Where but Iowa could a football player named Hayden Large have wound up?

IOWA CITY — It was hard to tell which gave fans a bigger delight last Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.

Was it Hayden Large’s fingertip touchdown catch? Was it a play shortly before that when he dragged tacklers for 5 yards before going down? Or was it the fact his name is Hayden Large?

Yes, the Hawkeyes have a football player named Hayden Large. You put the most-popular first name in the history of Iowa football with the word “large,” and … really?

Really. Large lined up on the line of scrimmage Saturday, raced to the back of the end zone, and made a neat grab of a 13-yard Joey Labas pass during the 11-on-11 scrimmage portion of the Hawkeyes’ practice at Kinnick Stadium.

That was after Large got cheers from fans for catching a shorter toss and dragging defenders with him for several seconds.

Hayden Large. Wouldn’t Hayden Fry have been living large to have a player with that name? Fry’s successor, current Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, had Large fall into his program’s lap.

“With his name, first question for his dad, is there some Iowa connection?” Ferentz said after Saturday’s practice.

“None at all. Just kind of random that that's his name. Usually if a guy is Hayden or Kinnick, there's got to be some Iowa connection.”

Large’s lone Iowa tie was that he played for three seasons at NAIA school Dordt University in Sioux Center. He’s from Hudsonville, Mich., 15 miles from Grand Rapids. As a junior in 2018, Large was a running back/linebacker who rushed for almost 1,300 yards and over 8 yards per carry.

He helped Unity Christian High School to Michigan’s Class 5 state-championship win at Detroit’s Ford Field. The Crusaders’ first touchdown was on Large’s 44-yard run.

“He was just one of those kids you wish you could keep coaching,” said Craig Tibbe, the only coach in Unity Christian’s 20-year football history.

But Tibbe couldn’t coach Large in 2019. On the first play of the team’s annual August Blue/White scrimmage, Large took a handoff, made a cut, and fell to the turf in agony. His hamstring had torn off a piece of his pelvis.

Large had surgery and was bedridden for 35 days. Except for the days his team had games.

“Our opener was an away game,” Tibbe said. “He made his dad drive him. They had a little SUV. They laid down the back seat so he could lay all the way down in it. He came hobbling in (to the team’s locker room). There was no way he was going to miss anything with his teammates.”

Large didn’t miss a game, and was tabbed by Tibbe to accept the trophy after the team won its regional championship.

Dordt, a Christian school, had connections with Unity Christian despite being over 10 hours away. A member of Tibbe’s coaching staff had attended Dordt, as had former Crusader players. Dordt Coach Joel Penner took a chance on Large despite the player’s major injury.

Though Dordt’s offense was run-heavy, Large still had a dozen touchdown catches over his three seasons. In January, he told his high school coach he was entering the NCAA’s transfer portal.

“It was a shocker,” Tibbe said. “He loved Dordt. He loved the staff, he loved his teammates.

“He told me ‘I just have to try. I just have to see if I have what it takes.’ He said if he fails, he’s completely comfortable with it.”

LeVar Woods, Iowa special teams coordinator and northwest Iowa area recruiter, became aware of Large and lured him to the Hawkeyes as a preferred walk-on. The 6-foot-5, 240-pounder will have two seasons of eligibility.

Iowa’s tight end room is a crowded house with proven Big Ten players Luke Lachey and Erick All, transfer Steven Stilianos and promising sophomore Addison Ostrenga. But the No. 1 fullback job opened when Eli Miller suffered a spring practice injury.

Enter Large, an experienced college blocker.

“We were happy to have him join us,” Ferentz said. “I really wasn't quite sure where it was going to go. Eli Miller is probably not going to be able to play in the fall, out of surgery. He was really doing well. All of a sudden we've got a void there. Hayden was doing OK at tight end. Give (fullback) a shot. Seems like he has a feel for it.

“Right now I think he can really factor into this whole thing. It’s funny how you stumble into things sometimes.”

But really, where else would a college football player named Hayden Large wind up except the first team of Iowa’s depth chart?

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