| No. 21 – Iowa Hawkeyes | |
|---|---|
| Positions | Wide receiver Return specialist |
| Class |  |
| Personal information | |
| Born | March 9, 2002 Iowa City, Iowa |
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) |
| Weight | 196 lb (89 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Williamsburg (IA) (Williamsburg, Iowa) |
| College |
|
| Awards and highlights | |
| |
| Stats at ESPN | |
Kaden Wetjen (born March 9, 2002) is an American college football wide receiver and return specialist and for the Iowa Hawkeyes.
In high school, at Williamsburg Iowa High School, Wetjen ran track and was a three-year football letterman as a running back, wide receiver and defensive back. [1] [2] As a senior, he scored 31 touchdowns and had six interceptions on defense. [3] He also earned first-team all-state honors. [4]
After graduating from high school, Wetjen attended Iowa Western Community College where he continued to play football as a wide receiver. [5] After two seasons at Iowa Western, Wetjen entered the transfer portal. He eventually opted to walk-on at Iowa over offers at several smaller schools. [6]
After the 2024 season, Wetjen was named the winner of the Jet Award as the nation's top return specialist. [7] He was recognized after leading the FBS in kickoff return yards and coming second in punt return yards, including a 100 yard kickoff return touchdown and an 85 yard punt return touchdown. [8]
In 2025, during his final season at Iowa, Wetjen had one kickoff return for a touchdown and three punt return touchdowns to break Tim Dwight's school record for return touchdowns in a career (6). He was named Big Ten Special Team Player of the Week [9] three [10] times [11] . After the regular season, Wetjen was named First-team All-Big Ten and Rodgers–Dwight Return Specialist of the Year for the second time. He also earned Consensus First-team All-American honors. [12]
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Led NCAA Division I FBS | |
| Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | Games | Receiving | Rushing | Kick returns | Punt returns | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | Ret | Yds | Avg | TD | Ret | Yds | Avg | TD | ||
| 2020–21 | Iowa Western | 7 | - | 4 | 144 | 36.0 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 4.5 | 0 | 3 | 72 | 24.0 | 0 | 26 | 416 | 16.0 | 2 |
| 2021 | Iowa Western | 11 | - | 18 | 304 | 16.9 | 1 | 5 | 60 | 12.0 | 0 | 7 | 129 | 18.4 | 0 | 31 | 459 | 14.8 | 2 |
| 2022 | Iowa | 0 | 0 | Redshirt | |||||||||||||||
| 2023 | Iowa | 14 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 4 | 20 | 5.0 | 0 | 14 | 335 | 23.9 | 0 | 7 | 63 | 9.0 | 0 |
| 2024 | Iowa | 13 | 1 | 3 | 46 | 15.3 | 0 | 4 | 33 | 8.3 | 0 | 26 | 727 | 28.0 | 1 | 26 | 328 | 12.6 | 1 |
| 2025 | Iowa | 12 | 3 | 20 | 151 | 7.6 | 1 | 13 | 76 | 5.8 | 2 | 14 | 427 | 30.5 | 1 | 19 | 538 | 28.3 | 3 |
| NJCAA career | 18 | - | 22 | 448 | 20.4 | 3 | 7 | 69 | 9.9 | 0 | 10 | 201 | 20.1 | 0 | 57 | 875 | 15.4 | 4 | |
| FBS career | 39 | 4 | 23 | 197 | 8.6 | 1 | 19 | 128 | 6.7 | 2 | 54 | 1,489 | 27.6 | 2 | 52 | 929 | 17.9 | 4 | |