Iowa defensive end Matt Kroul grew up on a farm in the heartlands of Iowa, swearing off any kind of candy or soda when he was in third grade.

"People talk about Iowa farm kids," said Rick Kaczenski, Iowa's defensive line coach. "He is the stereotypical Iowa blue collar farm kid."

Kroul helped run his father, John's, family farm by mowing the grass, bailing hay and working in the garden. When he was older, he would split and deliver wood from the 525-acre farm.

If he wasn't splitting wood, he might tend to his family's pumpkin patch that was started 24 years ago to fund his college education. Iowa offered Kroul a scholarship when he was a sophomore, and the family re-routed the money to buy a greenhouse.

Last year, the family sold 10,000 pumpkins. Flooding in Iowa cut the number in half this year.

The family also has about 150 cows, his mother, Kaylene, said.

"He was never bored," Kaylene Kroul said.

Kroul has rarely been hurt either, and he credits his life growing up as a contributing factor. The senior defensive tackle will start his 47th consecutive game this weekend -- every game since his redshirt freshman season -- as the Hawkeyes host Penn State in a 3:30 p.m. kickoff.

Former Iowa offensive tackle Bruce Nelson holds the school record with 48 consecutive starts, and given Kroul's background, he won't have the record much longer.

Kroul last missed a game when he was in eighth grade when he broke a bone in his foot. He played in every game at Mount Vernon High School, a school 19 miles away from Iowa's campus, and a minor hip injury kept him out of one practice at Iowa.

"At first, I didn't really think about it until midway through this year," Kroul said. "Then I realized this is starting to add up."

Kroul's strict diet, he said, has been part of the reason the games have added up. His family's cattle herd provided regular steak-and-potato meals, and the garden produced vegetables that were close to being organic.

"It's easier when it's right there to eat the right way," Kroul said.

Kroul's mother also said she doesn't believe the defensive tackle touched alcohol. Kroul's father, John, helped coach Mount Vernon.

John Kroul built a greenhouse with a loft above it for the team to come to and stay out of trouble. More often than not, Kaylene Kroul said, the rest of the team would win a battle of wills when there was disagreement over a place to hang out.

"He always wanted to go to town," Kaylene Kroul said. "His friends always wanted to come out here. There was always more of them and one of him."

Get-togethers and spending leisure time may have been the only place Kroul was outnumbered. He has been a four-year member of Iowa's leadership group, a portion of the team that advises head coach Kirk Ferentz on discipline and other matters.

He also has the consecutive games streak no one else on the team can boast.

"He's never happy," Kaczenski said. "He'd sit there after a win and I'd go up to try to congratulate the guy. I'd talk to him in the locker room, and he'd say, 'Hey. Coach, I screwed up those plays when you look at it on tape.' ... He's still trying to find a way to improve and be the best possible football player he can be at Iowa."

Kroul has the farm background to credit.

"He comes from a farming background where you do chores and you have to do it no matter what the weather is," said Jim Bellamy, Kroul's high school football coach. "He worked at it. He took care of himself and ate the right things."