Iowa Hawkeyes: Offense gets a big boost with Oliver Martin eligibility

The Iowa Hawkeyes have a chance to make some noise in the Big Ten this season. Wide receiver Oliver Martin’s eligibility can only help.

The Iowa Hawkeyes, primed with potentially a gem at the quarterback position for the 2020 NFL Draft in Nate Stanley, got a big boost to their offense for 2019 on Wednesday when the NCAA and Big Ten ruled wide receiver Oliver Martin eligible.

Martin, an Iowa City native and 2017 top prospect in the state of Iowa, initially committed to and played college football at Michigan.

The four-star prospect decided to transfer after two years in Ann Arbor, and he’s going to provide a huge boost to the Hawkeyes offense.

Martin’s eligibility will help the Hawkeyes replace Nick Easley in the slot. Easley was an underrated player last year for the Hawkeyes, and wound up signing on as an undrafted free agent with the Buffalo Bills.

We haven’t had the chance to see a ton of Martin’s play in college. He caught 11 passes with one touchdown last year as a redshirt freshman with the Wolverines and got his most action in the offense against Rutgers, catching three passes for 38 yards and one touchdown, coming just one yard shy of a second score.

Although his opportunities were scarce, Martin’s talent has always been apparent and the US Army All-American now joins a receiving group with the big-bodied Brandon Smith (listed at 6-2, 218) and the speedy Ihmir Smith-Marsette.

All of these players have the chance to play together for at least this season and next with Smith and Smith-Marsette just entering their junior seasons.

With Noah Fant and TJ Hockenson off to the NFL, Iowa’s passing game could focus a lot more on spreading the ball out to the wide receivers and they officially have the personnel to spread the ball around.

This is the most talented receiver group Iowa has had in quite some time.

Martin’s top skills, according to his high school scouting reports, are his strong hands, route running, and short area burst and quickness.

With the other guys Iowa has in place at receiver, Martin may play primarily slot but he said at Iowa media day he has been playing inside and outside in practice in order to get on the field sooner rather than later.

Based on the early reports of how he’s practiced, I don’t think getting on the field is going to be much of an issue.

Kirk Ferentz has said to the media that if Iowa were to get the green light, he’d be playing against Miami (OH) this coming Saturday.

Now, we’ll get to see him put those words into action.

The excitement surrounding this Iowa offense for 2019 is palpable.