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Lucas Hefty, a 2015 graduate of Upper Iowa and four-year letter winner for the Peacock football team, has signed a contract to play professional football with the Iowa Barnstormers of the Indoor Football League, or the IFL.  Hefty was one of two Peacocks to earn a weekend tryout with an NFL team following the 2015 NFL Draft.  Hefty was invited to the Minnesota Vikings camp after becoming one of the best tight ends in NCAA Division II over the last four years, while graduated quarterback Cole Jaeschke was invited to compete for a spot with the Carolina Panthers after becoming one of the top quarterbacks in the history of the Northern Sun Conference.

Hefty headlined a group of five Peacock football players that were named to one or more of the three All-Super Region 3 Teams.  Upper Iowa's starting tight end was named as a first team performer by all three super region team presenters including Daktronics, Don Hansen's Football Gazette and the Beyond Sports Network, as well as the All-Northern Sun Conference South Division First Team.

Hefty, who spent his senior campaign battling injuries, played through his pain to catch 63 passes for 737 yards, 11th most among all NSIC receivers, and 4 touchdowns as UIU's starting tight end. In his four years with UIU, the Traer, Iowa native snared 176 passes for 2,213 yards and 23 touchdowns.  Hefty's biggest games of the season came in the team's home opener against Minnesota State University Moorhead (8 rec., 116 yds, 1 TD), on senior day against Wayne State (9 rec., 113 yds., 1 TD) and at #17 Sioux Falls (7 rec., 135 yds).  He finished his career in third place all-time at UIU in receiving touchdowns, seventh place all-time in total touchdowns and sixth all-time in career receptions and all-time receiving yards. Hefty also recorded the 6th most career receptions in NSIC history as well as the sixteenth-most receptions per game all-time in the Northern Sun games.

The Peacocks finished their 2014 season with a 6-5 overall record. Upper Iowa's 4-0 record against the NSIC North Division, which included a win on the road at St. Cloud State University, propelled the team to a second straight winning season for the first time since 1963 and 1964 when the team won 6 and 8 games in consecutive years.  The half dozen victories also included a Homecoming Weekend victory over Augustana College as the team pushed their record to 5-0.  A loss to Winona State University at home came in between a pair of three-point losses on the road to Southwest Minnesota State University and Concordia University, St. Paul in overtime.  UIU earned their sixth win of the season in an impressive victory over Wayne State College on senior day putting 59 points on the scoreboard at Harms-Eischeid Stadium.  The Peacocks closed out their season with losses on the road to the nationally-ranked University of Sioux Falls and Minnesota State University, Mankato.  Minnesota State will play on Saturday, Dec. 20, against the ThunderWolves of Colorado State University-Pueblo in Kansas City, Kan. for the NCAA Division II Championship.

The six victories this season mark the 17th time a football team at UIU has reached the 6-win mark in the program's 120-year football history. The Peacocks, who have only had five winning seasons prior to 2013 since 1966's 8-2 campaign, wrapped up just their 36th winning season in their history.

The Iowa Barnstormers (3-7) are coming off a tough 50-46 loss to their in-state rivals, the Cedar Rapids Titans (7-4), in the team's first season in the Indoor Football League. The team has four games left on their regular season schedule.  The Barnstormers will be at home on May 30 to face the Wichita Falls Nighthawks and on June 6 to go up against the Bemidji Axemen.  Iowa will take their final road trip on June 13 and play the Tri-Cities Fever before returning to the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines to line up with the Green Bay Blizzard on June 20.

Hefty will not be the only Peacock sporting the Barnstormer colors as former UIU offensive lineman Alex Gonzalez (2014) is a starter and former Peacock football and baseball player Joe Stasi (1991), and the Voice of Peacock Football, serves as the Voice of the Barnstormers during their radio broadcasts on WHO News Radio 1040, which is available for all games and can also be found online at iHeartRADIO.  This remaining home games will be televised on Iowa's Mediacom's MC22 channel.