MILLER: Just how good has Kaleb Johnson been this season? It's historic

Kaleb Johnson is off to a torrid start for the Iowa Hawkeyes in 2024.  But you know this.  Just how amazing has this start been?  One that finds Johnson leading college football in rushing yards and tied for the most rushing touchdowns.  But you know this, too.   How does Johnson’s start compare to two other very hot starts by Iowa running backs?  That’s why I’m here!

JOHNSON VS. GREENE

Shonn Greene was a menace to Big Ten defenses back in 2008.  Green rushed for at least 100 yards in each of Iowa’s 13 games that year, scored 20 rushing touchdowns, and ran for a school-record 1,850 yards.  How do Johnson’s numbers stack up next to Greene’s through four games?
 

As you can see, Johnson is off to a much faster pace than Greene, even though the rougher portion of Iowa’s schedule remains ahead for Johnson, as it did for Greene.   

Greene’s skillset mix and his strength allowed for consistency and he was a punishing force to go along with deceptive top end speed.

Johnson appears to be faster than Greene in pads (Greene ran a sub 11.0 split in a high school 4x100 relay, so he was no slouch), and Johnson can run on a rail when he gets to the edge, and his running style is a true joy to watch; power and elegance with an ‘if he’s even, he’s leavin’ top end gear.  Greene did not have the aesthetic grace of Johnson, but they don’t hand out awards for that. Production is what matters, and so far, Johnson is on a magnificent pace.  What did Greene do the rest of the 2008 season?  
 

If Johnson can emulate this type of performance, he will be in the Top 5 in the Heisman race at worst.  However, that is a B1G IF, as Johnson has only league opponents the rest of the way.  More on that towards the end.

Before we move on to more of my thoughts on Johnson, I also want to look at what Tavian Banks did during the first four games of the 1997 Iowa football season.

JOHNSON VS. BANKS

To start with, hopes were incredibly high for the 1997 Iowa football team.  The team began the year ranked in the Top 25 and flirted with a Top 10 ranking after their first four games, where they blew out UNI, Tulsa, Iowa State and Illinois.  That team featured two of Iowa’s most electrifying offensive players in school history; the aforementioned Banks and speedy receiver and return man Tim Dwight.  They scored 66 against UNI and 63 against Iowa State in Ames, a game that I attended but don’t really remember much other than Banks and Dwight going crazy, because Captain Morgan was my wingman that day, and a shitty wingman he was. But hey, I was 26 and road a bus up from Kansas City to Ames, and a good time was had by all. 

Here is what Banks’ start looked like:

Banks averaged nearly eight yards per carry through those first four games compared to Johnson’s 8.35.  Banks scored 12 touchdowns in those four games (not all rushing), while Johnson has amassed nine rushing touchdowns.  As Iowa’s Sports Information Department pointed out, Johnson is the first Hawkeye since Banks in 1997 to score at least two touchdowns in each of Iowa’s first four games.

Some reality set in for Banks, and the team, the following week against Michigan.  Iowa was ranked No. 11 while Ohio State was ranked 7th.  The Buckeyes held to 88 yards on 22 carries as they beat Iowa 23-7.  The following week, the Hawkeyes faced another Top Ten team on the road in Michigan, and led 21-7 at the half after a Tim Dwight punt return for a touchdown.  As electric as Cooper DeJean was as a returner, there has never been anyone like Tim Dwight at that position for Iowa…I mean, maybe Nile Kinnick, but those are three best and Dwight just ran so freaking hard and was lightning fast.  However, I digress. 

Banks was held to 99 yards rushing on this day on 19 carries and one touchdown.  Banks would wind up averaging ‘just’ 5.88 yards per game over Iowa’s final seven contests, and the Hawkeyes would lose five of those seven games to finish the season at 7-5.  Quarterback Matt Sherman either hurt his hand on a Michigan player’s helmet late in that game, or, if you are into more conspiritorial pursuits, he injured his hand punching a locker after the game at the Big House.  Regardless, Sherman would only play in one more game that season, and gave way to Randy Reiners.   Big Ten teams began to stack the box and dared Reiners to beat them deep, and it just didn’t happen for Iowa, and the Banks express came to a bit of a halt.
 

Harry Baumert/The Register/USA Today Photo 

Banks’ 5.88 yards per carry over the final eight games is nothing to sneeze at, but it dropped him from the Heisman front runner position after Week Four to not even finishing in the Top Ten of the voting, which was suspect, considering Penn State running back Curtis Enis finished fifth with a less impressive statistical output than Banks, but his team won nine games.  

Coincidentally, Dwight finished seventh in the Heisman balloting that year, returning three punts for scores, recording eight receiving touchdowns and throwing for another score.

Which brings me back to Kaleb Johnson.  He is more powerful than Banks, but Banks had better footwork in the hole as well as a better top end gear as it relates to straight-line speed…but Johnson’s top end is probably better than it looks to be, because it looks effortless.  I can’t recall another Iowa running back that he reminds me of, and the one player from college football history that comes to mind is Eric Dickerson, a comp I made on twitter back in October of 2022.
 

Banks wound up averaging 6.7 yards per carry in 1997, and if you made 6.7 yards per carry as an over/under for Johnson for this 2024 season, I would probably take the under.  That’s less of a choice on Johnson’s legs as it is what I have seen from Iowa’s passing game thus far and how Johnson is going to be THE scouting report for opposing defenses, and his production will invite a stacked box at the line of scrimmage beyond what Iowa has been facing thus far.
 

Johnson is a beast.  He has an NFL future, and that likely starts in 2025, so long as he can finish this season upright and healthy.  We should all enjoy what we are seeing, because as the numbers bear out, Johnson is doing some things that we haven’t seen an Iowa player do in nearly three decades.

As was the case for Banks, Johnson’s first major bump in the road could come at The Horseshoe in Columbus…but beyond that, Iowa doesn’t face a murderers row and Johnson has an outside shot at challenging some of Shonn Greene’s single season records. That will depend on Johnson’s health (and Iowa has a nice stable of running backs, so Johnson doesn’t have to carry the entire load), the continued development of this year’s offensive line (the 2008 OL was probably a Top Three in the Ferentz era) and Iowa’s quarterback play improving to just being competent.  

It’s that last one that I am most concerned about.