63 Days Until Iowa Hawkeyes Football: Justin Britt

Continuing with our countdown to the start of Iowa’s 2022 football campaign, we profile an offensive lineman who notched the first three starts of his career last season and who is hoping to solidify a permanent spot in the starting lineup during his junior year.

Justin Britt – RS Junior

Indianapolis, IN (Warren Central)

6’4”, 301 lbs.

2022 Projection: Starting offensive guard

Patience can be a virtue both in sports and life, something which both Iowa and Justin Britt have had to learn over the course of their relationship. Iowa was interested in Britt early in his high school career and brought the talented offensive lineman recruit to campus for an unofficial visit in November of 2016, but had to wait nearly two years to receive his commitment despite Britt being personally recruited by Kirk Ferentz. Meanwhile, Britt was forced to miss his entire senior season due to an injury to his ACL injury which kept him off the football field for a considerable amount of time. Upon arriving in Iowa City in 2019, Britt exercised further patience as he worked his way up the depth chart, playing four games during both his redshirt and freshman campaigns and seeing limited action in most of those contests.

Britt managed to see the field considerably more in 2021, and even started three games at right guard early in the year in place of the injured Kyler Schott. However, the young offensive lineman experienced the kind of growing pains that often plague young players at his position and was unable to regain his starting job after missing Iowa’s game against Colorado State due to injury. Both Britt and the Hawkeye fans who have been anxiously awaiting him to emerge as an impact player since he signed his letter of intent were unfortunately forced to wait a bit longer his breakout to occur. Spring practice may have given Britt a chance to shine, but injuries reared their ugly head once again.

2022 may be the season where all parties are rewarded for their patience. If Britt can stay healthy, he should have the inside track to start at one of the two guard positions, though he could face challenges from whichever centers or tackles fail to lock down one of the starting spots. Britt, who regularly drew comparisons to former Hawkeye star James Daniels during his recruitment, has the talent and work ethic to emerge as the key contributor the Hawkeyes brought him to Iowa City to become. If Britt can accomplish that this year, Iowa fans will agree that he was worth the wait.