Wide receiver Matt VandeBerg has been Iowa’s best receiver through two games this season.

By Danny Payne
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Coming into the season, there were questions surrounding Iowa’s wide receivers. Many wondered who would catch passes from quarterback C.J. Beathard. Tevaun Smith — who was second to Kevonte Martin-Manley in catches for the Hawkeyes in 2014 — seemed like the obvious choice.

Of course, if you’ve watched both Hawkeye games so far this season, Smith hasn’t been Beathard’s go-to guy; he’s only managed 5 catches for 47 yards. Instead, junior Matt VandeBerg has been the biggest threat in the Hawkeye passing game.

The Brandon, South Dakota, native’s 15 catches lead the Big Ten so far this young season, and he ranks fifth in yards with 173, an average of 11.5 per catch. Among Power-5 schools, VandeBerg’s receptions rank third overall, but his yardage is further down the list at No. 17.

So far this season, his average per catch is down from the 18.3 mark he ended with last season. At face value, this could be a bad thing, but after digging deeper, that may not be the case.

Obviously enjoying an expanded role in the Hawkeye passing game, VandeBerg has become one of Beathard’s favorite third-down targets. This season, he has moved the chains five times on third down (he has 6 receptions in that situation) compared with 3 on first and second downs. In 2014, he had 11 first-down catches, 4 of which came on third down.

Aided by a 48-yard grab on third-and-21 against Iowa State, VandeBerg has a healthy average of 16.8 yards per catch on third down. For what it’s worth, VandeBerg’s median yards per catch in that situation registers at 10, which isn’t half bad, either.

But can he keep this up? Of course, the Hawkeyes are in somewhat uncharted waters considering Beathard is a different type of quarterback from any others we’ve seen in the Greg Davis era, so history isn’t the ideal indicator, but it’s all we have.

When stacking VandeBerg against Iowa’s all-time leader in receptions, Kevonte Martin-Manley, things get interesting. Through two games last season, Martin-Manley totaled 16 catches for 132 yards. Six of those catches were third-down conversions totaling 70 yards.

After the opening pair of games last season, Martin-Manley had 36 more catches for 414 yards — an average of 11.5. Of course, he was a possession receiver through and through.

But the difference between those two is what makes VandeBerg so valuable. Martin-Manley, while an excellent receiver, was never much of a deep threat. He averaged only 10.3 yards per catch, and his longest catch was 51 yards in 2012.

VandeBerg, conversely, has an ability to stretch the field. He had catches of 44 and 42 yards last season, and although it’s a smaller sample size, his career average is 14.8 yards per catch. Five of his catches this year have been for double-digit yards, with the longest being the big gain at Iowa State on Sept. 12.

Hopefully, it’s clear by this point just how valuable VandeBerg has been early on this season, especially with Smith’s limited production and tight end Jake Duzey’s injury. He may not be the highest-profile guy outside of Iowa City, but that won’t be the case much longer if he continues this type of play all season.

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