Iowa’s offensive line room — led by starting left tackle Mason Richman, left guard Nick DeJong, center Logan Jones, right guard Connor Colby, and right tackle Gennings Dunker — is a world of its own.
The linemen enjoy each other’s presence, frequently asking questions in film sessions, sitting at an exclusive table for team meals, and gathering at one of their homes to bond over high-stakes board games.
Richman prefers Monopoly, the game bringing out his true passion for competition.
“I’m definitely a loud guy,” Richman said. “I mean, these guys have definitely heard my voice before, and I don’t like losing. [That’s] my number one thing.”
And Iowa middle linebacker Jay Higgins noted the accommodation of a big rectangular table — as opposed to the typical, smaller roundtables where each position group sits — that the Hawkeye offensive line is provided for all of the linemen to be able to sit together at team dinners.
“They just stick together,” Higgins said. “They all laugh at the same joke.”
But Jones finds the trust and bonds the linemen build off of the field translate to the trenches — when the five are side-by-side and tasked with protecting a rusher or quarterback.
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“When things are going well or things are going bad, all eyes are on you,” DeJong said. “If you don’t have that togetherness, chances are you’re probably not going to make it.
“Obviously, the offensive line is really where offense starts; if there’s no offensive line, there’s no offense,” he added. “It starts with us … [to] get holes open, get bodies on guys, and then … [do] that all four quarters.”
DeJong said the linemen room has matured in its approach to work ethic every day, whether that be in practices or come game time.
“I think it’s just pretty simple, really,” he said. “It’s coming out to practice and working on it.”
In the Hawkeyes’ 20-13 win over Iowa State on Sept. 9, Iowa redshirt freshman running back Jaziun Patterson had 86 rushing yards on 10 attempts, including a long of 59 yards — and the first touchdown of his college career.
But Patterson didn’t think it was feasible without his offensive line working hard to poke holes for him to run through.
“They were blocking the hell out of those guys,” Patterson said after the game. “I give all my credit to them … They’ve been working hard all week.”
The biggest hole came on a crucial pulling block from Colby, allowing Patterson to burst out for the 59-yard gain.
“That’s as good as I’ve seen from Connor … it was pretty good for anybody, quite frankly,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “If you’ve got guys that can do that … it gives you a chance, and that was great for Connor. Hopefully, it’ll give him a little more confidence.”
Colby felt a lot more nervous in his first season on the line two years ago than he does now, as the past two years of experience translated that confidence to his playing abilities.
Jones said Colby’s extensive experience allows him to understand how to play the offensive line — and how to work hard in spring practice, fall camp, and practices between games.
“I think he’s a guy who doesn’t want to come out of the game,” Jones said. “He wants to be out there, and each game, he’s going to go out there and give his best. That’s the way Connor’s wired.”
That same maturity goes for the other four linemen around him.
“Getting all of those reps through fall camp as a unit definitely helped out a lot,” Colby said. “Once you grow up a little bit, you stop focusing on [blocking] just your guy. You can see the bigger picture of what’s going on [in each play] and eliminate possibilities from there.”
With all but Dunker being returning starters from last season’s squad, Iowa running backs coach Ladell Betts thinks the linemen’s confidence has only grown.
“I think we have an aggressive line that doesn’t mind hitting people,” Betts said. “That’s not something that you can always say about each line every year, is that we do have a bunch of guys that are willing to put their shoulder pads and helmets on people.”
But Jones finds that even Dunker, only a sophomore, can hold his own with the squad, noting his physicality, 6-foot-5 and 320-pound stature, and desire to “hit people.”
“He loves to play the game,” Jones said. “I think that’s the biggest thing. He wants to be out there with us, and I think everybody sees that in the way that he plays.”
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Jones said the offensive line has improved in pass protection, as the group’s communication in practice has upgraded from last year.
“I’m definitely comfortable with these guys because I’ve been with them for two years now, he said. “I understand who they are.”
Ferentz called the combination of the Iowa offensive line, rushing game, and pass protection “a process” after the Iowa State win.
“I think we’re growing,” he said. “The thing I’m probably most excited about is I just think we have a lot of potential to continue to grow, and that’s what we’ve got to be focused on.”
Iowa rushed for 254 net rushing yards in its 41-10 win over Western Michigan on Sept. 16.
Junior running back Leshon Williams rushed for 145 of those yards on 12 attempts, and freshman running back Kamari Moulton ran 50 yards for two touchdowns on eight attempts. Even sophomore running back Max White had a rushing touchdown in the final minutes.
But the Iowa O-line’s blocking for the run game was crucial in allowing each Hawkeye running back to pick up big yardage gains.
“I think we just had a good game plan coming into the past week for that team, and those guys just gelled and just rolled them out of there,” Betts said. “When you have a line like that, sometimes you’ve got to let them roll, and I think we did that [against Western Michigan].”
Betts said the latest rushing successes can be attributed to the type of linemen the Iowa offense boasts.
“[They’re] aggressive guys that like to pull and hit,” Betts said. “It’s something that we tried to work on a lot back in the spring to try to add that to our arsenal as far as the run game … so we could have it in the fall, and I think you’re starting to see some of those dividends pay off.”
Jones said the linemen specifically enjoy running counters — a play in which the running back fakes one way and rushes the other, pulling the initial side’s linemen to the opposite side to block and create a gap.
“That’s the best feeling in the world, pulling for a backer and laying them out,” Jones said. “All you’ve got to do is really hit somebody … So I think that’s just super cool, especially with our running backs. The way that they run, they want to run downhill and find that gap.”
But even when the Hawkeye line forms a good hole and the backs make that breakout run, Jones said the linemen have to stay focused on continuing to play the next snap.
“It’s easy to ride the roller coaster of emotions — you’re on such a high when you get good plays like that when Jaz [Patterson] made that big run [against Iowa State], but you just have to stay calm,” Jones said. “People are going to make plays. That’s what they do. We’ve just got to block up front and let our skill guys do what they do.”
The linemen accredit much of their success to offensive line coach George Barnett — whom DeJong called “one of the best coaches I’ve ever had.”
He noted how much Barnett has done for him in his last three years on the team, developing him not only as an offensive lineman but also as a person and a part of a community, which he will bring with him to his future beyond football.
“He’s an amazing man and mentor,” DeJong said. “I don’t even know a word I could use [that is] good enough to describe who he is, how he goes about things, and how much of a leader … he is for us.”
Coming off of the rushing performance against Western Michigan, the Iowa offensive line was optimistic about holding its own against a firm, top-rated Penn State defense going into the Sept. 23 road game.
“We understand Penn State and Western Michigan are two different teams,” Betts said at media availability just days before the game. “Penn State is ranked where they are for a reason, and we don’t take that lightly, but we also feel like we’re quite capable of getting the job done if need be.”
But the Hawkeye O-line failed to create any strong holes for its running backs throughout the game in the 31-0 loss to the No. 7 Nittany Lions. The Hawkeyes rushed for just 20 total yards on 17 attempts in the game, and not once did they find the end zone.
The line allowed three Penn State sacks, with the offense possessing the ball for just 14 minutes of the game.
DeJong, echoing Barnett, told the team to “stay on the horse” and “not jump ship” after the loss to the Nittany Lions, encouraging the group to adhere to what it knows best and continue to move forward.
And the loss to Penn State has only added motivation for the line to get back to the hard work that has taken it this far — to get back on track and push toward success.
DeJong said the team operates on a 24-hour rule, absorbing the loss on Sunday but coming into practice the next day ready to return to the fundamentals, progress, and focus on Michigan State the next weekend.
“You can sit around and watch film all day; you can talk about it all day, but until you actually go out [and practice], it doesn’t really matter,” DeJong said. “Really, it just comes down to coming out and working on it every day.”
Jones said the O-line had two options — take the loss as a learning point or sulk in it and never move forward.
“We’re going to use that as an opportunity to learn and grow,” he said. “Every once in a while, we get punched in the face. It’s just how you respond to it. That’s what happened [against Penn State], but we’re going to learn from it. We’re going to grow.”
So even when the offensive line faces adversity, it holds together, just like it does in those board game nights, team meals, and film sessions.
“Adversity is nothing new for us,” DeJong said. “We’re able to stick together and come out and work toward our end goal and where we want to be every day.”
But when the team faces adversity and struggles on the front lines, Richman said his focus is on “centering myself.” He mentioned Pro Football Hall of Famer and former Browns offensive tackle Joe Thomas, who did not miss a single play in the NFL until the final season of his professional football career.
Thomas played 10,363 consecutive snaps — the longest streak since 1999 when the NFL first recorded snaps.
“I don’t know if there’s been an O-lineman who’s had a perfect game ever,” Richman said. “It’s about going out there and just responding and just coming back. [Thomas’ record is] just speaking to him going out there no matter what … doing his job.”
Jones said the O-line has games where the team won but the film shows poor play up front and vice versa. But either way, the coaches are honest in the film room, and the attention turns to that week’s practices.
He calls it a growth mindset.
“The only thing you can do is improve, and I think that’s the biggest thing that we really harp on,” he said. “Each week, come in and work on what maybe you struggled with a week prior.”
Jones said the fundamentals of blocking are always a focus in practice leading up to each game, allowing the unit to progress week by week.
“We’re not going to be perfect at the beginning of the season,” Jones said. “Towards the back half, we’re going to be playing our best football.”
And come game time, he said the biggest thing the line can adhere to is that confidence. He added that the different personnel the line goes up against allows for more reps against unique offenses that “give us a run for our money” — as the rest of the season will present.
“There’s going to be challenges in the road — everything’s not going to be perfect; that’s just not realistic,” Jones said. “But each week we’re going to get better … There are good players out there that are good challenges in each game, but we’re going to go out there and give them our best.”
