Phil Parker confident in Iowa football LB depth, flexibility

Strong linebacker play is a staple for the Iowa Hawkeyes. It has to be mean, nasty, physical, and intelligent above all. The Hawkeyes have started to foster a lineage of strong linebacker play under defensive coordinator Phil Parker, and feature another strong group in 2026.

The group looks to be led by Cam Buffington and Jayden Montgomery, two linebackers who saw time during the 2025 season and are showing a lot of versatility in camp, moving around different positions to create great depth for Phil Parker's scheme.

"I think we have flexibility in both of them, and Seth has done a great job of making sure they get reps at both positions.

"Cam was banged up, so we moved Montgomery over to Mike, and then that gives us an opportunity to maybe put Derek there, DeLong there. There's a really good group of how we spread it out to play the Will backer, the Mike backer, and then obviously sometimes in 40 defense we got the Leo backer in there. They're all interchangeable. It gives you more depth as you have it.

"You have six good guys over there that you can rotate in. You'd like to have Ries back, but he's doing a good job trying to get back on the field. So I think we have a good solid group right there," Parker said about Iowa's linebacker group.

Cam Buffington, the Winfield, Iowa native, appeared in six games as a freshman last year, registering seven total tackles, an interception, and two pass breakups. Jayden Montgomery enters his fourth year with Iowa. Appearing in 34 total games, he started seven last year, tallying 44 tackles and two pass deflections.

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