Iowa City, Iowa - Iowa’s football past is on display all over Kinnick Stadium. There’s the Ring of Honor on the outside of the Paul Brechler Press Box. The America Needs Farmers Wall of Honor can be found inside the stadium. A statue of 1939 Heisman Trophy winner Nile Kinnick sits outside the south entrance to the stadium named after him. A relief sculpture of the great Duke Slater was added as part of a north end zone renovation in 2016.
Banners outside the stadium tout some of Iowa’s greatest players and coaches. But there’s a group of players who are not honored, even though they are embedded in the foundation of Iowa football.
This group is made up of lightly-recruited players. Some came to Iowa with no promises, only the opportunity to walk on and prove they belong. Others, like wide receiver Nico Ragaini, had just one Division I scholarship offer. From Iowa. He joins a distinguished club that includes current NFL players George Kittle and Josey Jewell.
“You can probably have the same conversation you have with me with 40 other kids in the program, which is what I think is so special about Iowa,” Ragaini said. “So many people are playing with a chip on their shoulder, trying to prove people wrong.”
Every Hawkeye team has had a handful of players like this who make the most of that opportunity. Five projected starters - left offensive guard Kyler Schott, fullback Monte Pottebaum, placekicker Caleb Shudak, free safety Jack Koerner and right cornerback Riley Moss, initially joined the program as walk-ons.
Moss was already committed to North Dakota State when Iowa got involved.
“They came and talked to me late,” Moss said. “They said they’d give me a scholarship after my first semester at Iowa. I wasn’t recruited very highly.”
Moss ended up earning that scholarship before his first fall camp.
“Stories like that, or walk-on stories, guys who end up being really good football players, it’s critical for us,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said.
Ragaini remembers Iowa assistant coach Ken O’Keefe telling him about Iowa’s success with lightly-recruited players. He mentioned first-round NFL draft choice, Mackey Award winner and Super Bowl champion Dallas Clark, a tight end who had joined the Hawkeyes as a walk-on linebacker. And he talked about Bob Sanders, who was originally committed to Toledo but flipped to Iowa and became a three-time all-Big Ten defensive back and the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year.
“I remember him telling me how people can make a name for themselves (at Iowa),” Ragaini said. “I’m thankful for the opportunity I had here. It was the only opportunity I had to go play college football. I’m very blessed. I couldn’t ask for a better school to go to.” Ragaini’s journey to Iowa wasn’t a dead-lock cinch. He was a three-time all-stater and two-time Male Athlete of the Year in New Haven, Ct.
“We looked at him once and didn’t quite pull the trigger and offer a scholarship,” Ferentz said. Ragaini, also a standout lacrosse player in high school, spent a season at Avon Old Farms Prep and Iowa made an offer.
“A year later, it just made good sense,” Ferentz said.
Ragaini has been part of an improving group of wide receivers at Iowa.
“I think we had seven receivers, total, when I got here,” said Ragaini, who enrolled at mid-semester and participated in spring ball in 2018. “I got to learn as a young guy from Nick
Easley. The next year wirth Ihmir (Smith-Marsette) and Brandon Smith, that’s when we started to grow and really took off.”
Ragaini redshirted in 2018, but got his feet wet by playing in three games. He led the team in catches (46) and yards (439) in 2019, and had 18 catches for 191 yards in 2020’s eight-game Ragaini didn’t take part in much of spring ball after suffering a back injury. “It was before spring practice,” he said. “I hurt it just from sitting down, and tweaked something. I’ve had some back injuries before.”
Ragaini said his goal is to be 110 percent by the Sept. 4 season opener against Indiana at Kinnick Stadium.
“I’m at 100 percent now,” he said. “We ran routes (Monday), and it’s the best I’ve felt in awhile. Each day, I continue to feel better.”
Ragaini was a big name back in New Haven, and he has a fan base that hasn’t forgotten him. “I usually have to get 20 tickets for each (home) game,” he said. “All my friends from back home have been to a game, along with their parents. For the Rutgers game two years ago, I think I had to get 40 tickets. I have four little cousins that look up to me and ask me about football and watch games on You Tube. They can tell you what is going to happen next better than I can. It’s really is a special thing.”
Moss was a standout player at Ankeny’s Centennial High School, but he heard plenty of doubters after pledging to Iowa.
“A lot of people didn’t think I could play cornerback,” said Moss, a 6-1, 191-pound senior. “They thought I was going to play safety. A lot of my friends said that. I said, “I’ll show you.” It definitely put a chip on my shoulder, those who doubted me. It keeps me motivated every day.” Moss knew Iowa would give him an opportunity to succeed.
“I think people understand that once you step foot in the door that first day, it doesn’t matter if you come with five stars, four stars or no stars. You’re on the same field. You work hard and do what you need to do to see the field.”
Moss played in all 13 games as a freshman in 2018, starting five times. His first career start came in a 48-31 victory at Minnesota, when he had two interceptions. He returned one of them 36 yards to set up a Hawkeye touchdown.
Four games later, in a 38-36 loss at Purdue, the memories aren’t so great. “I got beat for two touchdowns in that game,” he said. “But I definitely grew from that experience, and that film session.”
Moss started one game in 2019, and all eight games at right corner in 2020. He also made the most of two interceptions last season, returning one 54 yards for a touchdown against Michigan State and another 57 yards at Minnesota.
Moss doesn’t hear much from his doubters now. But he’s dialed in to everything defensive coordinator Phil Parker has to say.
“Coach Parker always says that you have the answers to the test in front of you if you watch film and prepare the way you’re supposed to,” Moss said. “During the week, he sets a game plan that puts us in the best possible position.”
Moss and Ragaini have added their names to a long list of success stories Ferentz has enjoyed at Iowa.
“For us to be successful, we need to have those stories,” Ferentz said.
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