Top Northwestern Players To Know Ahead Of Iowa's Trip To Evanston
· Yahoo Sports
Iowa football fans are pretty knowledgeable about their team by now, but it's never too late to soak in more football knowledge as the calendar flips to November.
Older Hawkeye fans are probably used to Northwestern essentially being a bye week on the schedule because the Wildcats used to be a perennial 1-2 win team in the Big Ten, but that's far from the case now.
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Fourth-year head coach David Braun has this Northwestern program in a fantastic position entering the season's final month, and the Wildcats are 6-2 because they boast a talented cast of playmakers.
Here are the five Iowa fans should get to know before the Hawkeyes invade Evanston, Illinois for a primetime clash at Ryan Field on Saturday evening.
QB Aidan Chiles
If you've skimmed the list before reading about these players, you'll probably find that Northwestern is known for having explosive talent on the offensive side of the ball. That all starts with quarterback Aidan Chiles, who has revived his career in Evanston with Chip Kelly running the offense. Chiles began his career as a highly-touted prospect under Jonathan Smith at Oregon State and Michigan State, but nothing really clicked for him until he and Kelly partnered up at Northwestern. Chiles has thrown for nearly 1,9000 passing yards, 13 touchdowns, and one interception, but what makes him dangerous is his ability to make plays with his legs and run (10 TD there this year) or find open receivers downfield because of it.
Hawkeye fans already are aware of this if they read up on my three and a half early thoughts on Monday, but Chiles already has a history of performing well against Iowa. He threw for 256 yards and two touchdowns to engineer an upset win over the Hawkeyes in 2024 while at Michigan State.
Iowa has to try and make Chiles uncomfortable to have a shot to keep this robust offense (33.6 points per game) at bay. If it doesn't, the Hawks could be in trouble.
WR Griffin Wilde
When Northwestern needs a big play, there's a pretty good chance Griffin Wilde is involved. The 6-foot-2 Wilde has been such an instrumental piece of this offense since transferring in from South Dakota State ahead of the 2025 season, and he too has developed a keen rapport with Kelly. Wilde has tallied 100+ receiving yards in three of the last four games, including a five-catch, 146-yard outing against Oregon last weekend that included a 64-yard touchdown.
Wilde has the fifth-most receiving yards in the Big Ten this season (761) along with five scores. He's always going to be the go-to downfield threat for this offense, so cornerbacks Deshaun Lee and Jaylen Watson will be on notice.
RB Caleb Komolafe
Though Northwestern boasts a respectable passing attack (9th in Big Ten), its offensive success is also because of its work on the ground. The Wildcats tally 200 rushing yards per contest (3rd-most in Big Ten), with the leading back being Caleb Komolafe. The fourth-year has stuck with Northwestern throughout his career and has rewarded the Wildcats with a stellar 2026 campaign so far, tallying 618 yards and five touchdowns. Oregon held him in check last weekend (67 yards on 16 carries), but Komolafe showed his potential by tallying 188 yards on 25 carries against Penn State on Oct. 2.
RB Joseph Himon II
Iowa has a good run defense, but the challenge Northwestern presents is the fact that it has two running backs capable of doing damage. Like Komolafe, Himon has stuck it out through the good and bad of Wildcat football, and he has tallied 384 yards and three scores this season. Standing at 5-foot-9, Himon is known for boasting ridiculous speed, with NorthwesternRoundtable reporting that he hit a top speed of 22 miles per hour during Northwestern's Week 1 win over South Dakota State.
LB Brayden Brus
If there's a standout name to watch on this Northwestern defense, it's probably Brayden Brus. Brus has recorded 68 tackles this year, which is the third-best in the Big Ten behind Iowa's Cam Buffington and Wisconsin's Cooper Catalano. It's probably unfair to compare Brus to Buffington, but they are very similar players because of their versatility and range.
Watch out for Brus on Saturday.