No. 37 — WR: The Field

No. 37 . . .

In yesterday's post on running back Derrick Mitchell, I referenced how this stage of 'yet another reshaping at Iowa wide receiver' would be a post unto itself. Hello, post unto itself.

I basically think there are nine WRs who have a say in how the position goes for the Hawkeyes this season. Eight of those players will be on this list, either in their own posts or in a group post. Hello, group post.

I'm putting four receivers into this post and calling it 'The Field.'

History of production . . .

Senior Andrew Stone is a fifth-year senior walk-on who finally saw some time last fall, seeing action in four games and catching four passes for 48 yards and a TD. He's hung around and now has a shot at breaking into rotation time.

You might not see that with what Stone has done at Iowa. It's a short resume, but Stone is a junior college transfer from Iowa Western, where he caught 110 passes in two seasons, including 61 receptions for 685 yards and nine touchdowns as a sophomore when the Reivers claimed the junior college national title.

So, Stone knows how to produce, but whether or not the 5-11, 175-pounder can do it on the B1G level remains to be seen. Health stubbed him out this spring, with a hamstring injury keeping him sidelined, but he was listed as a No. 2 behind junior Matt VandeBerg when spring started.

Totally blank slates . . .

On the flip side of a fifth-year senior walk-on, Iowa has, and is apparently expecting some sort of contributions from, incoming freshmen Adrian Falconer, Emmanuel Ogwo and Jerminic Smith.

Here's why the 'apparently.' This spring, wide receiver coach Bobby Kennedy said, 'I'd like to get all three of them in the mix. Maybe that's unrealistic, but I'm going to push for that to happen.'

Here's QB C.J. Beathard from June on bringing the new guys into the fold, 'Obviously, if they can help us, that's a big deal and we want them to help us. I think some of them can, if what coach (Kennedy) is saying is true. We have to get them in here and get them going.'

And that's why the 'apparently.'

So, here's a little bit about these three:

Falconer (6-1, 180-pounder) had 16 FBS offers. Yes, the biggest were Iowa and Indiana, but others included Cincinnati, Marshall and Memphis. Falconer was a player in demand after 53 catches for 951 yards and seven TDs as a senior at Leesburg (Fla.) High School. He was Leesburg's team captain and also had 33 tackles, one interception and a forced fumble on defense.

Ogwo is on the smallish side, listed at 6-0, 170, but he's also listed on the fast-ish side. He took his junior football season off at Horn High School (Mequite, Texas) to prepare for track and that move paid off. Ogwo finished fourth at the Texas state Class 6A track meet last May, running the 400 in 47.62 seconds. (He also was Junior Olympic USATF national 400-meter champion in 2012.) This spring, Ogwo put up 10.8s in the 100 and 46s in the 400.

'He's fast, he has national speed,' recruiting coordinator Seth Wallace said. 'In terms of track, there's some stuff he did nationally last summer. We were nervous some bigger schools track-wise would come after him. He's fast. There's an upside there that we're excited about.'

Jerminic Smith (6-1, 180) shares some of the same skills as senior Tevaun Smith: He goes and gets the ball. He can make defenders miss. He catches the ball well in traffic and has decent body control. Just off the highlights, he looks as if he can play now.

'He's a true wide receiver, not that the other two aren't,' Wallace said. 'Ogwo has national speed. Falconer is just a hard-nosed, tough wide receiver. Jerminic is more of a true wide receiver. We had to fight like hell for him. There were a lot of schools that had interest in him late. Great route runner, he's got good size.'

Outlook . . .

All four of these players will have a chance to be something in Iowa's offense. That 'something' likely won't be 100 receptions or even 25. In the last three seasons, the No. 3 WR has caught 19, 12 and 12 passes.

If this offense stays on roughly the same path (CJB factor, where the arm is the thing), you're looking at three wide receivers to contribute numbers. There are nine bodies in the hunt for three spots, and one of those is for sure Tevaun Smith.