It looks like the Nico Ragaini of old is back in form.
“I thought Nico definitely looked like himself,” Iowa quarterback Spencer Petras said after Saturday’s loss to Michigan.
Ragaini, a senior wide receiver who missed the first two games with a foot injury and has slowly rounded back into shape, had a couple of bright moments Saturday for an offense looking for a ray of sunshine.
Petras found Ragini for an 18-yard gain to the Michigan 2 on the final play of the third quarter. But that play was wiped on when center Logan Jones was penalized for unnecessary roughness.
Facing a third and 22 situation from the Wolverines’ 30 two plays later, Petras found Ragaini again for a 28-yard gain to the 2 on the final play of the third quarter. Freshman running back Kaleb Johnson scored to start the final quarter.
Ragaini finished the game with six targets and four catches for 55 yards in the 27-14 defeat.
“Each day I feel like I’m getting better,” Ragaini said. “I know I made some mistakes. We’ve just got to keep pushing through and we’ll get there.”
The Hawkeyes take a 3-2 record to surging Illinois on Saturday. Ragaini thinks the offense will be coming off its best performance of the season over the final 16 minutes of the Michigan game.
“As the season goes on, good teams continue to get better,” Ragaini said. “We’re 3-2 right now, but the season’s not over and our goals are still there. We’ve just got to push forward and continue to grow as the year goes on.”
It’s taken time, but Petras is finally starting to get some more targets to throw to on offense. Ragaini is one example of that. So is backup tight end Luke Lachey had a career-best four catches for 84 yards against Michigan. That included his first career touchdown. Wide receiver Brody Brecht, who had one career catch, added two more against the Wolverines for 38 yards.
“I thought Brody made some really nice plays, which was cool to see,” Petras said. “It was great getting Nico back to full speed. We’ve got to get Diante and Keagan back, and then we’ll see where we’re at then.”
Keagan Johnson has played in just one game because of a nagging hamstring injury. Iowa’s best playmaker among the receivers, Johnson had two catches for 11 yards in a brief appearance against Nevada. He had 18 catches for 352 yards and two touchdowns as a true freshman last season.
Sophomore Diante Vines has been out all season due to a broken bone in his wrist. Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said that Vines could be cleared to play after the Oct. 15 bye week.
“The good news is that he can run,” Ferentz said. “He’ll be in great shape because that’s all he can do is run. He can’t catch. But hopefully we’ll get him back, and he was doing really well prior to his injury. So if we can get him back, you’re talking about a guy that's been around here awhile, not just a first-year guy. And that would help. But we still don’t know what it’s going to look like once he gets cleared.”
A season that could go one way or another is reaching a critical point.
“Every game is going to be a Big Ten battle on the field,” Ragaini said. “And pushing through it is just something that football players have to do. I’m confident in everyone in the room and everyone on the team that we’re going to all push forward and continue to grow as the year goes on.”
Asked what it would take to keep everyone unified, Ragaini said that was a tough question to answer.
“I guess that’s a question for each person in their own head,” he said. “If you don’t want to be a part of this team and you don’t want to get better, then get out. I have faith in everyone on this team that they want to push through and they want to be on this team and have a comeback year after these two losses.”
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