Iowa football’s DNA under head coach Kirk Ferentz for the last quarter century has been built on establishing the run, limiting opponent possessions and winning by out-executing those who get impatient. The philosophy is reliant on being better in the trenches than your opponent and having a consistently good defense.
Check and check for Iowa football generally. For 2026 there are question marks, but with a pair of pre-season All-Big Ten selections on the offensive line we expect the Hawkeyes to be
solid up front and Phil Parker has more than established trust that no matter the turnover on the defense, it will be good.
Under offensive coordinator Tim Lester, the Hawkeyes have been gradually climbing out of the cellar they found themselves in for the half decade that preceded him. In the first two seasons, that’s been built largely around success in the running game – but the recipe has evolved over each of those years.
In year one of the Tim Lester experience, the Hawkeyes had an NFL caliber back in Kaleb Johnson and they rode him to one of the greatest single seasons a Hawkeye back has had. Ever. Johnson ran for 1,537 yards (third most all-time in a season for a Hawkeye) and 21 Touchdowns (most all-time for an Iowa RB in a single season).
With Johnson off to the Steelers, the Hawkeyes adapted in 2025 with the running game shifting to platoon out of the backfield, led by quarterback Mark Gronowski. While the passing game still left much to be desired, Gronowski set records running the ball, including his 16 rushing TDs which are the most by a QB and fourth most all-time by any Hawkeye.
Entering 2026, the rushing attack will again shift focus with the return of Kamari Moulton, who ran for a team-high 878 yards last year, and the addition of the leading rusher in all of FCS in L.J. Phillips Jr.
The question for this season doesn’t appear to be whether Iowa will be effective running the ball, but how the attack will be split. This week we asked our community who leads the Hawkeyes in rushing this season? The FanDuel Sportsbook hasn’t posted Iowa player props yet (the season win total still sits at 7.5, for the record), so consider this the people’s market. And the people cannot decide.
48% said L.J. Phillips Jr. 48% said Kamari Moulton. 4% went elsewhere. A dead heat, down to the percentage point. When I wrote in the RB position breakdown that the most likely answer was a near-even split, I didn’t expect the fanbase to render that verdict quite so literally.
The Case for the Pitbully
Nobody in this backfield needs an introduction less than the guy who has never played a snap for Iowa. L.J. Phillips Jr. led the entire FCS in rushing at South Dakota last fall: 1,921 yards and 19 touchdowns on 294 carries, a 6.5 average, with a 301-yard afternoon against Northern Colorado that stands as the first 300-yard game of the program’s FCS era. Walter Camp, the AFCA and Sports Illustrated all put him on their All-America first teams. He reached 1,000 yards in just eight games, faster than any Coyote back since the program moved up.
The backstory explains why an All-American was available to Iowa at all. Phillips ran for 1,982 yards as a high school junior in Wichita, tore his ACL in the state playoffs, and watched the power-conference offers evaporate. He rebuilt himself in Vermillion, roomed with Beckett DeJean (yes, Cooper’s brother), and when he hit the portal in December he picked Iowa over Penn State. His teammates call him “Pitbully.” New running backs coach Jay Norvell described him as “a bowling ball covered in butcher knives.” I have nothing to add to that sentence. It’s perfect.
The Case for the Incumbent
Kamari Moulton just led Iowa in rushing, and the resume is sneaky solid: 878 yards and 5 touchdowns on 170 carries, a 5.2 average, plus 16 catches, in a season where he missed two games and still earned honorable mention All-Big Ten. He closed the year with 93 yards and two touchdowns in the Black Friday beatdown at Nebraska. The one hole in the file: he never cracked 100 yards in a single game.
He’s also the guy who knows the offense, catches the ball, and handles pass protection, the skills that decide who’s on the field on third down. The two of them are listed at nearly identical size (Moulton 5-9, 211; Phillips 5-8, 211), but the profiles complement rather than duplicate: Moulton is the polished, do-everything back, Phillips is the sledgehammer. Moulton, for his part, sounds thrilled about the company: “L.J. is a great spirited guy… he brings another assignment in the room and a different energy and we feed off of that.”
What Iowa Does With a Timeshare?
So, if this thing turns into a true timeshare between Moulton and Phillips, what would that look like for the offense?
Iowa history has run on both a primary back and a timeshare system and the results are instructive. When one back is clearly special, the staff feeds him until the tires bald: Shonn Greene took 307 carries for 1,850 yards in 2008, and Kaleb Johnson took 240 for 1,537 and a program-record 21 touchdowns in 2024. When the room has two comparable backs, the staff has never been shy about splitting the work:
The 2016 season is the template everyone in Iowa City should be yearning for. Wadley and Daniels both cleared 1,000 yards while splitting 381 carries, and both still had legs in November. That’s the only time in the last 25 years Iowa produced two 1,000-yard rushers and it happened precisely because neither back had to carry the whole load and offered different rushing styles.
For the ceiling argument: Moulton and Phillips combined for 2,799 rushing yards last season. The obvious asterisk is that Phillips earned his half against FCS fronts and Big Ten linebackers are a different tax bracket. But even a substantial FCS discount lands this duo in range of that 2016 pair and our position breakdown’s bar of 1,500-plus combined yards looks conservative from here.
My Read
The 48/48 tie is the fanbase seeing what we’re all hoping for – a thunder and lightning approach that keeps Iowa on its winning ways with that DNA. A strong run game, a suffocating defense and out-executing opponents.
A season ago, we watched Moulton earn the job in Iowa City and we’ve all seen the Phillips tape and started daydreaming. My money says Moulton starts in September, Phillips forces the even split by October, and the leading-rusher race comes down to which one vultures more short touchdowns. If Iowa gets a 2016-shaped answer out of this room, nobody will care whose name sits on top of the stat sheet.
