Sam LaPorta Embracing Music City Bowl

Iowa Senior TE Ready for Final Hawkeye Ride

Iowa tight end Sam LaPorta (84) runs after a catch as Illinois Kendall Smith (7) moves in for a tackle on Oct. 8, 2022 at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Ill. (Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com)

Sam LaPorta wanted one more game.

The Iowa senior tight end saw his last season cut short with a knee injury that kept him out of the Hawkeyes’ regular-season finale against Nebraska.

But rather than begin his preparation for the NFL draft, LaPorta decided to play for the Hawkeyes a final time in the Dec. 31 Music City Bowl against Kentucky.

The reason, LaPorta said, was simple.

“I had one more opportunity to play with my boys,” LaPorta said. “I've been here four years. I've given this program a lot and it's given me more than I ever dreamed of since I've gotten here. And it's just really important to me to play one more time, throw on the black and gold and lay it all out there.

“We were talking about it at a team meeting this morning. If you're not 100 percent — 100 percent invested, I mean — then we don't want you out there because we want the guys out there going as hard as they can. And you're here, you're in and you're invested. So I'm here and I want to be here.”

LaPorta led the Hawkeyes with 53 receptions for 601 yards this season. But he suffered a knee injury in the 13-10 win over Minnesota on Nov. 19, and after having surgery to repair torn meniscus, sat out the 24-17 loss to Nebraska six days later.

LaPorta went through the Senior Day ceremony, calling it “awkward” not being in uniform.

“I had to walk across the field,” LaPorta said. “I was in my sweatpants. And, I mean, it’s still really cool to go out there and give my parents the rose, but missing the game was tough. I was trying to be a supportive teammate, of course.”

LaPorta was already planning his comeback that day.

“I was kind of going back and forth between the field and the locker room because I was actually keeping my knee in a compression machine, hoping that I could keep the swelling down for a possible chance to play in the Big Ten championship (game), which would have been kind of a crazy turnaround,” LaPorta said.

The loss by the Hawkeyes cost them a chance at the West Division title and a spot in the Big Ten championship game the next week. That gave LaPorta more time to get ready for the bowl game.

LaPorta has been practicing with the Hawkeyes in preparation for the game.

“Yeah, it's feeling good,” LaPorta said of his knee. “I'm kind of getting acclimated back. I've been running around, it's feeling good. Eight or nine more days to the bowl. So yeah, I feel like I'm gonna be 100 percent. I’m going to be ready to go.”

“He's back on the field and seems to be doing great, so happy about that certainly,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said.

Even with his experience, LaPorta is appreciating the education he’s getting from the bowl preparation.

“I was trying to get back, first off — get my knee right and get ready to play in the game,” LaPorta said. “I'm out there a lot getting the physical reps. Sometimes that's not as good as being able to stand back 15 or 20 yards and see the entire field.

“It's kind of the difference of being out there and having tunnel vision and only seeing what's right in front of your face as opposed to being able to understand the concepts and what's going on across the entire field. So I've been taking a lot of information too. It's been good for me.”

LaPorta’s professional future — the NFL draft, finding an agent, preparing for tryouts — will wait. There’s one more game to play.

“I'm really just focusing on the bowl game at the moment,” LaPorta said. “I'm not trying to give you a completely plain answer. But I have really been focusing on my rehab, and last week I was finishing up my finals. Just trying to get back to play in this bowl game is really where all my effort is focused at the moment. Anything beyond that, January 1 and on, is kind of in the near future. I'm not really paying too much attention to that but I think I'm squared away.”