Veteran Sam LaPorta Happy to Be Back in Black and Gold

Iowa Senior Tight End Positioned for Big Season

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Several youngsters decked out in black and gold called out to Sam LaPorta as he walked off the field at Kinnick Stadium Saturday. The senior tight end walked over and gave them a fist bump, a smile and asked how they were doing.

“I started playing football in 5th grade, probably 10 or 11 years old,” Iowa’s senior tight end said. “And it’s just cool to see a bunch of these kids out here supporting us like this. They idolize us. My freshman year, I was a nobody. And they’re like, “84, 84.’ It’s a cool feeling.”

Freshman year is when LaPorta introduced himself to Iowa fans. A lightly recruited 6-foot-4, 190-pound wide receiver from Highland High School in Highland, Ill., LaPorta finished his rookie season at Iowa with 15 catches for 188 yards.

The game that stood out was the last one of the season, against USC in the Holiday Bowl. LaPorta had a team-high six catches for 44 yards in the 49-24 victory.

“As a freshman, I didn’t really know a lot,” LaPorta said. “I was just kind of running routes, the routes they were telling me to do. That sounds pretty general. But it was, “Sam, go out there and run a basic route. Oh, I can do that.’ That was a fun memory to look back on, an 18-year-old kid just running around against the USC Trojans.”

Three seasons later LaPorta is a much different, and much better, player.

“I feel like I have a more diverse role in the offense,” said LaPorta, now a 249-pounder. “I understand the offense as a whole. I feel like I’ve come a long way since that USC game.”

LaPorta has led the Hawkeyes in catches the past two seasons. He also led the team in receiving yards last season. A seven-catch, 122-yard performance in a 20-17 loss to Kentucky at the Citrus Bowl gave him 670 yards for the season.

With 85 career catches for 1,129 yards on his resume, LaPorta contemplated leaving his last season on the table and giving the NFL a try. He put in his paperwork and got some feedback.

“Of course I had to think about the opportunity it presented for my family as well,” LaPorta said. “But being able to come back and finish out my degree and play my senior year with my boys, I don’t know how I could have passed that up.”

LaPorta will bring experience and leadership to his final Hawkeye team. If Iowa can match his winning personality, it should be a fond farewell.

“He’s got a confidence about him, an air about him, just the way he is naturally,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. “He’s one of those guys that people gravitate towards. Some guys just have a certain knack or air about them. He’s had that. It’s a little bit ironic because he was not a five-star recruit. It took us a little while to figure it out. Thank goodness we did.”

LaPorta had 50 career touchdown catches at Highland, and his team won 40 of 46 games. That success didn’t resonate into many college recruiters. That included Iowa’s staff until the coach at Edwardsville High School, Matt Martin, suggested to Iowa assistant LeVar Woods that they give LaPorta a good, hard look.

Martin, whose daughter, Kate, plays for Coach Lisa Bluder on Iowa’s women’s basketball team, also coached former Hawkeye star A.J. Epenesa at Edwardsville. The Iowa staff circled back, did their research and offered a scholarship.

“Since the day he walked in here, he acts like a football player,” Ferentz said. “I hate to use the word natural because it suggests guys haven’t worked at it. He makes decisions, and has a knack for doing things the right way. That’s good to see.”

The player that few wanted was a third-team all-Big Ten selection by league coaches last season.

“I hope it’s an amazing year for myself and my teammates alike,” LaPorta said. “I think we all have high expectations and high goals set for ourselves, and we’re really excited for the season. I’m so glad every day I made that decision to come back.”

LaPorta spent each of Iowa’s 15 spring practices concentrating on one thing, to improve his first step after the ball is snapped.

“Especially in the run game,” he said. “That just creates the room to bring your second step to deliver a good blow with your pad and move guys off the ball.’

LaPorta’s value will also come in providing leadership to players that will play big roles in Iowa’s football fortunes moving forward.

“I feel like I have to start with the younger guys in the room,” he said. “Just mentoring and coaching them, and letting them try and pick my brain a little bit. Hopefully they don’t make the same mistakes I’ve made in the past because I’m teaching them that.”

LaPorta was once one of those young kids, who picked the brains of former Iowa tight ends like Dallas Clark and T.J. Hockenson to soak up a first-hand perspective of the game and his position.

LaPorta has gone back and viewed video of the USC game, watching a wide-eyed kid running up and down the field in San Diego.

“I love going back and watching tape of good games and bad games in the offseason,” he said. “The 2020 Northwestern game here (a 21-20 loss). Oh my God. If I’m in a bad mood that’s what I go back and look at. Some of the stuff I did in that game, I just shake my head at.”

The tape doesn’t lie, but LaPorta’s taken his game to another level since then. And there’s always room to grow.

“It’s always a process,” LaPorta said. “The hay is never in the barn, as we say. You’ve never arrived.”