Target Acquired: Charting Tony Diaz’s Hawkeye Debut

When Iowa landed Tony Diaz from University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, there was immediate hype and intrigue about what he could bring to this Iowa offense. There was the fact that he lead FCS freshman in receiving. There was the fact that he had a late Alabama offer in the portal. Mainly though, it was about just trying to inject some life in the Iowa passing game that has been missing for some time.

In his debut, Diaz was targeted 15 times and ended with seven catches for 84 yards and a touchdown – the most of any WR in their debut during the Ferentz era (for some context, DJK had zero catches in his 2007 debut and Mo Brown’s 102-yard game in the 2002 Akron opener wasn’t a debut — he had three catches across 2000-01 before it. RVZ is a close second with 5 catches for 65 yards and a freshman record 2 TDs in his debut back in 2024).

Also in those targets were two third down pass interference calls to keep drives alive. Oh, and don’t forget about the other two likely touchdowns he would have scored on passes that were just off target.

This is now my 13th year of charting Iowa’s passing game and through my data the most targets for an individual wide receiver during that time (Sam LaPorta, TE, was targeted 17 times vs Illinois in 2022). Iowa’s Offensive Coordinator, Tim Lester, used space and traffic to help free up Diaz giving him an opportunity to make a 1-on-1 catch or an opportunity to catch the ball in space and use his quickness to create yards after the catch (55 of his 84 yards were YAC).

This is a look at the route trees for Diaz on his seven receptions and two defensive penalties. Diaz recorded 46 snaps on the day with 31 of those being lined up out wide and 15 lined up in the slot.

As the receptions and targets rose, he was effectively used as a decoy on the touchdown pass to Xavier Williams and on a third down pickup to Addison Ostrenga.

Outside of the fade pattern where he drew a pass interference, what we see the most is Lester using traffic and high-low combinations to create space and conflict for the defense to defend him. Both of these concepts helped to free him against man and zone defense looks.

Week 1 was the proof of concept. Saturday’s rivalry matchup with Iowa State could be the next step in Iowa’s pass game progression.