By DARREN MILLER
hawkeyesports.com
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Four of the five University of Iowa offensive linemen who started in the Hawkeyes’ 49-24 Holiday Bowl victory over Southern California return for the 2020 season that begins Oct. 24 at Purdue.
The lone exception is right tackle Tristan Wirfs, who is now turning heads in the NFL. Back in black and gold are senior left tackle Alaric Jackson, junior left guard Mark Kallenberger, sophomore center Tyler Linderbaum and junior right guard Kyler Schott.
Jackson, who was named third-team All-Big Ten by league coaches and media, has started 34 career games and he understands that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
“It’s not one man, it’s a five-man unit,” said Jackson, a 6-foot-6, 315-pounder from Detroit. “If we play hard, make holes and win games, we’ll be fine in the end.”
Eight different Hawkeye offensive linemen started a game last season when Iowa went 10-3 to finish with double-digit wins for the sixth time since 2002. The only player to remain in the same spot for all 13 games was sophomore center Tyler Linderbaum.
“We have a lot of guys who have played snaps in games,” Linderbaum said. “To have that under their belt is definitely a good thing. They understand the tempo of the games, they understand the speed and what the practices need to be like in order to be successful in games. We’re doing a good job of that — we have a lot of guys stepping up and trying to become great players and I’m excited to see what is going to happen.”
The 6-3, 289-pound Linderbaum was honorable mention All-Big Ten last season.
Iowa’s offensive line received a boost in depth with the return of 6-4, 296-pound senior guard Cole Banwart, who started against Middle Tennessee State and Michigan in 2019 before suffering a season-ending knee injury. Banwart says he has been “full go” since July.