Kiper's Climber | Iowa wide receiver Kevin Kasper

	Kevin Kasper is Iowa's all-time leading receiver.

When the 2000 season began, it appeared as though wide receiver could turn out to be the strongest position in the draft. With seniors such as Santana Moss and Reggie Wayne of Miami, Clemson's Rod Gardner, Wisconsin's Chris Chambers and Kansas State's Quincy Morgan the primary headliners, there was already plenty of talent even before the underclassmen were factored into the equation. Then we saw Michigan's David Terrell, N.C. State's Koren Robinson, UCLA's Freddie Mitchell and Texas A&M's Robert Ferguson decide to bypass another season at the collegiate level and enter the NFL draft. In addition, Chad Johnson emerged as a blue-chipper in just his one season at Oregon State.

So the wide-receiver position was loaded with talent from the start, then was really enhanced with the juniors. Then came the players who upgraded their rating at the postseason all-star games or combine/individual workouts. Through it all, Iowa's Kevin Kasper was quietly yet very effectively going about his business for a Hawkeye squad under Kirk Ferentz that won two of their last three games but finished with just a 3-9 record. That's why despite his productivity, Kasper was basically being overlooked and underrated until he put on a show at the combine, running under 4.40 and turning heads with his 44-inch vertical jump.

That's when the 6-foot-0¼, 199-pounder really began to climb up the draft board. In reality, though, this should have started much earlier. The former walk-on improved from just 14 catches in '98 to 60 the following year, then came through with 82 receptions last season, which established him as the Hawkeyes' all-time leading pass receiver. What impresses me is the fact that it didn't matter who the opponent was. He hauled in eight receptions for 129 yards against Nebraska, 11 catches for 143 yards against Indiana and put on a show for the second straight year against Ohio State, grabbing 11 receptions for 123 yards. His disciplined and precise route-running ability along with Velcro hands were on display every week.

Kasper has the exact size-to-speed ratio you look for and produced outstanding results over a two-year period against Big Ten competition. He's also an extremely dedicated football player who will do whatever it takes to improve his performance level.

The concern and reason why he figures to last until possibly the third round of the draft is that he was viewed as more of a possession receiver during his stay with the Hawkeyes. While he caught 82 passes as a senior this past year, Kasper averaged just 12.3 yards per catch.

Here are the per-catch averages of the elite wide-outs in the draft: Koren Robinson (17.1 yards), Rod Gardner (18.7 yards), David Terrell (16.9 yards), Chad Johnson (21.8 yards), Chris Chambers (15.6 yards), Freddie Mitchell (19.3 yards), Santana Moss (16.6 yards), Reggie Wayne (17.6 yards), Robert Ferguson (15.3 yards), and Quincy Morgan (18.2 yards).

When I watched Kasper go about his business with the Hawkeyes, he reminded me of NFL veteran and former Wake Forest standout Ricky Proehl. Don't forget, even before Kasper made his mark as one of the top offensive performers in school history, he was contributing heavily on special teams. And by the way, Proehl was a third-round draft choice (58th player selected) of the Arizona Cardinals in the 1990 NFL draft. That's exactly the general area where Kasper figures to come off the board