There may not be a more electrifying special teams player or a more exciting player with the ball in their hands than Iowa Hawkeyes return specialist Kaden Wetjen.
Liable to take any punt or kick return for six, as he has already shown this year multiple times, Wetjen has earned an immense amount of trust from the Hawkeyes’ coaching staff to make plays when given the chance.
This week, Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz was asked if Wetjen has a full green light to do what he wants. Ferentz elaborated on how Wetjen has grown, improved, and the trust that he has gained from the staff.
“Not total green light. We don’t want to be stupid. I’m glad you brought that up. Probably won’t get many opportunities with the guys they have, who actually is from Nebraska, actually, their kicker. But boy, he puts it in there deep and he puts it up there pretty high.
“Just got done telling our guys this morning, we probably won’t get many opportunities, maybe a little window to factor in or something like that. I can’t imagine they’re going to kick it where he could intentionally return it, so this may not be a great week. But, you don’t want to do something that’s stupid. You can’t start on your own 15,” Ferentz said.
Of course, if Indiana does present Wetjen with that crack, Iowa wants its star return to capitalize upon it.
“But to flip it around, though, if he gets an opportunity to go, we want him to go. You might give him a little bit more liberty in the punt return game than you would a normal guy. There’s been times where I’ve debated should we even bring it out on the kick return portion, but right now it’s not a debate. It’s another offensive play if we can get the ball in his hands…
“Again, he’s an example of a guy who’s so much better than he was two years ago. He was a good player two years ago. I’m not knocking it. But, just the experience and actually playing in Big Ten competition, really good players grow from that, and that’s what he’s done. So, it’s been fun to watch him play and compete,” Ferentz said about Wetjen’s special teams play.
This year, Wetjen has returned seven punts for 235 total yards, an average of 33.6 yards per punt return, with a long of 95 yards that resulted in a touchdown. Wetjen also has six kickoff returns for 213 yards, with a long of 100 yards that was a touchdown on the opening kickoff against Rutgers.
There is a chance Indiana simply does not kick to Wetjen this weekend, but if they do, or a mistake is made by their kicking game, watch for the Iowa return man to make them pay.
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