As Iowa looks for more production from wide receivers, ‘accountability factor has to be there’

IOWA CITY — Ask Jon Budmayr about how to improve Iowa’s wide receiver production, and the wide receivers coach’s answer starts with “understanding what our job is.”

What may seem simple at first glance has more to it for Budmayr and the Hawkeyes. It’s a path to creating accountability.

“Once that job is clearly defined and the how-to is taught in an efficient, effective manner, then we can set a standard,” Budmayr said on The Gazette’s Hawk Off the Press podcast.

Setting that standard then paves the way for the wide receivers to “hold each other accountable.”

“When we’re sitting in a meeting room and all of a sudden we revert back, there’s a trust that’s already been built there,” Budmayr said. “There’s a trust in the room that, ‘Hey, no this isn’t what we do. Like we’ve passed this bridge, and you’ve put it on tape.’”

Budmayr — promoted to wide receivers coach earlier this year after serving as special assistant to the head coach and as an analyst before that — inherits a position group that has experienced underwhelming production in recent years.

Iowa’s wide receivers combined to record 76 receptions for 754 yards in 2023.

Three wide receivers in the conference — Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr., Illinois’ Isaiah Williams and Wisconsin’s Will Pauling — individually had more yardage last year than the Hawkeyes’ entire position group. Williams had more receptions than all of Iowa’s wideouts combined as well.

Budmayr also inherits a group that has experienced heavy attrition in recent years. Out of the 76 receptions from wideouts in 2023, only 33 were from players who are back on the roster in 2024. Going further back, none of the scholarship wide receivers from two years ago are still on the roster in 2024.

“We need guys to have production that they didn't have a year before,” head coach Kirk Ferentz said last week during the Big Ten’s football media days.

That means the Hawkeyes could be counting on some young players to make significant contributions in 2024 alongside Kaleb Brown and Seth Anderson. (Brown and Anderson started four and eight games in 2023, respectively, after transferring to Iowa from other schools before the season.)

Jarriett Buie was the only redshirt freshman to have a first-team spot on the preseason depth chart. Of course, depth charts only carry so much weight with another month to go until the season starts. Nonetheless, it is an encouraging sign for the wideout from Tampa, Fla.

“Being young, not only at the level that we’re playing at, but then also with a new system that comes in the spring — I think as it slowed down for him, you got to see his ability come out,” Budmayr said.

That ability leaves Budmayr “really, really excited about Jarriett.”

“He’s a natural catcher,” Budmayr said. “He’s got great ball skills. He’s a really good route runner. … He’s got good awareness. Whether it’s press, catch, off coverage, he has a plan of attack.”

Fellow redshirt freshman Dayton Howard “had a couple of plays that kind of caught my eye” during the last spring practice, Ferentz said last week.

“Dayton is a guy that really, I think, matured as the spring went along,” Budmayr said. “The light bulb started to click a little bit February, March, getting through that winter phase. … He’s got really good size. He’s got good speed for a bigger guy. He can get in and out of his breaks pretty well.”

On the other side of the age spectrum, Kaden Wetjen could be a key factor as well. Wetjen — a walk-on who transferred from Iowa Western Community College after the 2021 season — will be a senior in 2024. The Williamsburg native handled the bulk of Iowa’s kick returns last year and took over punt returning duties after Cooper DeJean’s injury.

Wetjen, Budmayr said, has “legit speed.”

“He's got the ability to take the top off of the coverage, and I think that's something we have to use,” Budmayr said. “It's an advantage for us.”

If Iowa’s wide receiver production (and passing game production as a whole) rises to at least a decent level, the Hawkeyes have the strengths elsewhere — namely on defense and special teams — to be a national contender in 2024. That is a big “if,” though.

“The accountability factor has to be there,” Budmayr said. “Guys got to feel that every day so that we can continue to progress.”

Fortunately for the Hawkeyes, Budmayr sees “they have that in them.”

“They’re eager to learn,” Budmayr said. “They want to improve. They want to get better. And right now they’re just focused on that.”

With a month to go until the start of the 2024 season, time will tell how much Budmayr’s focus on accountability translates to on-field results.

“If we can keep that mindset of continual improvement and also setting a standard and hold each other accountable to it, we’re going to continue to progress and get better each day,” Budmayr said.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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