Iowa still looking for reliable second options at tight end and receiver
IOWA CITY, Iowa – After three games, it seems obvious that Iowa senior tight end George Kittle needs help at his position.
Kittle is Iowa’s second leading receiver with eight catches for 136 yards and one touchdown heading into Saturday’s Big Ten opener at Rutgers.
True freshman Noah Fant is the only other tight end on the team with a catch at this point. He had one reception that gained two yards against Iowa State.
That is a drastic change from last season when Kittle and his cousin, Henry Krieger Coble, formed a potent one-two punch at tight end, combining for 55 catches for 690 yards and seven touchdowns.
Krieger Coble has used up his eligibility, leaving Iowa with a void at tight end that still hasn’t been filled after three games.
“It’s important, any time you have more weapons, the better,” said Iowa quarterback C.J. Beathard. “But at the same time, that’s where other guys have got to step up.
“I expect George to be ready and do a good job and I expect whoever that next tight end is when they’re in there to do a good job and get open and make catches and plays.”
Krieger Coble was one of Beathard’s favorite targets as a senior last season. Krieger Coble finished second on the team in receiving with 35 catches for 405 yards and one touchdown.
He was used more for making tough catches in traffic to extend drives, while Kittle was more of a big-play specialist last season with six of his 20 catches resulting in touchdowns.
Junior walk-on Peter Pekar has played mostly as the second tight end this season, but he has been used almost exclusively as a blocker.
“It’s just a matter of getting more reps with those younger guys that haven’t been in there as much,” Beathard said. “But at the same time, receivers and running backs and others guys are making plays when they’re in there, too.”
Iowa is having a similar transition at receiver where Tevaun Smith had to be replaced after using up his eligibility last season.
Smith had 563 receiving yards last season and averaged 17.6 yards per catch. He is now on the practice squad for the Indianapolis Colts.
Sophomores Jerminic Smith and Jay Scheel are trying to fill Smith’s void and become a reliable second option to complement senior Matt VandeBerg. But the transition has been rocky at times. Jerminic Smith has five catches for 61 yards and one touchdown, while Scheel only has one catch for 12 yards for the season.
“Me and Jerminic have only been together for like a year now,” Beathard said. “And Tevaun and I, we came to school together. I guess I would say my and Tevaun’s chemistry was a little better just because we had more reps together.
“But when Jerminic is in there, I expect him to be at certain spots at the right time and he expects me to put the ball on him.”
Beathard refuses to use a lack of chemistry with the young receiver as an excuse.
“You can’t make excuses saying it’s chemistry or this or that because we’ve had all spring and all camp to work on it,” Beathard said. “I think our chemistry with all the receivers is pretty good right now.”
Senior Riley McCarron is starting to emerge at receiver, with six catches for 75 yards and one touchdown this season. The Dubuque native caught a 30-yard touchdown pass from Beathard in last Saturday’s 23-21 loss to North Dakota State.
"The loss is never good whether you score or not,’ McCarron said. "It doesn’t really matter to me at all. Just the loss in general is upsetting, not only to me, but for us as a team."
McCarron believes the team is ready to move on from the North Dakota State loss.
"Everyone has kind of flipped the page and we’re on to Rutgers now," McCarron said. "It definitely stings, that loss, still.
"But at the same time, we have to move forward. We can’t let one loss turn into two."