The Iowa football team closes out spring drills on Saturday afternoon with an open practice in Kinnick Stadium.
An experienced Hawkeye defense has been focusing on the fundamentals according to defensive coordinator Phil Parker. “I think it all starts with fundamentals, and that’s what we’ve been working on. We play a lot of base defense and run to the ball and make sure you’ve got your eyes where they need to be and read your keys. And I think that has to go to everybody on the field,” Parker says.
Iowa must replace a pair of defensive tackles and one of those vying for playing time is junior Faith Ekakite. He says everything has gone well, and everyone is competing and has stayed healthy.
Another junior who has caught the eyes of the coaches is junior Kyle Terlouw. The former Lynville-Sully standout transferred from Iowa Central in Fort Dodge. “I had a lot of people who told me I couldn’t do it, coming from small town Iowa, people just kind of laughed at you,” Terlouw says. He says growing up around Iowa football he felt he could do it and “the good lord’s blessed me and let me be here.”