Like his teammate Trevor Lauck, Pieper will be one of the anchors of Iowa's offensive line this season.
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 squad based on their jersey number. Reading this countdown to help you get ready for the season is highly recommended because we're just almost at the halfway point of the series.
Today marks 58 days until kickoff, so that means it's time to take a look at No. 58 - offensive lineman Kade Pieper.
Like the previous lineman to appear on this list, Trevor Lauck, there doesn't seem to be much of a need to introduce Pieper, but for the sake of consistency, we're doing it anyway.
Bio
Hometown: Norfolk, Nebraska
High School: Norfolk Catholic High School
Year: Junior
Height: 6-foot-4
Weight: 290 pounds
Other notable players to wear No. 58: There's not a ton of notable Hawkeyes to don No. 58, so we're going to take a name from Scott Dochterman's 2020 list in The Athletic - nose guard Pat Dean. "The linchpin to perhaps Iowa’s best-ever defense, Dean was a second-team All-American for the 1981 Big Ten champions," Dochterman wrote.
Pieper's career so far
After earning solid non-starter reps during the 2024 season, all signs pointed to Pieper being a breakout player on a loaded offensive line in 2025. Meeting those lofty expectations isn't always easy, but Pieper had little trouble doing that.
He easily filled Connor Colby's role at right guard, helping Iowa capture the Joe Moore Award as the nation's best offensive line. Pro Football Focus named Pieper a first-team All-American for his performance, and he looks poised to do that in 2026.
Though he played right guard in 2025, it looks like Pieper will move to center in 2026 to replace Logan Jones. It's not unusual for offensive lineman to shift around the line throughout their careers, as Pieper was previously Jones' backup during the 2024 season before switching to guard.
Building a valuable connection with Iowa's new starting quarterback will be difficult because the race will likely go deep into fall camp, but no matter who goes under center in 2026, Pieper will be a great security blanket.
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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]
