Pre-Summer Offensive Backfield Outlook

Spring practice is over, the spring semester of classes is over, and it is now Chris Doyle time. Summer workouts have started and incoming freshman have started to arrive to prepare for their first year of collegiate football. Today I will take a look at what Iowa’s offense will look like this fall.

Quarterback-
When you graduate one of the best quarterbacks in your schools recent history, you can expect a drop-off in play. Ricky Stanzi graduated after being the starter for 2+ years and the heir apparent is James Vandenberg. Two years ago we got a glimpse of what James could do when he almost led the team to a victory at Ohio State with a trip to the Rose Bowl on the line. In his first career start Vandenberg gave Iowa fans hope for the future, however the following week against Minnesota James again looked like a freshman only completing 46% of his passes and seeming lost recognizing the blitz. On the bright side, Vandenberg in my opinion throws a better ball than Stanzi, he has more velocity and can fit the ball into spots that Ricky couldn’t. The things that he has to work on most this summer would be making the touch pass, something that the Iowa offense relies on. Vandenberg’s backup is going to be a toss-up, coming out of spring it was a co-backup in A.J. Derby and John Weinke. Neither of the backups has ever seen snaps as collegiate players and are still virtually unknown. Both came to Iowa with plenty of accolades, albeit in different areas, Weinke being more of a drop back passer and Derby as run/pass threat. Who wins this battle is a pretty big deal, if Weinke wins, you could see Derby move positions or at least get some time at special teams, where he could put his athletic ability to work. If Derby wins out, you could see Weinke transfer to get some playing time. Incoming freshman Jake Rudock comes to Iowa from Florida, where he led his team to the state title. Barring a bevy of injuries he will be the scout team quarterback during his redshirt season.

Running Back-
Remember last season at this time when we were all trying to figure out how the carries would get divvied out with the three experienced running backs Iowa had coming back? All three of them are no longer with the team and a true freshman, Marcus Coker, set an Iowa bowl record for rushing yards in the Insight Bowl. Coker will be the #1 back going into the season without a doubt, but even that should be worrisome. We have yet to see how durable he is; he missed part of fall camp last year with a broken collar bone and who knows if he will be able to carry the ball 250+ times like Iowa likes their running backs to do. What he did show last year is knowledge of the one-cut Iowa offense and the ability to get upfield quickly and eliminate negative plays. For a true freshman he also showed an above average ability to block in the passing game and in limited attempts the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. As far as the backup running back goes it will be determined in the fall. On campus now you have walk-on Jason White, who has one career carry and redshirt freshman De’Andre Johnson and Marcus Binns. Johnson was the talk of the message boards last season after performing quite well at the kid’s day open practice. He was coming off of an ACL injury his senior season of high school and used his red-shirt last season. He averaged 6.7 yards per carry as a sophomore and junior in high school before missing his senior season. He is the kind of player that could come in and be a change of pace back for Iowa. Binns is the brother of defensive end Broderick Binns and was also a talented high school player, rushing for over 2,800 yards in three years. Coming this fall as freshman will be Jordan Canzeri, Damon Bullock, and Mika’il McCall. Of these three look for McCall to have the best shot at playing as a true freshman, but it will all depend on whether or not the coaches feel they can trust the player to hold onto the ball and be able to block. We have seen in the past that Coach Ferentz will keep a player off the field if he doesn’t think they can do anything asked of them.

Fullback-
This is a position that has for the most part disappeared in the spread offense fad that is spreading across the college football landscape. At Iowa it is nothing more than a glorified offensive guard. You will be asked to block and block some more and maybe get a handful of carries over the course of the season. Iowa graduated last season’s starter, Brett Morse, and last year’s backup, Brad Rodgers, hasn’t medically been cleared to resume football activities. Rodgers is a converted running back and has seemed to be a team player, moving to the unrecognized role of fullback. He has the ability to run the ball from the fullback position and that is something Iowa hasn’t seen in quite some time. If Rodgers can’t go this season, look for one of the following guys to move into that position: Jacob Reisen, Scott Covert, Matt Myers, or Mark Weisman. Reisen is a converted linebacker, but in high school he scored touchdowns on 20% of his carries, so he is experienced with the ball in his hands.

View from the Watertower, an aerial view of the Hawkeyes

The Big Ten coaches meetings are underway this week in Chicago and surprisingly there have been several news stories about the Iowa Hawkeyes.


Adam Robinson is no longer a Hawkeye. Now this isn’t really news since he hasn’t been with the team since his December suspension. However this week head coach Kirk Ferentz confirmed that Adam will not be a member of the football team again and will be transferring. With the lack of proven running back depth, many fans were hoping that Adam would right the ship and be welcomed back on the team. Look for Adam to surface at the D2 level, most likely UNI, where he would still have two years to play. More information can be found here:
http://hawkcentral.com/2011/05/17/mother_says_ex_rb_adam_robinson_will_transfer/

Brad Rodgers still isn’t working out. In preparation for the bowl game last year it was discovered that RB Brad Rodgers has a heart condition and he has not worked out since that time. This week Ferentz confirmed that they are optimistic that Brad will be able to resume football activities sometime this summer and be ready for the season to start. This could be a big deal for Iowa as Brad is the only fullback on the roster to have any experience and the fact that he could carry the ball as well as block would give Iowa something they haven’t had since Jason Allen.

Hawks under the knife. Jim Poggi, who was one of the 13 that suffered from rhabdomyolysis, has had two off-season shoulder surgeries and could be looking at a medical red shirt this season. Poggi red shirted last season in his first season with the Hawks. Receiver Marvin McNutt and Tanner Miller are both on track to resume football activities this summer after having shoulder surgeries in the off season.

Night game. Kirk Ferentz hinted that he believes that Iowa will only have one night game this fall. Speculation has been rampant that it will be October 15, when Northwestern visits Kinnick Stadium. With the Wildcats recent domination of Iowa, it could be a very big game for Iowa. You can read about this stories here:
http://thegazette.com/2011/05/18/rogers-still-waiting-and-a-boatload-of-other-notes/

Making the grade. Ferentz confirmed today that prize 2011 recruit, RB Rodney Coe, has not qualified for admission yet. Apparently he needs to raise his ACT/SAT score and Ferentz seemed optimistic that this would happen. If he doesn’t get the score needed, hopefully Iowa will help get him into a prep school or JUCO and keep tabs on him.

Draft Recap

The NFL draft has come and gone and for the second straight year Iowa led the Big Ten in players drafted and third nationally with 12 players drafted over the last two years.  Here are the players that were drafted and where they went:

Adrian Clayborn
Tampa Bay
#20 - Round 1

This was about the perfect spot for Clayborn to be drafted and team to play for. Did he lose money by coming back for his senior year, probably, but he is also going to a team much closer to winning rather than going to one that isn't very close.  He was one of two defensive ends selected by Tampa Bay and should have an oppertunity to step in and start from day one.  Pairing Clayborn with fellow rookie in Da'Quan Bowers at the ends with second year defensive tackle Gerald McCoy will give the Bucs a young and talanted front.

Christian Ballard
Minnesota
#106 - Round 4

Ballard made a huge personal and financial mistake by testing positive for marijuana at the combine, dropping him from a probably second round selection to the fourth.  However he was drafted into a great position in Minnesota.  They have a great defense already and the head coach, Leslie Frasher is the former defensive coordinator.  They have two aging defensive tackles and one of them is suspended for the first four games, leaving the door open for Christian to step in and play immediatley. 
Ricky Stanzi
Kansas City
#135 - Round 5

Stanzi to the Chiefs makes a lot of sense...I just thought it'd happen earlier.  KC's general manager is Scott Pioli who is a friend of Coach Ferentz. He is also the man who drafted Tom Brady (just another Stanzi-Brady similarity). Stanzi will be in a good position in KC learning the system behind Matt Cassel.

Karl Klug
Tennessee
#142 - Round 5

This was a surprising pick to me. Klug is somewhat undersized for the defensive line so I didn't expect him to go this high. Tennessee, though, was kind of desperate on defense and looking for some versatile players.  They also had a lot of success with another former undersized defensive lineman from Iowa in Jarred Clauss.

Julian Vandervelde
Philadelphia
#162 - Round 5

This was another kind of surprising pick. Vandervelde was always a good player, but never blew me away. He is known for being smart though, and I think learning zone blocking from Ferentz at Iowa boosted his draftability greatly. The Eagles took 3 O-linemen in the draft (all 3 are likely interior guys too), so there will plenty of competition for Vandervelde. In a pinch he could also slide over to play center and provide depth that way.
Tyler Sash
New York
#198 - Round 6

Sash really fell in the draft and the Giants walked away with a motivated player. I thought he'd go around the 4th round or so, but he finally had his named called in the 6th. It looks like the Giants will be running the Tampa 2 on defense, so Sash should be a good fit.  They have three safties on the roster already, but Sash should be able to step in either safety position and play special teams immediatly.

Free Agents-
Ryan Donahue
Allen Reisner
Jermiah Hunter
Jeff Tarpinian
DJK
Brett Greenwood

Early Schedule Look

The 2011 schedule is out and here is an early look at it:


9/3 – Tennessee Tech
9/10 - @ Iowa State
9/17 – Pittsburgh
9/24 – Louisiana Monroe
10/1 – BYE
10/8 - @ Penn State
10/15 – Northwestern
10/22 – Indiana
10/29 - @ Minnesota
11/5 – Michigan
11/12 – Michigan State
11/19 - @ Purdue
11/26 - @ Nebraska



Key Non-Conference Game-
While the annual Iowa State game is huge for the fans and players from the state, I think that the Pittsburgh game is bigger this year. First off, with all the lumps that the Big Ten has taken in BCS bowls the last several years, the conference as a whole needs to win all the out of conference games against fellow BCS conference teams. Three years ago, Iowa let the game at Pittsburgh slip through their fingertips, they need to redeem themselves for that game. And the last reason this game is bigger than the Iowa State game is exposure and recruiting. This will be one of two games that Iowa will play against teams from the east coast. Iowa has a history of great players from the area and getting some extra exposure certainly helps their chances.

Key Stretch-
There are several key stretches for this Iowa squad, but the most important stretch would be the first two Big Ten clashes of the season, at Penn State and hosting Northwestern. Now you may wonder why these two teams when Iowa has a trip to Nebraska and home games against both Michigan schools, and the reason is that those games don’t mean a thing if they can’t get through these two games. Of late, Iowa has been able to handle Penn State, but this will be the first visit to Happy Valley for many of players on this young Hawkeye team. If they can go into an environment like that and win, it could mean great things for the rest of the season. After their visit to Happy Valley, the Hawkeyes will entertain the Northwestern Wildcats, a team that is quickly becoming their Achilles heel. The Wildcats have beaten the Hawks five of the last 6 games even though they have been decided underdogs in all of those games. This season looks to have the same pre-game prognostication and the Hawks need to right the ship and get back to winning the games they are supposed to win.

Trap Game-
The Hawkeyes play host to both Michigan teams in Legends division matchups and end the season play at Nebraska, which could decide the Legends division. In between the Michigan State and Nebraska game is a trip to Lafayette to play Purdue. Iowa will undoubtedly be licking their wounds after two inter division games and possibly looking forward to the trip to play big red. Purdue is a team that has been down of late, but has shown signs of life under coach Danny Hope. It will be senior day at Ross-Ade Stadium and the Boilermakers could be in the hunt for bowl eligibility.

Hawks in the draft

Once again several Hawkeyes will her their name called over the weekend at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Here is a quick run-down of where I think they will go in the draft and the ideal situation for that player.


Adrian Clayborn – late first round – possible suitors: Giants, Buccaneers, Eagles, Saints, or Falcons – A true 4-3 defensive end will find a home and be a reliable contributor for years to come

Christian Ballard – late second/early third – can play a 3-4 defensive end or 4-3 tackle/end - His versatility is what is the most intriguing part of Christian’s game, he can play multiple positions in either defense.

Ricky Stanzi – late third/early fourth – experts waver on where he will go and how productive he will be. I would compare him to Matt Schaub, smart player that will be a backup for a few years, but shine when he gets his chance

Tyler Sash – Fourth – Measurables won’t get him drafted, but a nose for the ball and what is between his ears will. Plays like a strong safety, but thinks like a free safety, will be able to play either at the next level

Ryan Donahue – Fifth – Much like Iowa did, some team will draft him and not worry about punting for years to come

Jeremiah Hunter – Sixth – A guy who started at OLB for three seasons at Iowa, never did anything flashy, but was never out of position either. Probably a backup and special teams player at the next level.

Karl Klug – Sixth – Maybe got the most out of his talent, has a motor that NFL teams love. I would liken him to Jared Clauss, keeps his pad level low and will be a 4-3 tackle.

Allen Reisner – Sixth – With more and more teams running two tight end sets, he will find a place to play, he blocks and makes all the catches.

Derrell Johnson-Koulianos – Seventh – doesn’t have ideal NFL wide receiver size or speed, but runs crisp routes and can contribute on special teams. Probably a fifth rounder without the character questions.

Brett Greenwood & Julian Vandervelde – FA’s - Brett and Julian have outside chances of getting drafted, but it is highly unlikely.