By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Stories like Dayton Howard’s have been told and written many times before since Kirk Ferentz became the Iowa football coach.

But this kind of story never gets old because defying the odds and proving the doubters wrong never gets old.

Howard is the latest in a long list of unheralded recruits that have found success playing for the Hawkeyes.

And while his career is just beginning, and there is no guarantee he will be a star, the 6-foot-4, 204-pound Howard certainly looked the part when he raced across the field and caught a 33-yard touchdown pass from Cade McNamara in last Saturday’s 40-16 victory over Washington at Kinnick Stadium.

It was not only Howard’ first touchdown as a Hawkey, but also his first catch as a Hawkeye.

The Kansas City, Missouri native was so excited that he spiked the ball in the end zone, which led to a 15-yard penalty being called against Iowa.

“It definitely was hard to stay cool, because obviously, you saw the flag on the spike,” Howard said Tuesday. “But I kind of just lost control.

“I was really excited to finally contribute to the team and make an impact.”

Howard scored on a play that Iowa had been working on for quite some time, especially in the week leading up to the Washington game.

“That play we hit with Dayton was actually a play we’ve practiced for, like, months now,” Cade McNamara said. “To execute it that clean was a really good feeling.”

Meanwhile, it wasn’t a good feeling for Howard to be near the end of his high school football career and still not have one single scholarship offer, even from a Division II program.

Iowa State and Kansas State both showed interest and had hosted Howard on a game-day visit.

But neither offered him a scholarship.

“I had quite a few power five interests, but none of them pulled the trigger,” Howard said. “I got (direct messages) on Twitter and stuff, they talked with me, saying like, ‘oh, we’ll come and watch you in high school.’

“But nothing really ever happened.”

Until Iowa became involved.

Howard, a redshirt freshman, said his high school coach had a connection to former Iowa receiver coach Kelton Copeland, and that helped to build a relationship.

Copeland invited Howard to visit Iowa City for a game in November of Howard’s senior year of high school in 2022. Howard just assumed that it would be another typical game-day visit.

He would soon learn that it was more than just a typical game-day visit.

Iowa sort of laid out the red carpet for Howard, which included his first scholarship offer and the thrill of meeting former Iowa All-America tight end and Super Bowl champion Dallas Clark on his visit.

“I’ll never forget that day,” Howard said Tuesday. “I was kind of surprised. I thought it was just going to be another gameday visit. But when I got here for it, it was more personable. It wasn’t like the other ones.

“I met Dallas Clark; he shook my hand. One of the coaches talked to me for like 20 minutes at the dinner. They wanted me to do a photo shoot, and then they pulled me upstairs before the game and offered me.”

Kirk Ferentz is used to landing recruits that fly under the radar. Some of his best players were lightly recruited in high school.

But even Kirk Ferentz was surprised to learn that Iowa was Howard’s only scholarship offer.

“First of all, I didn’t know nobody offered him,” Kirk Ferentz said. “It’s like most of our players when they come in. This is very different and very new to them. It’s just the way it is. It’s a big step. If our guys go to the NFL, they experience the same thing. Things happen a lot faster. Keeps coming at you.

“He came in, did a good job last year. Nothing to distinguish himself good or bad. But did a good job, very solid.”

Kirk Ferentz said Howard started to show flashes of his potential this past spring.

“Right now, the one flashback at last practice we had out there in the spring, you have little things that you remember about players,” Kirk Ferentz said. “He made a couple plays I think, one in particular over on our bench sideline. It was like, Hmmm, maybe he’s getting it. That type of thing. It was one of those ‘a-ha’ moments, if you will.

“He’s had ups and downs since then because he’s young. He’s going into his second year. He’s not developed physically yet like he will be. We’ve seen a good attitude and a guy who just shows up and works hard.”

Prior to being offered by Iowa, Howard was just hoping for any scholarship offer, just a chance to play college football.

“At that point in time, when I had no offers like in the middle of my senior year, I just wanted to play football,” said Howard, who is listed as a backup at one of the three receiver positions heading into Saturday’s game at Michigan State. “I didn’t really care if it was D-two, NAIA, anywhere. I just wanted to play, even though I knew I was capable of playing anywhere just from the confidence my family gave me.

“I’m confident in my physical ability.”

Asked what other schools questioned about his ability, Howard said:

“No one really told me anything. I had a pretty solid senior season.”

Howard had 760 receiving yards and scored 13 touchdowns as a high school senior.

“I have the size and speed I feel like,” Howard said. “I’m just as confused as anyone else, honestly.

“It’s alright, though. All I’m really worried about is now. Iowa, I’m here. They offered me, and then I committed. It was my only offer, but that’s all I really needed is one offer.”

Howard hasn’t completely moved on from being overlooked by everyone except Iowa in high school.

“I’ll still keep it as a chip on my shoulder just from the fact that, I guess, no one really believed in me but Iowa,” Howard said. “But I’ve kind of moved past that a little bit. I’m just really focused on this season and one game at a time.”

Howard takes pride in being a Hawkeye and playing for a program that has knack for developing unheralded players.

“I feel like we’re known to have a program with under-rated talent and then they build us, and then obviously, we get to show it on the field,” Howard said.