The Villanova transfer is likely to play a key role in Iowa's secondary this year.
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 if you're hurrying to catch your football fix, this is how this works: if a player wears No. 6 and we're six days until kickoff, that's the player that will appear on the countdown.
We've had to mix things up with innovative pieces on days that a current Hawkeye doesn't wear the number that fits the countdown, but that's not going to be a problem since we're under a week to go until the opener.
Today marks just five days until kickoff, and there happens to be two players that wear No. 5. Nathan McNeil's piece was released earlier today, so we're going to take a look at the second man who wears No. 5 - defensive back Anthony Hawkins.
Get to know him here.
Bio
Hometown: Annapolis, Maryland
High School: Broadneck High School
Year: Third-Year
Height: 6-foot-3
Weight: 202 pounds
Other notable players to wear No. 5: A notable Hawkeye to wear No. 5 is former quarterback Drew Tate. There doesn't need to be much explaining to do after that. Tate led Iowa to a share of the Big Ten championship in 2004 and finished his career with over 8,200 passing yards, which currently ranks third all-time in program history.
Hawkins' Career So Far
Hawkins is one of three FCS transfers that will probably play a key role on Iowa's defense this year (Brice Stevenson, Kahmari Brown), but of the three, he'll probably have to be relied on the most early in the season.
The Hawkeyes are inexperienced in the secondary and need Hawkins' strong 2025 campaign at Villanova to transfer to the Big Ten. After receiving little interest out of high school, Hawkins was a standout in the secondary for a good Wildcats team, collecting 59 tackles (third-most on the team), two interceptions, and nine pass break-ups.
247Sports ranked Hawkins as a three-star portal prospect, and he committed to Iowa on Jan. 4. His 6-foot-3 height is pretty tall for a defensive back, but it should help him succeed as a safety, which is where Kirk Ferentz confirmed he would likely play in Week 1 due to Tyler Brown's injury.
Keep an eye on Hawkins this year.
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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]
