It’s quite apparent that the Iowa football program is entering a new age of Hawkeyes football. Prior to the 2019 NFL Draft, four underclassmen declared, setting a program record. Then, over this weekend, all four of those players heard their names called by the time we reached the middle of the fourth round. While there were a few Iowa football graduates that were expected to be looked at late on day three, ultimately all 32 NFL teams passed on the likes of Ross Reynolds, Keegan Render, and Nick Easley among others.
All three of those guys have signed UDFA contracts and the other graduated members of the Iowa football team are working out the details of their NFL careers, but what really stands out is that the Hawks had the 4th most players drafted in the Big Ten, behind just Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan, and had the three guys above been taken, the Hawks would have been sitting in second place in the Big Ten.