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Iowa Football: 5 takeaways from 2018 season

By Quinn Douglas

TAMPA, FL - JANUARY 01: Nate Stanley #4 of the Iowa Hawkeyes calls a play during the 2019 Outback Bowl against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Raymond James Stadium on January 1, 2019 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
TAMPA, FL - JANUARY 01: Nate Stanley #4 of the Iowa Hawkeyes calls a play during the 2019 Outback Bowl against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Raymond James Stadium on January 1, 2019 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images) /

2. Iowa is Tight End U

Dating back to the days when Hayden Fry was roaming the sidelines in Kinnick Stadium, Iowa was churning out talent at tight end. Players such as Jonathan Hayes, Mike Flagg, Marv Cook, Scott Slutzker, and even the incumbent Attorney General of the United States, Matthew Whitaker. The trend only became greater when Kirk Ferentz came in 1999 producing names like Dallas Clark, Scott Chandler, Tony Moeaki, Brandon Myers, C.J. Fiedorwicz and most recently, George Kittle.

This season, Iowa possessed the two best tight ends in all of college football, Mackey Award Winner T.J. Hockenson and future first-round draft pick Noah Fant. Hockenson caught 49 balls for 760 yards and six touchdowns, while his counterpart Fant hauled in 39 passes for 518 yards and seven touchdowns. Fant declared for the 2019 NFL Draft before Iowa’s bowl game and did not play, while Hockenson made his declaration for the NFL Draft this past Monday.

These two players are bound to make big money in the NFL with Noah Fant currently sitting in most mock drafts as a first round selection and T.J. Hockenson likely to go somewhere in the first three rounds. Pair that up with Iowa’s most recent tight end prospect, George Kittle, who just set the single-season receiving yards record for a tight end in the NFL, the Hawkeyes have definitely earned the branded nickname as “Tight End U”.

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