Missouri State wide receiver transfer Raylen Sharpe expected to visit Iowa football

IOWA CITY — Missouri State wide receiver transfer Raylen Sharpe is expected to visit the Iowa football program this week.

Sharpe had 73 receptions for 991 yards and seven touchdowns last season.

Sharpe began his college career at Houston before transferring to Missouri State. Two seasons ago, he caught 16 passes for 307 yards and one touchdown for Missouri State. He made a big jump in production last season, earning a spot on Phil Steele's FCS All-American second team.

Wide receiver is a position of need for Iowa. The Hawkeyes lost two contributors from last season, Diante Vines and Nico Ragaini. It also saw the recent departure of Jacob Bostick, who entered the transfer portal. Iowa's top two returning wide receivers are Kaleb Brown and Seth Anderson, who combined for just 365 receiving yards last season.

The Hawkeyes' wide receiver woes have run deeper than just 2023. Iowa hasn't had an individual wide receiver catch more than 400 yards in a single season in the last four campaigns. The last Hawkeye wide receiver to tally more than 700 yards receiving in a season was Ihmir Smith-Marsette in 2019.

Iowa has undergone substantial change to its offense ahead of the 2024 season. It has a new offensive coordinator, Tim Lester. The Hawkeyes also hired a new wide receivers coach, Jon Budmayr, after his predecessor, Kelton Copeland, didn't have his contract renewed this offseason.

This transfer portal is open. Speaking with media after an open practice on Saturday, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz didn't close the door on adding through that process in the spring window, though he didn't dive into many specifics.

"We'll do anything we can to help our team," Ferentz said Saturday. "So we'll be looking at that and just studying it. And if there's an opportunity that presents itself that makes sense, yeah, we'll consider it. We plan to do that every year."

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