Here we are another off season and another big question mark at running back. Going into last season, Iowa was staring down the barrel of having Paki O'Meara as their feature back. No offense to Paki, but he is not an every down Big Ten back. Then Shonn Greene showed back up on campus and rewrote the single season rushing records on his way to winning the Doak Walker Award as the top running back in the NCAA. The one good thing about Greene being the feature back was that he was not in good enough shape to take every snap and the Hawks were able to see what some of their other running backs could do in the Big Ten. Sophomore Jewel Hampton rushed 91 times for 463 yards in limited action for an over 5 yard per carry average. He had his best game of the year in mop up duty against Indiana rushing 22 times for 114 yards. For a true freshman he came in and turned more than a few heads. His strengths would be his speed and his ability to hit holes. What he is going to have to prove is his blocking ability and ability to carry the bulk of the carries. The other back that figures into the mix will be Jeff Brinson. Brinson redshirted last year and figures to be in the mix for some first team reps with Hampton. Brinson has the skills, rushing for just short of 2,000 yards as a senior in high school at Northeast High School in Fort Lauderdale, FL. He found the end zone 24 times as a senior and averaged over 7 yards a carry. Word out of Fort Kinnick was the Brinson was more than impressive running the scout team as a redshirt, so the Hawks could be looking at a running back controversy. Between these two the Hawks have a very solid 1-2 punch at running back. If anything happens to one of those two, you will have Paki O'Meara step in and be a very serviceable backup. Most of O'Meara's time will be spent on special teams, where he showed last season he can excel. After that you would be looking at true freshman Brandon Wegher, who comes to Iowa after a very successful career at Sioux City Heelan. Look for Wegher to get most of his reps on special teams as a returner, but don't be surprised if he ends up making a few plays while covering kicks as well.
At fullback the Hawks return both Wayne Leppert and Brett Morse who both helped pave the way for the Doak Walker award winner. Like any Iowa fullback neither touched the ball much after warm ups, but both are great blockers and will continue to do that for whatever back lines up behind them in the backfield in 2009.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Pre-Spring Practice
Over the next two weeks I will be assessing the depth chart in detail and by position. Starting today with the most pivotal position on the field, QB.
This is one of the positions that one would hope won't be up for grabs this Spring. Sophomore Ricky Stanzi played sparingly in the Hawks first four games and took the starting job for good in game 5 of last season. For the most part of the season he was told to hand the ball off to Doak Walker award winner Shonn Greene and get out of the way. At times last season he showed flashes of being a solid quarterback, throwing for over 150 yards 7 times on the season. He ended up being extremely efficient as he only threw 25+ passes 4 times in 2008. He showed lots of guts and reminded me of Drew Tate, the way that he seemed to have eyes in the back of his head and avoid the sack and make plays with his feet. On the season he completed just short of 60% of his passes, which by itself doesn't sound that good, but after the 2007 season that Iowa fans suffered through, 60% is a welcome stat. For a good part of the season it seemed as if Rick was only seeing half the field, whether that was by design or just the inexperience of a sophomore quarterback in the Big Ten. What you have to remember is the Jake Christiansen had taken the lion's share of the snaps with the first team all spring and fall. A full off season of being the starter will do Rick's confidence the most good. He knows he is the starter going into the season and you have to hope that offensive coordinator Ken O'Keefe will open up the playbook a little bit more and let Rick show us what he can do with a full compliment of plays. Let's just say that this Hawk fan is hoping that Rick has a better outcome than the last sophomore to start as QB. He is going to have to do better and stay healthy for that matter, behind Stanzi used to be Marvin McNutt, but late last season he made the switch to WR. Granted that if push came to shove Marvin would probably be able to move back if needed, but if he is moving positions, there is probably a reason for it. That leaves the backups as two untested and unproven redshirt freshman. While they are wet behind the ears, they came to Iowa with lots of expectations and talent. James Vandenberg came to Iowa after a record setting career at Keokuk high school, where he holds 12 different state records, including career passing yards and touchdown passes. The other redshirt freshman is John Wienke, a product of Tuscola, IL, who himself had a stellar high school career where he was named to the Elite 11 quarterback camp and only threw 9 INT's in 620 attempts. The only QB is Iowa's 2009 recruiting class in Micah Hyde out of Ohio, while it is not set in stone that Micah will play QB while at Iowa, he more than likely will spend the season running the scout team. That is a review of what Iowa returns at signal caller, check back to see other position breakdowns.
This is one of the positions that one would hope won't be up for grabs this Spring. Sophomore Ricky Stanzi played sparingly in the Hawks first four games and took the starting job for good in game 5 of last season. For the most part of the season he was told to hand the ball off to Doak Walker award winner Shonn Greene and get out of the way. At times last season he showed flashes of being a solid quarterback, throwing for over 150 yards 7 times on the season. He ended up being extremely efficient as he only threw 25+ passes 4 times in 2008. He showed lots of guts and reminded me of Drew Tate, the way that he seemed to have eyes in the back of his head and avoid the sack and make plays with his feet. On the season he completed just short of 60% of his passes, which by itself doesn't sound that good, but after the 2007 season that Iowa fans suffered through, 60% is a welcome stat. For a good part of the season it seemed as if Rick was only seeing half the field, whether that was by design or just the inexperience of a sophomore quarterback in the Big Ten. What you have to remember is the Jake Christiansen had taken the lion's share of the snaps with the first team all spring and fall. A full off season of being the starter will do Rick's confidence the most good. He knows he is the starter going into the season and you have to hope that offensive coordinator Ken O'Keefe will open up the playbook a little bit more and let Rick show us what he can do with a full compliment of plays. Let's just say that this Hawk fan is hoping that Rick has a better outcome than the last sophomore to start as QB. He is going to have to do better and stay healthy for that matter, behind Stanzi used to be Marvin McNutt, but late last season he made the switch to WR. Granted that if push came to shove Marvin would probably be able to move back if needed, but if he is moving positions, there is probably a reason for it. That leaves the backups as two untested and unproven redshirt freshman. While they are wet behind the ears, they came to Iowa with lots of expectations and talent. James Vandenberg came to Iowa after a record setting career at Keokuk high school, where he holds 12 different state records, including career passing yards and touchdown passes. The other redshirt freshman is John Wienke, a product of Tuscola, IL, who himself had a stellar high school career where he was named to the Elite 11 quarterback camp and only threw 9 INT's in 620 attempts. The only QB is Iowa's 2009 recruiting class in Micah Hyde out of Ohio, while it is not set in stone that Micah will play QB while at Iowa, he more than likely will spend the season running the scout team. That is a review of what Iowa returns at signal caller, check back to see other position breakdowns.
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