Thursday, July 14, 2011

Pre-summer defensive line outlook

Recently the fact has been circulating on the message boards that no college team has more defensive lineman in the NFL than Iowa does. To me that is an astounding fact given that Iowa runs the kind of defense that they want the lineman to plug holes and allow the linebackers to flow and make plays. What it has a lot to do with is the fact that Iowa has great coaches and when a player leaves Iowa he is fundamentally sound and knows how to play the game the right way.
The three starters that the Hawkeyes lost from a season ago amassed an astounding 483 combined tackles, 90 tackles for loss, 42.5 sacks, and 38 quarterback hurries. Bottom line is that the players that left from last year’s team produced when they were on the field. Gone is Adrian Clayborn, Karl Klug, and Christian Ballard, who were all drafted into the NFL.

In a lot of ways, the 2011 defensive line will resemble the 2005 one that had to replace Matt Roth, Jonathan Babineaux, Tyler Luebke, and Derreck Robinson. Most of those players were unknown, but turned out to be Kenny Iwebema, Bryan Mattison, Matt Kroul, and Mitch King, who have all cashed NFL paychecks. Point being, just because you don’t recognize their name now, doesn’t mean they won’t be great players.

Defensive End-

It is never a good thing when you lose one and half starters (I consider Ballard ½ because he started at DE half the time last year) and it’s no different for Iowa. Returning for Iowa will be Broderick Binns (6-2, 261), who by all accounts had a down year after a promising sophomore campaign. As a sophomore he accumulated 58 tackles and 6 sacks, while last season he only tallied 36 tackles and no sacks. With this being his last season, it is put up or shut up time for a player that has shown flashes of great play over his career.
Looking to break into the starting lineup opposite of Binns will be LeBron Daniel (6-2, 250), the Ohio native will be going into his final season in a Hawkeye uniform looking to make the most of his chance to finally start.
Behind Daniel is more unproven players in senior Joe Forgy (6-4, 260), junior Joe Gaglione (6-47, 250), sophomores Dominic Alvis (6-4, 250) and Scott Covert (6-2, 240) , and redshirt freshman Mike Hardy (6-5, 270). Of these players Alvis has been singled out by defensive coordinator Norm Parker as a player he thinks will make an impact. Along with Dominic I think Mike Hardy could make an impact in his redshirt season.

Defensive Tackle-

Returning as the full time starter for Iowa will be Mike Daniels (6-1, 280), or Diesel, as his teammates call him. Daniels is a guy who burst onto the scene last year and instantly won the affection of the Iowa fans with his high motor and energetic celebrations. Mike started in 8 games last season and accounted for 40 tackles and 4 sacks.
The starting position next to Mike will be up for grabs in the fall, Thomas Nardo (6-3, 270) and Carl Davis (6-5, 310) figure to be the front runners. Nardo is a veteran looking for his chance to make an impact while Davis will be a redshirt freshman who is maybe the biggest defensive tackle Iowa has had in several years. This could be a situation where Nardo will get the start to begin the season, but I fully expect Davis to be in the starting lineup before the end of the season.
Behind the three other defensive tackles will be junior Steve Bigach (6-3, 272) and red-shirt freshman Louis Trinca-Pasat (6-3, 250) and Donavan Johnson (6-3, 265). Don’t be surprised if the redshirt is also burned on incoming freshman Darian Cooper (6-1, 290). The high touted high school teammate of Marcus Coker chose Iowa over the likes of Michigan, Michigan State, and Penn State. Cooper, like Carl Davis is coming to Iowa with a Big Ten ready body and could contribute in his first season on campus.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Pre-Summer Offensive Line Outlook

Pre Summer Offensive Line Outlook


Something that has become a staple in the Ferentz era is quality offensive line play. Even in years where the offensive line isn’t supposed to be good in the end they still end up being a solid unit. Junior Riley Reiff will anchor a unit that boasts 58 career starts. Reiff has started 23 career games already, all in the last two years. The All-American candidate is one of the best in the Big Ten and the NCAA and will have a big decision after the season on whether he comes back for his senior season or not. Joining Riley as the other tackle will be Markus Zusevics, who started every game last season. He is overshadowed by Reiff, but Zus, as he is known as, is another in a long list of solid offensive tackles at Iowa. Joining Reiff and Zusevics as a starter of every game last season is James Ferentz. Let’s be honest, James was born and breed to be a center in this offense. He has learned the ropes from both his dad and his older brother, Brian. From the time that he was born he has been learning the zone blocking scheme and going into his junior season, he has proven that he knows it very well. In the zone blocking scheme the center is the most important position because he makes the line calls and essentially tells every other offensive lineman who he is blocking on that play. Joining the three incumbents will be guards Adam Gettis and Nolan MacMillan, who between them have 9 career starts. Last season both Gettis and MacMillan were hampered by injuries and look to regain their starting spots now that they are healthy. While those two will be the front runners for the guard positions, don’t sleep on Brandon Scherff making his way into the starting lineup. Along with Scherff, the other backups looking for playing time will be tackles Andrew Donnal and Brett Van Sloten, guards Woody Orne and Drew Clark, and center Conor Boffeli. Junior college transfer Dan Heiar would have figured into the mix of offensive lineman; however he is still recovering from a car accident this spring and may or may not be back with the team. If in fall camp Iowa can get a top five and stick with that unit for the majority of the season they will be one of the best units in the Big Ten as well as the nation.