Former Highland, Iowa football standout ready to hear his name called in NFL draft

Highland native Sam LaPorta is on the doorstep of realizing a dream he’s held since grade school.

LaPorta, a 2019 Highland High School graduate who was a standout football player for the Bulldogs and the University of Iowa, is expected to be one of the top 10 tight ends drafted in the National Football League draft in Kansas City.

Knowing he will be selected in the upcoming draft and having the chance to live out his ultimate dream has LaPorta feeling humble and excited.

“It’s been a really good (experience) and I’ve met a lot of great people through this process,” LaPorta said. “It’s definitely surreal that I’m coming up on living a dream of mine — playing in the NFL — and that I’m right there knocking at the door of it, so it’s super exciting.”

LaPorta’s senior season with Iowa ended Dec. 31 with a 21-0 win over Kentucky in the Music City Bowl in Nashville. LaPorta helped the Hawkeyes finish third in the Big 10 West with an 8-5 record as he racked up 657 yards receiving on 57 catches, while averaging 11.3 yards a catch and a touchdown.

It was a strong senior season and career finish at Iowa that left LaPorta feeling satisfied.

“I was really happy with my senior season,” LaPorta said. “I was voted team captain and we had a successful year and I was really happy with it (the season).”

Since the New Year, LaPorta — who will graduate in May with a bachelor’s degree in business administration — has been busy with classes at Iowa and traveling back and forth between Nashville and Iowa City training with (coach) Jeremy Holt and his team as well as San Francisco 49ers all-pro tight end George Kittle, Minnesota tight end TJ Hockenson and Chicago Bears tight end Robert Tonyan, formerly with the Green Bay Packers.

“It was kind of convenient that we got the bowl game bid down in Nashville because that’s actually where I trained to get ready for the combine and in January and February, I was training with Jeremy Holt and his team,” LaPorta said. “I trained with them for those eight weeks leading up to the combine, attended the combine, and then my Pro Day at Iowa was shortly after that on March 20.”

NFL combine

LaPorta participated om the 2023 NFL Combine from March 2-5 in Indianapolis and said the experience was both challenging and enjoyable.

“The combine’s kind of nerve-wracking, to be quite honest, and you obviously want to perform and showcase yourself as best you can,” LaPorta said. “I really enjoyed the formal interviews and had quite a few as I met with a bunch of teams, a bunch of coaches, coordinators, general managers, and position coaches that I might possibly work with, as well as all the stuff that people see on the field like running the 40. I was happy with all my times, so, overall, it was a good experience.

“It’s pretty intense, and you want to showcase yourself the best that you can.”

LaPorta’s prospect score coming out of the combine is 6.18, according to NFL.com, which ranks him fourth in a deep class of tight ends. Analyst Lance Zierline projects LaPorta as a third-round pick.

“LaPorta has the ability to threaten zone coverage and will make the basic catches. However, he lacks the desired elusiveness and ball skills to come away with the more challenging catches,” Zierline wrote in his mock draft. “LaPorta takes on run-blocking chores with inconsistent positioning but has the potential to improve with more work in that phase of the game. His catch production is splashy, but he appears to have average-starter potential at the next level.”

SB Nation Kansas City blogger Nate Christensen rates LaPorta as a second-round pick and a good choice to someday replace Chief’s All-Pro Travis Kelce.

Christensen says LaPorta has the best hands among draft-eligible tight ends.

“LaPorta was tasked with playing as a X receiver in the Hawkeyes’ catatonically-bad offense. He did a decent job, flashing the ability to beat press coverage at the line of scrimmage, run an underneath route tree and be difficult for cornerbacks to tackle in space,” Christensen wrote. “While Iowa’s offense wasn’t very good, LaPorta showed he is a versatile tight end who can win at multiple positions.”

LaPorta has plenty of fans in Highland and the metro-east who are thrilled to see him get his big chance at the next level, including his high school football coach, Jimmy Warnecke.

“I’m excited and very proud of him,” Warnecke said. “I think it promotes any program when you have an athlete like Sam who is able to make it to the top. I think it enhances the program as much as he did for our program during his time here ... even after he’s been gone, he continues to do things for our program just by his own individual accolades and representing where he came from.”

Proud to represent the metro-east

For LaPorta, representing Highland and the metro-east at the highest level of football is a special opportunity he relishes.

“I’m super proud to represent the community of Highland and Southern Illinois. It’s not every day that a kid gets to live out his dream of playing professional football and to know that I’m one of the few who gets that opportunity, it’s just really cool,” LaPorta said. “I want to make the most of it, of course, just showcasing that if you work hard, you can give yourself a chance and make the most of the opportunities presented to you.”

As far as his draft position, LaPorta is expected to be drafted anywhere from late in the first round through the third round.

“I haven’t really asked for a whole lot of information from my agent so I didn’t worry about it,” LaPorta said. “From what I’ve heard, I think I’m a (gonna be) a second-day guy in round two or three, and even knowing I’m gonna get drafted, this is pretty cool, and I’m not worried about where I land. It’s just getting that opportunity.”

Up next: The draft

LaPorta said he would be home in Highland to watch the draft at home with family and friends. The draft starts at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 27, and concludes Saturday, April 29. It will air live on ABC, ESPN, and NFL Network.

As far as the type of player an NFL team will get when they draft him, LaPorta said, “I’d like to think I’m a versatile player and one of my strongest attributes is being comfortable lining up anywhere. I was a high school receiver at Highland and I feel really comfortable being split out and running that receiver-type route tree. I think that a team that can utilize my versatility can definitely be the best way for me to flourish (as a tight end).”