The Victors

from Drains’ opponent ranking (Iowa OL was second):

“Last year's group was exceptional, winning the Joe Moore Award for the top offensive line in the country. Though they lose three starters off that unit, all three of which were drafted (in the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th rounds), the two who remain are very highly touted. Trevor Lauck returns at LT after a very strong sophomore season and though he wasn't perfect, the expectations are now for him to grow into a first round tackle in 2026. Likewise, Kade Pieper is also in the first round of mock drafts and will be moving over from G to C to replace the departed Logan Jones. Nick Baumgartner called Pieper "Iowa’s most athletically impressive run blocker since Tyler Linderbaum" in the linked article above.

Those two returning players give Iowa a super high floor, but they'll need the new starters to emerge if they want to win the Moore Award again. One new starter is imported, Trent Wilson from JMU, who they managed to prevent from going with Chesney to UCLA. He was pretty solid as a rotational OL on a decent workload, though only making one start for the Dukes. The good news is Wilson was a true freshman and should grow under this newfound Iowa OL development program. Likewise, new projected starters Leighton Jones and Jack Dotzler are coming off seasons where they played ~120-140 snaps each sitting behind that vaunted OL and did well in those limited snaps.”