Diante Vines is taking a lot more reps than usual throughout Iowa football’s spring practices.

The junior wide receiver, who missed the first six games of the 2022 season with a fractured wrist, is currently one of two scholarship wide receivers who are healthy enough to practice. Sixth-year senior Nico Ragaini is the other.

“It’s tough because you got to take a lot more reps and make the practice kind of around people who are not there,” Vines said. “The people who are in got to take a lot more reps, but you like to work, you know, you need the work, so you can’t complain about it.”

Iowa’s lack of scholarship wide receivers started with injuries to sophomore Seth Anderson and redshirt freshman Jacob Bostick, both of whom are out for spring practice.

Anderson, who transferred to Iowa from Charleston Southern in South Carolina, has a soft tissue injury. The Suwanee, Georgia, product was the Big South Offensive Freshman of the Year in 2022, recording 42 catches for 612 yards and seven touchdowns with the Buccaneers.

Meanwhile, Bostick is out with a foot injury. Bostick redshirted his first season with the Hawkeyes in 2022 partly because injuries kept him out of preseason workouts.

“When you train hard, things are going to break down sometimes,” head coach Kirk Ferentz said at the start of spring practice. “How hard do you train, all that stuff. It’s one of the byproducts. So hopefully we’ll be getting some guys back.”

While Ferentz said Anderson could possibly return by the end of spring practice, Bostick is out until at least summer workouts.

The wide receivers thinned out even more when Brody Brecht, who played both football and baseball at Iowa, chose to play on the diamond full-time on March 24. Brecht tallied nine receptions for 87 yards in 2022 after working through injuries early in the year.

“That’s a big loss, but we can’t knock him — dude just threw 104 miles per hour,” Vines said. “ I can’t tell him, ‘Come on dude, play football.’ He’s gonna make a million dollars in MLB. It’s a hard loss for us because we’re tight. We’re a tight receiver room, and he’s a good guy that we’d like to have around, and he’s also a great player.”

Vines and Ragaini top the Hawkeyes’ wide receiver depth chart for the spring. Behind them are redshirt freshman Reese Osgood and sophomore Alec Wick — both walk ons.

Wick saw some action in the 2022 season when the Hawkeye wide receiver room again fought through injuries, and he registered two catches for 31 yards. Osgood did not play in 2022.

This spring, Vines said he’s seen encouraging play from the walk on wideouts.

“Reese Osgood is one of those guys that’s stepped up pretty big,” Vines said. “… He’s one of the fastest on the team as well. He makes a lot of plays. Reese every day is getting better, getting smarter, just knowing where he fits in.”

The thin wide receiver room also has to learn the Hawkeyes’ new offense. After an 18.6 point-per-game showing in 2022, Ferentz said the Hawkeyes will make some changes to their offense. Offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz has an amended contract for the 2023 season, which requires him to score 25 points per game.

Michigan transfer quarterback Cade McNamara, who led the Wolverines to a College Football Playoff appearance in 2021, will captain Iowa’s new offense.

“We’re still gonna be playing Iowa football,” Vines said. “We’re just looking to key into all the details more and make these things happen that we didn’t make happen last year, and so far, it’s going pretty well.”

Iowa will conclude its spring practices on Saturday at Kinnick Stadium, which is open to the public. Practice will start at 10:45 a.m., and the gates open to fans at 9:45 a.m.