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Iowa football: Four position battles to watch in 2019

By Andrew Wade

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - OCTOBER 06: Julius Brents #20 of the Iowa Hawkeyes congratulates teammate Riley Moss #33 on an interception during the fourth quarter of the game on October 6, 2018 at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Iowa defeated Minnesota 48-31. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - OCTOBER 06: Julius Brents #20 of the Iowa Hawkeyes congratulates teammate Riley Moss #33 on an interception during the fourth quarter of the game on October 6, 2018 at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Iowa defeated Minnesota 48-31. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /
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STATE COLLEGE, PA – OCTOBER 27: Nate Wieting #39 of the Iowa Hawkeyes recovers a fumble against Jan Johnson #36 of the Penn State Nittany Lions on October 27, 2018 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
STATE COLLEGE, PA – OCTOBER 27: Nate Wieting #39 of the Iowa Hawkeyes recovers a fumble against Jan Johnson #36 of the Penn State Nittany Lions on October 27, 2018 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /

Position Battle #3: Tight end

This is another position that we have sort of touched on before but it’s one that needs to be covered. This is arguably the biggest question mark heading into the 2019 season with Noah Fant already gone and TJ Hockenson likely on his way, the Iowa football team has just two catches remaining on the roster from a tight end (both Nate Wieting’s).

It will be impossible to reproduce the production that Fant and Hockenson had in a historic 2018 season for Iowa tight ends, but there is certainly a bevvy of options at the Hawk’s disposal. On the roster today (excluding Hockenson) is eight tight ends and there are three incoming three-star recruits as well leaving the Iowa football program with eleven options to replace these two All-Americans.

Currently, Nate Wieting is the next man in, but he has primarily been used for blocking throughout his career. Meanwhile, Shaun Beyer, a member of the same class as Fant and Hockenson has dealt with injuries throughout his career but probably represents the most potential at this point. The third guy on the depth chart is the great unknown, Drew Cook, whose dad is Marv Cook, one of the best Iowa tight ends of all time.

For more information on each of these guys, check out a previous article we wrote at Dear Old Gold.

It’s going to be very interesting to see which direction the Iowa football team heads with this one. Historically, Iowa fancies the two tight end sets, but do two players separate themselves enough or does Iowa begin running more three wide receiver formations? Brian Ferentz has a busy spring team ahead of him trying to mold this offense around a position that is relatively in flux.

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