Tag: Erick All

Meet the four Hawkeyes headed to the 2024 NFL combine

Make way for the next wave of professional black and gold standouts. Four Iowa Hawkeyes are headed to the 2024 NFL draft combine.

With the Super Bowl officially in the rearview mirror, we have entered the football offseason. Specifically, we can say it’s NFL draft season.

While fans of some teams have been there for a few months, February is when it really starts to set in. It’s time for fans to try to cram an entire scouting process’s worth of research into two months, and there’s no better place to start than the good ol’ underwear Olympics.

The NFL scouting combine is one of the more divisive events in football. Some see it as a necessary tool to gauge just how athletic these prospects are because it’s hard to tell while going up against college athletes. Others find it completely useless, an underwear Olympics where some players undeservedly shoot up draft boards in one day. Don’t forget the folks out there who will constantly remind you that the interviews are the most important part of the week.

For me, I’ve always loved the combine. The spectacle of it always brings me in, and it helps that Iowa players have been killing it in Indianapolis in recent years.

This year, four Hawkeyes are scheduled to make their way to the 2024 NFL scouting combine. Here’s a look at the four Iowa players descending upon Indy.

Erick All thanks former Hawkeye offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz in NFL draft declaration

Among others, Iowa tight end Erick All thanked former Hawkeye offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz individually in his NFL draft declaration.

Erick All announced on Monday night that he is foregoing his final collegiate season and instead declaring for the 2024 NFL draft.

Even in just seven games with the Iowa Hawkeyes, All demonstrated the traits that might make him the next impact name in a long line of talented tight ends flocking to the NFL from Iowa City.

All’s season came to an early end with a torn ACL in Iowa’s 15-6 win at Wisconsin, but the 6-foot-5, 250 pound tight end still finished with Iowa team highs in receiving yards (299) and touchdown grabs (3). The Fairfield, Ohio, native reeled in 21 catches in 2023.

Across his five-year career at Michigan and Iowa, All tallied 75 catches, 864 receiving yards and five touchdown receptions. All appeared in 40 games and started 19.

As All moves on to his professional future, he leaves behind an Iowa program that is still searching for its next offensive coordinator and a more explosive future on that side of the football.

Despite all of the criticism locally and nationally over the past several seasons, one common thread was Iowa’s ability to band together as a team, support one another publicly and find ways to win games in spite of an offense that consistently ranked as one of the nation’s worst units.

All’s time in the black and gold is coming to a close, but he made sure to demonstrate that Hawkeye synergy one final time. All thanked a series of Michigan and Iowa coaches in his farewell note and that included a heartfelt thank you to former Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz.

“Coach Brian Ferentz, you taught me a new side of the game I really didn’t know I had. You taught me, in only 1 year of playing for you, how to play free and that there’s so many other ways to play the game. Yes, go out there every weekend and play tough smart and physical but also don’t forget to remember the bigger picture don’t forget why you strap up and go out there each week.

“Playing for you Coach made it easier to play some of the greatest games I have ever played, and it was simply because of you just being the coach you are and not letting all the noise from the world change that. Love you Coach and wish we had more time together,” All wrote of Brian Ferentz in his announcement on X.

All also individually thanked Iowa tight ends and fullbacks coach Abdul Hodge, Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz and Iowa tight end Luke Lachey.

“Coach Hodge, you pushed me EVERY DAY you didn’t care if I had been there for 5 years, 2 years, or even a month. You made sure that I had everything perfected and took time away from your day and family to meet with me anytime I needed anything or had any questions. Thank you so much for welcoming me into the T backs room! I’m gonna miss that room a lot. Thank you coach for just being real & yourself every day.

“Coach Ferentz, thank you so much for allowing me to be a Hawkeye. You have taught me so much about A LOT of things and just listening to you talk and address the team was some of my favorite times being in Iowa City. I don’t know if I ever met someone who loves the game as much as you. I am forever grateful to have played for you. I know you will forever be in my corner without any doubt in the world. Thank you so much coach,” All wrote to coach Hodge and coach Kirk Ferentz.

He also clearly was impacted by his relationship with Hawkeye tight end Luke Lachey.

“Last and most certainly not least, my man Luke Lachey, what a guy! Probably the best guy I know. Everyday he’s the same person and doesn’t care at all to just be himself. The nicest guy ever but does not care to hold you accountable, and that’s all you can ask for in a friend. When I got hurt this year Luke was the very first person to approach me to make sure I was doing okay…

“Luke big dawg I love you bro and forever will thank you for all the talks and laughs we had bro. Glad to meet and play with you man,” All wrote to Lachey.

The 2024 NFL draft takes place April 25-27 from Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza in Detroit, Mich.

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Iowa TE Erick All declares for the 2024 NFL draft

Iowa tight end Erick All declared for the 2024 NFL draft.

Add another name to the long list of great Iowa Hawkeyes tight ends in the NFL.

Iowa tight end Erick All declared for the 2024 NFL draft on Monday night, announcing the decision across his social media platforms.

“After a crazy journey within these past 5 years, I decided to go ahead and enter the draft. This decision was so hard to make but I truly believe this is the right decision for me…

“To the Hawkeye Nation, thank you so much for everything! Thank you guys for welcoming me with open arms and making all the game so fun to be a part of. I will love and miss you guys forever! GO HAWKS!” All wrote in his announcement on X.

One of Iowa’s prized offseason transfer portal additions from Michigan heading into the 2023 college football season, All’s campaign came to an abrupt halt with an ACL tear during Iowa’s 15-6 win at Wisconsin.

All finished his abbreviated 2023 season with 21 receptions for 299 yards with three touchdowns in just seven games. His 299 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns still held up as Iowa team highs by season’s end.

All’s most productive collegiate season came at Michigan during the Wolverines’ march to a Big Ten championship in the 2021 season. The 6-foot-5, 250 pound tight end from Fairfield, Ohio, reeled in 38 catches for 437 yards with a pair of scores.

All ends his collegiate career with 75 grabs for 864 yards and five touchdowns. He appeared in 40 games and started 19.

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Hawkeyes’ Cooper DeJean top CB on ESPN’s NFL draft big board, both Iowa TEs ranked

Iowa’s Cooper DeJean sits atop Mel Kiper’s cornerback rankings for this year’s NFL draft. Other Hawkeyes are among the rankings as well.

The NFL draft and the Iowa Hawkeyes have become a bit like peanut butter and jelly over the last decade. The Hawkeyes are a bit of an NFL pipeline pumping out first round draft picks along with depth guys found in the later rounds that have proven to blossom quite nicely into NFL-caliber talent.

The 2024 NFL draft class for the Hawkeyes appears to be set to send their next handful to the league. Led by star cornerback and likely first round pick, Cooper DeJean, the Hawkeyes are once again proving they develop talent with the best of them.

The proof is in previous draft classes and also in the current 2024 NFL draft big board by ESPN’s Mel Kiper. He has five Hawkeyes ranked among the top 10 of their positional groups as attention now turns to mock drafts and scouting.

Here is a look at who Kiper has ranked, where they rank, and how they have produced in their time at Iowa.

Kirk Ferentz confirms Iowa TE Erick All out for the season with leg injury

Kirk Ferentz confirmed the feared news. Iowa tight end Erick All is out for the rest of the season with a leg injury.

Erick All suffered an injury in the Iowa Hawkeyes’ win over the Wisconsin Badgers that didn’t look good from the second it happened. All’s leg got caught in an awkward spot and led to a tough break for the tight end who was elevating himself all year as one of the Hawkeyes’ top targets.

Today, Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz confirmed that Erick All will be out for the remainder of the season due to injury. ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported All’s injury is a torn ACL.

The news comes on the heels of Cade McNamara tearing his ACL and fellow tight end Luke Lachey having a lower leg injury that required surgery.

“On a sad note, unfortunately, Erick All, looks like his season’s over. We were worried about that on Saturday and tests confirmed that. He’s going to miss the rest of the year. It’s just really unfortunate.

“He’s done a great job, newcomer to the team. Just a great addition. Such a positive guy, hardworking, great personality and just really loves the game, loves everything about the game. Not just the game itself. Hate to lose anybody and certainly feel badly for Erick in that regard. He was certainly adding a lot for our football team. It’s just a tough deal, so we’ll all support him in his recovery, his road back and certainly hope all that goes well,” Ferentz said of All.

Through the seven games he appeared in, All was the Hawkeyes’ biggest threat in the passing game. All registered 21 receptions for 299 yards and three touchdowns. He quickly embraced the role of the top tight end and top pass-catching target. Erick All was the leading receiver for Iowa in receptions, yards, and touchdowns.

Iowa is bracing for the Minnesota Golden Gophers to come to Kinnick this Saturday and will be without their top three tight ends it appears at the moment. All and Lachey are out and third-string tight end Addison Ostrenga is not listed on the depth chart.

Steven Stilianos, a transfer senior from Lafayette College, and Johnny Pascuzzi, a sophomore from Rockhurst High School in Olathe, Kan., will be manning the tight end position.

The Hawkeyes kick off against the Golden Gophers in the battle for the Floyd of Rosedale at 2:30 p.m. CT on NBC.

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Erick All named to Comeback Player of the Year Award midseason watch list

Arguably Iowa’s best offensive player, tight end Erick All has been named to the Comeback Player of the Year Award’s midseason watch list.

He’s been quite the newcomer for Iowa. In fact, arguably, he’s been the Hawkeyes’ best offensive player.

Matter of fact, that’s a pretty easy argument to make for Michigan transfer tight end Erick All.

For an offense that has it’s well-documented struggles, All’s addition has been gigantic. The 6-foot-5, 250 pound tight end has touchdown grabs of 13 and 22 yards in each of Iowa’s last two games, close wins over Michigan State and Purdue.

At the midway point of the season, All has reeled in team-highs in receptions, yardage and touchdowns with 19 grabs for 280 receiving yards and three scores.

As a result, like so many Hawkeye tight ends before him, All is climbing up 2024 NFL draft boards in a hurry. ESPN’s Jordan Reid recently included All as one of his 2024 draft sleepers to watch.

For Iowa fans that know All as the transfer from the Wolverines, it may be easy to forget that All is making his way back from a serious surgery that ended his 2022 season. All described it as a “life changing surgery” last fall.

That ended All’s 2022 season with just three grabs for 36 yards in only three games played. Injuries and surgeries are always a serious situation, but it had to be an even more mentally challenging time for All after a breakout 2021 season where he caught 38 passes for 437 yards with a pair of touchdown grabs.

A successful surgery and a successful change of scenery have resulted in All piecing together a fantastic 2023 season so far. As a result, All has been named to the Comeback Player of the Year Award midseason watch list.

Over the past two games, All has nine catches for 164 yards with a pair of touchdown receptions.

As the Hawkeyes have turned the offense over to quarterback Deacon Hill following Cade McNamara’s injury, All provides a nice security blanket for Hill.

The talented native of Fairfield, Ohio, is quickly blossoming into one of the nation’s finest tight ends and overall playmakers.

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Iowa Hawkeyes’ TE Erick All one of ESPN’s NFL draft sleepers to watch

Another day, another successful Iowa tight end. Hawkeyes tight end Erick All is among ESPN’s 2024 NFL draft sleepers to watch.

Peanut butter and jelly. Salt and pepper. Bacon and eggs. Iowa and tight ends.

The Iowa Hawkeyes have something in the water in Iowa City as it seems every time they have a tight end they blossom into something special right in front of our very own eyes.

Erick All, in his first year at Iowa after transferring from Michigan, is no exception. All has been dynamic for Iowa in the passing game, providing them the only real spark in that area. His performance this year has garnered some attention as one of ESPN’s NFL draft sleepers (subscription required) to watch.

Another Iowa tight end?! There haven’t been many bright spots on the Hawkeyes’ offense this year, but All has quickly become a go-to target in the passing game, with touchdown catches in back-to-back games. Iowa had just six completions against Purdue on Saturday, but five of them went to All, as he finished with 97 yards and a score.

In a tight end class that lacks depth behind Georgia’s Brock Bowers and Texas’ Ja’Tavion Sanders, All is inserting himself into the second tier. The 6-foot-5, 250-pound Michigan transfer was a Day 3 prospect entering the season, and while he’s still realistically in that range, scouts are starting to take notice. He could quickly rise with more strong play. – Jordan Reid, ESPN.

Through six games with the Hawkeyes, All has 19 receptions for 280 yards and three touchdowns. Unsurprisingly, each one of those totals leads the Hawkeyes. All has nearly double the receptions as compared to anyone else for Iowa and has more than doubled any other yardage total.

That was on display again this past weekend in Iowa’s win over Purdue as All reeled in five grabs for 97 yards, including the eventual game-winning, 22-yard touchdown grab.

He also had a 13-yard, catch-and-run touchdown where he plowed through defenders the week before in a victory over Michigan State. All finished with four grabs for 67 yards against the Spartans.

All will have five years of film for NFL scouts to evaluate and will bring in NFL-ready size when he is drafted. At 6-foot-5, 250 pounds, All has the athleticism that NFL teams seek in tight ends now more than the blocking type. If he continues his production at Iowa as a very quarterback-friendly target, he has every chance to ascend himself to the elite tight end category.

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Week 4 Scouting Notebook: A look at potential Chargers prospects in 2024 NFL draft

Here are a handful of prospects for Chargers fans to watch in Week 4.

The fourth week of college football is here, which means we are back with another edition of the Scouting Notebook.

The Scouting Notebook will feature prospects to keep an eye on throughout the day. While some may think it’s too early to start talking about the 2024 NFL draft, there’s never a bad time to talk about the future of the Chargers.

With that being said, here are a handful of prospects to watch for in Week 4.

Trio of Hawkeyes named to Comeback Player of the Year Award Watch List

A trio of Iowa Hawkeyes have been named to the 2023 Comeback Player of the Year Award watch list.

If things go according to plan, there will be multiple Iowa Hawkeyes up for the 2023 Comeback Player of the Year Award.

A trio of Hawkeyes were named to the 2023 Comeback Player of the Year Award watch list. Quarterback Cade McNamara, tight end Erick All and cornerback Jermari Harris were all named to the watch list.

McNamara takes over as the Hawkeyes’ starting quarterback after guiding the Michigan Wolverines to the 2021 Big Ten title. The 6-foot-1, 205 pound quarterback passed for 2,576 yards and 15 touchdowns while leading Michigan to the Big Ten title and to a College Football Playoff berth that season.

After J.J. McCarthy took over as Michigan’s starter in the second game last season, McNamara suffered an injury that eventually led to a knee surgery in November of 2022.

Now, McNamara is expected to be arguably the most integral part of Iowa’s offensive turnaround.

With him in Iowa City is fellow Wolverine transfer in tight end Erick All. The 6-foot-5, 250 pound tight end snagged 38 receptions, 437 yards and two touchdowns during the 2021 season.

After that breakout season, injuries derailed his 2022 campaign. It wound up with All undergoing surgery.

Finally, Jermari Harris returns from injury to help bolster Iowa’s defensive backfield. The 6-foot-1, 190 pound corner was suspended for the Hawkeyes’ 2022 season opener after an offseason arrest for an OWI charge in April of 2022. Then, he missed the remainder of the season due to an undisclosed injury.

Harris appeared in 13 of 14 games and started six in 2021. The Chicago product tallied 34 tackles, eight pass break-ups, four interceptions, and 1.5 tackles for loss during the 2021 season.

A total of 21 Big Ten players were named to the 2023 Comeback Player of the Year Award watch list.

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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.