No. 14 — WR Kevonte Martin-Manley

No. 14 ...

The story of how senior wide receiver Kevonte Martin-Manley (6-0, 205) landed in Iowa City shows the stratification that goes on in recruiting. Martin-Manley, coming out of Brother Rice High School (Pontiac, Mich.) in 2010, was a prospect on the margins.

He had solid offers from Mid-American Conference schools and was committed to Bowling Green when he took a visit to Iowa in December 2009. During his visit, Iowa coaches told him a scholarship offer was coming, but he had to decide on it before he got back on the plane to Detroit.

Tick, tick, tick.

'During my visit, they said if I didn't commit, they were probably going to offer another guy coming in,” Martin-Manley said.

If you think that's cold, it's what happens on any given weekend on any given campus.

'It's the harsh reality,” Martin-Manley said with a laugh. 'They can't take everybody. It's a business at the end of the day. You can't take everybody. I was ready for that. Coaches were honest with me. They told me what the deal was and it was a better opportunity for me. I took that with no pressure at all.”

Ferentz said he remembered a 'funny uncle.” Martin-Manley made the trip with his mom, Leanna Martin, and uncle, Cisco McKinney ('that was a childhood name he was given,” Martin-Manley said).

'He is a very funny guy, a very funny guy,” Martin-Manley said, cracking up at this point.

The theme here is that Martin-Manley seems to know which way to go, whether it's routes, punt returns or weekends to decide where to spend the next four or five years of your life.

'It was all me, if I didn't want to commit here, I wouldn't have,” Martin-Manley said. 'I sincerely felt like this was the best option for me. I told family and friends right away and they were excited for me. I felt like it was the right decision, there wasn't any pressure.”

After calling friends and family, Martin-Manley had one more phone call to make that weekend in December ‘09. He called a Bowling Green assistant from the plane before it took off.

'He told me he didn't think it was a good decision,” Martin-Manley said, 'but hey, any coach is going to tell you that. They want you.”

The strengths ...

Martin-Manley is a strong WR who excels in route running and working in traffic. Quarterback Jake Rudock credited Martin-Manley's route running.

'He's running really good routes, getting open and I'm seeing him,” Rudock said. 'Sometimes, guys run great routes, but my eyes are the other way because the coverage made me go to one side. It just happens that he's finding his spot and he's getting open.”

Martin-Manley has led the Hawkeyes in receiving each of the last two seasons, which is saying something. You've seen Iowa's offense transition from Ken O'Keefe's passing schemes to Greg Davis'. The results haven't always been pretty. There has been progress. This is an important year in that regard.

'The best thing you can say about Kevonte is that he is a relentless worker, and so I do think the game slowed down for him,” wide receivers coach Bobby Kennedy said. 'But what I always tell him is I don't know if players always want to hear this, but the thing that makes him good is what he does Monday through Friday because he works so hard. He's a great leader for our group. I talked to the younger guys about you should watch the way that guy works, watch the way that guy competes, and not only does he work but he's a great competitor, too. So he's more comfortable. I think he's starting to see the game a little better.”

What he needs to work on ...

Kennedy had some praise and he had some criticism on Martin-Manley's game. He talked about the Outback Bowl, when Martin-Manley slipped and fell on what looked to be a potentially big pass play from QB C.J. Beathard. He also muffed a punt.

Kennedy was asked about Martin-Manley's ceiling.

To me he's still a young guy in this game,” Kennedy said. 'It's not like he's 30 years old, so he can continue to get better. His skills haven't started to diminish, and so once again, with work and with effort and the way he competes, I think the sky's the limit, but I think he'll hit his ceiling if he doesn't continue to do those things, and hopefully the game will even slow down for him more so that he can make some more plays.

'But he's a guy I think there has been some people who have said, he doesn't have this, he doesn't have that, whatever, but he's a guy that I see continuing to improve, continuing to work, and I think he can be as good as he wants to be, but you know, every player has limitations. Maybe this guy can do this, this guy can't do that? It's working on those limitations and minimizing them.”

Outlook ...

Martin-Manley has 122 career receptions. That puts him No. 5 on Iowa's career receptions list heading into his final season. He needs 51 catches to tie Derrell Johnson-Koulianos' record 173. Martin-Manley caught 50 passes in 2012, so it's within the realm of possibility.

But it probably isn't. It's not anything that Martin-Manley does, it's more that Iowa is going to want to see if the investment it made in wide receiver (six recruits in the last two years) means anything. The one thing that Kennedy said during his spring news conference that really rang out was, 'I think it's going to be a little tougher around here to play.”

Of course, Martin-Manley (40 catches for 388 yards and five TDs last season) is going to play. He should be the No. 1 WR. Maybe Kennedy's point is don't assume anything when it comes to Iowa wide receivers.

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@sourcemedia.net