Ten things to watch for - Eastern Illinois

It will have been 242 days since Iowa’s convincing Orange Bowl victory and the Iowa fans have yet to come down from cloud nine. Add to that the preseason magazines picks for Iowa and the fans are in frenzy about the season to start. Here are ten things to look for this weekend in Iowa City:


1. Who will be the backup running back
In the preseason Jewel Hampton solidified his position as the #1 running back for the Iowa squad, unfortunately his brush with the law this summer will cause him to miss the game this weekend. Brandon Wegher split carries last fall, but in fall camp he left for personal reasons and has yet to return. That leaves last years leading rusher, Adam Robinson, as the primary ball carrier this weekend. Last season Adam proved he could be a quality Big Ten running back, however he didn’t have to be the workhorse last year, so nobody know how he will do getting the bulk of the carries. Backing up Adam will be Paki O’Meara, who last year was the starter week 1, but didn’t see much action after that. If Paki gets meaningful carries outside of week 1 this year, the Hawks are in trouble. Jason White will probably get the carries as the third back this week, but don’t look for him to get many carries this season without someone getting hurt. De’Andre Johnson and Marcus Coker are true freshman that the Iowa staff would love to red-shirt this season, but if the injury bug hits the running back corps, look for one or both of them to play. Coker almost assured himself of a red-shirt getting injured in camp, but if Johnson plays on Saturday, it could be the Iowa coaches tipping their hand that Wegher is not going to be back this season and they want Johnson to get experience in case of an injury.

2. Offensive line
Last year’s starting offensive line essentially lost four starters, Riley Reiff and Julian Vandervelde being the only two back with significant experience. That is the bad news, the good news is that the second string has worked together most of last season and now those guys are the starters. In Iowa’s zone blocking scheme, cohesiveness is very valuable and having worked together, this offensive line does have that.

3. Other offense play calling
You would have had to have been living under a rock to not know that Iowa’s defensive line is very good. In college football today, it is almost like a backyard football game with 4 and 5 receivers very commonly used. I don’t see any teams running that many receivers into routes this year, because it would leave their offensive line to use five guys to block Iowa’s four lineman, which means four guys would be getting blocked man on man, Iowa’s line wins that scenario 90% of the time. You will see a lot of max protects and chip blocks to try and slow down the Iowa pass rush.

4. An act of Stanzi
Last year opposing teams returned four of Ricky Stanzi’s interceptions for touchdowns and collected 15 total interceptions. Coming into the season Ricky has said that he needs to make better decisions and that the pick 6’s were all the same route. In the fall you saw Stanzi make a point to check down to the backs in the flat, something that you didn’t see much of last year. With the stable of receivers at his disposal, the only person that can stop Stanzi is himself.

5. The island
Iowa has ranked 5th and 4th nationally the last two years in interceptions. They sent Amari Spievey to the NFL off of last season’s squad. The other starting corner back last season, Shaun Prater, injured his leg this fall and may or may not play on Saturday. That leaves Greg Castillo and Micah Hyde as the starters. Both are very skilled defenders, but both are very young and lack game reps. They will be helped by the Iowa defensive line, which should cause most opposing quarterbacks to throw passes before they want to and with pressure on them.

6. Linebacker depth
Any time that you get two of your three linebackers drafted into the NFL you will have a drop-off in experience. However there may not be much of a drop-off in talent. Jeff Tarpanian takes over in the middle and has played special teams for the last three years and spot duty at linebacker. He will be great in pass coverage, however his size is a concern in the run game. Tyler Nielsen will take over at Leo linebacker and has had very little game experience, but was the understudy of one of the better Leo’s at Iowa in A.J. Edds. Just like the corner backs, both of these linebackers will benefit from the defensive line drawing a lot of attention.

7. Injury bug
Iowa fans need to hope that the only time they see the green gator tractor is when it leaves the field with supplies, not carrying a player. A game that the outcome should not be in question, you have to leave without major injury. However, at most positions this is the deepest Iowa squad in recent memory, but there are some positions that are thin, running back being one of them.

8. True freshman to play
In his press conference this week, Kirk Ferentz alluded to the fact that we could see as many as seven true freshman on the field this weekend. My best guess is: Carl Davis (DT), Christian Kirksey (LB), James Morris (LB), C.J. Fiedorowicz (TE), Kevonte Martin-Manley (WR), Jim Poggi (LB), and one defensive back of the following Tanner Miller, B.J. Lowery, and Anthony Hitchens.

9. Who kicks
Last year, Iowa had the luxury of Trent Mossbrucker using his red-shirt, so there was never a kicking controversy. This season both players will play and neither one has grabbed the starting spot yet. What you will probably see is them alternating kicks this weekend and through the non-conference until one of them starts to out-perform the other and becomes the starter.

10. Offensive sets
As a fan of Iowa you are accustomed to two wide receivers, one tight end, and two running backs as the basic set. Last year we saw more three wide receiver sets than most can remember in the Kirk Ferentz era at Iowa. This season the stable of receivers is the deepest at Iowa in the last several decades. Each one has the ability, along with being able to catch passes, to be a good down the field blocker. Will Iowa deploy more three wide sets to spread out defenses to run or possibly even four wide receiver sets? They certainly have the players to do that, but the question remains, will they?