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Iowa DB John Nestor brings energy to Hawkeyes, which see inkling of Riley Moss 2.0
Energetic soon-to-be sophomore draws comparisons to former Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year, but he also plans to follow ‘my own path’
John Steppe
Apr. 9, 2024 4:21 pm, Updated: Apr. 10, 2024 9:45 am
IOWA CITY — John Nestor has a lot of energy.
“Everywhere he goes — as soon as he wakes up, probably until he goes to bed — he’s just super energetic,” Xavier Nwankpa said of his fellow Iowa defensive back. “I don’t know how he does it.”
Long before his time in a Hawkeye uniform as he grew up in Chicago, that energy led to some early mornings for Nestor and his father.
“Five a.m., I’d be waking him up like, ‘Dad, Dad, let’s go, we got football,’” Nestor said as he talked at a fervent pace. “’Let’’s go, let’s go.’”
Fast-forward to the spring after his true freshman season — his first spring with the Hawkeyes — and Nestor’s energy seems to be netting early results.
Nestor was one of 10 true freshmen at Iowa to see game action last season, and he was one of only two freshmen to play in four-plus games and therefore exercise a year of eligibility. He’s drawing comparisons to former Iowa and current NFL cornerback Riley Moss.
"Coach kind of joked around and said he reminds him of Riley — how he moves on the field,“ cornerback Deshaun Lee told reporters on Tuesday.
It’s not just Iowa’s coaching staff that sees a bit of Moss in Nestor.
“I really see a Riley Moss,” said Nwankpa, the former five-star recruit from Pleasant Hill. “They have similar movements on the field, kind of act the same off the field. It’s kind of weird seeing how they align so easily.”
Considering that Moss was the 2021 Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year and a third-round selection in the 2023 NFL Draft, it is a comparison Nestor will happily accept.
"Being compared to Riley Moss is such a high honor,” Nestor said. ”Riley Moss is one of the guys that everybody looks to in our program, especially in the defensive back room. … At the same time, I got to build my own future. I have my own path.“
Nestor’s own path perhaps bears some resemblance to a young Phil Parker as well.
“Coach Parker comes to practice with an intensity and passion every day, unmatched,” Nestor said of Iowa’s longtime defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach. “So in my eyes, I just try to match it and exceed that passion and energy.”
When Nestor arrived at Iowa, he had the expectation for himself to “play, play, play, play play.”
“But you got to learn too,” Nestor said. “Playing comes with learning and messing up and taking the losses too.”
Making the travel roster was “such a big goal of mine that I wanted to accomplish” at the start of last season. When his name was not on the list, it was a setback for him that only helped “fuel the fire.”
“Dealing with those losses and setbacks just make you want to be better,” Nestor said. “Those setbacks have turned into a really, really good thing for me.”
His top goal of the week each week became “travel, travel, travel, travel, travel.” When the Hawkeyes headed east for the Penn State game on Sept. 23, Nestor earned a spot on the travel roster.
“It was good to see, but also that wasn’t my end goal,” Nestor said. “I was like, ‘OK cool, I’m traveling.’ But now, what’s the next step? What’s the next goal?”
His 142 snaps as a true freshman, according to Pro Football Focus, were exclusively on special teams. That gave Nestor an opportunity as well as some motivation.
“I love playing on special teams, and Coach (LeVar) Woods is such a good coach,” Nestor said. “He really gives you the tools to succeed, just like every coach in our building. But it was also good for me because I wasn’t on the defensive field and I wanted to be. … ‘OK, what can I do more to get on the defensive field? How can I show on special teams my energy, my effort?’”
Now in spring practices, Nestor has been working at both cornerback and Cash safety during spring practices.
“Cash has been really good for me,” said Nestor, who is listed as at 5-foot-11 and 196 pounds. “It’s such a position that you got to be able to play in the box, play in the coverage. It’s definitely a versatile position.”
The Cash position is considerably appealing considering Parker’s history of sending Cash safeties to the NFL, whether it be Amani Hooker, Dane Belton or others. Playing Cash — Iowa’s hybrid safety position — also could be another avenue for his goal of getting defensive playing time on a secondary with plenty of returning talent.
Iowa’s secondary returns four defensive backs with 14 or more career starts — safeties Quinn Schulte, Sebastian Castro and Nwankpa and cornerback Jermari Harris — and a fifth defensive back (Lee) with six career starts.
Wherever Nestor plays on the field in 2024, one can expect that he will be playing with plenty of energy.
“It’s exciting to have a guy like that on our team,” Nwankpa said.
Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com
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