Iowa Hawkeyes Explain How They'll Move On From Kaleb Johnson In 2025

It's not going to be easy to replace Kaleb Johnson in Iowa City.

The former Iowa Hawkeyes' star running back rushed for 1,537 yards and 21 touchdowns last season and was ultimately selected No. 83 overall in the 2025 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. He's now next in line to be the latest Hawkeye to go on to have great success in the NFL. In the meantime, though, Iowa and head coach Kirk Ferentz have to figure out how to replicate what Johnson gave the team last season.

It won't be easy, but expect the Hawkeyes to utilize a running back by committee approach unless someone in that group steps up to become the de facto every down back.

Sophomore Kamari Moulton was listed as RB1 in spring and junior Jaziun Patterson checked in at RB2.

Both players will have a shot to get plenty of carries in 2025, but there's not a ton of experience between them. Moulton carried the ball 84 times last season and notched 473 yards and three touchdowns as a freshman, averaging 5.6 yards per carry. Patterson carried the ball 63 times and notched just 309 yards and two touchdowns on 4.9 yards per carry.

Their total amount of carries combined was 147, which is still nearly 100 carries away from Johnson's total by himself last season.

That's a huge gap to make up for, but it's worth noting that Moulton believes the Hawkeyes are up to the task. They're also using Johnson's big season in 2024 as motivation moving forward.

“I’d say it’s a chip on our shoulder because we want to do that, plus more,” said Moulton recently said, according to Jeff Johnson of The Gazette. “We want to be the ones to break more records, so I feel like it has given us more of a drive, just to show that it’s not just Kaleb Johnson. There are other people in the room, and now it’s our time to show.”

It's going to be easier said than done, but the Hawkeyes have always boasted strong running backs and offensive lines in the Ferentz era. If there's a program that can do it, it would be Iowa.

Also in the running back room will be sophomore Terrell Washington Jr. and redshirt freshmen Xavier Williams and Brevin Doll. The Hawkeyes also have a true freshman running back on the roster in Nathan McNeil, who was a 3-star recruit.

First-year running backs coach Omar Young is going to have his work cut out for him, but his job this summer and early fall is to figure out which roles each of these players will play for the team in 2025. From there, it just comes down to execution.

“You would like ideally to have one guy, two guys, at the most three, where you’re kind of supplementing each one of them,” Young recently explained to The Gazette. “And they each have got to have a role ... a specific role, so they know when they get in there exactly what to expect.