Photo - Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com
Sam LaPorta Happy Showing Luke Lachey the Ropes
IOWA CITY, Iowa - Sam LaPorta took up golf last summer. He’s a quick learner, based on his 8 handicap.
“I like my irons,” said LaPorta, who spent the summer working on the grounds crew at the University of Iowa’s Finkbine golf course. “I can’t drive it very straight. I got a new driver this year. Couldn’t figure it out. Maybe that was my problem. But 160 to 180 yards, I’m plunking it on the green.”
Figuring out his driver has been put on hold. LaPorta’s vision is now condensed to 100 yards, the length of a football field.
Iowa’s starting tight end was thrown into the fire as a true freshman, then led the team with 27 catches as a sophomore. So where does he go from here?
“I’ve asked myself that question a lot,” said the 6-4, 249-pound junior. “I want to help the team as much as I can, whether it’s run support, blocking or catching the ball in critical situations. I like to think of myself as a security blanket.”
Leading by example could be another valuable asset. Because redshirt freshman Luke Lachey, listed as the No. 2 tight end behind LaPorta, is inquisitive.
“He’s a great athlete,” LaPorta said. “I’m really excited to see what he can do on the field, as well as the other tight ends we have in the room. He works his butt off. He’s always trying to pick my brain. I try to give him the best feedback I can.”
And Lachey, one of eight true freshmen to see action in 2020, has a good mentor. “He does a lot of things the right way,” Lachey said of LaPorta. “He does amazing things out there. I just pick his mind about routes, blocking assignments, stuff like that.” LaPorta was a lightly-recruited 190-pound wide receiver at Highland High School in Highland, Ill. He had 50 career touchdown catches for teams that won 40 of 46 games during his four varsity seasons.
It was a rival coach, Matt Martin of Edwardsville High School, who tipped off Iowa assistant LeVar Woods about LaPorta. Martin coached A.J. Epenesa, and his daughter, Kate, is on Coach Lisa Bluder’s Hawkeye women’s basketball team.
“I always tell Kate, “Thank you dad for me the next time you see him or talk to him,” LaPorta said.
Lachey, who stands 6-6 and weighs 248 pounds, wasn’t sure which sport to pursue when he attended Grandview High School in Columbus, Ohio. Bowling Green offered him a basketball scholarship as a junior.
“My junior year I made the decision that football would be my main choice,” Lachey said. “It wasn’t because my dad played. I didn’t feel pressure to play football. I wanted to play football.” Luke is the son of Jim Lachey, a first-round NFL draft pick out of Ohio State who was a three-time Pro Bowler at offensive tackle and won a Super Bowl with the Washington Redskins. Jim now is an analyst on Ohio State football radio broadcasts. The Buckeyes didn’t offer Luke a scholarship.
“I’m in a good place,” Lachey said. “I feel like I made a good choice.”
Iowa’s tradition of developing outstanding tight ends, like Dallas Clark, George Kittle, T.J. Hockenson and Noah Fant, played a big factor in Lachey’s decision to attend Iowa. Another factor was the bond that developed between Lachey and quarterback Deuce Hogan during their official visit.
“We decided we wanted to be roommates even before I was committed here,” Lachey said.
Jim Lachey was at Kinnick Stadium in 2017 when Iowa stunned No. 3 Ohio State, 55-24. Luke didn’t watch the game on television. He was playing in a pickup basketball game. “When it happened, I think (his dad) was a little upset about it,” Luke said. “But now he’s like, “I’m kind of happy that game happened.’ He’s a big Hawks guy, too.”
The tradition that helped bring Lachey to Iowa carries a level of expectation with it. But that doesn’t bother LaPorta.
“I think people outside the building see it as an expectation, but I don’t see it that way,” said Sam, who has 41 career catches for 448 yards and a touchdown. “I see responsibility to my teammates to hold up the standard that we have.”
When Hockenson broke an ankle during his NFL rookie season with the Detroit Lions in 2019, he rehabbed at Iowa.
“So I watched a lot of film with him,” LaPorta said. “I get to text Dallas Clark every once in awhile. When those guys come by, I just try to pick their brains as much as possible.” Every tight end who has had success at Iowa under Coach Kirk Ferentz carried a similar trait - an ability to block. As a wide receiver in high school, that’s something LaPorta didn’t have to do. He’s learned the art of blocking at Iowa.
“It just takes a lot of time and a lot of reps,” LaPorta said. “I think with the more reps I’ve gotten in spring ball and fall camp, I’m really starting to see myself translating into a great blocker on this team. And I see myself affecting the game in a positive way.”
Lachey is all eyes.
“I’m just asking him everything I can,” Lachey said.
