Iowa football TE DJ Vonnahme entering 2026 with high expectations

Down the stretch of the 2025 season, the Iowa Hawkeyes witnessed an offensive playmaker blossom right in front of their very eyes with the emergence of tight end DJ Vonnahme, who was given a chance due to injuries, and ran with it. He quickly became Iowa 's go-to target down the stretch, highlighted by a monster game against the Vanderbilt Commodores in Iowa's ReliaQuest Bowl victory. Entering 2026, there is a focus to continue to incorporate Vonnahme into the offense even more, and offensive coordinator Tim Lester spoke about what that looks like.

"I want him to continue to grow. I hate to sound like a broken record, but there's so much he can do. We have a lot of -- everything you do is about your players.

One of the main offseason projects I had was about him. There are a couple of different places around the NFL that do a good job and do some things that I think DJ can do. We've been studying them.

"We've added some things to help bring his talents to light, which you won't see Saturday, but you'll see in the fall. When you have players like that, you have to find ways for them to get the ball. "We had some injuries that allowed him to move up the depth chart really fast, but I tell you, I'll never forget, the one play -- actually, I shouldn't say the one play.