The University of Iowa field hockey team starts its 2012 season in a matter of days, but junior Karli Johansen already has a season's worth of hockey under her belt in 2012. This summer, she traveled the world competing for the Canadian National Team, gaining experience and confidence along the way.

While some positions on the Iowa Hawkeye football squad are drawing national hype, the running back position draws plenty of local interest. Sophomore Damon Bullock, the "veteran" of the group, is ready to bring his complete game to the backfield while also prepping his young cohorts for game day.

Each day when University of Iowa players walk into the Hayden Fry Football Complex, there is a not-so-subtle reminder motivating them for the 2012 season: four empty trophy cases. Senior quarterback James Vandenberg says the thought of these vacant pedestals will help drive the Hawkeye team this fall.

Players Brandon Scherff, Matt Tobin, James Ferentz, Austin Blythe, and Brett Van Sloten all hail from Iowa communities.

A bust of Nile Kinnick, the University of Iowa’s only Heisman Trophy winner, will be on display in the trophy case at the UI booth at the State Fair Aug. 9-18. Hawkeye fans will also have a chance to meet and reminisce with flesh and blood versions of former athletes.

Kristi Cardwell wanted to spend her summer building confidence on the golf course as she enters her senior year on the University of Iowa women's golf team. Winning a professional event as an amateur is exactly the type of confidence boost she had in mind.

A new book by Dagmar Nissen Munn tells the story of her father, George Nissen, who invented the trampoline at the UI.

After 23 years, an Iowa City native will be on the move. In mid-August, former University of Iowa men's basketball player Matt Gatens will head overseas to continue his basketball career professionally in Spain.

The first day new University of Iowa football student-athletes set foot on campus, their photographs are taken. When they check out of the Hayden Fry Football Complex four or five years later, they hardly recognize their old selves. Hawkeye center James Ferentz can attest to that, blossoming into one of the leaders on the Iowa squad.

University of Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, now the longest tenured of Big Ten Conference football coaches, spent his eight-plus minutes on the podium at Big Ten Media Days in Chicago July 26, describing how fortunate he feels to have a 22-year association with the Hawkeyes.

Former Hawkeye athlete Diane Nukuri-Johnson will be competing in the marathon for her home country of Burundi at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. A passion for running has led her away from civil strife in her homeland to a college education and a promising profession.

What Olympic sport owes its origins to the University of Iowa?