at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.

The award recipient will be invited to join Danny Wuerffel in New York City to attend the Heisman Trophy ceremonies, including the press conference, televised announcement show and gala.

The Hawkeyes open the season Aug. 30, hosting UAlbany inside Kinnick Stadium beginning at 5 p.m. (CT).

Iowa State tight end Ben Brahmer says the Cyclones are treating their season opener as a business trip. ISU gets an early start to the season on August 23rd by playing Big-12 rival Kansas State in Dublin, Ireland.

Brahmer says the coaching staff has been detailed in helping the players get ready for playing overseas.

As he said the previous cut the Cyclones met with a “sleep specialist” to get ready for the trip.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa’s 2025 home football contest against UMass on Sept. 6 at 6:30 p.m., scheduled at Duke Slater Field at Kinnick Stadium, is officially sold out. The announcement was made Wednesday by the UI Athletics Department.

UMass joins Hawkeye contests against Indiana (Sept. 27) and Minnesota (Oct. 25) as sold out. A limited number of tickets remain for home games versus Albany (Aug. 30), Penn State (Oct. 18) and Oregon (Nov. 8). Iowa’s home finale against Michigan State (Nov. 22) also has tickets available.

Iowa has sold out 21 consecutive games inside Kinnick Stadium dating back to the start of the 2022 season.

Limited Hawkeye Village Ticket & Tailgate packages remain for select home games. Fans can secure their game tickets and the best gameday tailgate here: hawkeyesports.com/hawkeye-village.

Tickets are only sold and issued by the UI Athletics Ticket Office and its authorized agents. Persons buying tickets from other entities do so at their own risk. Fans should use caution if buying tickets from unauthorized outlets and are strongly encouraged to use SeatGeek, the official fan to fan marketplace of Hawkeyes, for sold out events.

The UI Athletic Ticket Office is only able to service/support purchases made through that office, or on SeatGeek. Iowa Athletics reserves the right to cancel any ticket purchases, less fees, made for the purpose of resale without notification.

All tickets for University of Iowa athletic events are distributed electronically and should be downloaded to a smartphone device. If you do not have access to a smartphone, please contact the ticket office to make arrangements.

Tickets are distributed no earlier than three weeks prior to the start of a season. If applicable, season tickets and/or parking will not be released until all required contributions have been received and processed by the I-Club.