He accepted a scholarship from the University of Iowa, where as a freshman played on the offensive line for the first 4 games, before moving to defensive tackle for the last 7 games (2 starts) and recording 22 tackles (2 for loss), one sack and a pass defensed.
He became a regular starter at right tackle as a junior and in his last year, he contributed to the team leading the Big Ten Conference in rushing offense (ranked eighth in the nation) and scoring offense.