Wadley the weight watcher

IOWA CITY — The Akrum Wadley weight thing is about so much more than stepping on a scale. But let's start this chapter with a story about Wadley stepping on the scale.

This happened during the Iowa running back's redshirt season in 2013. The Hawkeyes were stationed in their old facility. The scale was located in the weightroom area, so strength and conditioning head coach Chris Doyle could track players' weights.

'Track' really means 'watch like a hawk.' The whole weigh-in thing for football is about health and accountability. It's important. After Saturday's spring scrimmage, head coach Kirk Ferentz said it's something Iowa has done weekly for every week of his going on 18 seasons.

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'If anybody has high school kids at home, you understand, they don't eat breakfast,' Ferentz said. 'Little, simple things like that, that's part of our educational process, trying to make them understand that you do have to eat breakfast and you have to eat a good breakfast, etc.

'The NCAA rules have helped us a great deal on that front. Just little things like that, it contributes to being a good player, or not a good player, and every little bit is important. So it's just illustration. That's kind of why we harp on it.'

In the end, when a Hawkeye steps on the scale, it's a measure of their personal responsibility.

When Wadley was in Iowa City as a freshman, he had yet to figure that out. So, on this particular Monday morning, he stepped on the scale and it was 10 pounds less than his goal weight.

Who's the first person you have to answer to if you're underweight?

'Coach Doyle,' Wadley said. 'Coach Doyle already knows what it is.'

So, 10 pounds off. Wadley knew chugging Powerade and shakes wasn't going to save him. He knew what was coming.

'I stepped on the scale and he was already mad,' Wadley said. 'As soon as I stepped off the scale, I could see him with that look on his face. He looked so mad, so mad. But I tried to not look at him. I tried to go far away, to the last rack of weights. We were doing hang clean.

'As soon as I grabbed the weight and put it on the bar, he was right there. That must've been the scariest thing in my life. He let me have it, for about 15 minutes.'

That was then and this is now.

After an awakening last season, Wadley has continued his climb up the trust ladder. He shed a nasty fumbling problem that tailed him from 2014 into the 2015 opener (four fumbles in a span of 37 carries). His weight is good, above 185 and close to 190.

During Saturday's scrimmage, he did his thing, showing vision, making first tacklers miss and setting up a second-level tackler for a quick jump-cut.

Wadley is in the plans for 2016. Offensive coordinator Greg Davis identified Wadley as one of Iowa's top 'home run' offensive threats last week, along with tight end George Kittle and wide receivers Matt VandeBerg and Jerminic Smith.

'Akrum can do the things that you can't coach, jumping sideways and some of that,' Davis said. 'He gives you a chance for a big play a lot of times when it's not always there; but he gives you the chance to make a big play.

'I think he's grown up and matured. He's kind of bought into the big picture academically. I mean, the whole gamut of things that they go through. I just see much more maturity out of him at this time.'

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It sounds like a little thing, but Wadley is now cooking for himself. Omelets are his specialty. They sound kind of wild, with syrup, peanut butter and jalapenos in the mix.

You saw an uptick in Wadley's targets as a receiver late last season. That could be part of what goes his way in 2016.

'They have confidence in me to make a good play, an explosive play,' Wadley said. 'I have to keep it going. . . . We're going to see what it is. They're designing some plays to get me in the open field. I just have to convert on them.'

Going into his junior year, Wadley knows that every time he sets foot on a scale his strength coach is going to be in proximity and it's another step up the ladder of trust.

'It's all about trust,' Wadley said. 'They (coaches) didn't trust me, they didn't trust me a lot and that was on me. I had to take responsibility. I'm much more mature than I was a year or two years ago. Now, I know what to do.

'Every time I step on that scale and I make weight, that's a positive thing and I feel more confident. I have to do the same thing next week. It's all about consistency and trust. If I can show them that I can do that, they'll believe more in me.'

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