98 Days Until Hawkeye Football: Chris Reames

Welcome back to our countdown of the Iowa Hawkeyes football season. Our next player preview is a redshirt freshman defensive end.

But first, this was on Twitter earlier this week detailing the successes of a past 98, Anthony Nelson:

Chris Reames – RS Freshman
Van Meter, IA (Van Meter)
6’7”, 230 lbs
2020 Projection: Reserve defensive end

Reames was a 3-star defensive end out of high school in 2019 with offers from Army, Eastern Michigan, and a number of FCS schools, according to 247sports.

After a brief dalliance with Minnesota, he decommitted from P.J. Fleck and aligned himself with the black and gold.

Looking at his HS tape, he is often the biggest, most athletic guy on the field. He shows solid strength blocking on offense and some requisite skills getting into the backfield on defense.

It’s clear, though, that he has much room to grow into his frame. Just like Reames, Anthony Nelson came into Iowa at 6’7”, 215 pounds and left at 271. One hopes that Reames is on that trajectory, weight-wise after a year into his Hawkeye tenure.

The lack of spring ball doesn’t give us any insight into his developmental trajectory but Iowa isn’t afraid of throwing freshmen ends out there. Ultimately, if he can make his way into the top 10 along the line and flash his abilities in garbage time, as well as his “five-star hair,” it’ll be a step in the right direction for the second year end.