The IHSAA will hold the first round of the state wrestling tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines on Wednesday this week. The Iowa football program has strong connections to talented wrestlers, as they’ve been able to bring them in and transform them into first-round NFL draft picks like Tristan Wirfs and Tyler Linderbaum.
Who could be next? We’ll see a few future Hawks and Iowa targets wrestle for state championships later this week.
One of the two four-star prospects Iowa signed in their 2024 recruiting class, Cody Fox from East Buchanan will head to Des Moines as the second seed at heavyweight with a record of 44-2. Last season, he finished sixth in the same weight class.
Fox totaled 62.5 tackles, including ten tackles for loss and four sacks on defense this football season. He was also an all-state offensive lineman for the third year in a row.
Potentially waiting for Fox in the final will be Mason Knipp, the #1 seed out of Columbus Catholic in Waterloo. The most recent addition to the Hawkeyes 2024 preferred walk-on class, Knipp is the reigning 1A champion at 220 pounds. He took the title last year by defeating then-defending 220-pound state champion, Jared Thiry of Don Bosco Gilbertville. He scored a winning takedown with 29 seconds left in sudden victory for a 3-1 win.
Knipp enters the week with a 34-0 record.
During his senior campaign on the football field for the Sailors, Knipp posted 78 tackles, including 36.5 tackles for loss and 11 sacks. He was a pivotal piece in Columbus’ run to the 1A semifinals in 2023.
Ethan Wood, a junior out of Mount Vernon, returns to the state tournament this season, jumping from 195 pounds last year to heavyweight this winter. He enters the event as the five-seed with a record of 39-9. At last season’s state tournament, he bowed out in the round of 16.
Wood took multiple game day visits to Kinnick this fall. On the gridiron, he posted 36 tackles, including 17 tackles for loss and 10.5 sacks for the Mustangs on defense. Offensively, he caught 24 passes for 347 yards and three scores. He has received interest from North Dakota, North Dakota State, South Dakota, South Dakota State and St. Thomas.
The six-seed in the same class and weight is another 2024 PWO, Trent Cakerice. He has a record of 37-3. Like Wood at the 2023 state tournament, the Grundy Center product was eliminated before he could earn a medal, falling in the quarterfinals.
For the football state champion Spartans, Cakerice posted 56.5 tackles, 16.5 tackles for loss and seven sacks in 2023.
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Seeking his second-straight state championship is Dreshaun Ross out of Fort Dodge. Ross took the belt at 195 pounds last year, and enters this week’s event as the one seed at 220-pounds with a 43-0 record.
Ross is the only football recruit on this list with an offer that has yet to sign. He’s a priority for the Hawkeyes in their 2026 recruiting cycle.
As mentioned before, the All-American wrestler may be keeping an eye on Iowa linebacker and wrestler Ben Kueter to see how his career pans out over the next two years, as Ross may have a chance to compete in both sports at Iowa as well.
On the football field this fall, Ross ran the ball 120 times for 729 yards and eight touchdowns on offense and posted 61.5 tackles and 11 tackles for loss on defense. He also had two interceptions as well.
In addition to an Iowa football offer, Ross also has offers from Iowa State, Purdue, Nebraska, Minnesota, Missouri and Kansas State.
Drew Campbell returns to the state meet looking for his first-ever medal. Last season, he was defeated in the round of 16 by current Hawkeye fullback, Rusty VanWetzinga. This year, he enters the tournament as the four-seed with a record of 26-3.
As a senior captain for the football Tigers, Campbell posted 64.5 tackles, 21.5 tackles for loss and six sacks this season.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – Iowa City police are asking the public’s help identifying persons of interest connected to a vandalism investigation.
Police said a business was vandalized in the alley behind the 200 block of East Washington Street on Sunday at 2:35 a.m.
Investigators would like to speak with the persons of interest pictured. Police ask anyone who recognizes these individuals to contact them.
Anyone with information or security camera footage of the incident should contact the Iowa City Police Department at 319-356-5275. Iowa City Area Crime Stoppers is also offering a reward up to $1,000 for information that leads to an arrest.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
Iowa State football coach Jimmy Rogers assesses the Cyclones’ spring
Iowa State football coach Jimmy Rogers assesses the Cyclones’ spring
Spring commencement arrives at Iowa State this weekend, with a whole new generation of Cyclones set to get their diplomas and move on to the next things in their lives.
The options and choices will set their path for, potentially, the years and decades ahead.
Which got me thinking about the choices and circumstances of this school year that came for Iowa State athletics. There were no shortages of inflection points at which, it seems, programs and an entire athletics department pivoted to new directions.
Let’s explore.
This seems to be the most discussed “Sliding Doors” moment for Iowa State football fans regarding head coach Matt Campbell’s departure to Penn State. And with good reason. It’s the most obvious, could have had the most immediate impact on the program and would have been largely seen as a continuation of the most successful run in school history.
Would promoting the Iowa State offensive coordinator, though, have been the right move?
If you assume a best-case scenario in which some of the star Cyclone players on offense – think Rocco Becht, Ben Brahmer, Carson Hansen, etc. – stay at Iowa State and a bulk of the coaching staff does as well, there are still likely defections that weaken the roster. Nothing like we saw back in December, but, still, there would be holes – and Campbell’s shoes – to fill by a first-time head coach taking over for a legend.
The calculation, as I see it, has to be – does the Year 1 continuity and relative stability gained by hiring Mouser provide for better long-term results than hiring Jimmy Rogers, who has the benefit of head-coaching experience?
It certainly would have made the fan base feel better back in December, but would it have positioned Iowa State to have better results in 2027 and beyond?
The roster almost certainly would have been “better” in 2026 if Iowa State retained Mouser, but would that have created a more solid foundation for the future or just delayed decay?
This “What If” becomes a lot less intricate and interesting if Rogers just wins a ton this fall and going forward.
I think this is the most interesting question on the list.
By reports, Penn State was on the verge of hiring Sitake from BYU when the Cougars’ boosters – led by the Crumbl Cookie fortune – banded together to put together a financial package to keep Sitake in Provo.
What if they hadn’t, though?
Sitake goes to Penn State, and Dec. 5, 2025, is an uneventful day in Iowa State history rather than one of its most feverish.
But … what happens a few weeks later when Sherrone Moore is fired at Michigan?
Rather than plucking 66-year-old Kyle Whittingham from Utah/forced retirement, do the Wolverines try to make a Michigan Man out of an Ohioan? Does Campbell inherit the seat of Bo Schembechler?
And, for the sake of this thought exercise, if Campbell did move to Ann Arbor, does the timing of that decision change athletics director Jamie Pollard’s options and calculus about Iowa State’s opening? Is Jimmy Rogers still available? Or would he have taken a different opening or opted not to leave Pullman at that later date? Is Mouser the answer in this scenario?
Or is the Buckeye State distaste for the state Up North too much and Campbell returns for Year 11 at Iowa State?
Addy Brown on what went wrong in Iowa State’s loss to Syracuse
Iowa State’s Addy Brown talks about her team’s struggles in a loss to Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament.
Iowa State women’s basketball was 14-0 on Jan. 4 when it played Baylor in Waco, and the season felt sure to realize the potential that was clear before it started with one of coach Bill Fennelly’s best rosters.
The Cyclones, though, returned home with their first loss and with Addy Brown sidelined with a back injury.
Four more losses in a row followed, and when Brown returned to the floor after six weeks, the Cyclones’ season was floundering.
They salvaged an NCAA Tournament bid, but a first-round exit gave way to a roster collapse with nine players – including Brown and superstar Audi Crooks – leaving via the transfer portal, putting Fennelly’s tenure and future under fire.
If Brown doesn’t get hurt – or just isn’t out as long – does that change the trajectory of the season? The offseason? And what the eventual end of Fennelly’s Iowa State career looks like?
The most recent “What If” I think is also the most straightforward.
If Jefferson’s ankle doesn’t roll in the early minutes of Iowa State’s first-round NCAA Tournament blowout win over Tennessee State, I think the Cyclones get a long second weekend in Chicago, but the Final Four drought probably remains intact.
Jefferson’s rebounding and offensive impact are, I think, enough to give the Cyclones the edge against Tennessee, but Michigan, the Cyclones’ would-be Elite Eight opponent, was just a juggernaut.
I’m not sure even a full-strength Iowa State team would have had more than a puncher’s chance. The Wolverines were just one of the best college basketball teams we’ve seen over the last few decades.
Iowa State columnist Travis Hines has covered the Cyclones for the Des Moines Register and Ames Tribune since 2012. Contact him at thines@amestrib.com or (515) 284-8000. Follow him on X at @TravisHines21.
One of the top Iowa high school football prospects in the state has made his college decision official.
Iowa City Regina High School senior-to-be Tate Wallace has announced he has verbally committed to the University of Minnesota in the Big Ten Conference. Wallace picked the Golden Gophers and head coach PJ Fleck over a finalists Notre Dame, Nebraska, Arizona, Arizona State and Wisconsin.
Wallace narrowed down his list of schools to six at the end of April before making his final decision.
The 6-foot-2, 226-pound linebacker is considered the No. 2 overall prospect in the state of Iowa for high school football, and is the No. 21 linebacker in the Class of 2027, according to 247Sports.
In the 247Sports Composite rankings, Wallace is No. 2 in Iowa high school football, No. 29 at linebacker and No. 359 for the Class of 2027.
Wallace currently holds 16 total offers including from the previously mentioned Minnesota, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Arizona, Arizona State, Wisconsin, Iowa State, Kansas State, Purdue, Tennessee, West Virginia, Eastern Michigan, Miami (Ohio), Toledo, UNLV, North Dakota and North Dakota State.
As a junior, Wallace registered almost 50 tackles on defense, with 29 of them being counted as solo stops. He had 18 tackles for loss, 8.5 quarterback sacks and forced two fumbles, as Iowa City Regina advanced to the state championship game of the Iowa High School Athletic Association State Football Championships.
Wallace also hauled in 40 passes for 611 yards with 10 receiving touchdowns on offense for the Regals. As a two-way player for Iowa City Regina during his sophomore season, Wallace had 27.5 tackles, including 16 solo stops, four tackles for loss and a quarterback sack, adding 51 receptions for 752 yards and eight touchdowns.
Back in March, Wallace announced seven spring visits to Notre Dame, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arizona, Kansas State and Arizona State. He also visited Tennessee this past fall, taking in an SEC contest with the Volunteers.
Along with his success on the football field, Wallace helped lead the Regals to the Iowa High School Athletic Association Boys State Basketball Tournament this past winter. He earned High School on SI all-state honors in the process.
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