The Iowa defense will look very different when they take the field to start spring practice. Iowa will be without eight players who started in the Outback Bowl victory over Vanderbilt, including the entire defensive line.

With all those departures it means new opportunities for several Iowa players. Some are younger players who are set to emerge into larger roles and others are new faces to the program that joined the Iowa squad in January after signing out of the transfer portal.

With that in mind, let’s look at five players that we will be watching closely this spring because they could emerge as key performers this fall.

TYLER BROWN

With Xavier Nwankpa graduating and Koen Entringer exiting via the transfer portal, Iowa was looking for help at the safety position. One of the most underappreciated positions on the Hawkeye defense is the free safety position.

Iowa went out looking for a potential new starter at free safety and it appears that one of the players will be in the mix to take that role is a portal transfer from James Madison named Tyler Brown. There were a couple of players very high on Iowa’s wish list during the portal season and Brown was near the top of it for Phil Parker.

Last season he started for JMU and had 80 tackles, including five for loss, and one interception. The free safety position is almost like a quarterback for the defense as he needs to get everyone organized pre-snap, which means Brown is going to have to pick up the Iowa defense very quickly starting this spring.

IOSE EPENESA

The youngest of the Epenesa family really needs no introduction or hype. He was a four star recruit according to Rivals.com and the consensus 35th best prospect overall. At 6-foot-3 and 265 pounds, Epenesa arrived in Iowa City with the look of an instant impact player.

But, it was a crowded defensive end position last year with veteran starters Max Llewellyn and Ethan Hurkett to go along with backup Brian Allen. All three of those players are now gone with the first two graduating and the later transferring to Vanderbilt.

Basically the door to a starting position has swung wide open. Perhaps part of the reason that Allen left was because he saw what was coming down the line this fall. What we were told during bowl prep was that Epenesa had elevated his play and looked like was ready to emerge heading into his redshirt freshman season.

BRYCE HAWTHORNE

One year ago, Hawthore was the new face on the Iowa roster and the second most famous player who transferred from South Dakota State. He quickly worked his way into the two deeps with his impressive play. The Iowa coaches were left wondering why they didn’t offer him out of high school.

Fast forward to this spring and he is the veteran of the position group, at least in terms of snaps, playing 295 last season. Not only is he going to be counted on to produce more and play more snaps, but his leadership of this group will become important.

RASHAD GODFREY

The young defensive back really started to emerge late in the season.  With injuries in the defensive backfield at corner, Godfrey got call against Nebraska and played 45 snaps in that contest. He earned a Pro Football Focus grade of 69.2 in that contest, but a terrific 91.2 against the run and 82.7 in tackling.

Godfrey is going to be in the mix playing time this year. The question is will that be at corner or could he give Iowa some options with Zach Lutmer and move to Cash this season? He appears to be a very solid tackler in space with a nose for the ball.

CAM BUFFINGTON

Perhaps the most talked about player since the end of the season on defense has been Buffington. He really started to shine in the second half of the season on special teams and the arrow is definitely pointed up.

Iowa will have a decision regarding what they do at middle linebacker this fall. Buffington stock is on the rise and he’s a contender for the starting job, but is he ready? This spring will go a long way to deciding if he is going to be the man in the middle or if he is still waiting for his opportunity.