Green Bay Packers select Lukas Van Ness in first round of 2023 NFL Draft

The day has come where former Iowa star Lukas Van Ness finally got to hear his name called in the NFL Draft. On Thursday, the Green Bay Packers selected Van Ness with the 13th pick of the first round.

Most players talented enough to be picked in the first round of the NFL Draft actually started for their college teams. But not Iowa defensive lineman Lukas Van Ness. Instead, he redshirted as a freshman and then didn’t start a single game in the two years he actually played. Once drafted, though, he’ll be expected to do that very thing he never did in college: start a football game.

That’s just how Kirk Ferentz runs things at Iowa. He had loyal and productive senior ahead of Ness on the depth chart and opted to start them over him, which doesn’t matter a tremendous amount because along the DL, every team rotates guys in and out, so it hardly matters who starts anyway.

When he did get in the game, LVN was a game-wrecker. He finished top-10 in the Big Ten in 2022 in tackles for loss (11) and sacks (6) as part of a loaded Hawkeye defense that once again finished as one of the nation’s top units on that side of the football. Meanwhile, the year before, Van Ness put up very similar numbers, with seven sacks and 8.5 tackles for loss.

Over two years of actual play, Van Ness put up numbers and made explosive plays along the DL. He’s young, he has production and he’s a heck of a physical specimen — all the makings of a future pro star.

As a recruit, Van Ness was a diamond in the rough. He ranked as just a three-star prospect and barely cracked the top-1,000 in the 2020 class, coming in at No. 981 in the On3 Industry Rankings.

What NFL Draft analysts are saying about Lukas Van Ness

NFL analyst Lance Zierlein broke down the Van Ness profile over on NFL.com, where he wrote the following about the former Iowa star:

“Nicknamed ‘Hercules’ by teammates, Van Ness is a well-developed defensive end with excellent lean mass and additional growth still to come. He’s a power-centric prospect with force as his modus operandi as both a run defender and pass rusher. Van Ness needs to work on hand attacks for quicker block shedding and to diversify his rush beyond bull-rush challenges. He’s taken snaps inside at Iowa but might need to keep filling out his frame before he’s ready to succeed as a run stuffer and pass rusher as a 4i in a 3-4 front. Van Ness is more of a splash player than consistent force on tape, but he possesses projectable traits that should allow for continued ascension as a pro.”

Never bad to be compared to Hurcules is it? Not sure his new team will expect superstardom right away, but per Zierlein, there’s certainly a path for LVN.