Newton’s Easley signs to play football for IWCC

Nick Easley’s speed, leaping prowess and innate ability to go get the football and make the catches propelled the 6-foot, 195-pound wide receiver to the top of the Newton High School single-season touchdown reception list. All of those garnered him district and state honors.

Those skills and Easley’s hard work put the NHS senior in the minds of college football coaches also.

Easley signed a national letter of intent to play football for Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs

“Iowa Western is a great opportunity for me, if I play well there, to move onto the next level after that,” Easley said. “I weighed my options and felt Iowa Western was a better fit for me right now.”

Easley said he is going to continue his hard work and see where it takes him in college football. Iowa Western’s Reivers are coming off an 11-1 season with the loss coming in the NJCAA national championship game Dec. 7. Iowa Western won the NJCAA 2012 national championship.

Easley received Iowa Newspaper Association Class 3A third-team honors as a wide receiver following the 2014 season. He earned Class 3A District 6 first-team honors from district coaches after the Cardinals went 4-2 in district play.

Easley was the atop District 6 in receiving yards, making 36 catches for 617 yards for 17.1-yard per catch average. Easley ranks 10th in receiving yards among Class 3A players. He led the district and Newton in touchdown catches with seven. Easley owns the most touchdown reception in a single season, nine, set in 2013.

Easley finished fourth in the scoring in the district with 95 points, which included 34 extra-point kicks, five field goals and two two-point conversion passes. He was the district top field goal kicker, going 5-of-8 with his longest being 35 yards. Easley was 34-of-37 on PATs.

Easley was fourth in punting with 1,196 yards on 33 punts for a 36.2-yard average. He had an 80-yard punt this season. Easley led the district in kickoff yardage, 3,134 on 56 kickoffs, plus he was tops in touchbacks with 28, which sits second in all of Class 3A.

Easley surpassed his brother, Matt Easley who established the record in 2011, in four kicking categories for Newton. Easley has the most touchbacks in a career, 32, most touchbacks in a season, 28, and most touchbacks in a single game. He had seven touchbacks in a game twice this season. Easley has the best kickoff average in a season, 57.7 yards per kick this year.

Easley earned INA Class 3A state honors as a kicker or punter.

But Easley said he would be playing wide receiver for Iowa Western next year.

“They run a kind of a spread offense and they need some guys to play in the slot. That will be exclusively what I will be doing for them, running underneath routes and catch passes out the backfield,” Easley said. “That’s a good fit for me.”

Easley is pursuing a degree in exercise science at IWCC. He is the son of Alison Lemke and John Easley of Newton.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535
or jsheets@newtondailynews.com