Iowa RB Kaleb Johnson will skip the Hawkeyes’ bowl game and enter the 2025 NFL Draft

Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson will skip his team’s upcoming bowl game and enter the 2025 NFL Draft, he announced on social media Sunday night.

Johnson, a 6-foot, 225-pound junior from Hamilton, Ohio, led the Big Ten in rushing with 1,537 yards and a school-record 21 rushing touchdowns. He will likely become the Hawkeyes’ second consensus first-team All-America running back under coach Kirk Ferentz, joining Shonn Greene in 2008. The athletic oneNFL Draft analyst Dane Brugler ranked Johnson at No. 39 on his latest top 50 list.

“After much thought and reflection, I have decided to take the next step and declare for the 2025 NFL Draft.” Johnson wrote. “This decision was not easy for me, but it is with great excitement and anticipation that I accept the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead of me.”

Johnson had 21 carries for 20 yards and nine went for touchdowns this year alone. His standout play may have come in his final game as a Hawkeye: a 72-yard touchdown reception in Friday’s 13-10 win over Nebraska. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Johnson caught a swing pass at the 21-yard line, bounced off a defender, drove another six yards, broke two more tackles, fended off a defender at the 50-yard line and sprinted past the remaining defenders for the score.

“I told myself that the team needed me at that moment and I wasn’t going to let my bosses down,” Johnson said. “So, I just said I have to do something for the team. I have to put the team on my back. So I did that.”

“Kaleb made a Heisman play,” Iowa linebacker Jay Higgins said. “It should be on that ballot.”

You can’t fight Kaleb Johnson pic.twitter.com/0Qo9bY0zYr

– Unnecessary Roughness (@UnnecRoughness) November 30, 2024

Johnson is the first Iowa player to score a touchdown in every game in a season. His 23 total touchdowns this year are a school record and his 32 career receiving touchdowns rank sixth in Iowa history.

“Kaleb is a good guy who wants to be a really good football player and he has proven that week in and week out,” Ferentz said. “His consistency and performance were great. You won’t see him during the week. He is optimistic and positive.”

Dane Brugler on Kaleb Johnson’s NFL Draft stock

Over the summer, running back appeared to be one of the deepest positions in the 2025 NFL Draft class, and with Johnson developing into one of the best backs in college football, that notion is even more true today. A north-south one-cut runner, Johnson is physical and lets tacklers feel it when they try to take him down. But he also runs with incredible patience and processing speed, allowing him to accelerate through holes due to his ability to read blocks and anticipate developing lanes. NFL coaches will also appreciate that Johnson doesn’t fumble and reliably catches the ball out of the backfield.

Johnson entered the season with little draft buzz, but several NFL scouts pegged him with second-round grades this fall, which could lead to a first-round pick if the right team seeks his style of runner in the back half of the Top 32.

What this means for Iowa

Johnson established himself as one of Iowa’s greatest offensive players, but the numbers don’t adequately show how his explosive runs could change games.

He called his 75-yard touchdown during a 200-yard day as a freshman at Purdue his favorite run because it gave him the breakthrough. His most important game came against Illinois in 2023, a 30-yard touchdown dash to win the Big Ten West Division. Johnson’s 72-yard touchdown catch-and-run on Friday against Nebraska was his most spectacular moment. He finished his career with 2,279 rushing yards.

The Hawkeyes don’t have another player who combines Johnson’s power, speed, quickness and vision, but neither does anyone else. But they have two good runners who can perform well in the upcoming bowl game.

Sophomore Jaziun Patterson and redshirt freshman Kamari Moulton played Johnson in stretches this year and combined for 612 yards on 4.9 yards per carry and four touchdowns. Moulton ran for 114 yards at Maryland, while Patterson had two games with double-digit carries. They will bear the brunt in the bowl game and are positioned to compete together at a high level next fall.

(Photo: Greg Fiume/Getty Images)