Seth Wallace: How a very veteran linebackers room helps Iowa football
Iowa assistant head coach and linebackers coach Seth Wallace discusses the 2024 roster and future of his linebackers room.
IOWA CITY − If Iowa is the model of a developmental college football program, then the Hawkeyes’ linebackers room would be the model within the model of how to generate impact players, year after year, with limited need for the NCAA transfer portal.
There are 18 linebackers on the Hawkeyes’ 2024 roster, yet there are only two starting spots in Phil Parker’s base 4-2-5 defense. Seth Wallace, Iowa’s longtime linebackers coach and now the program’s assistant head coach, has overseen a wave of well-coached, productive players who have been remarkably patient, willing to wait their turns.
Though Wallace’s tenure as linebackers coach dates to 2016, when Josey Jewell was on his way to becoming a consensus all-American in 2017, the developmental train really gathered steam in the recent era of Jack Campbell.
Campbell rose to prominence as a starring middle linebacker in 2021, a fast-running, hard-tackling player in a defensive end’s body at nearly 6-foot-5, 250 pounds. Campbell would make a surprise return in 2022, along with productive weak-side wingman Seth Benson, and won the Butkus Award that season as the nation’s top linebacker and became a 2023 first-round NFL Draft pick of the Detroit Lions.
Waiting in the wings, but completely ready for his time, during Iowa’s 2022 season was Jay Higgins. You all know Higgins by now. You might not know Higgins as well if he had bolted when Campbell returned. Higgins chose to embrace another year learning from a unique talent and worker like Campbell rather than run elsewhere for potential playing time.
When Higgins finally got his chance as a senior in 2023, he was more than prepared. Higgins became the nation’s leading tackler, tying an Iowa program record with 171 stops, and was a first-team all-American by several outlets.
All the while, two young linebackers who joined the program in 2021 – when Campbell emerged onto the scene and Higgins was a raw sophomore – have been studying at Iowa’s linebackers school. For three years, Jaden Harrell and Karson Sharar (pronounced SHY-er) have learned from Campbell, Benson and others like Mike Timm and Logan Klemp. Now, they’re learning behind veterans Higgins, Nick Jackson and Kyler Fisher.
Harrell and Sharar were on a track to start as fourth-year players. But instead, Higgins elected to make a somewhat surprising return for a fifth season at Iowa. And even more surprising, Jackson was awarded a sixth season by the NCAA in light of his time at Virginia when a shooting killed three teammates and cut short his 2022 season, and chose to return.
Thus, Harrell and Sharar are waiting again. They haven’t gone anywhere.
They learned that patience paid off for Higgins, who waited behind Campbell. They know their time is coming, if not this year (due to injury) then in 2025 when they are fifth-year seniors. And they seem genuinely fine with the circumstances.
Urbandale’s Jaden Harrell is Hawkeyes’ middle linebacker of the future
Jaden Harrell discusses how he’s maintained patience in the Seth Wallace linebackers room after Jay Higgins and Nick Jackson opted to return.
“An opportunity to learn another year,” Harrell said at Iowa’s media day Aug. 9. “… I’ll get my year after all these years of being behind great linebackers.”
Said Sharar: “It’s really valuable for all of us to learn from them. We’ll be able to use that for the future.”
Harrell has been groomed as Iowa’s future middle linebacker, like Higgins.
“I see a lot of myself in how he plays. He’s always thinking about the final picture,” Higgins said. “Just playmaker ability. Another guy who is like, ‘Yeah, I got the B gap, but where’s the ball?’ You want that from your Mike (middle) backer. That’s my guy.”
Sharar, meanwhile, can play all three linebacker spots but is in line to be Iowa’s weak-side starter in 2025. He’s had a number of health issues in his first three years. He tore ligaments in his ankle in his second fall, then tore a meniscus in his knee that following spring. An ankle re-injury slowed him a bit last year. But he’s been rolling this offseason.
“He’s an ass-kicker,” Wallace said. “He’s a violent fricking dude.”
Wallace also stated at media day that even though Higgins, Jackson and Fisher (who plays outside linebacker when Iowa goes 4-3) returned, he was never concerned about his position group because of how ready Harrell and Sharar are. Wallace also throws in Jaxon Rexroth and Landyn Van Kekerix as guys who are ready to roll at outside linebacker, too. He also singled out Jayden Montgomery as having an outstanding fall camp.
Karson Sharar waiting his turn again in Iowa linebackers room
The redshirt junior has been learning behind the scenes from Nick Jackson and Jay Higgins with a possible starting role in 2025 or earlier ahead.
“(Sharar) and Harell are a perfect combination,” Higgins said. “Harrell will get everything straight. Sharar might just go running straight over somebody.”
One of the secrets to maintaining such loyalty in the linebackers room is because of how Kirk Ferentz’s program emphasizes the role of special teams.
Special teams is viewed as a premium phase of the game at Iowa, right alongside offense and defense. To be a part of a Hawkeye starting special-teams unit is a big deal, and guys who can be physical and run – linebackers, especially – are essential to covering kicks and blocking for returns.
Wallace remarked that Fisher has been a model special-teamer for coordinator LeVar Woods. Harrell takes great pride in being the “Sam” on Iowa’s punt-protect shield. Sharar has always been a missile on Iowa’s kick-coverage teams. Those roles will continue.
“Ultimately, it’s a great place to be, whether you’re getting 100 snaps a game or 10 snaps a game,” Harrell said. “It’s really worth it.”
These deliberate handoffs of power are not accidental. There might have been no better haul in Iowa’s 2024 recruiting class than at linebacker, as three tremendous athletes who grew up within 50 miles of Iowa City came aboard. Wallace is beyond excited for all three: Cam Buffington of Winfield, Preston Ries of Monticello and Derek Weisskopf of Victor.
During fall camp, Harrell’s assigned roommate was Buffington – who Iowa sees as a future middle linebacker.
Sharar’s roommate in fall camp was Weisskopf, another rangy and explosive athlete who has slotted at weak-side linebacker.
“I just remember being a freshman,” Higgins said, “and Campbell sitting down and actually showing me the defense.”
In this developmental chain, Campbell was to Higgins what Higgins was to Harrell and Sharar. And Harrell and Sharar, presumably Iowa’s starting linebacker tandem in 2025, will be to Buffington and Ries and Weisskopf what their predecessors were to them.
Undoubtedly, the young freshman linebackers will make their first marks on Iowa’s special teams, just like Campbell and Higgins once did.
“There’s a place for everybody,” Wallace said. “And there’s a time for everybody.”
As long as you’re patient, anyway.
Video: Phil Parker provides updates on Iowa football’s defense
Iowa football defensive coordinator Phil Parker discusses a variety of topics on August 20, 2024.
Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has served for 29 years with The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network. Chad is the 2023 INA Iowa Sports Columnist of the Year and NSMA Co-Sportswriter of the Year in Iowa. Join Chad’s text-message group (free for subscribers) at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on Twitter.
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Publish date : 2024-08-21 00:01:00
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