Per Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, senior tight end Erick All is expected to miss the remainder of the 2023 season following a right leg injury on Saturday in the Hawkeyes 15-6 win over Wisconsin.
"Unfortunately, Erick will miss the rest of the season," Ferentz said on Tuesday. "He's such a positive, hard-working guy."
Though the news wasn't good, All has kept his head up and remained focused on the betterment of the team, though he may no longer be involved in the on-field product.
"My heart goes out to Erick," starting quarterback Deacon Hill said postgame on Saturday. "I was talking to him on the sideline, and he's always in good spirits and cracking jokes."
"He's probably hurting a little, but I don't think he lets himself show it to anybody else," Hill added at Tuesday's media availability. "He's that guy that just wants to be there for the team and keep that momentum going. Whether he's a part of it or not, he's going to be that guy who's picking guys up and pushing them forward."
All finishes his 2023 campaign with 21 catches in seven games for 299 yards and three touchdowns.
All is the second star tight end that Iowa has lost this season, as Luke Lachey went down with an ankle injury during the Hawkeye's 41-10 win over Western Michigan. Addison Ostrenga has missed the last two games with injury as well, leaving the Iowa offense without it's top three tight ends.
Though Ostrenga has practiced so far this week and may return against Minnesota on Saturday, fourth and fifth-string tight ends Steven Stillianos and Johnny Pascuzzi have never been more important for the Hawkeye offense.
"[Stillianos] has been playing all season long and doing his job when we go three or four tight end personnel," Hill said. "He does a great job in the run game and he's has really grown in his route running. I have all the faith in the world in him, and he has a ton of confidence in himself because he's been doing it for a while."
"I got to work with Johnny a lot in the spring and this summer when I was running with the twos," Hill said. "He's very smart and really tough. He's dependable, does a great job in the run game, ad he does everything right in the pass game."
In the absence of Ostrenga, true freshman Zach Ortwerth saw snaps against Wisconsin as well.
"Zach is a completely different player than he was when camp started," Stillianos said. "He's just continuing to improve like crazy. He runs really good routes, he's figuring out in the blocking game and he wants to learn. Being a true freshman and being able to get an offseason in this program - I think he'll be set up for a successful career here."
