Aaron Graves becomes a father, helps Iowa defeat Nebraska within 24 hours

Aaron Graves was brought to tears during his postgame press conference Friday, but it wasn’t because Iowa beat Nebraska.

Less than 24 hours before kickoff, Graves became a father for the first time. His wife, Aubrey, gave birth to their son, Grayson, on Thanksgiving.

Graves then jumped on a flight to Lincoln and helped the Hawkeyes secure their 10th win in the last 11 games against the Cornhuskers. It’s a 24-hour sequence Graves said he won’t forget.

“If (Aubrey) was still in labor and she hadn’t gave birth by the time the game started, I wouldn’t have played, but luckily it worked out,” Graves said. “I told Aubrey when I left that I’m not leaving you here in the hospital to lose so I was like we better win this fricking game.”

“(Aaron Graves) wasn’t at practice on Thursday obviously because he was at the hospital there, but coach kind of made the announcement during special teams,” said Mark Gronowski, Iowa’s starting quarterback. “Shoot, we were all super stoked for him. He was able to fly in last night and we were kind of partying it up for him in the locker room, for him especially, not just for the win but for him being a new dad. He got the game ball after the game just for committing his time to this team. Ya know he has put in so much time, he has so much passion for this game, this team, these fans. It was really cool to see him make it out for a final regular season game.”

“Sometimes love and marriage leads to a baby carriage and all that stuff, the kids,” said Kirk Ferentz, Iowa football’s head coach. “So it is just one of those situations, but again, none of us were expecting that. Aaron is just highly respected, what a tremendous young guy he is. Yeah, things happen fast for him, but it’s a good thing. I’m not surprised at all. Those guys, he’s earned everybody’s respect in a lot of ways.”

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