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.

Spring Practice

Here are the dates for the Iowa Spring practices:

Wed March 25
Thurs March 26
Sat March 28
Sun March 29
Wed April 1
Fri April 3
Sat April 4
Sun April 5
Wed April 8
Thurs April 9
Fri April 10
Sat April 11
Wed April 15
Thurs April 16
Sat April 18

Iowa a National Championship Team?

http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=913959

Interesting article discussing the common themes among the 11 BCS National Champions and what teams have the same credentials coming off the 2008 season. The 5 criterea are as follows:

1. Be a member of a BCS conference or Notre Dame. (66 teams fit)
2. Post at least 8 victories the year before. (37 teams match both)
3. Post a winning record in post-October regular season games. (25 teams match all 3)
4. Return a Junior or Senior quarterback with starting experience. (17 teams match 4)
5. Return at least 6 starters from a defense that ranked in the top 20 in scoring.

Six teams fit all five criteria:
Florida
Iowa
Mississippi
Texas
West Virginia
Virginia Tech

This is not a proven system, but every team that matched the criteria going into last season posted at least an 8 win season.

Random Tidbits

Three known football players are transferring from the University: Jake Christiansen, Khalif Straten, and Diauntae Morrow. Straten was a redshirt linebacker on last year's team, Christiansen was a backup quarterback, adn Morrow was a safety that at several times last season was in the two deeps. Morrow saw the the depth at his position, Straten cites homesickness, and Christiansen wants to play and is graduating.
The board of regents has approved the installation of synthetic turf at Kinnick stadium, work will begin as soon as the ground thaws.
Could Iowa have back to back late afternoon/evening games in 2009? They play Arizona on Sep. 19th, you figure they can't start that game at 11 AM central as that would be 9 AM Arizona time. So that start time you would assume will be at least a 2 PM start or possibly an evening game. They following week the Hawks will travel to Happy Valley for a game that Penn State will be looking for payback. To start the season Penn State will probably be ranked around 15 and Iowa around 22. There is a very good chance that both teams will be 3-0 for this game, that would mean that you could have a matchup of two top 15 teams. That has all of the making of ABC's night game. That two week span could be a great exposure for the Hawks nationally.

Recruiting Class

With signing day a few weeks ago the Hawks welcomed 18 new players with their letter of intents to play football at the University of Iowa. Below is a list of the commitments:

Stephane Ngoumou WR Rockville, MD 6-4 210
Nolan MacMillan OT Princeton, NJ 6-6 285
Micah Hyde QB Fostoria, OH 6-1 165
Connor Boffeli TE W. Des Moines, IA 6-5 245
Dakota Getz TE Macon, IL 6-4 210
Matt Murphy OT Clinton, IA 6-6 250
Josh Brown WR St. Petersburg, FL 5-11 190
Marty Hopkins LB Chicago, IL 6-3 230
Shane Dibona RB Duxbury, MA 6-2 220
Tyler Harrell DE Dublin, OH 6-4 225
Anthony Schiavone TE New London, CT 6-6 225
Scott Covert DE Lake Forest, IL 6-3 240
Brett Van Sloten OT Decorah, IA 6-7 255
Brandon Wegher RB Sioux City, IA 5-11 206
Keenan Davis WR Cedar Rapids, IA 6-3 195
Drew Clark OL Marion, IA 6-4 280
Jordan Cotton WR Mount Pleasant, IA 6-1 175
Brad Rogers RB Toledo, OH 5-9 230

For yet another year the Hawkeyes locked down most of the top recruits inside the borders of Iowa, taking 7 instate commitments. A few years ago there would be no question about who was redshirting, but over the last two seasons Iowa has begun to use true freshman to contribute to the team. Below is a top five list of players that could see playing time as a true freshman:

Stephane Ngoumou – I think that the staff would love to allow Stephane to take his redshirt and develop his game, however you cannot ignore his size and speed. He was a player that didn’t garner much Division I interest until his Senior season when he burst on to the scene with 71 catches for 1,015 yards and 9 TD’s. WR could be an area where a true freshman could step in and contribute immediately as you will see with this list.

Jordan Cotton – I don’t know if there was any doubt that Jordan would be a Hawk, his dad played for Iowa from 84-87. Jordan comes to Iowa City having played RB in high school and looking to make the transition to WR at the college level. I seem to remember a former Ankeny Hawk doing the same thing and having quite a bit of success. Jordan is another player that could use a year to hone his skills as a redshirt, learning the position of WR, but depth issues could force him to see the field early.

Nolan MacMillan – Normally you don’t talk about a freshman coming in and contributing on either side of the ball, for the mere fact that they haven’t fully developed. A few years ago current Hawk, Bryan Bulaga would have been in that boat if it hadn’t been for injuries. Nolan comes to Iowa City after a season of playing at the Hun prep school, so he is a little bit more developed that most freshman. Don’t be surprised if hi pushes for some early playing time this fall.

Brandon Wegher – Brandon has all the skills to play right away at Iowa, the one thing that could keep him off the field is finding a position for him to play. He comes to the Hawks having played RB in high school, but has the speed and ability to play RB, slot receiver, or DB at Iowa. You could see him play multiple positions at Iowa just to make it onto the field. Don’t be surprised if he plays special teams as a freshman, possibly as a returner.

Keenan Davis – One of the most talented if not the most talented freshman receiver to come to Iowa. His skills are very polished and he looks very smooth when running routes and catching the ball. The Cedar Rapids native comes from the same school that former Michigan Wolverine, Adrian Arrington played at. He has all the tools to play as a freshman next season, but will have to be able to grasp a college playbook the same way he did the high school one. That shouldn’t be a problem as Ken O’Keefe seems to have a very small playbook. Look for Keenan to crack the 2-deeps in the fall and possibly the starting lineup if all goes well.

Over the next several weeks I will go over the remainder of the recruiting class and a couple of the walk-ons.