Brandon Scherff doesn't need to work anymore. 

The 34-year-old accumulated over $111 million in career earnings as a five-time Pro Bowl NFL offensive guard for the Washington Commanders and Jacksonville Jaguars, but that hasn't stopped him from maintaining an active life in retirement. 

After retiring from football following the 2024 season, the former Iowa standout moved his family back to his hometown of Denison, Iowa, where he picked up an old tradition that has long defined him and his family - farming. 

While Scherff certainly makes time for leisure activities like pheasant and deer hunting these days, farming was just simply too engraved in his blood for him not to return to it after his football career.

As soon as purchased some land in his Northwest Iowa stomping grounds, the drive to conserve the land soon became priority No. 1.

He admits the consistent improvement of his land - filter and buffer strips to enhance the water in the creek and planting new grass - is mostly to satisfy his hunting obsessions, but any changes he makes to his properties will never be at the land's expense - and that's a guarantee. 

"It's all about enhancing enhancing the ground, and if you take something away, you put something else back in," Scherff said during a Zoom media availability on Sept. 30. "I love figuring out what to put on the ground, how to enhance the corn, and what the moisture's at, when to combine it, and love doing all the numbers." 

Scherff probably knew he would be involved with farming in some capacity after retiring from football, but he couldn't have imagined receiving the honor he's going to get this year - a spot in the America Needs Farmers (ANF) Wall of Honor, which according to the Iowa Farm Bureau recognizes former Hawkeye football players who "exemplify the tenacity, work ethic, and character shared by Iowa farmers." 

Scherff, who won the Outland Trophy as the nation's best interior offensive lineman in 2014, will be the 14th person to be inducted into the ANF Wall of Honor during No. 14 Iowa's highly-anticipated showdown against No. 5 Ohio State at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday (2:30 CT, CBS). 

Scherff is eager to return to the place where his football stardom began, but at the same time, he says he wouldn't be where he is today without his farming upbringing. 

Though Scherff grew up in town in Denison, he often visited his mother's family farm in Holstein - roughly a 45-minute drive away. The childhood memories - such as riding tractors or castrating pigs - on the farm are endless, but the biggest takeaway from Scherff's farming background is the life lessons it taught him. 

"No matter if it's 100 degrees outside or if it's -30 degrees outside, the animals or whatever you're taking care of relies on you, so you have to find a way to get it done," Scherff said. 

That's the same phrase Scherff used to describe his Hawkeyes, which kept fighting back from early mistakes to culminate in a win for the ages at then-No. 18 Michigan on Saturday. 

Iowa will have to do the same if it wants to take down a talented Ohio State team at Kinnick Stadium, but Scherff knows a thing or two about competing against the Buckeyes. His 2013 Hawkeye team entered Ohio Stadium as an 18.5-point underdog to No. 4 Ohio State, but held their own and entered the fourth quarter in a tie game before ultimately falling short, 34-24. 

Scherff's advice for the 2026 Hawkeyes? 

"Just continue to focus on your fundamentals and your technique. So just knowing that anything's possible," Scherff said. "When I played, we were at Ohio State. So you're going to have the crowd behind you on Saturday, and it's going to be a tremendous environment. I'm excited to be a part of it." 

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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]