IOWA CITY -- Iowa throttled Washington on Saturday, 40-16, to move to 4-2 in 2024. Six of those 40 points came on a 33-yard touchdown completion from Cade McNamara to redshirt freshman wide receiver Dayton Howard at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
The catch and run for the score were both Howard's first collegiate catch and touchdown since arriving in Iowa City as part of Iowa's 2023 recruiting class.
"It was an insane moment," Howard said at Tuesday's media availability. "Catching the ball, I went into, like, a dream state. I was just ecstatic, man. Hearing the crowd roar, and I immediately looked up at my dad, he was so happy. It was just awesome, man. I just hope to keep building on that."
According to McNamara, the offense has been working on the play that resulted in the score for a while.
"That play we hit with Dayton was actually a play we've practiced for, like, months now," he laughed. "To execute it that clean was a really good feeling."
Howard wasn't even supposed to be in the game at that point, but thanks to Iowa's 30-10 lead at the time, he got a few more snaps than he otherwise would have.
"It should've been (Jacob) Gill's, honestly," Howard smiled. "We set it up with the run game. We have our receivers come up and crack the receivers, so it was set up perfectly, basically. ... I'm blessed to have had the opportunity. We were practicing that and I was ready for it."
Though it took a few games for Howard to find himself on the stat sheet, he and his teammates knew it was bound to happen sooner rather than later.
"Physically, he's gifted," McNamara said. "He's tall, lanky, fast. It's crazy because this time last year, he was on the scout team. Now, here he is scoring touchdowns."
Seth Anderson, one of the older receivers on the team, said the play didn't come as a surprise to him, either.
"He's always working every day, so that's nothing new," Anderson said. "I don't see that stopping for Dayton. He's always going to be able to get open and make that play. He's just a competitor."
Kirk Ferentz remembers things starting to come together for Howard earlier this calendar year.
"The one flashback [I have was] at a practice we had out there in the spring," Ferentz said. "He made a couple plays I think, one in particular over on our bench sideline. It was like, 'Hmm, maybe he's getting it.' That type of thing. It was one of those 'a-ha' moments, if you will."
There's still plenty of growth to come for the young wide out from Kansas City.
"He's had ups and downs since then because he's young," Ferentz said. "He's not developed physically yet like he will be. We've seen a good attitude and a guy who just shows up and works hard."
Oddly enough, without a scholarship offer from Iowa, Howard likely wouldn't have had the opportunity to play football at the Power 4 level -- or maybe anywhere else. The Hawkeyes were the only program to offer him a scholarship, Division I or otherwise.
"Across the board [I had no other offers], no D2 or anything," Howard said on Tuesday. "I had quite a few schools that showed interest. I went on a gameday visit to Kansas State and Iowa State, but none of them wanted to pull the trigger."
In the middle of his senior season, he was only thinking about getting a chance -- it didn't matter from where or who.
"When I had no offers, I just wanted to play football," he said. "I didn't really care if it was D2, NAIA, anywhere, even though I knew I was capable of playing at a high level. ... I was just as confused as anyone else."
Eventually, that opportunity came from the Hawkeyes.
Kelton Copeland, the former wide receivers coach at Iowa, invited Howard to campus for a visit in November, where he extended the scholarship offer.
"I'll never forget that day," Howard smiled. "I was kind of surprised. I thought it was just going to be anther gameday visit. But when I got here for it, it was more personable. It wasn't like the other ones. I met Dallas Clark -- he shook my hand. One of the coaches talked to me for like 20 minutes at the dinner. They wanted me to do a photo shoot, and then they pulled me upstairs before the game and offered me."
The recruiting process and being snubbed by other programs is all in the rear view mirror now for the former three-star prospect.
"I still keep it as a chip on my shoulder, because no one really believed in me but Iowa," he said. "But, I think I'm mostly moved past that now. I'm focused on the season. It really is a motivational factor, but I'm focused on the specifics and what we run on the field at Iowa."
And of course, that focus resulted in his first touchdown in black and gold on Saturday.
"It's good for him to have some experience on the field. Again, you can't hand that to anybody. They have to experience it and go out and do it," Ferentz said. "It was good for him to be involved in a play like that."
"We're encouraged because he has a good attitude and good ability. Why people didn't recruit him, I'm not sure, but we're glad that we did."
