Akrum Wadley was strongly considering skipping his senior year at Iowa and entering the NFL draft at the end of last season. That is, until he got advice from the most influential coach in his life: his mother.

“She made me come back,” Wadley said with a laugh.

That’s not entirely true. But Sheronda Phelps, Wadley’s mother and a high school girls' basketball coach, said her son was ready to turn pro regardless of what round he’d be drafted. She had a different perspective.

“Most times, I feel like parents just go along with the kid’s decision,” Phelps said. “But I told him, ‘You’re not really done proving yourself. If you go back, you’ll get a chance to really prove yourself.’”

Akrum Wadley had a breakout year last fall, rushing for 1,081 yards on just 168 carries and scoring 13 total touchdowns. Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire

That’s just what the Hawkeyes senior plans to do in 2017, the first year in which he’ll enter the season as the team’s undisputed No. 1 running back.

Wadley had a breakout year last fall, rushing for 1,081 yards on just 168 carries and scoring 13 total touchdowns. It marked the first year that he had the full trust of Iowa’s coaching staff, though he still split time in the backfield with LeShun Daniels, as the pair became the first duo in school history to record 1,000-yard rushing campaigns in the same season.

With Daniels graduated, Wadley stands poised to become an even bigger focal point of the offense. As such, he’s getting the veteran star treatment this spring, staying out of most contact work and tutoring the younger players at his position.

“Last year he really took a big step,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “We’ve seen him grow right in front of our eyes.”

He almost never got here, at least not in Iowa City. The 5-foot-11 Wadley arrived on campus weighing about 167 pounds, and he heard constant prodding from Ferentz and the other coaches about how he needed to put on more weight to withstand the rigors of the Big Ten. Fumbling problems earlier in his career prompted a brief switch to defense.

Phelps said Wadley got so fed up with all the weight talk at one point that he told her he wanted to transfer. She put a stop to that idea, too.

“I said, ‘Be quiet and listen to me: You’re not going anywhere,’” she said. “‘If I have to move to Iowa and cook for you, I’ll do it.’”

Luckily, those worries are in the past. Wadley, who eats five times a day to maintain his weight, now checks in at around 192 pounds and is hoping to be 195 by the season opener.

“The storm is over,” he said. “Yeah, it’s been tough. But I understand the difference and what they’ve been trying to tell me, because Big Ten backs get hit a lot and it’s important to be able to carry on a greater load.”

Explosiveness has always been a big part of his game -- he’s averaging more than 6 yards per carry for his career. Now he’s hoping to become a more complete back.

Wadley said he’s spent time studying former Iowa greats Fred Russell and Shonn Greene and wants to follow in their footsteps. One of his goals for this season is to win the Doak Walker Award, as Greene did in 2008. Of course, Greene weighed about 25 pounds more than Wadley and carried the ball 307 times his final year as a Hawkeye.

Wadley showed that he could be a high-volume rusher late last season. He ran the ball 23 times for 115 yards in the monumental upset of Michigan and 22 times for 115 yards in the Outback Bowl loss to Florida. He says he’s ready if new offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz wants him to be a 20- to 25-carry-a-game player, but he’s also confident the young backs behind him like Toks Akinribade and Toren Young can fill complementary roles as he once did.

Meanwhile, he continues to get good advice from his mother. Phelps played college basketball and currently teaches physical education while coaching at Malcolm X Shabazz High School in Newark, New Jersey. Wadley calls her after every game, and after his performance in the Michigan win, she joked, “You just bought me a house!"

Still she believes her son has more left to show in college and that he’s ready to become nationally known. During the turbulent part of his earlier career, Phelps used to text him every morning with the same saying: “Work hard and pray for what you want.”

By the end of last season, Wadley noticed his mom had stopped sending him that text. When he asked why, she answered, “You’re pretty much there now.”

All that’s left is for him to run with this last big opportunity at Iowa.