Moeaki rises again

It's just a little blurb in his bio. You sure wouldn't know it by looking at him.

But as it turns out, Iowa's 6-foot-4, 250-pound tight end plays a mean game of tennis. Wide receiver Trey Stross let that slip Saturday night.

"He's one of the best basketball players on the team," Stross said. "He's one of the best tennis players in Illinois. He could pick up any ball in any sport and be good at it, whatever it is."

It's never been a question of talent for Tony Moeaki. It's always been a question of health.

Moeaki was the star of Iowa's opening win over Northern Iowa, catching 10 passes including a touchdown. Then, he sprained an ankle/foot against Iowa State and was forced to sit the next three games. He's missed 15 games in his career, including eight games in 2007 after suffering a dislocated elbow at Wisconsin.

He missed Tuesday's practice this week. He sat out Wednesday. He did very little Thursday.

Basically, he was a gametime decision Saturday night.

"I didn't practice last week," Moeaki said. "So, to be honest, it was almost a game-time decision to play. I just wanted to be out there and help the team as much as possible. I'm glad we won."

He helped his team win like sugar helps M&M's taste good.

Moeaki caught six passes for 105 yards in the No. 12 Hawkeyes' 30-28 victory Saturday night at Kinnick Stadium. In the first quarter, he caught a 34-yard touchdown pass on an audible called by quarterback Ricky Stanzi. He scored untouched. In the fourth quarter, Moeaki caught a pass on a play-action pass. He again scored untouched.

"They were untouched and that was disappointing," UM coach Rich Rodriguez said.

Untouched is exactly what Moeaki has been the last three weeks. The progression went like this: Against Arizona, he was in sweatpants. When Iowa traveled to Penn State, Moeaki dressed, warmed up and then watched. Same deal against Arkansas State last week.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz repeated his feelings on Moeaki all three weeks. They could've played him, but it only would've been in the 80 percent range. Ferentz thought that to play Moeaki at anything less than 100 percent would be doing the talented senior from Wheaton, Ill., an injustice.

"Tony is a phenomenal athlete," Ferentz said. "More importantly, he's got the attitude that you're looking for. I don't know anyone who has a better attitude. When you've got those two things, you've got an excellent football player."

He might've been 100 percent Saturday. If he was, it was an untested 100 percent. The fifth-year senior told coaches he wanted to play. Because he's a fifth-year senior, they listened.

"I didn't practice all week so I didn't know how my ankle, foot would hold up," Moeaki said. "I'm sore, but I'll be fine."

Ferentz was happy to have Moeaki the receiver back on the field. He was maybe happier to have Moeaki the blocker back.

"I haven't been around a better one, personally, and that's at any level," Ferentz said in response to where Moeaki would rank on the list of blocking tight ends he's seen. "I think he's really good, really good. I just wish the rest of the world could see it."

A natiional ABC primetime TV audience saw it Saturday night.

Overall, it was probably the second-best game of Moeaki's career. Against Syracuse in 2007, he caught eight passes for 112 yards and three TDs. That Syracuse team was coached by Greg Robinson, Michigan's defensive coordinator.

All this and he can play tennis. He played his freshman and sophomore years at Warrenville South High School, playing for his dad, Lose, who was the school's tennis coach.

"He threw me under the bus," Moeaki joked. "I do play tennis, yeah. I wasn't too bad."

Now that's something the world might never see.