The Furman transfer wide receiver should be a solid depth piece for Tim Lester's offense in 2026.
Welcome back to our countdown to the 2026 Iowa football season!
Since May 28, we've been counting down the final 100 days until the Hawkeyes swarm out of the Kinnick Stadium tunnel for their season opener against Northern Illinois on Sept. 5.
Each day of the countdown has primarily featured an article profiling one of the current members of the 2026 Hawkeyes based on their jersey number. Loyal readers already know this by now, but in case you are just now catching your football fix, here's how we do this: if a player wears No. 10 and there's 10 days until kickoff, then that's the player we're going to be taking a look at.
We've had some minor setbacks because Iowa doesn't issue a jersey number for every single number in this countdown, but that's not going to be a problem anymore since we're so close to the season.
Today marks eight days until kickoff, and there's actually two men that wear the No. 8 jersey. We've already taken a look at Deshaun Lee earlier in the day, so now it's time to take a look at the other man that wears No. 8 - wide receiver Evan James.
Get to know him here.
Bio
Hometown: Leesburg, Florida
High School: Leesburg High School
Year: Second-Year
Height: 5-foot-10
Weight: 170 pounds
Other notable players to wear No. 8: A notable Hawkeye to wear No. 8 that older fans will instantly recall is former quarterback Chuck Hartlieb. Hartlieb won the starting job in 1987 and ran with it, tossing over 6,200 yards and 34 touchdowns in two seasons. His 3,738 passing yards in 1988 remain an Iowa single-season record, and that season also included a record-setting 558 passing yards against Indiana.
James' Career So Far
Iowa's plan in the transfer portal was to tap into the growing talent pool at the FCS level, and it yielded highly-anticipated skill players like running back L.J. Phillips and wide receiver Tony Diaz, but there's also some under-the-radar talent from the FCS that won't emerge until the season begins.
Could James be one of those guys? It's certainly possible. He's only got one season of college football under his belt at Furman, but it was a good one. The Paladins improved their win total by three games, and James led them with 796 receiving yards and seven touchdowns on 65 receptions. Furman also used James' speed in the running game, where he totaled 72 yards and a score on just seven carries.
That resume is the type of player that James could be for Iowa this year - a shifty player that adds another gear of explosiveness. Kirk Ferentz told us at Kids' Day that there have been some ups and downs from James throughout fall camp, but the Hawkeyes are optimistic about what he can provide for them in 2026.
It's also worth noting that James held high school offers from Lane Kiffin's Ole Miss Rebels, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia before deciding to go the FCS route, so his talent was obviously in place.
Can he put it together in the Big Ten this year? We'll soon find out.
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HawkeyeRoundtable publisher Brad Schultz has covered the Iowa Hawkeyes since 2023. To send him story ideas, scoops, or criticize his writing, reach him at [email protected]
