3 and Out: Assessing wide receiver

1. One more spin with Willies

- There are two perfectly rational sides to redshirt Derrick Willies' departure. The 6-4, 210-pound wide receiver told coach Kirk Ferentz on Monday night that he wanted to transfer. The two met again on Wednesday and Ferentz said on his radio show that Willies' mind is made up. Probably look for the Rock Island, Ill.,/Burlington native to transfer to an Arizona school. His dad, Derrick Willies Sr., lives in Arizona and is dealing with health issues.

One side sees that Willies' impact on the actual football field was minimal. He caught four passes for 71 yards and a TD in four games. He also was injured (muscle strain, according to Iowa) and didn't play in the last two games. He's a redshirt freshman, hard to gauge what exactly Iowa loses here.

The other side is 'hey, Iowa is losing a 6-4 wide receiver who can run and jump and make big plays.” That's also true. Here's linebacker Quinton Alston on Willies this week, 'He is a big-play guy. He's a very physical receiver and he goes up and gets the ball. He's going to be a great weapon wherever he goes.”

Willies averaged 17.75 yards a catch. Iowa averages 10.9 yards a completion. Every little bit helps, and Willies had potential that was starting to bloom.

He's a redshirt freshman who still hadn't done much, but, at the same time, Iowa doesn't have a lot of 6-4 speedsters hanging out in the players lounge.

2. Immediately at wide receiver

- Willies has been out a couple of weeks, so the receiver rotation had already been narrowed to seniors Damond Powell and Kevonte Martin-Manley and juniors Tevaun Smith and Jacob Hillyer. That's been it.

The only other wide receiver to catch a pass in the last two games is sophomore Matt Vandenberg, who had one catch for 3 yards against Indiana. He's also been limited since missing the Pitt game with an undisclosed injury.

Senior walk-on Andrew Stone has seen time, but hasn't been targeted. Same for sophomore Riley McCarron. Redshirt freshmen Andre Harris and Derrick Mitchell Jr. haven't seen a meaningful snap.

So, your receivers for the rest of the season likely will be Powell, Martin-Manley, Smith and Hillyer. And if you look at what they've done the last two games, just Powell, Martin-Manley and Smith have been consistently targeted. It's quick and easy scout for opponents, too. Watch Powell deep (six catches for 121 yards in last two games), Smith in intermediate routes (eight for 99) and Martin-Manley short (seven for 38).

It'll be interesting to see if Harris and Mitchell are activated.

3. The future at wide receiver

- Iowa has signed seven wide receivers in its two recruiting classes. That's why Iowa has three players who remain or who were walk-ons before camp started in August in the two deep on the offensive line. Iowa took from the O-line scholarship pool and dumped those into wide receiver to try to infuse the position with speed, talent.

Tommy Gaul, a fifth-year senior walk-on, has played center the last two games. He probably doesn't have a scholarship because of this trade-off.

'So we've added to the pool of flexibility,” Ferentz said, commenting on Gaul's rise. 'We didn't have much going into it. At least we weren't sure what it was. So, I think right now we've got six viable guys who can play and play pretty well and that's a good thing.”

Of the six receivers signed in 2013, two are gone (Willies and A.J. Jones). Harris and Mitchell haven't played. VandeBerg has caught 12 passes for 124 yards in two seasons. The jewel of that group is Powell, who leads the Hawkeyes 23.17 yards on 12 catches this season (in two seasons he has 24 catches for 577 yards and four TDs, he's been a good get).

Powell and Martin-Manley, who needs just 19 more receptions to set Iowa's career record, are seniors. So next year, it's Smith as the probable No. 1 with Hillyer, VandeBerg, McCarron (a walk-on), Harris, Mitchell and redshirt freshman Jay Scheel (signed in ‘14 and out this year with a knee injury). Iowa has a pair of commitments at the position for the ‘15 signing class - Adrian Falconer (6-1, 185 from Leesburg, Fla.) and Emmanuel Ogwo (6-0, 175, Mesquite, Texas).

Iowa will need some young players to emerge and will probably have to shell out a few more scholarships to wide receivers for 2015.

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