View from the Water tower: An aerial view of the Hawkeyes and Big Ten Football

Records are made to be broken-
Last year we saw both the career receptions record and the career receiving yards records fall. Taking a quick look at the stats for some current Hawks, here are the ones I think could be in jeopardy career wise over the next couple years.

Career receiving touchdowns – Current record is 21 - Marvin McNutt has 16
This record should fall this season barring an injury to Marvin, which will make all three major career receiving records broken in a two year span.

Career rushing yards – Current record is 4,156 – Marcus Coker has 622
It seems like he is a long ways away from that record, but if he stays for all four years and is injury free he would have to average 1,178 yards per season. Longshot yes, but if he has the kind of season we all hope he does this year, he could get a lot closer to this record. Over the last five years Iowa has averaged 455 rushing attempts a year, take away the 50 carries by the quarterback and you have roughly 400 carries to be had. Depending on how the young running backs come around could determine how close Marcus gets. If he gets 200 carries a season he would need to average 5.9 yards per carry, if he gets 225 carries he would need to average 5.2 yards per carry. Note that last year he averaged 5.5 yards per carry.

Career tackles – Current record is 492 – James Morris has 70
Again this number seems unattainable, but Morris has shown a knack for finding the ball and an offseason of weight gain and film study will only help him. In games that he started, he averaged 7 tackles a game as an undersized true freshman. Over the next three years he would have to average 11 stops per game, so not a slam dunk, but attainable. For a reference, Pat Angerer averaged 10.3 tackles per game as a senior.

Wilson to Wisconsin –
The Big Ten landscape changed today when Russell Wilson decided to transfer to Wisconsin after graduating from NC State. A NCAA rule that allows a player that has graduated from one university to transfer to a new division 1 school and play right away if his previous school does not offer his intended graduate degree will allow Russell to be eligible this fall. This news coupled with the suspensions and turmoil going on at Ohio State makes Wisconsin the front runner for both the Leaders division and a dark horse national champion pick. What we don’t know is how he will fit into the scheme that Wisconsin uses, last season he averaged over 40 passing attempts per game and was the team’s best running threat. At Wisconsin he will only pass it 20-25 times a game and be asked to hand the ball off. Another thing that is often overlooked is familiarity with his teammates, in his three years at NC State his top two receivers were the same all three years and the top four receivers were the same the last two, his best with the Wolfpack. Coming into Wisconsin he will have to get acclimated to a new offense, teammates, coaching staff, school, conference, and weather. Russell is a great talent, however time will tell if he will be a good fit with the Badgers or not.