There’s an understandable amount of buzz for the arrival of Michigan transfer tight end Erick All. The 6-foot-5, 255 pound tight end comes over from the Wolverines and knows Iowa’s new starting quarterback—fellow Michigan transfer Cade McNamara—extremely well.
That familiarity will certainly help All’s chances to be an impact player quickly at Iowa. Plus, he’s just a supremely gifted football player that reeled in 38 grabs for 437 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns during the 2021 season at Michigan.
All of the buzz is that All is settling in quite nicely, too. That’s to be expected and it’s definitely exciting for Hawkeye fans.
It should come with just one caveat, though: Don’t forget about what’s already on campus. In short, don’t forget about Luke Lachey.
The 6-foot-6, 252 pound junior hauled in 28 grabs for 398 yards with four touchdown receptions last season. Those four touchdown grabs from Lachey surpassed all of Iowa’s other pass-catchers’ touchdown receptions combined.
His 398 yards ranked second among Iowa pass-catchers and his 28 grabs ranked third behind only fellow tight end Sam LaPorta (58) and wide receiver Nico Ragaini (34).
When LaPorta missed the majority of the Minnesota game and all of the Nebraska game with a knee injury, there was Lachey to step in and help the Hawkeyes not miss a beat.
Lachey reeled in five grabs for 77 yards against Minnesota, including the 33-yarder that set up Drew Stevens’ 21-yard, game-winning field goal over the Golden Gophers.
Then, against Nebraska, Lachey pulled in seven catches for 89 yards with a 14-yard touchdown grab.
While it certainly wasn’t ideal or fun seeing LaPorta hurt—something Lachey was quick to mention as well—it might have been a blessing in disguise for the Columbus, Ohio, native’s development and for Iowa.
“It gave me confidence going forward, seeing what I could do. I feel like that was a good thing for me. Obviously, I wish we could have had Sam. Great player like him, you never want to see him out, but that’s what happens sometimes. It’s the game of football. We need everyone to step up in those situations. I felt like I did that, and we’ve got to just keep moving forward,” Lachey said.
Similarly, now that LaPorta is moving on to the NFL, Lachey knows that means the green light is on for him to potentially assume the reins of “Tight End U.”
“Sam’s a great player that, you know, he was someone in our offense that filled a huge role, and I’m just trying to make the most out of my opportunity. A spot opened up and I’m going to try to go out there and just do whatever role they give me. Sam was such a great player. I don’t know what they expect out of everyone, but I’m going to go out there and just do the best I can. I know we got some new guys in and people will be stepping into those roles,” Lachey said.
Regardless of whether or not it’s ultimately All or Lachey that winds up with more receptions than the other, it seems the safest bet is that both will be heavily, heavily involved in the Hawkeyes’ plans for next season. This pairing should stack up well to some of Iowa’s other terrific duos of years past.
Listening to Lachey, it sounds like he and All are already getting along famously as well.
“Yeah, Erick’s awesome. Great guy. Off the field he’s hilarious, he’s really funny. And, on the field, he’s straight business. He’s been a great addition for us and I’m excited to see what he can do this fall,” Lachey said.
Both All and Lachey are Ohio guys, too. So, that’s been a natural bonding point for the twosome.
“It’s cool. It’s nice to have another Ohio guy in here. We got Rusty Feth who was here today at practice coming in, too, so there’s another Ohio guy and then…I can’t remember. There’s got to be another.
“Kaleb Johnson, Joe Labas, I know that, but I thought there might have been another guy coming in. It’s cool to just have a lot of Ohio guys out here in Iowa and we connect on that and it’s been fun. He’s taught me a lot, too, so it’s been good to get with him and just try to learn,” Lachey said.
It’s par for the course for Hawkeye football, but it seems like Iowa is destined to have two of the nation’s finest at tight end in 2023. Just don’t completely forget about Luke Lachey while you’re getting fired up about the possibility of what Erick All will add in Iowa City.
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