Kirk Ferentz reveals Iowa's approach to Kaleb Johnson as a Heisman candidate

Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson has quietly been having one of the most impressive individual seasons across the entire college football landscape. Most recently rushing for 135 yards and three touchdowns in a 42-10 win against Wisconsin over the weekend that represented his third three-touchdown game of the season.

Johnson’s breakout season has not come with recognition for the Heisman Trophy that he likely deserves. A topic that his head coach Kirk Ferentz recently discussed after Saturday’s win over the Badgers.

“I haven’t given it much thought, and really all I know about all that stuff is what I hear on the radio when I drive in or drive out,” Ferentz admitted. “And I know the guy at Boise I guess has a million yards too, right? Somebody was really raving about him, in fact, they were doing a little Heisman rundown. It sounds like there’s nobody else left from whoever this guy was that was talking.”

It’s clear that the Heisman Trophy race is not at the front for Ferentz’s mind, but the standout season from Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty has likely made things harder for Johnson at the same position. With Jeanty on pace to Barry Sanders‘ single-season rushing record with 1,525 yards and 20 rushing touchdowns this year.

Johnson trails right behind Jeanty as the No. 2 running back in the country statistically with 1,279 yards and 20 touchdowns so far this season. But according to Ferentz, the Heisman Trophy is not the focus right now in Iowa City.

“But yeah, we haven’t been too worried about that. But this is a time you were all that kind of stuff does become — it’s like rankings and everything else. I tell our guys, none of this stuff’s relevant till now. Yet none of us really know what the end of the story is until a month from now,” Ferentz explained.

“So I would imagine he’ll be in the conversation at some point if he keeps doing what he’s doing, and we’ll promote him as best we can. Just like we would anybody who’s doing a great job and it’s a team thing if it does happen. Which Kaleb would be the first guy to say it.”

Johnson will have three more weeks to make up some ground and build upon his Heisman Trophy campaign, an award that’s often not been about how you start, but how you finish.