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Iowa Hawkeyes Incoming Freshman LB Draws Major NFL Comparison
story by Evan Massey of si.comThe Iowa Hawkeyes have a lot of talent coming in through the 2025 recruiting class.
According to 247 Sports, linebacker Burke Gautcher is the team's highest-ranked recruit. He is a lienbacker hailing from from Sycamore, Illinois and is expected to be able to come in and put together a very strong career with the program.
He is ranked as a four-star recruit and has received the ranking of being the No. 17 linebacker in the entire class and the No. 179 overall player.
Gautcher will come in and try to help fill the void that is being left by Jay Higgins. Over the years, Iowa has always had a strong and hard-nosed defense. He is going to fit into that mold well.
Allen Trieu of 247 Sports has revealed a very intriguing comparison for the young linebacker. He thinks that Gautcher is a similar player to current Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Drue Tranquill.
Here is what Trieu had to say about the Hawkeyes' incoming linebacker when taking a look at his game:
"Played quarterback, receiver and safety in high school but will project to linebacker in college. There is a good historical precedence for that transition and more importantly, Gautcher has the athletic ability to make that move," Trieu wrote.
"He ran 4.41 hand-timed and broad-jumped 10-4 at Iowa's summer camp. He shows he will attack downhill and be physical on his safety tape. He has good burst, explosion and uses that to take on blockers with violence and he brings that same ability as a tackler. He will have to adjust to being in the box and taking on offensive linemen but we think he will be able to. He should be a very good coverage linebacker given his background and the ability in space he shows. As long as he adds weight and learns the position while keeping his speed, we see Gautcher as a high-impact college player who will have a chance at a Sunday future."
Kirk Ferentz and company have done a good job of adding talent for the 2025 season. However, there were a lot of holes in 2024 and they lost a couple of elite players in Higgins and Kaleb Johnson, who were the team's leaders on defense and offense respectively.
Being compared to an NFL talent like Tranquill is a huge compliment.
Hopefully, Gautcher will be able to live up to the hype throughout his tenure with the Hawkeyes. He could very well be the next big defender to come out of Iowa.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/iowa as Iowa Hawkeyes Incoming Freshman LB Draws Major NFL Comparison.
