2025 Coaches Clinic Notes and Observations - New Update on Special Teams

[Drinkin Buddy]

I was again fortunate enough to attend the Iowa FB Coaches Clinic last weekend.

As always, a first-class football experience where every detail is attended to. Kirk is the ultimate pro and makes sure he does his best to ensure that every detail within FB operation in and out of season is attended to meticulously. Everyone is in line with his thinking.

I started with my absolute favorite position coach. Kelvin Bell. What a tremendous football guy! He is all football and all about his guys. He covered the basics and details on alignment, blow delivery and gap discipline, and really got into a groove in his delivery. At one point a junior person tried to tell him to hurry things up and KB shot back that he was prepared to be there all night. LOL. He kept pushing forward, and not to soon after Nieman came in to say it’s time to eat. KB shot back that his guys are hungry for some d-line coaching! He’s just a great football guy.

After we quickly ate it was time for the main event for the evening. Tim Lester and QBs. Lester was running behind due to 1-1 chats, so Tyler Barnes stepped in. Barnes fielded questions on $ and NIL, and his message was that if a prospect has an early ask about $ then they are polite and take him off the list. It’s not a good fit. There is a time and place to talk about NIL, but not early in the dating process. He started talking about Iowa guys and the euphoria in the locker room when Lester walked in. Barnes asked him what he thought about the Nebraska game post-game celebration. Lester shot back, “I don’t know about you, but I wanted to off myself. What did we have? Six first downs? Jesus.” Lester knows what he wants and how it should look. It certainly wasn’t there last year. He has high expectations of himself in delivering the offense he knows he can. He was missing a lot of pieces last year. He’s like Kirk in that he is a pro-level coach who is working at the college level. He is so fundamental when he talks about QB success: good feet which leads to throwing accurately and on time. Same with WRs: get open quickly and be ready for the ball. Lester is very high on Ruggiero – he will cover the same responsibilities that Tim did when at Green Bay; Tim has it outlined for him as it is a change from the OC role he held at Wake Forest.

After Tim, it was time for Phil. What I thought was interesting was that he started by taking time to go through stats and metrics from 2024. Much like he did during the bye week last season. I love me some PP, and I think he knows that his defense underperformed to the standard last year and it’s not his best strength to explain the why behind it. Sometime sh*t just happens; no reason to extrapolate. Phil had position coaches speak, and of course at one point he noticed that KB wasn’t there. “Where’s KB?!” Wallace said he was still preaching DL. Phil shook his head and rolled his eye. Great lighthearted moment. So Nieman stepped up and went through each player on the DL and didn’t miss a beat. Right on point. Wallace was next up and went through LBs. Very sharp and detailed. He is in lock step with Phil and Kirk. Seth is tough, fair, driven and has high expectations all around. Phil wrapped it up with the secondary, and he spoke more broadly in terms of the Iowa Defense way in strong tackling and not letting anything behind you.

 

[Birky]

Thanks!!!

 

[dadster]

Very entertaining post. Appreciate you taking the time to share your experience.

 

[Ladell-hawk]

I was again fortunate enough to attend the Iowa FB Coaches Clinic last weekend.

As always, a first-class football experience where every detail is attended to. Kirk is the ultimate pro and makes sure he does his best to ensure that every detail within FB operation in and out of season is attended to meticulously. Everyone is in line with his thinking.

I started with my absolute favorite position coach. Kelvin Bell. What a tremendous football guy! He is all football and all about his guys. He covered the basics and details on alignment, blow delivery and gap discipline, and really got into a groove in his delivery. At one point a junior person tried to tell him to hurry things up and KB shot back that he was prepared to be there all night. LOL. He kept pushing forward, and not to soon after Nieman came in to say it’s time to eat. KB shot back that his guys are hungry for some d-line coaching! He’s just a great football guy.

After we quickly ate it was time for the main event for the evening. Tim Lester and QBs. Lester was running behind due to 1-1 chats, so Tyler Barnes stepped in. Barnes fielded questions on $ and NIL, and his message was that if a prospect has an early ask about $ then they are polite and take him off the list. It’s not a good fit. There is a time and place to talk about NIL, but not early in the dating process. He started talking about Iowa guys and the euphoria in the locker room when Lester walked in. Barnes asked him what he thought about the Nebraska game post-game celebration. Lester shot back, “I don’t know about you, but I wanted to off myself. What did we have? Six first downs? Jesus.” Lester knows what he wants and how it should look. It certainly wasn’t there last year. He has high expectations of himself in delivering the offense he knows he can. He was missing a lot of pieces last year. He’s like Kirk in that he is a pro-level coach who is working at the college level. He is so fundamental when he talks about QB success: good feet which leads to throwing accurately and on time. Same with WRs: get open quickly and be ready for the ball. Lester is very high on Ruggiero – he will cover the same responsibilities that Tim did when at Green Bay; Tim has it outlined for him as it is a change from the OC role he held at Wake Forest.

After Tim, it was time for Phil. What I thought was interesting was that he started by taking time to go through stats and metrics from 2024. Much like he did during the bye week last season. I love me some PP, and I think he knows that his defense underperformed to the standard last year and it’s not his best strength to explain the why behind it. Sometime sh*t just happens; no reason to extrapolate. Phil had position coaches speak, and of course at one point he noticed that KB wasn’t there. “Where’s KB?!” Wallace said he was still preaching DL. Phil shook his head and rolled his eye. Great lighthearted moment. So Nieman stepped up and went through each player on the DL and didn’t miss a beat. Right on point. Wallace was next up and went through LBs. Very sharp and detailed. He is in lock step with Phil and Kirk. Seth is tough, fair, driven and has high expectations all around. Phil wrapped it up with the secondary, and he spoke more broadly in terms of the Iowa Defense way in strong tackling and not letting anything behind you.

So that was Friday. I’ll share Saturday practice notes on this thread in a little bit.

That was great, thanks !

 

[jerbob36]

Took a lot of time to write that up. Loved it -- thanks.

 

[pistachio1999]

I was again fortunate enough to attend the Iowa FB Coaches Clinic last weekend.

As always, a first-class football experience where every detail is attended to. Kirk is the ultimate pro and makes sure he does his best to ensure that every detail within FB operation in and out of season is attended to meticulously. Everyone is in line with his thinking.

I started with my absolute favorite position coach. Kelvin Bell. What a tremendous football guy! He is all football and all about his guys. He covered the basics and details on alignment, blow delivery and gap discipline, and really got into a groove in his delivery. At one point a junior person tried to tell him to hurry things up and KB shot back that he was prepared to be there all night. LOL. He kept pushing forward, and not to soon after Nieman came in to say it’s time to eat. KB shot back that his guys are hungry for some d-line coaching! He’s just a great football guy.

After we quickly ate it was time for the main event for the evening. Tim Lester and QBs. Lester was running behind due to 1-1 chats, so Tyler Barnes stepped in. Barnes fielded questions on $ and NIL, and his message was that if a prospect has an early ask about $ then they are polite and take him off the list. It’s not a good fit. There is a time and place to talk about NIL, but not early in the dating process. He started talking about Iowa guys and the euphoria in the locker room when Lester walked in. Barnes asked him what he thought about the Nebraska game post-game celebration. Lester shot back, “I don’t know about you, but I wanted to off myself. What did we have? Six first downs? Jesus.” Lester knows what he wants and how it should look. It certainly wasn’t there last year. He has high expectations of himself in delivering the offense he knows he can. He was missing a lot of pieces last year. He’s like Kirk in that he is a pro-level coach who is working at the college level. He is so fundamental when he talks about QB success: good feet which leads to throwing accurately and on time. Same with WRs: get open quickly and be ready for the ball. Lester is very high on Ruggiero – he will cover the same responsibilities that Tim did when at Green Bay; Tim has it outlined for him as it is a change from the OC role he held at Wake Forest.

After Tim, it was time for Phil. What I thought was interesting was that he started by taking time to go through stats and metrics from 2024. Much like he did during the bye week last season. I love me some PP, and I think he knows that his defense underperformed to the standard last year and it’s not his best strength to explain the why behind it. Sometime sh*t just happens; no reason to extrapolate. Phil had position coaches speak, and of course at one point he noticed that KB wasn’t there. “Where’s KB?!” Wallace said he was still preaching DL. Phil shook his head and rolled his eye. Great lighthearted moment. So Nieman stepped up and went through each player on the DL and didn’t miss a beat. Right on point. Wallace was next up and went through LBs. Very sharp and detailed. He is in lock step with Phil and Kirk. Seth is tough, fair, driven and has high expectations all around. Phil wrapped it up with the secondary, and he spoke more broadly in terms of the Iowa Defense way in strong tackling and not letting anything behind you.

UPDATE:

One thing I failed to mention from Friday with Lester was how he thought he won Kirk over and got the job. During the interview Lester brought up the DUO play scheme. If you don't know what DUO is, at its simplest it is double teams at the LOS and allowing the RB to read the MLB. Lester was shocked that Iowa had never employed DUO under KF, so he chalked it out for him in great detail. The deeper he dove into it the wider KFs eyes and smile got, nodding along with him and ultimately telling Lester that he couldn't wait to run it. KF also added that he had talked to Bill and that's exactly how they run it. Lester asked who Bill was, and when he learned it was Bill Belichek he knew he was dealing with a great, serious coach who was one phone call away from talking to his friend who happened to be one of the greatest coaches in football.

Lester also covered the RPO game and used cut ups to illustrate what was missing last year. It's not where he wants it to be and is focused on getting the right player pieces in place this year. He went on to talk WRs and catch points in detail and also mentioned that he really appreciated what Jackson Stratton did for the team when he stepped in, but he never ever again wants to be in a position to resort to a walk on.

No Oline discussion? Maybe a crazy Gennings Dunker story?

 

[Drinkin Buddy]

UPDATE:

One thing I failed to mention from Friday with Lester was how he thought he won Kirk over and got the job. During the interview Lester brought up the DUO play scheme. If you don't know what DUO is, at its simplest it is double teams at the LOS and allowing the RB to read the MLB. Lester was shocked that Iowa had never employed DUO under KF, so he chalked it out for him in great detail. The deeper he dove into it the wider KFs eyes and smile got, nodding along with him and ultimately telling Lester that he couldn't wait to run it. KF also added that he had talked to Bill and that's exactly how they run it. Lester asked who Bill was, and when he learned it was Bill Belichek he knew he was dealing with a great, serious coach who was one phone call away from talking to his friend who happened to be one of the greatest coaches in football.

Lester also covered the RPO game and used cut ups to illustrate what was missing last year. It's not where he wants it to be and is focused on getting the right player pieces in place this year. He went on to talk WRs and catch points in detail and also mentioned that he really appreciated what Jackson Stratton did for the team when he stepped in, but he never ever again wants to be in a position to resort to a walk on.

 

[Drinkin Buddy]

No Oline discussion? Maybe a crazy Gennings Dunker story?

Ask and you shall receive...

Ts

Gennings Dunker is an NFL guy at RT. He has the prototypical Iowa 5th year guy body. He is massive. He had limited reps on Saturday because of his experience and the need to develop a solid backup. He's not a LT unless needed in an emergency situation. Keep him at RT and let him bulldoze.

Lauck at LT has the physical attributes but is still young and needs development. He stepped in at RT when Dunker went out.

Dotzier needs development and looks to be a year away. Hurkett abused him so much they should have called child welfare services.

Cannon Leonard played both T sides with the twos along with Lauck, McCaslin and Allgeyer. Very tall and looks it - needs to add mass and grow into it.

We definitely need help at LT either through fast development or portal. We simply don't have a B1G caliber LT right now.

Cs

Logan Jones is overall the best OL, with Dunker close behind. Dude dominates. Limited plays in order to develop depth.

Myslinski was next man in and is competing with Cael Winter for the 2 spot. Winter is really coming on strong in his development and he should definitely see the field down the road.

Janowski is 4. Great attitude and work ethic. Needs time for seasoning.

We're in good shape with the Cs.

Gs

Beau Stephens leads the group. Lots of wins vs 1s. Did a great job sealing and creating gaping holes. He's locked in.

Cade Pieper did a nice job. He is one strong dude. Forget the measurables - the guy can play at a strong level. Will see if he can develop to playing at a high level consistently. Dude has the heart to do it.

Leighton Jones has improved as you would hope and expect. Subbed in at 1s for Stephens. Has a really solid trajectory going and will get there very soon with hard work and attention to detail.

Myslinski is also in the 2 mix. Great to have the C/G combo ability in the room. Can add value at both spots.

Janowski, Borud and Krogh are in development mode. Janowski also had some work at C.

Summary

My impression was that the OL group looked surprisingly veteran. They handled themselves very well and had a good amount of success moving down the field this early in spring. Great group of young men who are well coached and are ahead of skill positions yet in terms of executing Lesters concepts. Don't read too much into that as it should be expected. Am concerned but not panicked about LT; everyone knows this needs to be addressed and they are working every possibility to solidify it.

I'll add more on O, D and ST later on.

 

[pistachio1999]

Ask and you shall receive...

Ts

Gennings Dunker is an NFL guy at RT. He has the prototypical Iowa 5th year guy body. He is massive. He had limited reps on Saturday because of his experience and the need to develop a solid backup. He's not a LT unless needed in an emergency situation. Keep him at RT and let him bulldoze.

Lauck at LT has the physical attributes but is still young and needs development. He stepped in at RT when Dunker went out.

Dotzier needs development and looks to be a year away. Hurkett abused him so much they should have called child welfare services.

Cannon Leonard played both T sides with the twos along with Lauck, McCaslin and Allgeyer. Very tall and looks it - needs to add mass and grow into it.

We definitely need help at LT either through fast development or portal. We simply don't have a B1G caliber LT right now.

Cs

Logan Jones is overall the best OL, with Dunker close behind. Dude dominates. Limited plays in order to develop depth.

Myslinski was next man in and is competing with Cael Winter for the 2 spot. Winter is really coming on strong in his development and he should definitely see the field down the road.

Janowski is 4. Great attitude and work ethic. Needs time for seasoning.

We're in good shape with the Cs.

Gs

Beau Stephens leads the group. Lots of wins vs 1s. Did a great job sealing and creating gaping holes. He's locked in.

Cade Pieper did a nice job. He is one strong dude. Forget the measurables - the guy can play at a strong level. Will see if he can develop to playing at a high level consistently. Dude has the heart to do it.

Leighton Jones has improved as you would hope and expect. Subbed in at 1s for Stephens. Has a really solid trajectory going and will get there very soon with hard work and attention to detail.

Myslinski is also in the 2 mix. Great to have the C/G combo ability in the room. Can add value at both spots.

Janowski, Borud and Krogh are in development mode. Janowski also had some work at C.

Summary

My impression was that the OL group looked surprisingly veteran. They handled themselves very well and had a good amount of success moving down the field this early in spring. Great group of young men who are well coached and are ahead of skill positions yet in terms of executing Lesters concepts. Don't read too much into that as it should be expected. Am concerned but not panicked about LT; everyone knows this needs to be addressed and they are working every possibility to solidify it.

I'll add more on O, D and ST later on.

May need to line up a TE on the left side to help out against most veteran DEs. Hopefully the kid is learning quick against the veteran Hurkett. Glad that guy came back.

 

[Drinkin Buddy]

May need to line up a TE on the left side to help out against most veteran DEs. Hopefully the kid is learning quick against the veteran Hurkett. Glad that guy came back.

That's always an option. Best in practice to put the LT on an island and allow him to develop experience play in and play out. Hurkett practiced at a very high level, and this is what you want on both sides. The field exposes everyone, and it works both ways - thrive or die from it.

And yes, Hurkett coming back is a great boost up front.

 

[Beattheohiostate]

UPDATE:

One thing I failed to mention from Friday with Lester was how he thought he won Kirk over and got the job. During the interview Lester brought up the DUO play scheme. If you don't know what DUO is, at its simplest it is double teams at the LOS and allowing the RB to read the MLB. Lester was shocked that Iowa had never employed DUO under KF, so he chalked it out for him in great detail. The deeper he dove into it the wider KFs eyes and smile got, nodding along with him and ultimately telling Lester that he couldn't wait to run it. KF also added that he had talked to Bill and that's exactly how they run it. Lester asked who Bill was, and when he learned it was Bill Belichek he knew he was dealing with a great, serious coach who was one phone call away from talking to his friend who happened to be one of the greatest coaches in football.

Lester also covered the RPO game and used cut ups to illustrate what was missing last year. It's not where he wants it to be and is focused on getting the right player pieces in place this year. He went on to talk WRs and catch points in detail and also mentioned that he really appreciated what Jackson Stratton did for the team when he stepped in, but he never ever again wants to be in a position to resort to a walk on.

So, basically, Lester said what Brian F. would have . . .

This is great stuff, but at the same time it's further evidence that Kirk was deaf, dumb, and blind when he named his unqualified son OC and doubled down by naming him QB coach. If that's not malfeasance, what is? And if Beth hadn't fired Brian, do you think KF would have?
That whole thing is inscrutable.

 

[Iron Doc]

Hope the OL works out.

 

[pistachio1999]

That's always an option. Best in practice to put the LT on an island and allow him to develop experience play in and play out. Hurkett practiced at a very high level, and this is what you want on both sides. The field exposes everyone, and it works both ways - thrive or die from it.

And yes, Hurkett coming back is a great boost up front.

Remember back a while when Cole Croston was that guy and he gave up like 4 or 5 sacks against I think was Northwestern. Certainly made them go it alone. Then Boone Myers was a LT and same kind of deal. Trial by fire.

 

[pistachio1999]

So, basically, Lester said what Brian F. would have . . .

This is great stuff, but at the same time it's further evidence that Kirk was deaf, dumb, and blind when he named his unqualified son OC and doubled down by naming him QB coach. If that's not malfeasance, what is? And if Beth hadn't fired Brian, do you think KF would have?
That whole thing is inscrutable.

He also hired everyone else on staff. Parker, Woods, etc. Brian was a great OL/TE coach. Should've gone elsewhere to make the jump to next step.

 

[DutchyFunStar]

So is the point of the coaching clinic to help high school coaches with techniques, drills, and coaching points or is it more of a fanboy event?

 

[pistachio1999]

So is the point of the coaching clinic to help high school coaches with techniques, drills, and coaching points or is it more of a fanboy event?

Keeps connections for cruitin also.

 

[90-0]

So is the point of the coaching clinic to help high school coaches with techniques, drills, and coaching points or is it more of a fanboy event?

Little of both. Tough to do what they do when you coach a class A 175lb d tackle vs coaching a 290lb d1 athlete. Been to a few and never took anything back that was profound. Maybe a drill here and there

 

[Ladell-hawk]

So, basically, Lester said what Brian F. would have . . .

This is great stuff, but at the same time it's further evidence that Kirk was deaf, dumb, and blind when he named his unqualified son OC and doubled down by naming him QB coach. If that's not malfeasance, what is? And if Beth hadn't fired Brian, do you think KF would have?
That whole thing is inscrutable.

Come on man, let it go.

 

[Drinkin Buddy]

So is the point of the coaching clinic to help high school coaches with techniques, drills, and coaching points or is it more of a fanboy event?

It is all football work. Copious amounts of notes and deep, detailed football conversations. It's a professional setting.

Why do you think all 32 NFL teams send reps to Iowa pro days? It's all professional and well respected. There's no drop off in professionalism from a pro day to a coach's clinic. I've been to both.

 

[Drinkin Buddy]

So, basically, Lester said what Brian F. would have . . .

This is great stuff, but at the same time it's further evidence that Kirk was deaf, dumb, and blind when he named his unqualified son OC and doubled down by naming him QB coach. If that's not malfeasance, what is? And if Beth hadn't fired Brian, do you think KF would have?
That whole thing is inscrutable.

On a personal level, I get a kick out of Brian because of the high level of intelligence and obtuseness he works with. It's uniquely entertaining.

He is a good football guy to a point. He's not a leader. He's a grinder.

Never expect much creativity from him; he falls back on the proven rather that pushing forward on the yet-to-be-proven. He's a maintainer, not a developer. Run it again, but better this time is his mantra. We're Iowa works here and there but falls short when good teams see it and can easily replicate and prepare for it. Adding a wrinkle now and then is not being creative. So, naturally he failed as an OC.

Kirk is an outstanding leader and football guy. He is a head man and can very efficiently and effectively run a football operation. He has his blind spots, like all of us. I don't want Kirk for his creativity; I want him to be a general and point direction. Lester and Parker need to be the creative forces...that's their charge. They coordinate things. Kirk has signoff, and you need to convince him...same deal as in most every profession.

JMO

 

[Iron Doc]

Can we go to a Spread Offense?

 

[kceasthawk]

So, basically, Lester said what Brian F. would have . . .

This is great stuff, but at the same time it's further evidence that Kirk was deaf, dumb, and blind when he named his unqualified son OC and doubled down by naming him QB coach. If that's not malfeasance, what is? And if Beth hadn't fired Brian, do you think KF would have?
That whole thing is inscrutable.

So even 6 months away from playing you can't just enjoy the mans post and the possibility of the offense continuing to progress under Lester without throwing in a dig on Kirk and BF. Let it go dude, he's long gone..

 

[HawksRule73]

Ask and you shall receive...

Ts

Gennings Dunker is an NFL guy at RT. He has the prototypical Iowa 5th year guy body. He is massive. He had limited reps on Saturday because of his experience and the need to develop a solid backup. He's not a LT unless needed in an emergency situation. Keep him at RT and let him bulldoze.

Lauck at LT has the physical attributes but is still young and needs development. He stepped in at RT when Dunker went out.

Dotzier needs development and looks to be a year away. Hurkett abused him so much they should have called child welfare services.

Cannon Leonard played both T sides with the twos along with Lauck, McCaslin and Allgeyer. Very tall and looks it - needs to add mass and grow into it.

We definitely need help at LT either through fast development or portal. We simply don't have a B1G caliber LT right now.

Cs

Logan Jones is overall the best OL, with Dunker close behind. Dude dominates. Limited plays in order to develop depth.

Myslinski was next man in and is competing with Cael Winter for the 2 spot. Winter is really coming on strong in his development and he should definitely see the field down the road.

Janowski is 4. Great attitude and work ethic. Needs time for seasoning.

We're in good shape with the Cs.

Gs

Beau Stephens leads the group. Lots of wins vs 1s. Did a great job sealing and creating gaping holes. He's locked in.

Cade Pieper did a nice job. He is one strong dude. Forget the measurables - the guy can play at a strong level. Will see if he can develop to playing at a high level consistently. Dude has the heart to do it.

Leighton Jones has improved as you would hope and expect. Subbed in at 1s for Stephens. Has a really solid trajectory going and will get there very soon with hard work and attention to detail.

Myslinski is also in the 2 mix. Great to have the C/G combo ability in the room. Can add value at both spots.

Janowski, Borud and Krogh are in development mode. Janowski also had some work at C.

Summary

My impression was that the OL group looked surprisingly veteran. They handled themselves very well and had a good amount of success moving down the field this early in spring. Great group of young men who are well coached and are ahead of skill positions yet in terms of executing Lesters concepts. Don't read too much into that as it should be expected. Am concerned but not panicked about LT; everyone knows this needs to be addressed and they are working every possibility to solidify it.

I'll add more on O, D and ST later on.

Been hearing good things about Winter who seems to have come out of nowhere and grabbed the 2nd string C spot.

 

[Aethelstan]

UPDATE:

One thing I failed to mention from Friday with Lester was how he thought he won Kirk over and got the job. During the interview Lester brought up the DUO play scheme. If you don't know what DUO is, at its simplest it is double teams at the LOS and allowing the RB to read the MLB. Lester was shocked that Iowa had never employed DUO under KF, so he chalked it out for him in great detail. The deeper he dove into it the wider KFs eyes and smile got, nodding along with him and ultimately telling Lester that he couldn't wait to run it. KF also added that he had talked to Bill and that's exactly how they run it. Lester asked who Bill was, and when he learned it was Bill Belichek he knew he was dealing with a great, serious coach who was one phone call away from talking to his friend who happened to be one of the greatest coaches in football.

Lester also covered the RPO game and used cut ups to illustrate what was missing last year. It's not where he wants it to be and is focused on getting the right player pieces in place this year. He went on to talk WRs and catch points in detail and also mentioned that he really appreciated what Jackson Stratton did for the team when he stepped in, but he never ever again wants to be in a position to resort to a walk on.

Duo has made the power gap scheme obsolete. It is a way to run power without pulling the backside guard. If I were still coaching, I would even ditch inside zone because Duo is an easier read for the RB

 

[Rocket_Fran]

Duo has made the power gap scheme obsolete. It is a way to run power without pulling the backside guard. If I were still coaching, I would even ditch inside zone because Duo is an easier read for the RB

Where and when did this evolution initially occur? Is it an update to older schemes or something genuinely more recent? Was it in response to adaptations to the defense, modern rule changes, or something else entirely? Thanks in advance.

 

[NevadaHawk]

On a personal level, I get a kick out of Brian because of the high level of intelligence and obtuseness he works with. It's uniquely entertaining.

He is a good football guy to a point. He's not a leader. He's a grinder.

Never expect much creativity from him; he falls back on the proven rather that pushing forward on the yet-to-be-proven. He's a maintainer, not a developer. Run it again, but better this time is his mantra. We're Iowa works here and there but falls short when good teams see it and can easily replicate and prepare for it. Adding a wrinkle now and then is not being creative. So, naturally he failed as an OC.

Kirk is an outstanding leader and football guy. He is a head man and can very efficiently and effectively run a football operation. He has his blind spots, like all of us. I don't want Kirk for his creativity; I want him to be a general and point direction. Lester and Parker need to be the creative forces...that's their charge. They coordinate things. Kirk has signoff, and you need to convince him...same deal as in most every profession.

JMO

Thank you for providing all this information. Great stuff and it sounds like things are progressing well. I can't wait for the 2025 season to begin.

 

[Drinkin Buddy]

ST

Let's start with the key cog in ST operations. Long Snapper (LS). Rarely appreciated but sorely missed is Luke Elkin. He was masterful to the point that you never gave the snap a second thought. He will be missed. Michael Burt is working, but he has to develop. No sugarcoating: LS is a position of concern and may garner consideration for a portal add. Ike Speltz is a RS frosh trying to work his way in, but there is a wide gap that needs to be filled, and it is an immediate need.

P and PK are as good as you can ask for.

Stevens has an incredible leg. When his foot meshes with the ball it just has a different sound. He was indoors practicing 50y and was nailing them straight middle and a bit more than halfway up to the net through the posts. 65 yards is not out of the question with his leg, approach and accuracy.

Rhys is bigger and stronger. Booming legger. I only saw him in warmups and he was working on inside 10 for accuracy. Just goes about his business and does it very well for such a novice player.

 

[Iron Doc]

Went and read up on DUO.
Sounds like it might work.

 

[Aethelstan]

Where and when did this evolution initially occur? Is it an update to older schemes or something genuinely more recent? Was it in response to adaptations to the defense, modern rule changes, or something else entirely? Thanks in advance.

I was a high school offensive line coach, but have been retired since 2006. I was first exposed to Duo by watching coaching videos on YouTube. I believe that is a scheme that began in the NFL. I also watched the Minnesota Gophers run game on TV as they seemed to rely on two schemes, duo and wide zone. To me, duo seems to have evolved from power gap. In power, playside double teams combo to backside backers and the backside guard pulls and accounts for the playside backer. In duo, the playside guard and tackle double team combo to the playside backer and the backside guard and center combo to the backside backer. Vs a 34 defense the TE and tackle combo to the playside backer and the playside guard and center combo to the backside backer. The RB aims at the A gap and keys the playside backer. If the backer flows, he sticks it, if the backer fills, he bounces outside.

 

[pistachio1999]

open practice in 3 weeks.

 

[pistachio1999]

Since this is Iowa we are talking about, how did our fullbacks look?

 

[Iron Doc]

I was a high school offensive line coach, but have been retired since 2006. I was first exposed to Duo by watching coaching videos on YouTube. I believe that is a scheme that began in the NFL. I also watched the Minnesota Gophers run game on TV as they seemed to rely on two schemes, duo and wide zone. To me, duo seems to have evolved from power gap. In power, playside double teams combo to backside backers and the backside guard pulls and accounts for the playside backer. In duo, the playside guard and tackle double team combo to the playside backer and the backside guard and center combo to the backside backer. Vs a 34 defense the TE and tackle combo to the playside backer and the playside guard and center combo to the backside backer. The RB aims at the A gap and keys the playside backer. If the backer flows, he sticks it, if the backer fills, he bounces outside.

Are you based in inner city Aethelstan, or suburban Aethelstan?

 

[BurgHawk87]

ST

Let's start with the key cog in ST operations. Long Snapper (LS). Rarely appreciated but sorely missed is Luke Elkin. He was masterful to the point that you never gave the snap a second thought. He will be missed. Michael Burt is working, but he has to develop. No sugarcoating: LS is a position of concern and may garner consideration for a portal add. Ike Speltz is a RS frosh trying to work his way in, but there is a wide gap that needs to be filled, and it is an immediate need.

P and PK are as good as you can ask for.

Stevens has an incredible leg. When his foot meshes with the ball it just has a different sound. He was indoors practicing 50y and was nailing them straight middle and a bit more than halfway up to the net through the posts. 65 yards is not out of the question with his leg, approach and accuracy.

Rhys is bigger and stronger. Booming legger. I only saw him in warmups and he was working on inside 10 for accuracy. Just goes about his business and does it very well for such a novice player.

Not that I want to be settling for 60 yard FGs, but with the power Drew has I wouldn't mind seeing him drill a few this season. Hopefully takes the punt from the 40 off the table (barring weather).

 

[Mister_Man]

Any impressions on coach Barnett or coach Young?

 

[ItsAllBallBearingsNowadays]

I was a high school offensive line coach, but have been retired since 2006. I was first exposed to Duo by watching coaching videos on YouTube. I believe that is a scheme that began in the NFL. I also watched the Minnesota Gophers run game on TV as they seemed to rely on two schemes, duo and wide zone. To me, duo seems to have evolved from power gap. In power, playside double teams combo to backside backers and the backside guard pulls and accounts for the playside backer. In duo, the playside guard and tackle double team combo to the playside backer and the backside guard and center combo to the backside backer. Vs a 34 defense the TE and tackle combo to the playside backer and the playside guard and center combo to the backside backer. The RB aims at the A gap and keys the playside backer. If the backer flows, he sticks it, if the backer fills, he bounces outside.

Sounds imperative that you have a RB with great vision and processing. KJ had that. Not all RBs do.

 

[Aethelstan]

Sounds imperative that you have a RB with great vision and processing. KJ had that. Not all RBs do.

The RB read for duo is easier than inside zone.

 

[mthawkeyes]

The RB read for duo is easier than inside zone.

Yep. This is part of the beauty of the play. Also, it puts one of the defense's best players in conflict. That's a lot easier than trying to block him.

 

[Aethelstan]

Yep. This is part of the beauty of the play. Also, it puts one of the defense's best players in conflict. That's a lot easier than trying to block him.

The only problem with duo is that it is very formation specific. It must be run to a three man surface ( TE or H-Back ) and if there is an overhang ( outside backer in a 34 ) it requires a fourth blocker to handle it. Inside zone can be run to a two man surface.

 

[mthawkeyes]

The only problem with duo is that it is very formation specific. It must be run to a three man surface ( TE or H-Back ) and if there is an overhang ( outside backer in a 34 ) it requires a fourth blocker to handle it. Inside zone can be run to a two man surface.

Easy to deal with by just giving the QB a simple read.

 

[Aethelstan]

Easy to deal with by just giving the QB a simple read.

Yes, a check with me audible, possible RPO, or bring an extra blocker with motion.