The quarterbacks 2010

Will the leash on incumbent Ricky Stanzi be shorter this year?  Will all the quarterbacks on the roster stay on the team?  Will all the quarterbacks listed on the roster be quarterbacks when they graduate?  These questions and more will be answered in the summer quarterback preview.

Ricky Stanzi -SR- All the guy does is win, in games he has started in the last two seasons, Iowa is 19-4.  He has all the tools of an NFL quarterback, 6'4" 230 pounds, can make all the throws, but the one thing he has to improve on is his decision making.  In 2009 he threw 15 int's, 4 of which were returned for touchdowns and countless other times where he passed up the sure throw to try for the more difficult one.  He won't wow you with his stats and you won't see him high on the all time Iowa passing records, but he wins games.  He has all the weapons around him to not have any excuses for not winning this season.  There is no denying that he is the #1 quarterback on this team, but the gap has closed some between him and the #2, James Vandenberg.

James Vandenberg -SO- We got a glimpse of how good a quarterback James is last year when he went in to Ohio State, one of the toughest places to play in the nation, and nearly pulled off the upset.  You could argue that he is the better pure passer of the top two Iowa signal callers for 2010, but the quarterback at Iowa isn't routinely asked to be the star.  What he has to work on is his leadership and ability to lead the team to wins, even when he doesn't have good games.  The gap has closed, but I think that even if Ricky Stanzi throws 5 int's in a game, see Indiana last season, you will see Kirk Ferentz stick with Ricky.  It was apparent at the end of the season that Vandenberg was the clear cut #2 and John Weinke was the #3.

John Weinke -SO- We have yet to see John get any reps, but one can assume that since both Vandenberg and Weinke were listed as the co-backups most of last season that they were at about the same level.  Nobody outside of the football program knows what made Vandenberg get the backup reps last year and Weinke sit, but the highly touted recruit will have a big decision to make after this season.  Stanzi will be graduating and the air-apparent is Vandenberg.  Weinke can either stay and battle Vandenberg for the starting job or he can transfer.  All Hawk fans should be hoping for Weinke to take a page out of the Jason Manson play book as after Weinke, the quarterbacks on the roster get pretty limited.

Wyatt Suess - RS FR- Wyatt spent last season operating the scout team and barring a rash of injuries will probably be doing the same this season.  The Cedar Rapids native is the son of former Hawk Phil Suess.  He has some talent as he was a 1st team Elite All-State as a senior.  He will gain some valuable experience in the off-season as well as the fall camp and make a move for the back-up role next spring.  He wouldn't be the first Iowa player to go from obscurity to the two deep roster.

A.J. Derby - FR-  Will he or won't he, that is the question.  A.J. isn't traveling far from home for his college experience, the Iowa City native came to the Hawks as a quarterback, but will he stay?  Dallas Clark or Chad Greenway, take you pick of which former Hawk A.J. reminds you of, both former high school quarterbacks that are now cashing big NFL paychecks at different positions.  Derby played some DB in high school and has the body and athleticism to play either TE or LB in college.  Right now he is 6'4" 225 lbs and he has yet to work with the Iowa Strength and Conditioning team, so who knows where he ends up.  This spring I attended an event where Norm Parker stated that every time he sees Derby he asks him if he wants to come play LB.  I don't think he was joking, either.  So it will be interesting to see what decision A.J. makes as the Iowa coaching staff has a long history of suggesting position changes that really benefit the player as well as the team.

While the list is not long of names, there are some very talented players in the bunch, this is a position that if an injury happens, the wheels won't fall off of the season.  Vandenberg has proven that he can handle the pressures of being a starting quarterback in the Big Ten and Weinke is itching for his chance to shine.  That's all that is on the roster for quarterbacks and with one running out of eligibility this fall, look for Iowa to take one if not two quarterbacks in this next recruiting class. 

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.