Iowa football updates futures of Terrence Smith, Ben Kueter

On Friday, Kirk Ferentz updated the roster statuses of a pair of players. Neither Terrence Smith or Ben Kueter are currently on Iowa's football roster heading into the 2026 season. Ferentz confirmed that Kueter will focus exclusively on wrestling. "He’s not on the roster and my understanding is he’s just straight ahead wrestling. Hopefully, he does great. I think he will. But, yeah, that’s my understanding," Ferentz said. Kueter signed with Iowa as a two-sport star and as a four-star linebacker signee in the 2023 class, per 247Sports. After the 2023 Iowa football season, Kueter revealed that he would temporarily focus exclusively on wrestling. Then, as Kueter was working to make a return to the Iowa football program in 2025, he underwent hip surgery and missed the 2025 college football season. Kueter owns a 35-18 overall mark and a 14-10 dual record with Iowa wrestling and is a two-time All-American. Meanwhile, it was a shock last month when Smith was revealed to no longer be on the Hawkeyes' roster. A three-star signee in Iowa's 2025 class, Smith's exclusion from the roster was unknown at the time. Ferentz said on Friday that Smith had enrolled at Iowa Western and that the Hawkeyes were still keeping tabs on him. "He enrolled over at Iowa Western this summer and unfortunately has hit a little bit of an obstacle health-wise there. But, we communicated about seven days ago. His attitude’s great. He’s working hard. Hopefully, he gets healthy and then gets back on the field and just keeps going. We’re going to keep an eye on him. He’s still a guy that we have really good feelings about," Ferentz said. A 6-foot-3, 187-pound receiver out of West Aurora in Illinois, Smith seems to have a potential pathway back to Iowa down the line. Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes and opinions. Follow Josh on X: @JoshOnHawks This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Iowa football updates futures of Terrence Smith, Ben Kueter