By John Bohnenkamp

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Tony Diaz’s sure-handedness as a football player was helped by playing baseball.

The Iowa wide receiver said on Tuesday his time playing high school baseball in San Marcos, Texas helped with abilities he has shown during his college career.

“When you play more sports,” Diaz said, “they come together in different ways.”

Diaz was primarily a shortstop during his youth career  before moving to center field for his senior year of high school.

“I wanted to go track down the ball,” he said, smiling.

That’s something he’s done as a wide receiver in college, first at FCS school Texas-Rio Grande Valley, and now with the Hawkeyes. He is coming off a 7-reception, 84-yard day in his Iowa debut in last Saturday’s 40-0 win over Northern Illinois, following his last season at UTRGV where he was one of the top receivers in FCS.

“He’s aggressive to the football,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “He has been since he’s shown up, which is a really good trait for a receiver. It sounds kind of silly you would say that, but he is really aggressive to catching footballs and sometimes he puts himself in a little bit of risk. But, boy, that’s a great temperament. It’s fun.”

Diaz enjoyed playing baseball, but he said after his freshman year in high school he decided to focus on football. He played baseball in his senior season at the urging of his mother, Jessica.

“My mom wanted me to play baseball again my senior year because it was the last time I would play it,” he said. “So I did that, and I think I did a pretty good job. It was fun. I’m glad I played my senior year.”

Diaz redshirted as a freshman at UTRGV.

“Just playing our defense for a whole year kind of got boring after a while,” he said. “But at first, it was fun, and also just gave me time to just get faster and stronger and put more put more weight on to play my first collegiate season, and and just to build that chemistry with the QBs and stuff over there, so it was an advantage, but also kind of a disadvantage.”

Diaz finished seventh in voting for the Jerry Rice Award, given to the top freshman player in FCS, last season and was an Associated Press FCS honorable-mention All-American after a year in which he had four games of 100 or more receiving yards and scored at least one touchdown in nine games.

He entered the NCAA transfer portal after the season and chose the Hawkeyes.

Diaz is a good fit, Ferentz said.

“He’s just got a good demeanor,” Ferentz said. “We were talking about him this morning, too. I was saying to somebody, he just really enjoys playing football. I mean, there’s a youthful exuberance.”

Diaz said playing in his first game at the FBS level on Saturday was a bit of an adjustment.

“It was crazy,” he said. “I feel like I kind of lived up to the expectations. Definitely could say I could do better, but it was a great, great moment. I mean, I’ll always remember the first game here at Kinnick. It will be a good memory.”