October 11, 2018
Matt Easley’s days as a college football player are over, but his days at Northern Iowa aren’t.
After concluding his playing career and graduating with a bachelor’s degree, the older Easley elected to go to speech-language pathology graduate school at his alma mater.
He’s now in his last year — just as Nick Easley is in his college-playing career — anticipating graduation in May 2019.
Although his schedule certainly keeps him busy, Matt Easley still finds the time to show his support for his brother, only missing one game of Nick’s Hawkeye career — Iowa’s 17-10 loss to Michigan State in East Lansing in 2017.
Iowa Hawkeyes wide receiver Nick Easley (84) runs in the open field during a game against Northern Iowa at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday, Sep. 15, 2018. The Hawkeyes defeated the Panthers 38–14.
To make it work, Matt Easley has made his schedule flexible. He has class from the morning until the late afternoon on Fridays but doesn’t have school on Mondays, allowing for ample travel time.
Matt Easley provides a good resource for his only brother, having gone through the ups and downs of Division-1 college football before. He knows what the training sessions are like, how programs are run, and how much work it takes.
Now, with Nick Easley being at the top of his game, Matt Easley has taken on the role of brother and key member of a support system, as opposed to just being a fan.
“There’s really nothing more I wanted for him when he went to junior college and started playing really well than to find the best situation for him at the next level of college football,” Matt Easley said. “As lightly recruited as he was even for being so good his sophomore year, I just remember feeling a lot of anxiety for him about finding the right situation.”
Through it all, Matt Easley has put aside his past to support Nick Easley.
“It says that he loves his little brother in the end,” John Easley said. “He was able to put his support for Nick ahead of his own old team or even his own ego. Some people have asked if Matt was jealous of Nick’s success, and I was like, ‘No. I don’t think there’s a single ounce of jealousy.’ A, they do different things on the football field, but B, Nick has just focused and worked so hard for this that Matt just knows that it means everything to Nick to have this success.”