Kelvin Bell gearing up Iowa’s defensive line for a monster campaign

IOWA CITY, Ia. — He’s approaching the sixth season of orchestrating Iowa’s defensive line, and could very well be fielding his best unit yet.

Kelvin Bell is a solid recruiter, who has a knack for molding under the radar talent into All-Big Ten performers, and future NFL Draft picks. It’s hard to argue against that when the Hawkeyes have had five defensive linemen drafted under Bell’s watch.

Despite losing Logan Lee and Joe Evans, the group returns a ton of experience, leadership and production. Yahya Black and Aaron Graves are animals along the interior. Ethan Hurkett and Deontae Craig know how to wreak havoc off the edge. Together they handle all of the blue collar work in the trenches, which Bell admires. On top of that, the starting four up front combined for a jaw-dropping, 194 tackles, including 20.5 for loss and nine sacks last season.

The Hawkeyes even finished 15th nationally against the run because Bell’s boys were physical, and disciplined. Which is why everyone around the Big Ten is expecting Iowa to have another stifling defense. Bell appreciates the hype surrounding his players leading up to kickoff, but understands they still have to prove it in live game action.

“I try not to listen to that stuff, I really don’t because I’m a guy that looks after the fact, just to be fair to everyone in that room,” Bell said. “This is the 2024 defensive line, and I can’t tell you what they’re going to do.”

On paper the defensive line is impressive. After all, Black, Hurkett and Craig racked up 50-plus tackles apiece last season. Not to mention Graves recorded 37 stops. They’re all disruptive, and know how to consistently provide a push up front. In return that allows the linebackers to make plays.

Bell finds it encouraging that everyone is staying hungry like they’re about to play the last game of their lives. Iowa’s recipe for success is having depth up front, and Bell wants to continue rotating bodies, and keeping guys fresh. He hasn’t set no specific goal for the defensive line either. Bell just wants the veterans to play up to their potential, and provide guidance to the youngsters along the way, because they’ll get their opportunities too.

“I’ll look back on it after the season, and see if we were successful, did we achieve the goals that we wanted to achieve,” he said. “Our mantra right now is to build, everyday we’re building, so we don’t know what the season is going to hold for us, or who’s going to end up playing for us.”

Bell doesn’t put anything on his players that he thinks they can’t handle. The national publications, and analysts are projecting Iowa’s defensive line to dominate this fall. Bell is blocking the outside noise though, and wants his players to have accountability during times of adversity. In his eyes that’s what defines leaders, and Bell is counting on Black and Graves to keep their teammates focused.

“What we need from Yahya and Aaron is continuing to have them doing better,” the Mississippi native said. “The way our defense is set up, and the job that they do is not glorified, people don’t talk about it a lot, but when Jay Higgins is making a bunch of tackles, you know those two guys are doing their jobs.”

With Iowa’s opener against Illinois State looming, Bell is keeping up the intensity, and expects his players to be ready. A long season lies ahead, and anything can happen at any given moment. So Bell is making sure that his squad is embracing that next man up mentality.

“Everybody in the room needs to prepare, and prepare like they’re going to play, because you never know when your number is going to be called.”