Reisner's 'NFL-ness' comes through

OK, now the college football award lists really matter.

In August, they're a nice honor. Better to be on than not, but still, there is the little matter of actually playing the season and putting up the numbers.

Now, it's November and the final wave of lists are coming out. Semifinalists and finalists for every award from Ray Guy (punter) to Bronko Nagurski (defensive player) to Biletnikoff (wide receiver) are starting to pop up.

This week, Iowa tight end Allen Reisner jumped into the mix with his selection as a semifinalist for the John Mackey Award, which goes to the nation's top tight end. There are eight semifinalists. The finalists will be announced Monday.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz joked that in 2007, when Iowa was forced to shove Reisner out there at a true freshman, he could've been arrested for child abuse.

"The alarming part, again you look at his helmet, he looked like he was 14," Ferentz said. "He really looked young in the face. That doesn't mean anything, but it added emphasis to where he was at."

Reisner was a 218-pound true freshman who ran track at Marion High School the previous spring. In 2007, then-Iowa tight end Tony Moeaki got hurt and Iowa needed a No. 3. Reisner was shoved into action, along with 10 other true freshman in 2007.

This season, Moeaki is in Kansas City playing well for the Chiefs. Reisner is in Iowa City enjoying a breakthrough season with the No. 21 Hawkeyes (7-3, 4-2 Big Ten), who face No. 8 Ohio State (9-1, 5-1) Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.

"It's great," said Reisner, who's third on the Hawkeyes with 35 receptions for 350 yards and two TDs. "Who wouldn't want to touch the ball more."

During the Hawkeyes' 21-17 loss last week at Northwestern, Reisner snared a career-high six catches and tied a career-high with 66 yards. This is a far cry from the freshman who looked 14 and caught just two passes in 2007.

Iowa tight ends have formed a conga line to the NFL. Since 2000, seven Iowa tight ends have been selected in the NFL draft.

Reisner has risen to that level this season.

With three games left, he's already caught more passes this season (35) than he did in his previous three seasons (23). He needs just 24 yards to equal the yardage he put out in his first three years.

Reisner has waited three years to get to the point where he could have this year.

"You can't be all tensed up [going into a year knowing you have to have 'the year']," Reisner said. "You've got to have fun with that. That's the best part about it, having fun."

Reisner, 6-3, 248 pounds, played directly behind Moeaki for a couple seasons. Moeaki came into Iowa City as a U.S. Army all-American. It was a matter of when he hit a healthy stretch to show his "NFL-ness." Reisner also played behind Brandon Myers his first two years. There are quite a few similarities between the career paths of Myers and Reisner.

Myers, who took Iowa's final scholarship in 2004, went into his senior season needing a big year to get on the NFL radar. The 6-4, 250-pounder from Prairie City did just that with 34 catches for 441 yards in 2008. He was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the sixth round of the 2009 draft.

Reisner was one of the last scholarships accepted in 2007.

"We don't have the huge numbers," Reisner said of comparing Iowa's current tight end duo of he and junior Brad Herman to the run of the great tight ends in the Ferentz era. "We don't make the huge 95-yard touchdown catches that Dallas Clark had. We don't have three touchdown games like Tony had. We just try to work hard to get the job done."

Reisner's "NFL-ness" is coming out.

Wes Bunting, the director of college scouting for the website the National Football Post, wrote in an Oct. 25 post that Reisner could "quietly end up on an NFL roster in 2011."

"He lacks the speed to consistently run by NFL linebackers, but knows how to go up, extend his arms and pluck the football over the middle of the field," Bunting wrote.

Bunting sees this ending in the NFL for Reisner.

"The Hawkeyes have had a lot of success in recent years sending tight end prospects into the NFL and although he isn't as gifted as some over the past couple seasons," Bunting wrote, "he still looks to me like a guy who could make a roster and see some playing time on special teams and as a jack-of-all trades type FB/TE/H-back option."

This is good, because Reisner wants to keep up the whole Iowa-tight end NFL thingie.

"I definitely don't want to lose the streak that the tight ends have [Iowa tight ends to the NFL]," Reisner said. “It's a recruiting thing. I don't want to mess that up.”