By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – With his performance against Northern Illinois on Saturday, Iowa receiver Tony Diaz has for at least one game lived up to the enormous hype that he already has created as a Hawkeye.

The Texas native led Iowa with seven catches for 84 yards and a touchdown in Saturday’s 40-0 victory over Northern Illinois in the season opener at Kinnick Stadium.

Diaz showed good hands, superior speed and quickness, and the ability to make defenders miss. He had one play in the first quarter in which he caught a pass in the flat and then side-stepped a defender in space.

“Tony (Diaz) has given us some juice out there; he’s a good player,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said after Saturday’s win.

Diaz is among 16 players that joined Iowa from the transfer portal this past offseason, along with fellow receiver Evan James, who thrilled the sellout crowd by returning a punt 77 yards for a touchdown late in the third quarter.

Though it’s only one game against a vastly inferior opponent, Diaz and James both showed they could make plays at this level.

Diaz transferred from Texas Rio Grande Valley, while James played for Furman last season.

They both were star players for their previous team, but they wanted to play on a bigger stage and at the highest level in college.

Iowa offered that opportunity, and for at least for one game, it has worked out beautifully.

Diaz was as good as advertised while James treated fans to something they’re now getting used to seeing after watching former Hawkeye Kaden Wetjen return punts and kicks for touchdowns the past two seasons.

Diaz dealt with an injury last spring.

But when healthy, he has been a big play waiting to happen, which it finally did on Saturday in real time.

“If he’s out there healthy, that’s what he does,” Ferentz said of Diaz. “He got banged up a little bit in the spring. But he just plays hard, and he plays fast also. He is fast and plays fast.

“As dumb as it sounds, he’s really aggressive catching balls. You hope a receiver is that way. But he enjoys catching balls. He tries really hard to do it, sometimes to his own detriment with the injury stuff.”

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Injury report: Iowa running back LJ Phillips limped off the field in the second quarter of Saturday’s game with an apparent lower leg injury.

He had four carries for five yards before leaving the game.

Iowa also had some players affected by the extreme heat, including offensive linemen Kade Pieper and Cael Winter.

“I think we’ll know more tomorrow on LJ probably, and then tomorrow or the next couple days,” Kirk Ferentz said. “He had a little bit of a lower leg deal. But the rest of the guys were just heat issues.”

Phillips transferred from South Dakota where he rushed for 1,921 yards last season, which led the FCS.