Leistikow's 7 Hawkeye Thoughts: On Iowa's discovery of T.J. Hockenson, NFL dilemma for Amani Hooker

IOWA CITY, Ia. — For the 16th time in 18 years, the Iowa football program is holding December practices in preparation for a bowl game. The importance of an extra month of NCAA-permitted practice time cannot be overstated, especially given the Hawkeyes’ developmental approach.

Now is often the time at Iowa when future stars are born.

“There’s been a lot of stories along the way of young guys that have shown up in December with a real serious attitude about improvement,” Iowa 20th-year strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle said Monday, in advance of the Hawkeyes’ Jan. 1 Outback Bowl appearance vs. Mississippi State. “And those are the guys you now see playing for us, and playing really big-time roles.”

Doyle listed guys in recent memory that started opening coaches' eyes during December of their freshmen years.

Josey Jewell. Parker Hesse. Anthony Nelson.

And, absolutely, T.J. Hockenson, who last week became the first underclassman to win the John Mackey Award as the nation’s top tight end.

It was in December of 2016 that Hockenson began to demonstrate he could be something special. Hockenson would go on to be an every-down tight end as a redshirt freshman.

“Hockenson’s a great example. He’s a guy that showed up in December," Doyle said. "Just a guy that kind of grew into his body.”

Iowa uses its early-December workouts to give younger players a lot more coaching than they get during the grind of a regular season. Game preparation will ramp up after players wrap up final exams Friday night.

Reese Morgan (imagine that) did extensive homework before bringing Hockenson to Iowa.

Iowa’s longtime assistant coach and tireless in-state recruiter remembers vividly his recruitment of Hockenson, a lanky record-breaking receiver out of Chariton High School. He saw a lot of athletic parallels between Hockenson and former Hawkeye tight end Brandon Myers, who would go on to an NFL career.

But to make sure Hockenson was the right fit at Iowa, he remembers interviewing custodians, secretaries and guidance counselors at Chariton.

“Nothing about athletic ability,” Morgan recalled. “It’s all about character, about academics, how he interacts with others.”

His research extended to reaching out to former Iowa State basketball player Jake Sullivan, who was befuddled to get a phone call from an Iowa football coach. Sullivan coached Hockenson in basketball with Kingdom Hoops.

“I said, ‘I want to know about Hockenson,’” Morgan recalled. “(Sullivan) said, 'First of all, he’s not a basketball player. But in terms of a young man and character, one of the best I’ve been around.’ And he went on for about 20 minutes, just talked about T.J. and the things he was doing there.”

Morgan now marvels to see what Hockenson has done here in just 2½ years. He led the Hawkeyes in receiving this season (46 catches, 717 yards) and could very well be playing his last college game on Jan. 1, if indeed he elects to follow teammate Noah Fant into the NFL Draft.

It's a real possibility that juniors Amani Hooker and Anthony Nelson leave school early.

Iowa linebackers coach Seth Wallace was Hooker’s primary recruiter, so he’s been in contact with Hooker about his upcoming NFL decision, too. Hooker (6 foot, 210 pounds) was named the Big Ten Conference’s defensive back of the year and a second-team Associated Press All-American.

The question is: Does Hooker have an obvious NFL fit that would warrant a high selection worth leaving Iowa early? Hooker's best position is safety, but he's shown an ability to defend as an outside linebacker and slot cornerback, too.

“I’ve spoken with his family. We’ll see how it works out,” Wallace said Monday. “As much as we’d like him to come back, he’s probably going to have a decision to make."

Hooker and Nelson, a fourth-year junior defensive end, are waiting on feedback from the NFL’s College Advisory Committee. Nelson had 9½ sacks this season and is an excellent run defender with elite size (6-7, 271).

Losing either one would be a big loss for the 2019 Hawkeyes. Losing both would be crushing.

If both come back? Well, this defense that led the Big Ten in fewest points allowed could be even saltier.

“He’s a core guy for us,” Morgan said. “He’d be an important person coming back, but it’s a decision he has to make based on the information he gets.”

Amani Jones deserves widespread warmth from Hawkeye fans.

The junior was supposed to be Iowa’s No. 1 middle linebacker. He won the job in fall camp and is one of the team’s top leaders. But in the first quarter against Northern Illinois, he infamously was pulled after some mental errors and never regained his position — with Jack Hockaday and Kristian Welch holding that spot the rest of the season.

Wallace was blown away by the response he saw from Jones, who was relegated to special teams.

“It was very hard, because Amani is one of our hardest workers. He is a Hawkeye through and through,” Wallace said. “The one thing that speaks to his character was the way that he did handled it. He was an exceptional special-teams player for us. He was unbelievable on the sidelines.”

It would be a fantastic story if Jones could win back the job for his senior year. His work ethic in trying to regain it won’t be in question.

The future at linebacker looks promising (and maybe challenging).

Wallace was very pleased that true freshmen linebackers Dillon Doyle and Seth Benson got game action as special-teamers but will still be able to red-shirt.

“Both of those young men easily could have been on the field for us,” Wallace said.

And he means at linebacker.

It’ll be a fun offseason competition with Welch, Jones, Djimon Colbert, Nick Niemann, Doyle and Benson definitely in the mix. 

But before we get to that … Iowa has another linebacker priority.

Jestin Jacobs’ name never came up in interviews Wednesday. And Wallace couldn’t specifically talk about Jacobs anyway, because he’s an unsigned high school prospect. But no doubt Iowa coaches are still trying to lock down Jacobs with the Dec. 19 early signing day coming up.

Jacobs, an Iowa commitment, was recently offered a scholarship by his home-state team, Ohio State. It could be a recruiting fight to the finish.

“As long as there’s some common ground there between the program and the young man, you’ve got a chance,” Wallace said, speaking generally. “A week from today, we’ll figure out how this thing settles down.”

Hopes are high for Daviyon Nixon as a Hawkeye.

This is a big finals week for Nixon, a talented defensive tackle (6-3, 306) who took an academic redshirt this season. Morgan has raved about Nixon, who stuck with Iowa in the recruiting process despite an Alabama offer.

Nixon would have three years’ eligibility remaining if he can get his academic house in order.

“His situation, he’s taken advantage of every opportunity that he’s had. He’s done everything we have asked him to do from a football standpoint,” Morgan said. “He’s a guy that I think has a very, very, very bright future.”

Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has covered sports for 24 years with The Des Moines Register, USA TODAY and Iowa City Press-Citizen. Follow @ChadLeistikow on Twitter.