PREGAME
Prioritizing the present
Iowa football’s Koen Entringer’s impact extends beyond his fateful special teams play.
5 things to watch
First-year running back Nathan McNeil has emerged as a potential star in an already-loaded running back room. The Tampa, Florida, native totaled nine carries against Wisconsin, recording 40 yards on those attempts, including a 24-yard scamper in the first quarter. McNeil will have a tough time receiving a workload when Jaziun Patterson returns from injury, but the Iowa coaching staff would be wise to play the freshman due to his perfect mix of strength and speed.
Penn State entered the season as one of the overwhelming favorites to contend for the national championship, but the Nittany Lions have been a disaster through six games. Penn State led Oregon in overtime, but a Drew Allar interception in the second overtime resulted in a Ducks win and another top-10 loss for the Lions. Back-to-back games against UCLA and Northwestern seemed to be great get-right opportunities, but Penn State inexplicably lost both games as three-touchdown favorites. The season continued to snowball when Allar suffered a season-ending injury in the Northwestern loss, and 12th-year head coach James Franklin was fired the following day. There are two things that could happen after a coach gets fired – the team could rally around the interim coach and change their season – UCLA is a great example – or the already-defeated team could quit on their season. It’s hard to forecast what could happen to the Nittany Lions in 2025, but their performance at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday will be telling.
Iowa’s senior quarterback wasn’t expected to play against Wisconsin last weekend, but the bye week likely helped his lower-leg injury recover in time to suit up. Though he did play, it was clear Gronowski wasn’t at 100 percent, as he missed some wide-open passes and seemed tentative when attempting to run. The senior completed 17 of 24 passing attempts for 107 yards, no touchdowns and one interception. The Hawkeyes didn’t need Gronowski to be at his best to beat the Badgers, but they’ll need him to find his rhythm again against a struggling, but still very talented Penn State squad.
True freshmen often show their inexperience when they arrive at the college level, but McNeil has shown more than enough potential and should be utilized in Tim Lester’s offense.
Allar’s season-ending injury against Northwestern opens the door for first-year backup quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer to start for Penn State. Standing at 6-foot-2, Grunkemeyer was ranked as a four-star recruit and the No. 8 quarterback in the Class of 2025 per 247 Sports. The freshman has seen action in two games in 2025, Nevada on Aug. 30 and Villanova on Sept. 13, completing 8 of 11 passing attempts for 105 yards and a touchdown.
Grunkmeyer’s first career start comes under the lights at raucous Kinnick Stadium, and Iowa fans should be intrigued to see how the young quarterback leads this Nittany Lion offense.
Saturday’s game marks the return of Iowa’s annual ANF Black and Gold Spirit Game, where Hawkeye fans coordinate a stripe-out in Kinnick Stadium.
Fans attending Saturday’s game are encouraged to check the seating map on hawkeyesports.com to find out what color they are supposed to wear.
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Iowa defensive back Koen Entringer doesn’t live in the past
A senior and team captain, Entringer focuses on winning, his teammates, and personal improvement.
Koen Entringer can’t bear to watch. The Iowa football defensive back averts his eyes at the scene inside Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium. If the video pops up on his social media, he keeps scrolling. He wouldn’t dare search it on YouTube.
Why waste time reliving one of the worst plays of his career?
he first introduction of ntringer to Iowa fans arrived late in the first quarter of the awkeyes’ 0 Big en hampionship game against Michigan. Entringer’s No. 4 jersey was just another body on special teams until he wound up lying on the turf after missing a tackle on Michigan punt returner Semaj Morgan.
Watching from the stands, Entringer’s mom, Korissa ntringer- yers, knew it was a question of when, not if, her son would recover. Entringer and Morgan played on the same 7-on-7 team in high school, and Entringer-Myers witnessed her son outrun Morgan plenty of times. While many were surprised to see Entringer chase down Morgan and push him out of bounds at the 5-yard line, the feat was inevitable.
“I had no doubt in my mind it would happen,” Entringer-Myers said.
For high school coaches across the nation, Entringer’s play embodied the relentless determination needed to succeed in sport. Yet for Entringer, allowing an 87-yard punt return to your opponent hardly qualifies as triumph, especially when the enemy scores two plays later to lead by double digits.
e’s embarrassed by the fact people are using his whi as a teachable moment,” Entringer-Myers said.
When he re ects on the play, he thinks not of what occurred, but what could have been.
“If only I slowed down a little bit and hit him right there, I probably could have made him fumble or something,” Entringer said. “That play haunts me so much.”
Now a senior and newly elected team captain, Entringer’s reputation extends far beyond his fateful mistake on special teams. Having never played competitive football until high school, Entringer’s development was bound to feature obstacles. The soccer-turned-football player’s knowledge caught up with his natural athleticism, and the e ects couldn’t be clearer.
I think it’s just a mi ture of confidence and e perience,”
idea, and ntringer- yers’ suspicions were only confirmed when a young ntringer su ered a concussion on the playground.
Entringer never had to settle for soccer. Rather, the sport became his first love. tarting out at the striker position, he looked up to legends like el and ristiano onaldo. occer kits lined the top of his wish lists.
aking his way from striker to midfielder, then to goalkeeper, ntringer played for hoeni ’s Brophy ollege rep, a esuit school and local soccer powerhouse, winners of nine state championships. Starting on the varsity team as a sophomore, ntringer helped the squad to a state title in 01 .
round draft pick by the ampa Bay Buccaneers in 0 , insisted on football.
I was like, h, Ben’s challenging oen,’” ntringer- yers remembered. “So that’s how that went. It was perfect.”
A no-cut sport, Brophy’s football program found a spot for ntringer on the freshman B team as a punter.
“It’s pretty low risk, how could you say no?” Entringer-Myers said. ust let him try it, and he probably won’t like it.”
he said. “Playing football is a mixture of thinking, but most importantly, reacting.”
Growing up in Phoenix, Arizona, Entringer held an early interest in football, but soccer was his first option, as ordered by his mom. is mom worked in the avy’s medical field and had seen many injuries. A violent sport like football wasn’t a great
For Arizona high school sports, soccer season ranges from November to February, leaving the autumn open to football. Entringer -Myers said her son was aware of the risks associated with the sport, but knew she couldn’t stop her son from playing once he reached high school, especially if he wanted to prove a point to a friend.
ntringer met Ben orrison in middle school, and the two would constantly debate whether soccer or football was tougher to play. Morrison, a cornerback at Notre Dame and a second-
Regardless of him proving a point to Morrison, Entringer stuck with football, playing on the team the following year and recording an interception in his first game on defense. he pass sailed right to him, Entringer remembered. The next year, he’d travel across the country.
Entringer and his mom moved to Michigan to live closer to her boyfriend, an yers, whom she married in 0 1. laying at Ann Arbor Huron High School, Entringer switched to wide receiver, earning an all-conference nod.
Yet his offensive skills grabbed the attention of the team’s defensive backs coach, Raymon Taylor, a former cornerback at Michigan who later played for the Indianapolis Colts.
“From the beginning, he looked at Koen and said, ‘You’re raw, but you’re a great athlete and I want to start training you,’” Entringer-Myers remembered.
Lessons with Taylor only cost the Entringers Gatorade for the rest of the kids.
Following his junior season, Entringer played for Sound Mind Sound Body Football Academy, a club program centered on increasing exposure and potential college
held offers from FCS schools, including Morgan State, Youngstown State, and Eastern Illinois. In June 2021, he committed to Central Michigan, an FBS school. But as the leaves began to change toward autumn, so did Entringer’s recruiting outlook.
For his final season of high school, Entringer transferred 26 miles north to Walled Lake Western High School, joining new varsity football head coach Kory Cioroch, who arrived from Farmington High School.
Upon meeting Entringer over the
scholarships for student-athletes in the Detroit metro area. Since 2004, the program has taught more than 13,000 kids, with more than 1,000 earning college scholarships, per its website.
The program saw potential in Entringer and o ered him a spot on its national -on- team. His family had about a week’s notice before a tournament in Tennessee, an all-expensespaid trip.
A little surprised by the o er, orissa and her husband prayed and made a decision: their son’s football journey would continue to grow.
“We’re going to trust the universe, we’re going to trust God’s plan,” Entringer-Myers said. “We’re going to trust what these people are telling us.”
By the start of his senior year, Entringer
summer, Cioroch saw a talented individual, as evidenced by the player’s Central Michigan signing, but also someone with the potential to play on both sides of the ball.
“Number one, we needed him. Had to do what’s right for the team,” Cioroch said. therwise, he just fit the mold. e was a big, physical kid. He liked to block as a receiver.”
Entringer initially started at cornerback, but his physicality proved to be a little excessive. Cioroch recalled almost 10 pass interference penalties against Entringer.
to mention 444 receiving yards and six touchdowns.
“It takes some time, but I just love chasing people down and hitting them,” Entringer said.
The natural next option was safety. Cioroch said Entringer totaled about 15 tackles in his first start at the new position.
For Entringer-Myers, the transition to safety was only natural considering her
ou watch the back of the field for years in the box as goalie,” she said. “You know how to play on someone’s hip as a soccer player. You know how to track side to side as a soccer player. You do all of those things as a football player, as a defensive back and receiver.”
For Cioroch, even though Entringer didn’t know specific defensive alignments and coverage terminology at first, the senior’s determination made him a quick study. Entringer recorded 88 tackles, 11 pass break-ups, two forced fumbles, and one interception for Walled Lake Western, not
As the season progressed, Entringer’s recruitment became more hectic. After Power Five offers from Syracuse and Colorado, Entringer decommitted from Central Michigan in November. In the two weeks since his decision, o ers ooded in from Maryland, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Iowa. Notre Dame came calling in December.
“Every morning it was something new,” Entringer-Myers said. “We were just overwhelmed by the sheer interest. We never experienced anything like that. Honestly, it was just so different that we were just trying to help him triage.”
For his last official visit, Entringer flew to Iowa City in December, landing in pitch black darkness. But after meeting with nowteammates and fellow defensive backs T.J. Hall and Xavier Nwankpa, his future with the Hawkeyes was illuminated.
“These are guys that I could see myself playing with for four years, and it turned out to end up just like that,” Entringer said. “I couldn’t have chosen a better place.”
In Entringer-Myers eyes, Iowa embodied the same sentiment as Entringer’s old Jesuit school.
“He’s been taught in the Jesuit way to be a person for others and Iowa football really teaches them to be men for others as well,”
she said.
Entringer committed to the Hawkeyes five days after his visit. He wasn’t the most heralded recruit in his class — that honor would belong to Nwankpa, a five-star prospect from Southeast Polk High School in Iowa.
Yet for Entringer, the focus was never on comparison to others, but rather on his own development. With longtime head coach Kirk erentz at the helm, ntringer felt confident his coaching sta would stay constant.
“I haven’t played football for a long time, but I’m going to be with a coach who’s going to develop me and invest in me,” Entringer said. “A guy like Coach [defensive coordinator Phil] Parker, he’s not gonna tell me what I want to hear. And that’s the biggest thing —you don’t want to be surrounded by a bunch of yes men.”
Entringer’s play in the 2023 Big Ten title game shouldn’t go unnoticed by others, Entringer-Myers said. Her son’s recovery in the face of adversity is a valuable lesson for anyone, but when replayed over and over again, reinforces the notion nothing has changed for Entringer. It’s as if he’s
still sprinting down the field after organ, running a perpetual race for a pedagogical purpose. When they continue to ask him about it, he remains there,” ntringer- yers said.
ince that moment against ichigan two years ago, ntringer has created more memories, ones that further bury the past and remind others he’s more than a viral football clip. ake his first interception against ichigan tate the following season. r in 0 , when he led the awkeyes with a career-high 10 tackles against Indiana. r when he walks on the field for the pregame coin toss as one of Iowa’s four game captains a responsibility he holds in high regard.
Watching former Iowa linebacker and current
etroit ion ack ampbell, ntringer elevated his personal standards of leadership. e said ampbell knew everyone’s name on defense, from first-stringers to scout team. After getting drafted by etroit, he took the time to call ntringer when the defensive back had questions.
ntringer didn’t even want to make a comparison between himself and his former teammate, but the least he can do is emulate ampbell the best he can. very single time I’ve been voted captain, I strive to prepare and be the teammate he was,” he said.
ntringer never prioritizes himself as a captain. While he jumped with e citement with his teammates and delivered two tackles for loss on fourth-down stops against Indiana, he didn’t gloat on his heroics postgame. he awkeyes lost, 0-1 , in the ept. game, and
for ntringer, victory is the only statistic he cares about. he defensive back won’t be satisfied with any number. In arker’s eyes, such an attitude is difficult to obtain, but needs to be appreciated. here’s going to be some times even when you talk to him, he’s going to say, ey, I could have done better,’” arker said. hat’s the guys you want, and I think everybody on our team is like that. hey don’t worry about the plays they make. hey worry about the plays they don’t make.”
ntringer can’t bear to watch the past because he doesn’t need to think about it. ust like for a safety or goalkeeper, what matters is the play unfolding in front of him.
hat’s just a challenge how can you balance that ” he said. ow can you think before the snap, but once the ball’s going, how can you attack it ”
Sam Phillips emerging as Iowa’s top receiver
The Cha anooga transfer leads the team with 193 yards this season.
When wide receiver Sam Phillips transferred to Iowa in January, not many Hawkeye fans truly knew about him until he appeared as the No. 1 wideout on Iowa’s Week 1 depth chart.
The move by the Iowa coaching staff initially seemed like a head-scratcher. With the assumed No.1 receiver Reece Vander Zee out with a foot injury, most Hawkeye fans expected Seth Anderson, Jacob Gill, or even Dayton Howard to take over as the X receiver.
Phillips, listed at 5-foot-7, is not the prototypical X receiver, a position typically held by a wideout who is around or over 6 feet tall. Phillips, however, has embraced that role in the Iowa o ense, and is now the leading receiver for the Hawkeyes.
The senior has accumulated 193 yards and ranks second on the squad in receptions, hauling in 11 passes through six games. Phillips also leads the team with 17.5 yards per reception, a mark that ranks sixth-best in the Big Ten.
Phillips’ big-play ability shows the trust the awkeye coaching sta has in him to generate long pass plays downfield.
“I’m just trying to gain the trust of coach [receivers coach Jon]Budmayr, coach o ensive coordinator im ester, and coach [head coach Kirk] Ferentz, as well, and just the whole staff, showing that I can create
big plays for the team and make big plays downfield,” hillips said at media availability
ust everything about him is positive,” Ferentz said. “He’s just a really mature guy, does a great job in the classroom, that’s not an issue. And he’s really just blended in well with our team, and it’s seamless. He’s a great guy.”
One on One: Jonah Pace
Pace, a transfer from Central Michigan, discussed his favorite holiday, best Halloween costume, and favorite NFL players.
The Daily Iowan: What is on your bucket list?
Jonah Pace: I would say travel the United States and get to as many stadiums as I can. I’ve been able to go to a couple of stadiums, just for playing football. Texas A&M and all those schools would be fun.
What is your favorite holiday?
Halloween is a good one.
What’s the best Halloween costume you ever wore?
There are so many. Last year, I dressed up as a hockey player, so I have to say that one. That’s what comes to mind.
Where is the coolest place you have traveled to?
I played at Penn State. That was a pretty cool experience there. Also, when I go down to Florida with my family.
What does your average weekend look like in the off-season?
Hang out with the guys, go to a pool, play some golf. Hang around with the guys at the crib, that’s about it.
What is your favorite NFL team, and who is your favorite player?
I’m a big fan of the Chicago Bears. I’ll say a couple of players. I’m a big fan of T.J. and J.J. Watt, and I also liked to watch Akiem Hicks when he was on the Bears. Those guys went crazy.
What is the dumbest way that you have injured yourself?
I fell o the counter when I was little and cracked my head open, so I’ve got some staples on there. That was pretty dumb, but I was pretty young.
What does your average weekend look like in the off-season?
Hang out with the guys, go to a pool, play some golf. Hang around with the guys at the crib, that’s about it.
What is your dream car?
I like muscle cars, old muscle cars. So I’d say a Chevy Impala or something like that.
Will Penn State’s drastic changes a ect the Hawkeyes?
I’m not being accusatory or judgmental at all, but we live in reactionary times.”
hroughout the o season, Iowa fans pegged an ct. 1 home matchup with Penn State as one of the Hawkeyes’ toughest and most important games of the 2025 season.
n paper, that claim would have been a valid one. he ittany Lions entered the season as one of the favorites to not only win the Big Ten, but also claim a national championship. Plenty of key starters returned, including quarterback Drew Allar and running backs aytron Allen and ick ingelton.
After beginning the season -0 and ranked high as o. in the nation, Penn State’s season quickly turned from riches to rags. he ions roared back to force overtime against then- o. regon, but an Allar interception to open the second overtime ended Penn State’s hopes. Two games against lowly UCLA and orthwestern seemed to be prime bounce-back opportunities, but the ittany ions ine plicably lost both games as threetouchdown favorites.
Allar su ered a season-ending injury in the orthwestern game, and 1 th-year head coach ames ranklin was fired the following day, forcing Penn State to turn to defensive backs coach Terry Smith as the interim head coach.
Longevity has been a staple for Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, now in his 27th season, who has been the nation’s longest-tenured coach since 01 . erentz didn’t want to share too much of his opinion on the firing, but his response was clear.
“We live in reactionary times, me personally,” Ferentz said at his weekly press conference on Thursday. “I understand that.
True freshman Ethan Grunkemeyer will replace Allar as Penn tate’s starting quarterback. aturday will mark his first career collegiate start.
“We’ll learn as we go on, but I just know this, they don’t have many guys on their roster that aren’t really good,” Ferentz said.
o my guess is he’s going to play just fine.”
Could change alter Iowa’s game plan?
Personnel changes have the potential to impact a game plan, but the awkeyes - , -1 aren’t worried about that. enn tate
- , 0- still has more than enough talent to leave innick Stadium with a victory, and Iowa is focused on doing whatever it takes to prevent that from happening.
“We’re going to do the same thing that we’ve been doing,” third-year defensive Brian Allen said. “Whether they had their starting guy, same coach, or now their whole program’s upside down at this point, we do the same thing, come out and play our game. That’s all we can do.”
I’m not e pecting them to be any di erent than what they have been in the past couple weeks, but I know that those other coaches are going to get those guys ready to go,” fourth-year quarterback Mark Gronowski added.
I feel like as a unit, we’re pretty confident anyway, and just what our standard is, how we played up to this point, and we know how we can play,” Allen said. o I feel like the confidence is always going to be there, no matter who the opponent is.”
ne of Iowa’s keys to protecting its home turf could be winning in the trenches. The Hawkeyes continue to generate more pressure on opposing quarterbacks each week, and the heat has led to more turnovers. Defensive lineman Aaron Graves and Bryce Hawthorne both recorded interceptions against Wisconsin, and Allen feels they continue to develop more chemistry each week.
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Petras to Ragaini
Then-No. 3 Iowa’s memorable matchup against then-No. 4 Penn State in 2021 will go down as one of the most memorable games in the 96-year history of Kinnick Stadium. The Hawkeyes struggled to get their offense going for most of the day, but were able to claw their way to a 20-17 deficit late in the fourth quarter. With 6:26 to go, Iowa regained possession at the Nittany Lion 44-yard line. The Hawkeye
outraced the chasing Penn State defenders to score the go-ahead score.
The Kinnick Stadium crowd, whose noise produced numerous Nittany Lion false starts, jumped into a frantic frenzy, and the Hawkeyes snuck out a 23-20 win.
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Micah’s moment came just in time
Kid Captain Micah Norby was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy just in time for a new gene therapy treatment. He was the first to receive this treatment at Stead Family Children’s Hospital.
Micah Norby’s favorite colors are black and gold. His favorite sport is football. His favorite animal is a hawk. It’s almost like he was meant to be a University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital Kid Captain.
But icah’s journey nearly took a very di erent turn, and one more day could have changed everything.
Micah’s path to wearing the Kid Captain jersey for Iowa foot ball’s game against enn tate began when he was just five years old. His parents noticed him being a little more clumsy than usual, falling frequently, and not keeping up on the soccer field. earching for answers, they took icah to a local doctor.
We thought it was just a phase,” icah’s mother, ichelle orby, said. aybe he’ll grow out of it. And then he was falling several times a week.”
onths later, when icah was able to get an appointment with a pediatric neurologist in es oines, Iowa, the orby family learned icah had uchenne muscular dystrophy , a disorder of progressive muscular weakness. After learning of the diagnosis, the orby family turned to the tead amily hildren’s Hospital.
“They had said we weren’t going to hear from the [Stead Fam ily hildren’s ospital for up to si months,” icah’s father, ichael orby, said.
But on the ne t business day, they received a call.
n a riday, we got the results from the neurologist in es oines,” ichelle said. n onday, we got a call from the [Stead Family Children’s Hospital] and they said to come in tomorrow.”
After arriving in Iowa ity, doctors informed the orby family Micah was already weaker than most boys his age with the same disorder. But ichael and ichelle felt confident he was in the right hands. The University of Iowa is the only medical center in the state named as a Muscular Dystrophy Association are enter.
hough there is no cure for uchenne muscular dystrophy, tead amily hildren’s ospital sta presented a beacon of hope to the Norby family: new gene therapy designed to slow the progression of the disease. The treatment was only
approved for four and five-year-olds.
othing reverses what’s already taken place,” ichael said. All of it is to prolong what is to come. We were hoping we push back this timetable and give him more of a fighting chance.”
ust one day before the cuto for treatment, the day before his si th birthday, icah became the first boy to receive the gene therapy treatment at the Stead Family Children’s Hospital. The procedure was about two hours long.
The Norby family still recalls memories with Micah’s care
team, highlighting the straightforwardness and urgency displayed by Dr. Katherine Mathews.
“We’ve had some of the worst days of our lives through this process,” ichael said. We appreciate the niversity of Iowa so much.”
early 1 months after his treatment, icah can be found wrestling around with his brother, enjoying recess, and cheering on the Green Bay ackers. e continues to return for appointments with the Stead Family hildren’s ospital sta for monitoring.
Key moments from Iowa’s matchup against Wisconsin
First-year running back Xavier Williams returned from injury and made the most of his playing time against the Badgers. The freshman collected 55 yards and two touchdowns on just seven carries of work, averaging 7.9 yards per rushing attempt.
Williams’ outing was his best since his 122-yard, one-touchdown performance in the season-opener against Albany on Aug. 30.
The normally-potent Iowa rushing attack collected just 92 rushing yards in their loss to Indiana, but the Hawkeyes returned to their old selves against one of the Big Ten’s best rushing defenses in Wisconsin.
Led by second-year back Kamari Moulton, Iowa tallied 206 yards, with Moulton chipping in 96 of those yards.
Moulton’s 96 yards was a new season-high and his touchdown in the first half was his first in nearly a month.
With Iowa leading 10-0 in the first quarter, defensive lineman Aaron Graves jumped right in front of a Hunter Simmons pass and took 35 yards down to the Wisconsin one-yard line. The play was initially ruled a touchdown, but the officials overturned it and declared Graves’ knee down at the one. The Dayton, Iowa, native recorded an interception in high school, but his interception against the Badgers was the first of his collegiate career.
“I have twin older brothers, and I know they will never let me hear the end of not being able to get in the end zone,” Graves said after the game.