Iowa football: 5 takeaways from Kids’ Day at Kinnick

Iowa football hosted its annual Kids’ Day at Kinnick over the weekend in what was the final open practice before the Hawkeyes kick the season off on Aug. 30 against Albany.

Though the Hawkeyes had several notable players in street clothes during the scrimmage, it was still a great opportunity for the coaching staff and for the fan base to get a look at what Iowa might have to offer during the 2025 college football season.

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With the dust settling, let’s dive into five takeaways from Kids’ Day at Kinnick:

Mark Gronowski flashed some really good and some not-so-good

It was to be expected, but it was an up-and-down day from quarterback Mark Gronowski during the scrimmage. Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz had indicated before Kids’ Day that Gronowski was working through a little rust, and that’s some of what Hawkeye fans saw on Saturday.

Gronowski fumbled multiple snaps and was also intercepted by junior defensive back Koen Entringer for a pick-six. The Des Moines Register’s Chad Leistikow charted Gronowski as 10-for-20 passing for 134 yards with an interception on a screen pass that got taken back the other way.

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While Gronowski certainly needs to clean up some of the inaccuracies and mistakes, he also showcased the downfield passing attack that’s been sorely lacking in Iowa City with an early deep ball to senior Seth Anderson and another nice deep corner route to sophomore Reece Vander Zee.

Expecting that Gronowski was just going to go out and completely light it up was probably an unrealistic expectation. But, while there were certainly positives and highlight plays, there’s definitely plenty of room for necessary improvement as well.

Seth Anderson appears primed for increased production

Iowa is excited about what graduate wide receiver Jacob Gill—its leading receiver from 2024—and Vander Zee will bring to the table in 2025.

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But, it can’t be just those two. Anderson looked like the early candidate to jump into the Hawkeyes’ wide receiver No. 3 role.

The 6-foot, 187-pound receiver was limited by injury to just seven games and a pair of starts last season, finishing with just five catches for 106 yards. Anderson transferred into the Iowa program ahead of the 2023 season from Charleston Southern.

In his initial campaign in 2023, Anderson reeled in 11 grabs for 150 yards and a score. Hawkeye fans have been waiting to see the player that caught 42 passes for 612 yards and seven touchdowns at Charleston Southern in 2022.

On Saturday, Anderson looked like an upperclassman that’s chomping at the bit to make a lasting final impression. It wasn’t just the 44-yard, chunk grab either.

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Anderson looks like he has a nice rapport with Gronowski, which is going to be pivotal in order for Anderson to author the final season in Iowa City that he wants to.

Karson Sharar, Koen Entringer were defensive standouts

Iowa is replacing two great ones at linebacker in Jay Higgins and in Nick Jackson. Higgins was the Butkus-Fitzgerald Big Ten Linebacker of the Year and a first-team All-American. Meanwhile, Jackson was terrific over his two seasons with the Hawkeyes, tallying 110 and 91 tackles in the 2023 and 2024 seasons, respectively.

Seniors Karson Sharar and Jaden Harrell were listed atop Iowa’s spring depth chart as Higgins and Jackson’s replacements. At Kids’ Day, fans got a glimpse as to why with Sharar.

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The 6-foot-2, 235-pound linebacker was all over the place. Sharar forced junior running back Jaziun Patterson to fumble and was right alongside graduate defensive end Ethan Hurkett in blowing up a screen pass intended for redshirt freshman running back Xavier Williams.

Meanwhile, Entringer had the pick-six off a screen pass that missed the mark from its intended target, senior tight end Addison Ostrenga. The 6-foot-1, 211-pound junior safety also supplied a big hit on redshirt freshman running back Brevin Doll.

After the departures of Sebastian Castro, Quinn Schulte and Jermari Harris, Iowa needs a standout defensive back to emerge. Can Entringer be that guy?

Trevor Lauck got the left tackle start, but it’s an ongoing race

In what is a three-man race at left tackle, sophomore Trevor Lauck got the Saturday work at left tackle with the first-teamers. Some might read into that as Lauck is leading the pack at left tackle right now over junior Jack Dotzler and graduate transfer Bryce George.

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Ultimately, that may very well be the case, but Iowa offensive line coach George Barnett said at the Hawkeyes’ media day on Friday that Iowa wasn’t working that trio exclusively at left tackle. Instead, it has been rotating the No. 1 left tackle reps and also mixing in some reps at guard, too.

With senior Beau Stephens still coming back from a concussion, ensuring that all three continue to get reps across the board is important.

Dotzler operated as the backup left tackle and and George as the backup left guard in Kids’ Day.

Nathan McNeil impressed

With sophomore running backs Kamari Moulton and Terrell Washington Jr. sitting during Kids’ Day, freshman running back Nathan McNeil impressed.

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The 5-foot-11, 203-pound Tampa native was impressive in the spring as well. If McNeil keeps running like this, he could make a case for earlier playing time than expected.

McNeil rushed for 1,072 yards and 17 touchdowns as a senior at Wiregrass Ranch.

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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Iowa football: 5 takeaways from Kids’ Day at Kinnick