Hawkeye tight ends: ‘Encouraging where it’s going’

IOWA CITY - Noah Fant and T.J. Hockenson went through the classic Iowa tight end initiation.

This mostly comprises trying to block defensive ends who are 1) older than you and 2) probably bigger and stronger than you. Iowa has landed a ton of tight ends in the NFL through these methods. Like it or not, it works.

Fant and Hockenson weren't getting out of it, and that was OK, they didn't want to.

'That was a big focus, especially for me during fall camp,” Fant said. 'I try to take out any flaws in my game. Obviously, as a freshman, I didn't have much strength behind me or anything like that, so I really focused on building that. T.J. came into his own on blocking and route running. We're trying to keep building that.”

It's early in their careers. The Mackey Award nominations are far from being a scuff on their cleats.

But, hey, so far, so good.

In Iowa's three games, Fant has seven catches for 89 yards and three touchdowns. Hockenson has five catches for 70 yards and a TD off a tipped pass last week against North Texas.

The catching the ball is the easy stuff (kidding, kidding). The duo has more than held their own as blockers.

Who's the better blocker? And be honest.

'Ahh, I don't know,” the sophomore said. 'T.J. is a really good blocker. I like to think I'm a good blocker.”

Laughs followed that thought during the group interview.

'I'm not sure about that one,” the Omaha, Neb., native said with a smile.

Hockenson played wide receiver and safety for Chariton High School. No, he wasn't asked to block a whole lot.

'We always threw it (the ball) up,” said Hockenson, a redshirt freshman. 'I was covered by 5-4 (we're talking height) guys. Nothing like now. When I came here it was difficult. I bought into what coaches were telling me, but I'm still a work in progress.”

Head coach Kirk Ferentz didn't say specifically that Fant was being worked as a blocker, but here's Ferentz talking the paces Fant was put through in the lead up to the season.

'We're asking him to do a lot of things,” Ferentz said. 'Have to give him a lot of credit, not a little. He's doing a great job in practice. We are working him pretty extensively. He's getting a lot of reps, and he gets tired but he keeps on going. He's got a really good attitude and he's on the right track right now, so we're happy about that.”

It's one thing to say you're happy. The proof that Ferentz and the staff actually are happy is in how much they've used Fant and Hockenson.

Fant's snap count in the first three games has been 39, 54 and 60. Hockenson played 71 snaps against North Texas. He played 47 and 57 in Iowa's first two games.

Last week against North Texas, Iowa had multiple tight ends on the field for 47 of its 86 snaps. You probably saw this coming with Brian Ferentz stepping into the offensive coordinator's role. He was the New England Patriots tight ends coach before coming to coach offensive line for his dad at Iowa in 2012. Beyond that, Brian Ferentz played football at Iowa with tight ends like Dallas Clark and Scott Chandler.

You thought Brian Ferentz would explore what his TEs can do, and so far that has most definitely happened.

'Brian likes two tight ends,” Hockenson said. 'He likes the backs, he likes the receivers. He likes everyone. He puts trust in everyone. When he calls the tights' names, we're all ready, we're all excited.”

Part of the Iowa staff's vetting with Hockenson's scholarship offer was needing to see how he would handle blocking at one of the high school camps.

'What we saw was his attitude,” Ferentz said. ' You'd just get a feel for a guy's attitude and the kind of person he is, and that's when we really started to warm up a little bit.

'You know, you project things a little bit easier that way. There are no guarantees, but blocking is all about a guy. You've got to have requisite size and skill, but what's really important is the attitude. There are a lot of tight ends in the country who don't want to block, and to his credit, he did.”

You might've notice against North Texas that Fant and Hockenson ran a motion into the fullback spot. We're not talking H-back and on the wing of a play. They lined up in front of the running back and led at least two plays through the middle of the line of scrimmage.

'In our offense they move us around a lot,” Fant said. 'It's one of those things, we've got to understand what we're doing and when we do, it opens up the offense more.”

These are the first steps for Fant and Hockenson. The path probably won't lead to all-Big Ten this year. The league has a few top-flight tight ends, including Penn State's Mike Gesicki (12 catches for 123 and four TDs) and Wisconsin's Troy Fumagalli (15 catches for 236 yards and three TDs).

Right now, they seem to be happy trying to be first-team Iowa tight end, a position that, so far this season, is undergoing a bit of a rebirth.

On the blocking topic, OK, maybe it is a bit of a competition between these two.

'Definitely,” Fant said. 'I feel like it's a good competition, though, you know? We learn a lot of multiple-tight end sets and single-tight end sets. We run pretty well together. We're starting to build a good relationship and it's encouraging where it's going.”

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com