Braeden Jackson always knew that he could compete at the Division I level.
Now, the former Ankeny Centennial football star is proving it.
The second-year running back had a breakout performance for 18th-ranked Iowa on Saturday at Kinnick Stadium, where he racked up 149 total yards and two touchdowns in the Hawkeyes’ 55-0 victory over Northern Iowa. And he did it on his birthday.
Jackson ran 11 times for 125 yards. He broke loose for a 62-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter, the longest rush by a Hawkeye this season.
Jackson also caught a 24-yard touchdown pass from Hank Brown to give Iowa a 14-0 lead with 5 minutes 48 seconds left in the first period. It was his first career catch and TD.
Jackson, Xavier Williams and Nathan McNeil each rushed for over 100 yards while filling in for injured starter Kamari Moulton. The Hawkeyes amassed 640 yards of total offense and 32 first downs.
“I’m happy with our team’s efforts this week and their focus, and that started last Sunday,” said Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz. “They handled that well, they’ve really done a good job preparing, so I’m happy about that. Hank had a really good game. It’s tough to do much better than what he did. All three running backs, with Kamari out, all three of those guys stepped up and did well. It was good to see because they’re all young players that we haven’t seen a lot on the game field or enough on the game field.”
Iowa is 3-0 for the first time since the 2023 season and for the 11th time under Ferentz. The Hawkeyes will head to Ann Arbor to open Big Ten Conference play on Saturday at Michigan (3-0).
Kickoff is slated for 2:30 p.m. on CBS.