The Iowa linebackers didn’t have a lot of time to settle into their first game on Sept. 1. After the Hawkeye offense went three-and-out to open the battle against Northern Illinois, Colten Rastetter’s first punt of the season got blocked by the Huskies, giving them possession at the Iowa 23.

Thrown into the fire fast, the Iowa defense came up with a clutch stop, holding the Huskies scoreless (though Northern Illinois kicker Andrew Gantz had to cooperate by missing a 33-yard field-goal attempt). Iowa broke away in the second half for the 33-7 win.

Before “racking up” all of minus-2 yards in the third quarter, the Huskies had possession in Iowa territory twice, but the Hawkeye defense stepped up both times, bailing out the offense and special teams.

“If [the offense] is not clicking, then it’s our job to go out and get back the ball back for our offense,” linebacker Kristian Welch said. “It wasn’t necessarily that we had our backs against the wall … we just focused on doing our job, making our checks, our coverage changes, whatever it may be.”

It was the first start in the careers of Amani Jones, Nick Niemann, and Welch. While Niemann and Welch impressed observers by making plays throughout, Jones got pulled in the first quarter after making 1 tackle.

Despite not starting, Jack Hockaday stepped up with a solid performance in relief of Jones, posting 5 tackles, including a tackle for a loss.

“You got to be ready as a backup,” Hockaday said. “Whenever it’s your time, you got to step in there. There can’t be any fall from the No. 1 guy. You got to just do your job and get the defense aligned. It takes a lot of studying during the week, and I felt I was prepared.

“I felt like I kept my poise, made the right calls. Definitely made some mistakes, and those will have to be cleaned up.”

During camp, Jones seemed to be a pillar of the inexperienced linebacker corps and a future leader of the defense. In fact, Jones was voted to be on the Iowa Leadership Group by his teammates.

With an experienced group of linebackers that played with each other for three years in 2017, Iowa didn’t rotate linebackers.

As the season progresses, the Hawkeye coaching staff has some decisions to make.

“Game action is always different from practice, and we’ll evaluate the team all year long,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “I think you learn more about the guys on the game field. I thought Jack stepped in there and did a really nice job; it was great to see. Amani, we think is a really good football player, and he’ll be back at it.”

Welch led the team with 11 tackles — 5 ahead of Jones, the next highest finisher, who did most of his work in mop-up duty. Welch did it all for the Hawkeye defense, racking up a sack, tackling for a loss, and forcing a fumble.

He also had 2 more tackles against the Huskies than he had in his career until now.

Niemann, on the other hand, proved his worth early after securing a starting spot in camp. On the same day Niemann’s older brother, Ben, made the Kansas City Chiefs roster, Nick made 4 stops, including a big tackle for a loss.

After the Hawkeyes finally put together a drive in the first quarter and made their way into Northern Illinois territory, quarterback Nate Stanley lofted a ball toward double-covered Brandon Smith on the right sideline for a pick.

After trucking past midfield, the Huskies faced a fourth-and-2 in a tie game when Niemann introduced himself to the Kinnick crowd, dropping the ball carrier for a 6-yard loss and a turnover on downs, keeping the shutout alive for the moment.

“They were driving down the field on us, we couldn’t get a stop, and then fourth down, we had to get off the field, so [I] came up with it,” Niemann said.