Nico Ragaini is the old man on the Iowa offense, and especially in the Iowa wide receiver room, which is overflowing with new faces this summer after Iowa added Alex Mota, Dayton Howard, and Jarriett Buie as incoming freshmen and added Kaleb Brown and Seth Anderson through the transfer portal. As Ragaini noted during his media session today, the upcoming fall practice period will be the sixth (!) set of fall practices that he's experienced during his tenure in Iowa City.
When asked about the how the wide receiver room looks at this point in the summer, Ragaini said that there were "A lot of new faces. Obviously Kaleb [Brown] in the tranfser portal and Seth [Anderson] from the portal - that's exciting. They're both making big strides this offseason, learning the offense. All the younger guys are doing a good job learning as well, taking big steps. My guy [Diante] Vines, he's taking big steps as a leader. We're excited for this upcoming year."
On Brown in particular, Ragaini said his athleticism definitely stood out. "I'm excited to see what he can do this upcoming year and how he can help the offense. He's an athlete when he gets the ball in his hands -- he can do something with it."
Ragaini was also asked about how other newcomers to the offense were looking, such as tight end Erick All, who came to Iowa from Michigan like quarterback Cade McNamara. "We do 7-on-7 every week and we do routes on air and you can see that [Erick All] can play... he can play ball for sure. I'm excited for the offense. We just have to keep growing every single day."
One key theme that emerged from Ragaini's comments was discontent from the offensive players with last year's performance and the chips on their shoulders that they're bringing with them into 2023. "None of us had the years we wanted to have last year, so we all have that chip on our shoulder. I think that's the biggest piece of the puzzle for this upcoming year, playing like we have something to prove."
Despite not being part of last year's struggle-filled Iowa offense, Ragaini felt that McNamara had a similar chip on his shoulder and was hungry to prove himself in 2023. "If you asked him how his year went last year, I think he would have a chip on this shoulder for this upcoming year, as we all would. I was looking around at the team, guys on the offense, and all of us didn't play the way we wanted to, so I think that brings us together as a unit."
McNamara and several Iowa wide receivers and tight ends took a trip to California earlier this summer. Ragaini praised that experience as a good way to get to know several of his new teammates and start building relationships.
"It was a great time. It was a good bonding experience for all of us, football-wise. We took some steps getting to know each and really connecting. I don't know some of the younger guys. And I don't really know Cade, I don't know Erick, I don't know Kaleb... it was a fun trip. It was a good time. We got to work on our skills too."
Finally, Ragaini was asked about taking stock of his college experience as he prepares for his sixth and final season at Iowa. He noted that he was committed to relishing that final season at Iowa. "I feel like it's very easy for college athletes to take for granted being a CFB player and forget that this is what we wanted to do when we were little," Ragaini said.
"When I was in high school, I would literally die to play college football, as would everyone else on the team. Sometimes you get up and you don't want to go to workouts or you don't want to go to meetings, but really just taking it all in and realizing how lucky we are, especially at a place like Iowa, where we get like everything we want.here. So just trying to enjoy it."
