Kirk Ferentz knew this day would come. There would come a time when his two defensive tackles, his two players that epitomized Iowa football more than anyone else, his two staunch leaders on the field and in the locker room, would no longer be on campus.

Mitch King and Matt Kroul are gone, and while it’s impossible to replace two of the more iconic figures from last year’s Outback Bowl victory, Ferentz and defensive-line coach Rick Kaczenski have been planning for this day.

“The bar was set long before we were here, and the bar will always stay high,” Kaczenski said at Iowa media day. “We’ll always be trying to reach that level.”

Christian Ballard and Adrian Clayborn spent five combined years studying King and Kroul. Everything from the two juniors’ play on the field to the leadership role they’ve taken on with the defense shows the effect the former Hawkeyes had on the duo.

To exhibit this new mentality, Ferentz likes to tell a story from the spring when his team was down to only six or seven defensive linemen because of various injuries. One of the guys up front had just broken his helmet, and without much hesitation, both Clayborn and Ballard stepped in to play the two defensive tackle spots.

Keep in mind, the two were used exclusively as defensive ends before the spring, and now, the coaching staff is toying with the idea of putting Ballard on the inside permanently.

“We’re definitely trying to take up the role Mitch and Matt had,” Ballard said. “They were great here, and I think we’re ready to take that role on.”

With that said, King and Kroul both routinely played anywhere from 60-75 snaps a game — something unheard of for defensive tackles. Ferentz said no one on the defensive line will garner that much playing time, leaving a need for more depth.

Currently, junior defensive tackle Karl Klug and redshirt sophomore defensive end Broderick Binns have assumed the roles next to Ballard and Clayborn. And while the two seem a bit enamored with their predecessors — Klug said, “[King and Kroul’s] technique was like, perfect, at all times” — no one is questioning whether they can both make plays along the line.

In only his second year on campus, Binns exhibited his playmaking ability late in the season, recovering a fumble and breaking up a pass that lead to an interception against Purdue on Nov. 15.

But Ferentz said the St. Paul, Minn., native really started making an impact during the team’s bye week in late October; the team didn’t block him effectively during the off-week and “we haven’t blocked him since … in practice.”

Kaczenski said, “Sometimes, when you get caught up in the season, you don’t realize how much impact a guy had on your football team. … I didn’t realize [Binns] played this much, and he’s a heck of a football player.”

Klug, on the other hand, showed promise early last year. Largely an unknown second stringer, the Minnesota native recorded two sacks and a forced fumble in Iowa’s second game against Florida International, earning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors.

Besides the starters, sophomore defensive tackle Mike Daniels, redshirt freshman Steve Bigach, and junior Cody Hundertmark will help give the Hawkeyes some depth up front. Senior Chad Geary won’t be available early on as he continues to recover from an ACL injury he suffered in the spring.

“We’ll get creative if we have to,” Ferentz said about the rotation up front.