Iowa Football: 3 reasons to select Nate Stanley in 2020 NFL Draft

2. Exposure to playing in an offense with multiple different looks

When you think of Iowa football, you typically think of traditional Big Ten football. Line up under center and run on first and second down and hope that you are close enough to run on third down or close enough to complete an easy pass. However, when you go through Iowa’s film, you realize that isn’t the case at all.

While it is true that Iowa’s offense tries to get the run game going, its not solely based on that. The Hawkeyes’ offense will show multiple player personnel through out the same offensive series. One play they could be under center in 12 or 22 personnel and the next play they could be in gun with 10 personnel as they try to open up the field.

Nate Stanley showed that he could be successful regardless if they were under center or in gun, regardless if they were bunched with two tight ends or spread out with four wide receivers.

Another benefit for Stanley is he has seen every type of defense there is to see (in college at least). With different offensive personnels come different defensive concepts and alignment that he is facing. The best example of this is Michigan’s defense that he faced in 2019. While it wasn’t Stanley’s best game as he threw three interceptions and was clearly off his game, he still had them in a position to win at the end and was exposed to complex defense.

Below is the game against Michigan. Fast forward to six minutes into the video to see Stanley complete a beautiful throw late in the fourth quarter.

The cornerback has inside leverage and wants the WR to release toward the sideline and Stanley still completes the pass. Not a good game for Stanley overall, but still had them in a position to win.