IOWA CITY, Iowa--The Hawkeyes are in the midst of rebuilding their wide receiver room and want to change the narrative surrounding them. Saturday was a very strong start, led by true freshman wide receiver Reece Vander Zee. The big-bodied receiver emerged in a short-handed position group in a huge way during Iowa's 40-0.
The Rock Rapids native got the touchdowns flowing in the third quarter when he had a sliding catch on first-and-goal to erupt the Kinnick crowd. It's one thing to score a touchdown as a freshman, but it's another thing to do it in your first ever college game.
"To be honest, no, not really," Vander Zee responded when asked if he had nerves on Saturday. "I've never been a guy to get nervous. I trust my preparation, go out there and have fun."
Vander Zee took pride in being a multi-sport athlete, but he wasn't even playing wide receiver during his final year of high school. He moved from wide receiver to quarterback to best position his high school team. Vander Zee didn't even arrive on campus until this summer and missed the first portion of summer workouts due to an injury.
"Reece probably for the first two weeks of camp was a freshman, and he was in a freshman role," acting head coach Seth Wallace said. "Our offensive guys started to see some things that he was doing that gave them the confidence to put him in there and see how he swims with some of these other guys. So they did, and there were plays that were made, plays very similar to the ones that you guys saw today. So no, not surprised."
On the flip side, Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara was a tad surprised about the production of Vander Zee. Not that he didn't have the ability to do what he accomplished, but just trying to play catch up after missing so much time as a wide receiver.
"It was a little bit surprising," McNamara said with a grin. "I think he really started gaining a lot of momentum towards the end of camp. And I mean, as you guys were able to see it, his ability to go up and get it and make plays was something that he was gaining some traction through."
Vander Zee's day wasn't done. He had one of the biggest highlights of the day when McNamara lobbed one up after facing pressure from two defenders. Vander Zee snatched the ball out of mid-air and over the top of a Redbird defender and got into the end-zone for the second time.
"He goes out there and makes some of those plays, like the one where we were headed to the north side that he caught over the middle," Wallace said. "Those were impactful plays. So not surprised at all. Just to do it in a college football environment -- I think that says a lot about Reece."
Reece Vander Zee is the first true freshman to start since 2022, the first true freshman wide receiver to start since 2021 and the seventh true freshman wide receiver to start in the Kirk Ferentz era. He finished the day with five receptions totaling 66 yards and two touchdowns.Vander Zee would have led Iowa wide receivers in receiving touchdowns last season with two. Iowa's wide receivers totaled three touchdowns on Saturday, which matched last season's total.
For Vander Zee, he's excited for the future, but wanted to take some time to credit his upbringing.
"I credit that to the state of Iowa, to the football here in the state and the players that play in the state," he said. "He hasn't looked like a 17 or 18-year-old. It's been pretty obvious he can go out there and compete. We're fortunate to have his frame, his size. It's not like we're looking at this two years down the road trying to build this body. Obviously he needs a lot of work when it comes to his physical development, but there's already some that has taken place. He's tough-minded, too, and he certainly didn't flinch today."
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