Tag: Addison Ostrenga

Iowa Hawkeyes 2023 Positional Breakdown: Scouting the tight ends

Iowa will have one of the nation’s finest tight end tandems in Luke Lachey and Erick All. A breakdown of the Hawkeyes’ tight ends.

Iowa University is Tight End U. Don’t give me some talk about teams that were great at a time before most collegiate athletes were even alive. We’re talking right now. We’re talking current day, and nobody produces tight ends like Iowa.

Since the Mackey Award was first instituted in 2000, two Hawkeyes have won the award in Dallas Clark (2002) and T.J. Hockenson (2018). Hockenson was joined by his teammate Noah Fant that year as a semifinalist for the award. Iowa had two straight semifinalists for the award in Allen Reisner (2010) and Tony Moeaki (2009), respectively.

Last year Sam LaPorta was named one of three finalists for the award. This was the same year he was named first-team All-Big Ten and was the Kwalick–Clark Tight End of the Year, an award partially named after, you guessed it, a former Iowa Hawkeye.

This doesn’t even mention the best of the bunch George Kittle, a fifth-round pick back in 2017 who has only been named an All-Pro three times while making the Pro Bowl four times.

Through college acclaim and professional success, Iowa has dominated the tight end position like no other. That trend does not look likely to end in 2023 one bit. Here is a breakdown of the tight end position for Iowa this upcoming season.

Iowa Hawkeyes 2023 Snapshot Profile: No. 87 Addison Ostrenga

Luke Lachey and Erick All that are proven collegiate playmakers. Can Addison Ostrenga add a third option at tight end for the Hawks?

Honestly, who even needs wide receivers?

Sure, other teams might employ wideouts to “catch the ball” and “make big plays,” but are they really that necessary? Iowa just may put that to the test this year.

In all seriousness, the job of an offensive coordinator is to figure out how to get the most out of the offense with the current personnel. It is up to Brian Ferentz to figure out how to get the best players on the field. There’s been a running joke about Iowa wanting to employ nothing but tight ends, but when you look at the state of the tight end room, could you blame them?

Much has already been made of starters Luke Lachey and Erick All, but keep your eye on rising sophomore Addison Ostrenga. There has been a lot of buzz around him this offseason, and he was one of the stars in the spring game. He brings a level of athleticism reminiscent of Sam LaPorta with route running ability to boot.

He’s exactly the type of tight end you’d expect to see waiting in the wings at Iowa, though Ostrenga may do more than just wait. Though behind some incredible players, if the sophomore tight end keeps impressing, it may be hard to keep him off the field for long. Here’s a look at Iowa tight end Addison Ostrenga.

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Report Card: Grading the Iowa Hawkeyes’ 27-0 win over the Nevada Wolf Pack

The Iowa Hawkeyes blanked Nevada, 27-0. Naturally, the best all-around performance thus far earns improved marks in this week’s report card.

Even though Mother Nature had other ideas, ultimately, nothing could stop the Iowa Hawkeyes from turning in their best start-to-finish performance of 2022. The Hawkeyes improve to 2-1 on the season and will now turn their attention to Rutgers next Saturday night from SHI Stadium at 6 p.m. on FS1.

As a result, the Nevada Wolf Pack exit Iowa City the victim of a 27-0 shutout and drop to 1-2 on the season.

“We got off the mat and got back in the fight and did a good job in unusual circumstances tonight. So to stay focused, that was good to see. Just really pleased. We showed some progress in certain areas. Happy about that. Obviously, it was good to get Nico (Ragaini) back and Keagan (Johnson) back and then Brody (Brecht) was able to get involved a little bit too at the receiver position. So gave us a few more guys to throw to.

“All in all, the team effort was good. Again, you go 60 minutes broken down over seven hours, not easy to do. Defensively, you all saw the game, those guys played a good game. They were aggressive and very tough to run against and they made the passing yardage tough as well. I thought especially in the first half. It was a little disjointed once we got back in the second half. But in the first half I thought we had a little rhythm offensively. The run game wasn’t perfect, but we did some better things so that was encouraging,” Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz said of the victory.

Before completely turning the page over to Rutgers, let’s hand out some Nevada grades. Pull up a chair. Class in session.

Social media reacts to the Iowa Hawkeyes’ 2022 Kids’ Day at Kinnick

What were the reactions on social media to what fans and media saw during Iowa’s 10th practice, the annual 2022 Kids’ Day at Kinnick?

Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz had plenty to say following his team’s 10th training camp practice, the annual open practice for Kids’ Day at Kinnick.

Overall, Ferentz liked what he saw from his group.

“First and foremost, good opportunity for our guys to change up from the first nine days. First time we’ve been in front of the public a little bit, so that’s healthy. Just a healthy change for everybody. And then, flipping it over, it’s a good opportunity for us to have Kids’ Day. I think hopefully they enjoy it and all of our guys were kids at one point.

“Even me at one stage, I was a kid. So, that’s good and then the Kid Captain program as I said yesterday is just a great concept. Nice to have our seniors get an opportunity to spend some time with them, greet them down here in the end zone, so it was all good. And then, just overall, I’m actually kind of pleased with what I saw today,” Ferentz said.

Ferentz discussed what he liked the most about his group’s performance.

“Two things I feel really good about was, first and foremost, big contrast from the field goal kicking, from what all of you guys witnessed last spring and coaches witnessed as well. I don’t think we had a miss today. I don’t think we did and most of them weren’t even close. One was I know, but that was good, so a lot of growth there since April. We’re not out of the woods yet. I’m not pronouncing us ready to go, but at least that’s encouraging. The third down period I thought was really good, too. That was encouraging. I thought we were pretty sharp there and did some good things. So, those two things were good takeaways,” Ferentz said.

Naturally, the fans and media in attendance had plenty of reactions as well. Here is how Hawkeye social media took in the 2022 Kids’ Day at Kinnick.