String of injuries making things tough for talented Moeaki

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 last weekend.

“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 (5-1, 2-1 Big Ten), where the senior and the No. 11 Hawkeyes (6-0, 2-0) play today.

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

Basically, he was a gametime decision before Iowa's 30-28 victory over Michigan.

“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 against the Wolverines. In the first quarter, he caught a 34-yard touchdown pass on an audible called by quarterback Ricky Stanzi, who's faced Moeaki on the basketball court and says “It's not fun.” He scored untouched. In the fourth quarter, Moeaki caught a pass on a play-action pass. He again scored untouched.

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

Because of the injuries, he's maybe the best player in America no one knows about.

“Talented kid, but he's got to stay on the field,” said Wes Bunting, the writer of “The Scouting Department” for the National Football Post Web site.

Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz wouldn't dip into his NFL experience - six seasons as O-line coach for Cleveland/Baltimore - to make a draft call on Moeaki, but he did compare his skills to former Hawkeye running back Shonn Greene, a third-round pick of the New York Jets last season.

“It's not the same because running backs are a little more prominent than a tight end, but it's the same in my opinion in that I think Tony is that caliber of a football player,” Ferentz said. “He's a top shelf player, so it impacts us.”

The NFL spends millions researching players. When the draft comes around next April, the league will know about last year's broken left foot in fall camp that never completely healed and eventually led to hamstring and calf problems. It finally got fixed in March. There was the dislocated elbow and broken hand against Wisconsin in 2007. The elbow cost him the rest of ‘07.

There were the concussions that came last season when he just hadn't seen enough time to have a feel for the helmet-to-helmet smackdowns (there were two, Iowa State and Illinois).

In his three games this year (really only two because he was clearly limited against Iowa State), Moeaki has 17 catches for 192 yards and three TDs. Ferentz loves that. He loves Moeaki's blocking even more.

“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 national ABC audience saw it last Saturday. What does the NFL see?

“He's a coordinated athlete, you can see that,” Bunting said. “He's not a real burner, but he's got good short-area quickness, body control and is a natural pass catcher. When he has the ball in his hands, he knows what to do with it. We all saw that against Michigan this week.”

Ferentz said NFL teams will have to acknowledge Moeaki's injury history. Just depends how heavily they'll weigh it as far as the draft goes.

“If every week were like last week, it would be a no-brainer,” Ferentz said. “There aren't a lot of great tight ends out there, ever.”