Iowa’s Diante Vines overcomes injuries, confidently prepares for opportunities in second half of season

IOWA CITY — Tyler Whitley remembers the “huge transition” Diante Vines had to make in high school.

The Danbury, Conn., native, after more than a decade in public schools, transferred to a boarding school about 30 miles away, moved into the dorms and reclassified from a senior to junior.

“We don’t have many new 11th-graders,” said Whitley, the football coach there. “But Diante came in, jumped in with both feet and just got used to things really quickly in the classroom.”

The transition on the football field might have been even faster despite changing positions from quarterback to wide receiver. By the first week of practice, Whitley and his staff “looked at each other and we were like, ‘Oh boy, we’ve got a pretty special athlete.’”

Now, Vines is working to make another quick transition, this time at Iowa.

After missing the first half of the season with a wrist injury, the sophomore is looking to make an impact on an Iowa offense in clear need of midseason reinforcements.

Vines arrived on campus in 2020 as a three-star recruit and was "actually doing pretty good” as a freshman in fall camp. He even had some first-team reps.

But then the wideout tore his Achilles ahead of the season. He estimated it was six months before he was running again.

Vines had a limited role in 2021, appearing in six games mostly on special teams. His only offensive snaps came in Iowa’s 51-14 win over Maryland.

After the departures of Charlie Jones and Tyrone Tracy via the transfer portal, Vines seemed to be poised for a larger role in 2022. But then the injury bug hit again.

Vines jumped to make a catch in fall camp and put his hand down as he landed.

“At first I didn’t think I did anything to it,” Vines said. “I was like, ‘Oh, that kind of hurt, like whatever.’”

As he asked the trainers to tape it up, they said, “I don’t think that’s right.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” Vines said as he tried to go back on the field to practice more. The medical staff won that battle.

Vines dislocated the lunates in his left wrist.

“It seems like a car-accident-type of injury, so it’s pretty weird that I got it,” Vines said. “I kind of get those major injuries. I don’t know why I keep getting them, but I keep going through. I’m resilient. I love football.”

Perhaps the one consolation of the injury was that he could still participate in many football activities. He continued to run routes and make one-handed catches in practice.

Vines finally made his season debut in last week’s 54-10 loss to No. 2 Ohio State.

“I had to hold back my smile,” Vines said.

The first game where he played meaningful offensive snaps came at one of the most hostile college football stadiums in the country.

“I thought I’d get some nerves going into the game,” Vines said. “I didn’t have any nerves at all. … I kind of just stood in the middle of the field, looked around and soaked it in.”

His 19 snaps against the Buckeyes, according to Pro Football Focus, were a career-high.

He grabbed his first catch at the beginning of the second quarter. He hauled in a low five-yard pass from Spencer Petras before getting up and heading back into the huddle as if it was business as usual.

“It happened so fast, I don’t even know what happened,” Vines said.

His fellow wide receivers may have been more excited for Vines than he was.

“It was pretty hyped on the sideline — all my receivers dapping me up and stuff like that,” he said.

Time will tell what Vines can accomplish against Big Ten competition over the next five games.

He has five career receiving yards — all from the catch against Ohio State — so the second half of 2022 will likely be his first extended on-field opportunity.

Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz was thinking about Vines last week similarly to how he thought of center Logan Jones before the season.

“You're excited about him, excited what you see them do in practice,” Ferentz said. “You catch yourself. This guy hasn't played a game yet as a Hawkeye, and the same with Logan coming into the season. … Yet (Jones) gave you a lot to be excited about watching him in practice. I felt the same with Diante.”

Vines has worked at all three wide receiver spots and “likes them all” although sometimes playing on the outside is especially appealing.

“I’m a deep-ball kind of guy, a deep-ball threat, so I think if I’m out there, I could make a little more happen for us,” Vines said.

Iowa could certainly use a deep-ball threat. The Hawkeyes have not had a 35-plus-yard offensive play since their Sept. 24 win at Rutgers.

Whitley has seen plenty of future FBS athletes go through the doors of the Taft School, including Wisconsin wide receiver Skyler Bell. But Vines stood out because he “was just so natural as a pass catcher” despite not having played the position before.

“Diante’s ball skills were just so apparent right away,” Whitley said. “He had great speed. He was strong. He was immediately one of the best receivers in our league and I’d say in New England as a junior.”

Now a sophomore at Iowa, Vines has no shortage of confidence — some people at the Taft School called him “Hollywood,” Whitley said — partly out of necessity from his medical adversity.

“With everything I’ve been through, I feel like the only way I can stay up is being confident,” Vines said. “Some people could have wanted to pack it up when I tore my Achilles. … But that’s not my kind of demeanor. I fight through everything.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com