Iowa football: Nick Easley cements Hawkeye’s legacy with Outback Bowl MVP
By Andrew Wade
Two years after joining the Iowa football team as a walk-on wide receiver, Nick Easley leaves with an impressive legacy including 2019 Outback Bowl MVP.
As he has been most of his football career, the declaration of senior wide receiver Nick Easley to join the Iowa football team in the winter of 2016 went largely unnoticed. Easley, a junior college All-American held FCS offers, but had always wanted to played major college football. His first chance came when Iowa State came offering a preferred walk-on, which he pounced on, but as soon as his favorite team growing up, the Iowa Hawkeyes, called, he was all in.
It turned out to be one of the most fortunate accidents (as Kirk likes to call it) that could have happened for both Nick Easley and the Iowa football program.
Easley led the team in receptions for both seasons and leaves the program 20th overall in receptions. He finishes his Iowa football career with 103 catches, 1,024 receiving yards, and 9 touchdowns. His receiving yards rank 39th all time and his touchdowns ranks 31st all time.
Despite all of this, he somehow managed to save his best for last turning in an incredible performance in arguably the biggest game of his life, the 2019 Outback Bowl.
Against the nation’s top defense, Easley made them look silly all day, hauling in eight catches (second most of his career) for a career-high 104 yards and a career-high two touchdowns. That stat line would be good against any defense let alone a Mississippi State defense that even found a way to slow down Alabama’s historic offense.
Needless to say, Easley’s performance earned him the Outback Bowl MVP award and put quite the icing on the cake for his fantastic career in the black and gold.
After the game, Easley spoke very highly of coach Kirk Ferentz, who passed Hayden Fry in career bowl wins with the Outback Bowl victory, even making the coach tear up during the press conference.
"Yeah, you know, Coach, with him, it’s what you see is what you get. Just get emotional talking about it. I’m just so thankful for him and the opportunity that him and his staff have given me.You know, I don’t think there’s a better coach in the entire nation, and I’m just talking, you know — but giving kids a chance, treating everyone fairly and with respect, I’m so glad I got to play for him."
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Being from the same hometown as Easley, it makes me incredibly proud to see the kind of career he had, and what he had to do to get there. I couldn’t be more excited to see him prove more people wrong at the next level, where he projects to be a slot receiver.