#81 DJ Vonnahme Season 2026-27

2026 Honors -- The Sporting News preseason second-team All-America... Athlon preseason second-team All-Big Ten... Phil Steele preseason fourth-team All-Big Ten... Mackey Award Watch List... 2026 -- Started at tight end in four games and played in five... has 18 catches for 219 yards (long of 24 yards) and two touchdowns on the season... led team with a season-high six catches for 64 yards (long of 18 yards) in 14-31 loss to #5/6 Ohio State... caught four passes for 44 yards (long of 21 yards) in 20-19 come-frome-behind win at #18 Michigan... caught four passes for 42 yards (long of 16 yards) in 40-0 season-opening shutout vs. Northern Illinois... caught two passes for 44 yards and two touchdowns (long of 24 yards) in 41-24 win at Washington... first Hawkeye tight end with a multi-TD half since 2018 (T.J. Hockenson at Illinois) and the fourth Iowa tight end under Kirk Ferentz to have 2+ receiving touchdowns in a road game (Ray Hamilton-2014 at Illinois, Noah Fant-2017 at Nebraska, and T.J. Hockenson-2018 at Indiana and 2018 at Illinois)... caught two passes for 25 yards (long of 13 yards) and rushed once for two yards in 16-13 win over Iowa State.

2025 Honors -- FWAA Freshman All-America... Associated Press All-Bowl Team... Academic All-Big Ten... Next Man In Award, offense. 2025 -- Played in 12 games, starting five times at tight end... led team in receiving with 29 catches for 434 yards (long of 51 yards) and three touchdowns on the season... led team with a career-high seven catches for a career-high 146 yards (career-high long of 51 yards) and one touchdown in 34-27 win over #14 Vanderbilt in the ReliaQuest Bowl... the 146 receiving yards are the second-most by a tight end in program history (Marv Cook - 159 yards, 1987)... led team with four catches for 59 yards (long of 32 yards) in 21-26 loss at #17 USC... caught four passes for 16 yards (long of seven yards) in 15-20 loss to #11/12 Indiana... led team with three catches for a career-high 91 yards (career-high long of 43 yards) and his second touchdown of the season in 40-16 win at Nebraska... led team with two catches for 43 yards (long of 40 yards) and first touchdown by a Hawkeye tight of the season in 16-18 loss to #9 Oregon... caught three passes for 31 yards (long of 19 yards) in 20-17 win over Michigan State... caught three passes for 13 yards (long of seven yards) in 37-0 shutout at Wisconsin... letterwinner.

2024 -- Played in four games, but had no statistics... letterwinner.

High School Honors -- First-team all-state and all-district as a senior… second team all-state and first-team all-district as a junior (also winning District Co-Offensive Player of the Year)… team captain as a senior. Career -- Played a variety of offensive positions in high school, throwing for 1,803 yards and 25 touchdowns, rushing for 652 yards and 14 touchdowns and totaling 697 receiving yards and 14 scores... also played safety on defense, recording 11 interceptions and scoring two defensive touchdowns... multi-sport athlete, also lettering three years in basketball, and two years in soccer and track… starter on basketball team that qualified for state as a junior... qualified for Iowa state track meet (Class 2A) as a senior in the 100m, and qualified for both the 100m (finished eighth) and 200m as a junior.

Personal -- Born 2/2/2006… enterprise leadership major… parents are Bill and Becky Vonnahme… has four brothers… high school coach was Ryan Steinkamp.