By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – It probably won’t be apparent against lowly Illinois on Saturday, but the Iowa football team is struggling to get Akrum Wadley in space where he is most dangerous.

A lack of blocking is mostly to blame, because as spectacular as Wadley is with a football in his hands, he needs space to operate.

Weighing only about 190 pounds, Wadley isn’t like former Iowa running back Shonn Greene, who was big and strong enough to turn nothing into something between the tackles.

Wadley isn’t even like his former teammate and backfield partner, LeShun Daniels, who also ran with power and weighed about 225 pounds.

Wadley is a make-you-miss running back, the kind who can turn a 10-yard run into a 70-yard touchdown with some wiggle room.

But he also has good hands as a receiver, and that’s where I’m going with this.

I’m saying switch Wadley to receiver with seven regular-season games left in his college career.

I’m just encouraging new offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz to use Wadley more as a receiver where space is more accessible.

Wadley seemed receptive to the idea after being reminded that he caught 25 passes in the final six games of last season.

“Definitely,” Wadley said. “That’s coach Brian (Ferentz). He calls the plays. Coaches coach and players play. And that’s how it ought to be.”

Wadley was clearly frustrated after the 17-10 loss to Michigan State this past Saturday, which lowered Iowa’s record to 0-2 in the Big Ten for the fifth time in 19 seasons under Kirk Ferentz and 3-2 overall. Wadley had little to say to reporters besides that we have to execute better.

Say what you want about the much-maligned Greg Davis, but he consistently found ways to get Wadley in space as a receiver out of the backfield, or in the slot, especially in the second half of last season.

Wadley had five catches for 51 yards in the 14-13 victory over Michigan last season, and he scored Iowa’s only touchdown on a 3-yard pass from C.J. Beathard in the second quarter.

Wadley finished last season with 36 receptions for 315 yards and four touchdowns, but he only had 11 catches in the first seven games.

Davis adjusted as the season moved along and it's hard to argue with the results.

It shouldn't matter whether Wadley gets his yards through the air or on the ground as long as he gets them. 

Wadley has 13 catches for 244 yards and two touchdowns after five games this season, so it’s not that Brian Ferentz is ignoring that part of his game.

But Wadley’s statistics are sort of deceiving because 138 of his yards came on two catches.

Wadley is a running back first and foremost, but there are times when you have to go off script.

Iowa kept running Wadley between the tackles against Michigan State, but it resulted in just 30 rushing yards on 17 carries as the Spartans loaded the box.

Penn State also held Wadley in check until he slipped past a linebacker in the fourth quarter and turned a short pass over the middle into a 70-yard touchdown.

James Butler’s elbow injury has certainly complicated things on offense and made it harder to use Wadley in the slot because the other running backs on the roster don’t have as much trust yet with coaches.

True freshman Ivory Kelly-Martin and redshirt freshman Toren Young are currently the top two options behind Wadley, but neither has Butler’s experience or credentials.

Butler is a senior graduate student who rushed for over 3,000 yards in three seasons at Nevada. He has been there and done it before at the college level, while Iowa’s two freshman running backs are experiencing things for the first time.

That has to figure into Brian Ferentz’s thinking and play calling.

I’m not accusing Brian Ferentz of misusing Wadley or of not using him enough because Wadley has 113 touches in slightly more than four games, which averages out to about 28 touches per game.

I’m just saying with the running game struggling and with space hard to come by for Wadley, why not use him more as a receiver in order to get him space?