Iowa came into the offseason with a very deep tight end room, although that depth has been thinned a bit on the cusp of summer camp kicking off.
Jake Coons indicated in a tweet posted to his personal Twitter account Wednesday that he will not be playing football for the Hawkeyes this season. Specifically, the tight end wrote that he will be “taking some time to focus on my academics for this up coming [sic] school year.”
“I want to create habits that will better help me handle the demands of academics and football,” Coons added.
— Jake Coons (@jcoons12) June 27, 2018
Coons was a three-star 2017 signee who 247Sports.com rated as the No. 9 player at any position in the state of Iowa. He took a redshirt as a true freshman last season.
Among the players returning at the tight end position for the Hawkeyes this year are Noah Fant and T.J. Hockenson. The former was second on the team in receptions (28) and receiving yards (486), while the latter was fifth in those categories (23-311). Fant also led the team in touchdown catches with 10.
Following the 2017 regular season, Fant was named third-team All-Big Ten by the conference’s coaches.