Iowa football, notes and observations from Hawkeyes' open spring practice on April 9

IOWA CITY — Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz delivered a cautionary message about the Hawkeyes' spring depth chart. Iowa lost production on both sides of the ball from last season’s 9-4 team and has welcomed new faces ahead of the 2026 campaign. Ferentz's team is still in the early stages of development for what will be on display at Kinnick Stadium later this season.

So Ferentz warned not to put too much stock into what the pecking order currently looks like. “What it (the depth chart) looks like right now really is not important because so many things are going to happen between now and the start of the season,” Ferentz said on March 31. That’s something worth keeping in mind for this particular case.

Iowa’s spring practice was open to the media for approximately 30 minutes on April 9. Here are some observations and notes from the brief window. What we saw at the April 9 Iowa football spring practice Iowa had four quarterbacks participating in practice: Jeremy Hecklinski, Hank Brown, Jimmy Sullivan and Ryan Fitzgerald.

Hecklinski and Brown each took first-team reps. The Hawkeyes later will add four-star freshman Tradon Bessinger, who did not early enroll. University of Texas Rio Grande Valley transfer wide receiver Tony Diaz got first-team reps.