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Iowa assistant Kelton Copeland gives honest admission on recruiting WRs at Iowa
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Iowa’s offense has been a hot topic around college football this season. The offense has also juggled a number of injuries to the wide receiver room this year and the departure of Charlie Jones via the transfer portal to Purdue.
On Wednesday, Hawkeye WR coach Kelton Copeland met with the media and was upfront with some of the challenges of building a receiving room at Iowa. According to Copeland, players “have to be a unique young man to play” receiver for the Hawkeyes.
Copeland also admitted most receivers are “probably not going to get the targets that you think you should get” within the offense of the Hawkeyes. He even referenced the parents of one receiver who Copeland claims he spent time on the phone with while juggling preparations for last year’s B1G Championship.
“I don’t want to go down a negative tone. But if we’re being if I’m being completely honest with you, the bigger problem in my opinion, in my experience, especially being here in Iowa has been the parents… If your individual success, or the individual success of your kid is more important than the team’s success, this ain’t the place for you.”
“Big Ten Championship week last year, we’re getting ready to play Michigan, a really good opponent, obviously. Big, big game. The first time in my career that I’ve coaches for a Big Ten championship, so in my mind was a big opportunity, right? Wednesday of Big Ten Championship week, I get a call from two parents wanting to talk to me about why their son isn’t touching the ball more and getting more opportunities. So I spend 40 minutes out of my Big Ten Championship Wednesday evening talking to these parents about why their son is not getting more opportunities versus me trying to do everything I can to make sure we’re successful for the Big Ten Championship Game against Michigan.”
We’ll see how Iowa’s offense shapes up the rest of the season and at wide receiver but things appear to have hit a stride in back-to-back wins. Hopefully, the unit keeps that going against Wisconsin.
(H/T 247 Sports)
Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.