The walk-on from Sussex, Wisconsin enters his fifth year with the Hawkeyes.
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 the drill by now, but in case you're finally catching your Iowa football fix and are just now tuning in before the season, here's how this works: if a player wears No. 21 and we're 21 days from kickoff, then that's the player we're going to be taking a look at.
We've sometimes had to mix things up due to Iowa not issuing a jersey number for every day in this countdown, but that's not going to be a problem today.
Today marks 17 days until kickoff, so that means it's time to take a look at the man who wears No. 17 - wide receiver Alex Eichmann.
Get to know him here.
Bio
Hometown: Sussex, Wisconsin
High School: Hamilton High School
Year: Fifth-Year
Height: 6-foot-2
Weight: 210 pounds
Other notable players to wear No. 17: We're going back nearly a century for this one, but a notable Hawkeye to wear No. 17 is Willis "Bill" Glassgow. Glassgow played for Iowa from 1927-1929 and though he predated Nile Kinnick by nearly a decade, Glassgow established the tradition of great Hawkeye backs during this time, earning Big Ten Player of the Year honors in 1929. After his playing career ended, he served as a lawyer in Iowa for 26 years before dying from leukemia in 1959.
Eichmann's Career So Far
Eichmann's Hawkeye career has seen him do something that a lot of traditional walk-ons do - play all over the field and work hard while doing so. Eichmann played both wide receiver and defensive back during his high school career, and those skills have been used in Iowa City.
Eichmann didn't register any game action during his first two years as a Hawkeye, but his hard work finally paid off in 2024, where he primarily played on special teams. 2025 is when he cracked the scoresheet, though, as he recorded four tackles.
Three of those four tackles came during Iowa's 40-16 beatdown of rival Nebraska in the regular season finale, but if you were to go up and ask Eichmann what his favorite memory of the season was, he'll probably point to the 37-0 shutout win at Wisconsin.
The Hawkeyes' lopsided win gave Eichmann a chance to get reps at wide receiver late in the fourth quarter, and Jeremy Hecklinski found him for a two-yard reception on what turned out to be Iowa's final play from scrimmage.
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Click here to automatically become a member to enter the contest! Additional contest details can be found in our community section, too!
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]
