Koen Entringer can’t bear to watch. The Iowa football defensive back averts his eyes at the scene inside Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium. If the video pops up on his social media, he keeps scrolling. He wouldn’t dare search it on YouTube.

Why waste time reliving one of the worst plays of his career? 

The first introduction of Entringer to Iowa fans arrived late in the first quarter in the Hawkeyes’ 2023 Big Ten Championship game against Michigan. Entringer’s No. 4 jersey was just another body on special teams until he wound up lying on the turf after missing a tackle on Michigan punt returner Semaj Morgan. 

Watching from the stands, Entringer’s mom, Korissa Entringer-Myers, knew it was a question of when, not if, her son would recover. Entringer and Morgan played on the same 7-on-7 team in high school, and Korissa witnessed her son outrun Morgan plenty of times. While many were surprised to see Entringer chase down Morgan and push him out of bounds at the 5-yard line, the feat was inevitable. 

“I had no doubt in my mind it would happen,” Korissa said.

For high school coaches across the nation, Entringer’s play embodied the relentless determination needed to succeed in sport. Yet for Entringer, allowing an 87-yard punt return to your opponent hardly qualifies as triumph, especially when the enemy scores two plays later to lead by double digits. 

“He’s embarrassed by the fact people are using his whiff as a teachable moment,” Korissa said. 

When Entringer reflects on the play, he thinks not of what occurred, but what could have been.

“If only I slowed down a little bit and hit him right there, I probably could have made him fumble or something,” Entringer said. “That play haunts me so much.” 

Now a senior and newly elected team captain, Entringer’s reputation extends far beyond his fateful mistake on special teams. Having never played competitive football until high school, Entringer’s development was bound to feature obstacles. The soccer-turned-football player’s knowledge caught up with his natural athleticism, and the effects couldn’t be clearer. 

“I think it’s just a mixture of confidence and experience,” Entringer said. “Playing football is a mixture of thinking, but most importantly, reacting.” 

Football to prove a point 

Growing up in Phoenix, Arizona, Entringer held an early interest in football, but soccer was his first option, as ordered by his mom. Korissa worked in the Navy’s medical field and had seen many injuries. A violent sport like football wasn’t a great idea, and Korissa’s suspicions were only confirmed when a young Entringer suffered a concussion on the playground. 

Entringer never had to settle for soccer. Rather, the sport became his first love. Starting out at the striker position, Entringer looked up to legends like Pelé and Cristiano Ronaldo. Soccer kits lined the top of his wish lists. 

Making his way from striker to midfielder, then to goalkeeper, Entringer played for Phoenix’s Brophy College Prep, a Jesuit school and local soccer powerhouse, winners of nine state championships. Starting on the varsity team as a sophomore, Entringer helped the squad to a state title in 2019.  

For Arizona high school sports, soccer season ranges from November to February, leaving the autumn open to football. Korissa said her son was aware of the risks associated with the sport, but knew she couldn’t stop Entringer from playing once he reached high school, especially if he wanted to prove a point to a friend. 

Entringer met Ben Morrison in middle school, and the two would constantly debate whether soccer or football was tougher to play. Morrison, a cornerback at Notre Dame and a second-round draft pick by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2025, insisted on football.

“I was like, ‘Oh, Ben’s challenging Koen,’” Korissa remembered. “So that’s how that went. It was perfect.” 

A no-cut sport, Brophy’s football program found a spot for Entringer on the freshman B team as a punter. 

“It’s pretty low risk, how could you say no?” Korissa said. “Just let him try it, and he probably won’t like it.”  

Regardless of him proving a point to Morrison, Entringer stuck with football, playing on the JV team the following year and recording an interception in his first game on defense. The pass sailed right to him, Entringer remembered. The next year, he’d travel across the country. 

Recruiting beyond borders 

Entringer and his mom moved to Michigan to live closer to Korissa’s boyfriend, Dan, whom she married in 2021. Playing at Ann Arbor Huron High School, Entringer switched to wide receiver, earning an all-conference award and helping his team to the playoffs. 

Yet Entringer’s offensive skills grabbed the attention of the team’s defensive backs coach, Raymon Taylor, a former cornerback at Michigan who later played for the Indianapolis Colts. 

“From the beginning, he looked at Koen and said, ‘You’re raw, but you’re a great athlete and I want to start training you,’” Korissa remembered. 

Lessons with Taylor only cost the Entringers some Gatorade for the rest of the kids. Following his junior season, Entringer played for Sound Mind Sound Body Football Academy, a club program centered on increasing exposure and potential college scholarships for student-athletes in the Detroit metro area. Since 2004, the program has taught more than 13,000 kids, with more than 1,000 earning college scholarships, per its website. 

The program saw potential in Entringer and offered him a spot on its national 7-on-7 team. His family had about a week’s notice before a tournament in Tennessee, an all-expenses-paid trip. 

A little surprised by the offer, Korissa and her husband prayed and made a decision: their son’s football journey would continue to grow. 

“We’re going to trust the universe, we’re going to trust God’s plan,” Korissa said. “We’re going to trust what these people are telling us.”  

By the start of his senior year, Entringer held offers from FCS schools, including Morgan State, Youngstown State, and Eastern Illinois. In June 2021, he committed to Central Michigan, an FBS school. But as the leaves began to change toward autumn, so did Entringer’s recruiting outlook. 

Offer surge 

For his final season of high school, Entringer transferred 26 miles north to Walled Lake Western High School, joining new varsity football head coach Kory Cioroch, who arrived from Farmington High School. 

Upon meeting Entringer over the summer, Cioroch saw a talented individual, as evidenced by the player’s Central Michigan signing, but also someone with the potential to play on both sides of the ball. 

“Number one, we needed him. Had to do what’s right for the team,” Cioroch said. “Otherwise, he just fit the mold. He was a big, physical kid. He liked to block as a receiver.” 

Entringer initially started at cornerback, but his physicality proved to be a little excessive. Cioroch recalled almost 10 pass interference penalties against Entringer. 

“It takes some time, but I just love chasing people down and hitting them,” Entringer said. 

The natural next option was safety. Cioroch said Entringer totaled about 15 tackles in his first start at the new position. For Korissa, the transition to safety was only natural considering her son’s athletic past. 

“You watch the back of the field for years in the box as goalie,” she said. “You know how to play on someone’s hip as a soccer player. You know how to track side to side as a soccer player. You do all of those things as a football player, as a defensive back and receiver.”

For Cioroch, even though Entringer didn’t know specific defensive alignments and coverage terminology at first, the senior’s determination made him a quick study.

Entringer recorded 88 tackles, 11 pass break-ups, two forced fumbles and one interception for Walled Lake Western, not to mention 444 receiving yards and six touchdowns. 

As the season progressed, Entringer’s recruitment became more hectic. After Power Five offers from Syracuse and Colorado, Entringer decommitted from Central Michigan in November. In the two weeks since his decision, offers flooded in from Maryland, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Iowa. Notre Dame came calling in December. 

“Every morning it was something new,” Korissa said. “We were just overwhelmed by the sheer interest. We never experienced anything like that. Honestly, it was just so different that we were just trying to help him triage.” 

For his last official visit, Entringer flew to Iowa City in December, landing in pitch black darkness. But after meeting with now-teammates and fellow defensive backs T.J. Hall and Xavier Nwankpa, his future with the Hawkeyes was illuminated. 

“These are guys that I could see myself playing with for four years, and it turned out to end up just like that,” Entringer said. “I couldn’t have chosen a better place.” 

In Korissa’s eyes, Iowa embodied the same sentiment as Entringer’s old Jesuit school. 

“He’s been taught in the Jesuit way to be a person for others and Iowa football really teaches them to be men for others as well,” she said. 

Entringer committed to the Hawkeyes five days after his visit. He wasn’t the most heralded recruit in his class — that honor would belong to Nwankpa, a five-star prospect from Southeast Polk High School in Iowa. 

Yet for Entringer, the focus was never on comparison to others, but rather on his own development. With longtime head coach Kirk Ferentz at the helm, Entringer felt confident his coaching staff would stay constant. 

“I haven’t played football for a long time, but I’m going to be with a coach who’s going to develop me and invest in me,” Entringer said. “A guy like Coach [defensive coordinator Phil] Parker, he’s not gonna tell me what I want to hear. And that’s the biggest thing —you don’t want to be surrounded by a bunch of yes men.” 

Reacting in the present 

Entringer’s play in the 2023 Big Ten title game shouldn’t go unnoticed by others, Korissa said. Her son’s recovery in the face of adversity is a valuable lesson for anyone, but when replayed over and over again, reinforces the notion that nothing has changed for Entringer. It’s as if he’s still sprinting down the field after Morgan, running a perpetual race for a pedagogical purpose. 

“When they continue to ask him about it, he remains there,” Korissa said. 

Since that moment against Michigan two years ago, Entringer has created more memories, ones that further bury the past and remind others he’s more than a viral football clip. Take his first interception against Michigan State the following season. Or in 2025, when he led the Hawkeyes with a career-high 10 tackles against Indiana. Or when he walks on the field for the pregame coin toss as one of Iowa’s four game captains – a responsibility he holds in high regard. 

Watching former Iowa linebacker and current Detroit Lion Jack Campbell, Entringer elevated his personal standards of leadership. He said Campbell knew everyone’s name on defense, from first-stringers to scout team. No matter who was playing, Campbell stood on the sidelines cheering. After getting drafted by Detroit, he took the time to call Entringer when the defensive back had questions. 

Entringer didn’t want to even make a comparison between himself and his former teammate, but the least he can do is emulate Campbell the best he can. 

“Every single time I’ve been voted captain, I strive to prepare and be the teammate he was,” Entringer said. 

Entringer never prioritizes himself as a captain. While he jumped with excitement with his teammates and delivered two tackles for loss on fourth-down stops against Indiana, he didn’t gloat on his heroics postgame. The Hawkeyes lost, 20-15, in the Sept. 27 game, and for Entringer, victory is the only statistic he cares about. The defensive back won’t be satisfied with any number.

In Parker’s eyes, such an attitude is difficult to obtain, but needs to be appreciated. 

“There’s going to be some times even when you talk to him, he’s going to say, ‘Hey, I could have done better,’” Parker said. “That’s the guys that you want, and I think everybody on our team is like that. They don’t worry about the plays they make. They worry about the plays they don’t make.” 

The plays he didn’t make may still gnaw at Entringer, but he’s diagnosed their biting impact. As Parker said, Entringer is humble enough to understand the game of football, a sport the defensive back picked up later than most of his teammates. Comprehending the game involves making mistakes and receiving an earful from coaches, but also requires living in the present. 

Entringer can’t bear to watch the past because he doesn’t need to think about it. Just like for a safety or goalkeeper, what matters is the play unfolding in front of him.

“That’s just a challenge—how can you balance that?” he said. “How can you think before the snap, but once the ball’s going, how can you attack it?”