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3 Days Until Iowa Football: Jaylen Watson
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- 3 Days Until Iowa Football: Jaylen Watson
(USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
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Welcome back to our countdown to the 2026 Iowa football season!
Since May 28, we've been counting down the final 100 days until the Hawkeyes swarm out of the Kinnick Stadium tunnel for their season opener against Northern Illinois on Sept. 5 .
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Each day of the countdown has primarily featured an article profiling one of the current members of the 2026 Hawkeyes based on their jersey number. Loyal readers already know this by now, but if you're hurrying to catch your football fix, this is how this works: if a player wears No. 5 and we're five days until kickoff, that's the player that will appear on the countdown.
We've had to mix things up with innovative pieces on days that a current Hawkeye doesn't wear the number that fits the countdown, but that's not going to be a problem since we're under a week to go until the opener.
Today marks just three days until kickoff, which means it's time to take a look at the man who wears No. 3 - defensive back Jaylen Watson .
Get to know him here.
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Bio
Hometown:Detroit, Michigan
High School:Detroit Central Catholic High School
Year:Third-Year
Height:5-foot-11
Weight:187 pounds
Other notable players to wear No. 3:A notable Hawkeye to wear No. 3 is former wide receiver Danan Hughes. Hughes was a rare two-sport athlete at Iowa (baseball, football), but he's best known for his football career. After redshirting in 1988, Hughes quickly became a star in Hayden Fry's offense, recording 2,156 yards and 21 touchdowns over a four-year career. Hughes ranks fourth in Iowa history in all-time receiving yards and currently serves as the radio color analyst for the Kansas City Chiefs .
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Watson's Career So Far
The Hawkeyes enter the year with a young secondary, so they might be relying on Watson's experience in the early portion of the season to help the rest of the unit settle in.
Watson has been primarily a special teams player over his two seasons in Iowa City, but when Iowa needed him to step up last season, he did. The Detroit prospect earned his first career start in the regular season finale against Nebraska , and responded by collecting a pair of tackles and his first career pass break-up.
But Watson's real coming out party came in the ReliaQuest Bowl against No. 14 Vanderbilt. Watson and Co. were tasked with stopping Heisman Trophy runner-up Diego Pavia and an explosive Commodore offense, but they held serve. Watson collected a career-high seven tackles in Iowa's 34-27 victory, which foreshadowed his potential for 2026 and beyond.
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Watson's late-season surge and continued improvement throughout the spring and summer has him likely positioned to be the cornerback opposite Deshaun Lee for the season opener.
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HawkeyeRoundtable publisher Brad Schultz has covered the Iowa Hawkeyes since 2023. To send him story ideas, scoops, or criticize his writing, reach him at bradschultz@roundtable.io
