Last wide receiver out, turn off the lights? It feels a bit like that for the Iowa football program, as another wide receiver is on the way out and headed to the transfer portal, just like Keagan Johnson yesterday.
Gods Plan pic.twitter.com/IQB82aT1pn
— Arland Bruce IV (@abruceiv) December 2, 2022
Bruce showed flashes of thrilling potential as a true freshman in 2021, catching 25 passes for 209 yards and a touchdown. He was also a key member of Iowa's jet sweep action on offense, recording nine carries for 69 yards and three touchdowns. The future looked very bright for Bruce in the Iowa offense. Unfortunately, we all know what happened to the Iowa offense in 2022: the bottom dropped out and things plummeted to levels not seen in decades (or ever).
Bruce's production was not spared by the offense's collapse, even though he was often the only experienced scholarship receiver available with Nico Ragaini and Keagan Johnson dealing with injuries. Bruce caught just 19 passes for 187 yards and a touchdown this season. His production in the running game cratered as well, with just 47 yards and a single touchdown on 12 carries. He appeared visibly frustrated figure on the field on several occasions this season, for completely understandable reasons.
Iowa's wide receiver production this year was catastrophically bad. Just how catastrophically bad was it? Well...
The entire Iowa WR corps caught 72 passes for 752 yards (10.4) and 2 TDs this year.
— Bill Connelly (@ESPN_BillC) December 2, 2022
16 FBS players have more catches, 74 have more yards and 370 have more scores. https://t.co/882ePMzVeR
72-752-2 is not even an all-conference season for a single receiver and that was the sum total of all of Iowa's receivers this year. It's no surprise to see Bruce following Johnson to the exit, and joining the recent exodus of receivers from the program. Bruce becomes the sixth scholarship receiver to depart Iowa since the start of the 2021 season (alongside Johnson, Charlie Jones, Tyrone Tracy, Jr., Calvin Lockett, and Desmond Hutson). That is a wildly unsustainable rate of attrition and it's something that Kirk and Brian Ferentz are going to have to address, and fast.
Good luck and best wishes to Arland Bruce IV -- we enjoyed watching you in black and gold for the past two seasons and wish things had gone better while you were here. Hopefully you're able to find a better fit at a new program.
