There’s been a long line of leadership in the wide receivers’ room inside the Stew and LeNore Hansen Football Performance Center next to Kinnick.

Matt VandeBerg served as C.J. Beathard’s go-to option in 2015 and 2016. In 2017, Nick Easley learned from him. That’s the same year Smith and Smith-Marsette entered the program. In 2018, Easley, Smith, Smith-Marsette, Tracy, and Ragaini were all in the program at the same time, with Tracy and Ragaini redshirting.

One year later, when Smith went down with an ankle injury late in the fourth quarter against Purdue on Oct. 19, the Hawkeyes needed Smith-Marsette and the rest of the group to step up.

That’s when it happened — the revelation that Iowa’s receiving corps was one of the strongest position groups of the team, something that hadn’t been true since the Marvin McNutt-Derrell Johnson-Koulianos days in 2010.

It’s been Smith and Smith-Marsette leading the way in the air attack, with Tracy and Ragaini keeping pace behind them.

“Looking back on the years, we were young guys — we ain’t know nothing from nothing,” Smith-Marsette said. “Just being able to grow and learn the system, take advantage of everything. It’s been great. Being able to go out there and experience college football, Big Ten football, it’s helped us elevate our game.”