As the 2018 college football season approaches for the Hawkeyes, many fans are wondering which receiver or tight end is going to take the next step from last season and lead the team in receiving yards.

The Hawkeyes’ aerial attack last year amassed 2,473 yards, but about one-third of those yards were earned by graduating seniors such as Matt VandeBerg and Akrum Wadley. The loss of both is costly across many aspects of the team, but the Hawkeyes do return key wide receiver Nick Easley, who led the team with 51 receptions for 530 yards and finished second on the team with 4 touchdowns.

But like all Big Ten football, the winner will play a factor into every team’s passing game.

Running the ball opens up play-action passes and roll-out plays in which Noah Fant will thrive and be this season’s team leader in receiving yards and touchdowns.

Iowa’s old-school, ground-and-pound rushing attack wears down even the toughest and strongest interior defenses.

Its using the play-action passing game and run-pass options will open up the middle of the field, where Fant will excel and continue to build on his exceptional sophomore campaign.

Fant is an asserted college football star, already being named an AP first-team preseason All-American and leading all tight ends in the entire NCAA last year with 11 touchdowns. If Fant and the team progress as they should, expect an exciting season in the confines of Kinnick.

Heart over height. We’ve all heard this saying before, whether it was related to sports or not. It is a perfect way to describe senior receiver Nick Easley.

At only 5-10, Easley seems as if he would be undersized and have a harder time than bigger receivers, but this isn’t true. Easley led the Hawkeyes with 530 yards and scored 4 touchdowns.

Easley transferred last season after playing two years at Iowa Western, where he was a junior college All-American.

He has always used the chip on his shoulder. He uses his speed to his advantage, as most of his catches are crossing routes or fades up the sidelines.

On Dec. 19, 2017, about a month after his monster game against Purdue, Easley was rewarded with a scholarship for his senior season.

His determination and dream of playing for the Hawkeyes came to fruition after the announcement, and he took the opportunity by the horns, continuing to light it up throughout the year on the field. With Stanley’s arm and Easley’s intangibles, the Hawkeyes should see another good year of production out of him.

Easley is entering his senior season with a lot of expectations but also a good chunk of experience. He has been through the toughest times as a walk-on, but he knows what he has to do to lead the team in receiving, and I think he will do it again this year.