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The Iowa football team knew back in August that it would need to find at least another productive defensive lineman or two to go with the four proven players already coming back.

The Hawkeyes had a quartet of third-year starters in Kenny Iwebema, Bryan Mattison, Mitch King and Matt Kroul. What Iowa needed was a reserve or two who could give the Hawkeyes 15 to 20 snaps every Saturday, enabling the starters to take a break and play at a higher level late in the game.

Iowa had sophomore reserve Chad Geary coming back with a couple games worth of late-season experience. The Hawkeyes had a pair of converted offensive linemen listed in the two-deep, and they had redshirt freshman Adrian Clayborn and a collection of unproven rookies.

“The whole trick is if we can get a couple guys to step up and get into that rotation,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said on the team’s media day in August. “That would be a great thing.”

Ferentz wasn’t certain how long it would take the Hawkeyes to fill those supporting roles or who would eventually fill them. But Iowa now seems to have its fifth and sixth options on the defensive line, and the Hawkeyes aren’t noticing a drop-off when they rest a couple of starters.

In fact, Iowa is getting a boost from Clayborn and true freshman Christian Ballard. Both were key figures for the Hawkeyes (5-5, 3-4 Big Ten) during comeback victories against Michigan State and Northwestern.

“Those guys are making big plays for us,” cornerback Charles Godfrey said.

Ballard tied Mattison with a team-high 2.5 sacks Saturday during the Hawkeyes’ 28-17 win at Northwestern, while Clayborn split a sack with Iwebema, batted down a pass, got credited for two quarterback hurries and blocked a field goal.

Freshmen add spark to Hawk D-line