Iowa
Iowa lands four-star WR Terrence Smith after best offensive outing in five years
IOWA CITY, Iowa — One day after Iowa’s offense put up a five-year high of 492 yards in a 40-0 win against Illinois State, the Hawkeyes landed Class of 2025 four-star wide receiver Terrence Smith, who announced his decision on Sunday afternoon through multiple social media platforms.
Smith, who stands 6 foot 4 and weighs 175 pounds, visited Iowa and Minnesota in June, and his decision came down to those longtime rivals. Purdue and Iowa State also were involved in the pursuit of the West Aurora (Ill.) High School product. According to the 247Sports Composite, Smith is ranked as the nation’s No. 47 receiver and No. 326 overall prospect, and the No. 8 prospect in the state of Illinois.
The Hawkeyes, who will sign a smaller than usual class in 2025, rank No. 40 in the composite class rankings with only 15 commits, but six are four-star prospects. Smith is the only receiver commit in the class.
Last year at West Aurora, Smith caught 59 passes for 906 yards and 11 scores. On Friday, he caught one pass for 11 yards and a touchdown in a 53-0 win during which West Aurora completed only three passes.
Smith is a three-sport athlete whom Iowa had targeted for two years. He averaged 12.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game last basketball season and finished sixth in the high jump (6-5) at the Illinois state track meet.
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What does this mean for Iowa?
Recently, Iowa has turned to the transfer portal for help at receiver, and the Hawkeyes have targeted only Smith in the 2025 class. He has the size to play outside but is athletic enough to compete for snaps at any of Iowa’s slots.
Iowa recruits Illinois like there is no state border, and the Hawkeyes have landed six of the state’s top 32 prospects for 2025, including No. 1 Iose Epenesa and three more in the top 11. Five of those commits are Chicagoland area prospects, not including preferred walk-on quarterback Ryan Fitzgerald, the son of former Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald. Every Illinois prospect who visited Iowa in June committed to the Hawkeyes.
(Photo: Jeffrey Becker / USA Today)
When it comes to the Iowa Hawkeyes 2026 football season, it doesn’t get much bigger than Ohio State coming to Kinnick Stadium.
No one knows at this stage where the Buckeyes will be come Oct. 3, but Iowa has a chance to make an early impression against a team that is no stranger to winning the big one.
Iowa’s B1G schedule couldn’t get off to a worse start as they head to Michigan and then welcome the Buckeyes to Kinnick.
Hopefully for Iowa’s sake, their first three games against Northern Illinois, Iowa State, and Northern Iowa are enough to get them prepared. If not, things could get ugly.
ESPN Believes Ohio State is Iowa’s Biggest Opponent in 2026
The Michigan game will certainly be a test, but hosting the Buckeyes is a different animal. That gives the Hawkeyes an advantage like no other, and if there was ever a time to give OSU a run for their money, it’s in Iowa City on Oct. 3.
“The Hawkeyes haven’t faced Ohio State at Kinnick Stadium since 2017, when Nate Stanley threw five touchdowns as they stunned the Buckeyes 55-24. An early October win over Ohio State could propel Iowa into the Big Ten title and playoff conversations,” Jake Trotter wrote.
To put things into perspective, Indiana and Oregon were the other two teams that had the Buckeyes listed as their defining game in the 2026 season. Shockingly, Iowa was actually selected against a team, that being Minnesota. Seeing as that’s for the Floyd of Rosedale, it makes complete sense.
Iowa Can’t Let Regular Season Opportunities Go To Waste
Last year was seemingly the Hawkeyes’ first time to actually make the College Football Playoffs. They came up short as their losses to No. 16 Iowa State, No. 11 Indiana, No. 9 Oregon and No. 17 USC all added up. Sure, those were by a combined 15 points, but that doesn’t matter, as it’s bad enough that a three-loss team made the playoffs.
Iowa ended with a bang as they took down No. 14 Vanderbilt in the ReliaQuest Bowl, 34-27. Now, all eyes are on either Jeremy Hecklinski or Hank Brown. One of those men will have a chance to make their first B1G start at the Big House in Michigan.
It doesn’t get any tougher than that, as Iowa is immediately putting their new QB into deep water. They’ll have three games prior to that to get up to speed, but other than that, it’s go time as OSU awaits after their trip to Michigan.
Don’t forget to bookmark Iowa Hawkeyes on SI for the latest news. exclusive interviews, recruiting coverage and more!
MANCHESTER, Iowa — The state of Iowa lost a titan of the prep coaching world this week. Former Kee High School baseball coach Gene Schultz died on Monday at the age of 80.
Schultz spent 45 seasons as the baseball coach at Kee, helping turn the program into an Iowa dynasty. He won 9 State championships (not counting 2 fall titles, which the IHSAA doesn’t recognize in the record books), and took the Hawks to 19 State tournaments, which is also the most in Iowa history.
His 1,754 wins are not only the most in Iowa history, but the most of any high school baseball coach in the country.
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