PEOSTA — Iowa football’s linebacker factory delivered yet again.
Despite only starting one season for the Hawkeyes, Karson Sharar was selected in the 6th round of the 2026 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals. He was Iowa’s leading tackler last season, and punctuated his campaign by sacking Heisman Trophy finalist Diego Pavia twice in a ReliaQuest Bowl win over Vanderbilt.
Sharar continued an impressive run of Iowa linebackers reaching the next level, joining a recent lineage that includes Jack Campbell, Jay Higgins and Nick Jackson.
Hawkeyes’ linebackers coach Seth Wallace now finds himself in a familiar situation: Trying to replace lost production. While Sharar is the most significant departure, he isn’t the only one. Jaden Harrell, who ranked seventh on the team in tackles last season, and Jaxon Rexroth, who appeared at the Leo position, both exhausted their college eligibility.
So now what?
Iowa’s linebacker room is the only position group on defense not to add from the transfer during the offseason. The Hawkeyes dipped into the transfer portal on the defensive line and in the secondary, but had no additions from other college programs at linebacker.
“There’s six or seven guys that I think our staff feels real comfortable with from a linebacker standpoint,” Wallace told the Register at a Dubuque County I-Club event on May 21. “I’ve told you guys this in years past, the most important piece to the linebacker position is not who is your specific Leo? Who is your specific Mike? Who is the Will? We’ve got to ensure, for the sake of the team, that we’re getting the best three guys that we can on the field. Any of those five, six or seven guys. The way in which we develop them and the way in which we grow them within the linebacker room, they’re all suited to play any of those three positions.”
After the departures of Higgins, Jackson and Kyler Fisher ahead of the 2025 campaign, Iowa lacked starting experience in a major way. In fact, Sharar, Harrell and Rexroth hadn’t made a single start before last season.
The Hawkeyes will have slightly more starting experience entering the 2026 season, but not by a lot. That modest increase is thanks to Jayden Montgomery.
An injury to Harrell opened the door for Montgomery, who started seven of Iowa’s final eight games last season. Montgomery, the son of former Hawkeye Jerry Montgomery, gained meaningful experience in 2025 and finished the season ranked sixth on the team in tackles.
Montgomery got first-team reps in the spring and is an obvious candidate to start again in 2026.
“He’s a great guy for me to look up to,” redshirt sophomore Cam Buffington said of Montgomery in March. “He’s like the best vocal leader. Every word that comes out of his mouth is on the point. So just learning from (Montgomery) and being behind him and kind of doing the things he does is going to make me a better leader also.”
Buffington also got reps with the first team defense in the spring. The former Winfield-Mt. Union High School star recorded an interception in garbage time against Minnesota last season and generated buzz during preparation for the ReliaQuest Bowl. While Buffington still hasn’t made his first collegiate start, he has a chance to be the present and future for Iowa at linebacker.
Speaking to a crowd on May 21, Wallace singled out Buffington as one of the players that Iowa is “excited about.”
Beyond Montgomery and Buffington, Landyn Van Kekerix is another name to know. Van Kekerix, who is now entering his fifth season with the Hawkeyes, has mostly existed in the shadows.
“Landyn is a veteran kid,” Wallace said. “He’s somebody that’s been in the program now for five years, much like (Jayden) Montgomery, where you feel real comfortable with Landyn either at the Leo or at the Will position. That’s kind of where he’s grown within our system. But to have a crystal ball and (know) what it’s going to look like when we get to the beginning of September, at any of those positions, I don’t know that I can say that right now. But I feel real good about, especially the veteran guys Landyn and Jayden, and where they’re at right now.”
Nolan DeLong, entering his fourth season at Iowa, is similar to Van Kekerix as someone who has been in the program for a while but doesn’t have any starting experience. Meanwhile, Derek Weisskopf, who arrived in the same recruiting class as Buffington, is also in the mix.
“Nolan DeLong has done some really good things for us,” Wallace said. “He certainly got his feet wet in special teams up to this point. But he had a real good spring. Derek Weisskopf has done really an outstanding job at showing us what a year, year and a half in the program can really do for a kid. Had a really good spring. Landyn, I mentioned. You’ve got Buffington, you’ve got Montgomery, which were maybe the more obvious ones right now. But I would say a combination of those five, six guys. And then there’s some other guys that are trending into that same group in that same conversation.”
Follow Tyler Tachman on X @Tyler_T15, contact via email at TTachman@usatodayco.com
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa football linebacker factory delivered again. What’s next in 2026?
Reporting by Tyler Tachman, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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