Hawkeyes Land Juco WR
The Iowa offense put forth one of the worst passing attacks in the modern era of Iowa football this past year, so to say they could use some help in that area is an understatement.
They added a piece to the puzzle when Juco WR Damond Powell committed to Iowa on Sunday:
Im committed to Iowa!!! Lets go hawks
— *D/@/T/B/O/Y/D/P* (@TurnUpNation) December 9, 2012
Rob Howe of HawkeyeInsider spoke with Powell who said he runs a “legit” 4.4 in the 40 yard dash. He’s 5-11/175 and has three years to play two.
While Iowa’s passing attack was underwhelming this year, I was not necessarily expecting Iowa to ink a wide receiver. Kirk Ferentz did say that Iowa was looking for players who could help them score touchdowns. While I thought that statement might have been a bit tongue in cheek, here’s Powell.
Kevonte Martin-Manley caught over 50 passes for Iowa last year and has two years remaining. Jordan Cotton is next in line as far as returning experience at receiver and he caught just 12 passes in 2012.
Iowa used true freshman Tevaun Smith a little bit this year while redshirt freshman Jacob Hillyer saw some early action, too. Junior Don Shumpert came out of camp as the third receiver and pretty much faded to black by midseason, still unable to overcome his issues with drops. That doesn’t mean he couldn’t put things together this offseason, but others have seemingly passed him up.
Greg Maybin, Maurice Fleming and Cameron Wilson redshirted this year and Iowa has at least three receivers in the 2013 recruiting class prior to Powell’s commitment. Matthew VandeBerg is a grayshirt candidate at this time and would not be eligible to play in 2013 if things stay that way.
Greg Davis’ offense needs playmakers on the flanks; speedy targets who can do something out of the quick hitting lateral passing attack. Of course, if Davis doesn’t attack more vertically next year the lateral game becomes even harder to execute.
Powell caught 38 passes for 1,081 yards and 13 touchdowns last season as Snow Junior College and earned First Teams All-Conference honors. He is originally from Toledo, Ohio.
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