IOWA CITY — For two years as Iowa football’s offensive coordinator, Tim Lester has had a play series in his arsenal that the team practices plenty, but he’s never called it in a game.
That’s on track to change in Year 3.
In a 25-minute news conference on April 22, as Iowa’s 15-practice spring football session nears its conclusion, Lester assured media and fans that the Hawkeyes’ offense will be run the same as it always has, but that it’ll look different in 2026.
And the insinuation over those 25 minutes revolved around a more capable passing game. Not necessarily because of the quarterbacks, yet. But because of the guys catching the football.
The play series in question, Lester said, requires two true one-on-one threats at wide receiver – one on each side of the formation.
“We have some of the horses that we need to get that done now. It’s been fun to watch,” Lester said. “Even some of our coaches have been like, ‘Man, I didn’t really like that play in Year 1 and Year 2, but now it’s starting to look pretty good.’ Amazing. It’s players over plays, you know?
“We’re continuing to figure that out, but it’s definitely going to look different this year than it did other years.”
When Hank Brown and Jeremy Hecklinski, who are contending to be Iowa’s No. 1 quarterback this fall, spoke to the media a week earlier, they both said they see the Hawkeyes being more explosive in the passing game than in previous years.
In Year 1 under Lester, Iowa’s explosive plays came almost exclusively from running back Kaleb Johnson.
Year 2, much to Lester’s surprise, the explosives came from quarterback Mark Gronowski’s legs.
Year 3, the buzz has centered around the addition of Texas-Rio Grande Valley transfer Tony Diaz.
From the talk in Iowa’s spring practices, it’s no wonder Alabama pushed for Diaz late in the transfer portal process, but he stuck with Iowa. Lester basically described Diaz, a 5-foot-11, 176-pound sophomore, as an aggressive playmaker who inexplicably has been coming down with almost everything thrown his way.
“Having Tony out there has helped our explosiveness a little bit,” Lester said. “Running the same plays we’ve been running, (but) he’s been getting over the top.”
Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like Diaz will participate in the April 25 spring scrimmage at Kinnick Stadium (10:45 a.m. start, admission is free). He got hurt earlier this spring and has returned, but likely will be held out as a precaution.
But still, Diaz (who wears No. 14) has been complementing junior Reece Vander Zee (who now wears No. 2) in the passing game.
“You like that one-on-one matchup with No. 2 (Vander Zee), and you like it to 81 (tight end DJ Vonnahme), now you like it to 14 (Diaz) and 8 (transfer Evan James) and 7 (Dayton Howard),” Lester said. “There’s more options, right? There’s only one way to get receivers the ball. We’ve got to find ways to do that.”
DJ Vonnahme’s springboard to potential stardom
Offensive tackle Trevor Lauck posted a video to social media of a young DJ Vonnahme (probably 10 years old) telling the camera, “I’m DJ Vonnahme. Remember that. Deeee Jayyyyy Vonnahme!” (It’s pronounced, “Vuh-NAW-me.”) The amusing clip is followed by highlights from Vonnahme’s three-catch, 91-yard game in Iowa’s 40-16 win at Nebraska to close the 2025 regular season.
All Vonnahme did to follow that up was make seven catches for 146 yards, including a 51-yarder, in Iowa’s 34-27 ReliaQuest Bowl victory over Vanderbilt — the second-most yards by a tight end in Hawkeye history (to Marv Cook).
Lauck’s video post seemed to validate that Vonnahme’s production has continued this spring. Lester did not dispute that and, in fact, said he spent some of the offseason researching NFL teams and how they feature their star tight ends.
“I think we’ve added some things to help bring his talents to light,” Lester said. “You won’t see them Saturday, but you’ll see them in the fall. When you have players like that, you’ve got to find ways to get them involved.”
Vonnahme is just a redshirt sophomore, accentuating the promise of this tight end room that should include Addison Ostrenga (recovering from an Achilles injury), Zach Ortwerth, Thomas Meyer, Michael Burt and Mason Woods. Lester said Woods has been a spring bright spot in “doing some DJ-type things.”
“We do have some depth,” Lester said. “That’s a great room for us right now.”
Another change in the QB room worth noting
Many years ago, Tim Lester had an opportunity to take an interview for an NFL quarterbacks coach job. But he told the pass-game coordinator that he might be uncomfortable running the QB meetings.
“The guy laughed at me,” Lester said. “He said, ‘You think you would run the meeting room?’ … Whoever’s calling the plays runs the meeting.”
That was eye-opening for Lester, but it made sense. So when Lester got to Iowa, he told head coach Kirk Ferentz he wanted his operation to look like an NFL quarterbacks room … where he runs the show but has more help. That has now come to fruition, with Billy VandeMerkt added as an 11th on-field assistant coach, overseeing the quarterbacks.
VandeMerkt goes way back with Lester, including on his Western Michigan staff, and spent five years with the New York Jets offense before coming to Iowa last season as an analyst, making $50,000. Now, VandeMerkt’s salary has been upped to $175,000, per a public-records request obtained by the Des Moines Register.
That has been a well-received change this spring by Lester and his quarterbacks. As Lester put it, he can now watch double the film, and he can outsource more recruiting to VandeMerkt if he’s working on the Wisconsin game plan. And the pair completely understand the Shanahan offensive system that Lester brought from his NFL time with the Green Bay Packers.
“Our meeting room has not changed one bit,” Lester said. “I’m running it, but I’ve got two guys looking at it instead of one, two guys that came from this offense, that understand this offense. And so it’s been awesome.”
A good sign for Iowa’s rebuilt offensive line
The Hawkeyes will likely have three offensive linemen from last year’s squad chosen in the NFL Draft that runs April 23-25 — center Logan Jones, left guard Beau Stephens and right tackle Gennings Dunker.
Although Kade Pieper (last year’s right guard) and Mike Myslinkski have been banged up this spring, one or the other (probably Pieper) will be the Hawkeyes’ center, and the other will slot in at right guard. Lester also said Cael Winter has had a tremendous spring at center.
“Once we figure out the center, the guard will be easy,” Lester said.
Jack Dotzler, who barely lost the left-tackle spot to Lauck, looks to be in line to take over Dunker’s spot. That remaining mystery is basically solved, it seems.
Lester reported that Leighton Jones has had an “unbelievable” spring at left guard.
“He doesn’t even stick out. That’s a compliment,” Lester said. “You don’t even notice him. It’s just like Beau is there.”
You probably want to know about the quarterbacks, right?
As Ferentz said earlier this spring and Brown and Hecklinski told us last week, the quarterback battle will go into August … at least. It’s really close, Lester said, while adding, “They’ve got a long way to go.”
What Lester was most pleased about was the things that he wanted them to individually get better at, they’ve followed through and gotten better.
He needed Brown to play with more bend and deal better with “gray areas” when things don’t go as planned.
He needed Hecklinski to harness his daring nature and take calculated risks instead of constant risks.
“Their completion percentage, their explosive plays, their interception numbers are all kind of where I want them,” Lester said. “They’re not playing passive, but they’re also not playing ill-advised.”
Lester said Brown has the most explosive passing plays of any quarterback this spring, with 29 completions of 15-plus yards.
“He is tall, but I want him to play like he’s 5-11 … because when he plays lower, he thinks faster, he moves in the pocket better,” Lester said. “There’s not so much up and down.
“You don’t really mess with guys’ throwing motions too often, and I’m really not messing with his motion, just messing with his body. He has bought into it and kind of taking himself to the next level, as far as just what he looks like in the pocket.”
On Hecklinski, Lester said, “We need to make sure we operate within the offense. … He’s kept his (interceptions) number down and still been aggressive.”
It’ll be fun to see how they fare in Saturday’s open practice, along with backups Jimmy Sullivan and Ryan Fitzgerald, and what exactly Iowa might have at quarterback ahead of the Sept. 5 opener against Northern Illinois.
Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has served for 31 years with The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network. Chad is the 2023 INA Iowa Sports Columnist of the Year and NSMA Co-Sportswriter of the Year in Iowa. Join Chad’s text-message group at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on X.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: 5 spring things we learned from Iowa football’s Tim Lester | Leistikow
Reporting by Chad Leistikow, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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