Losing great players on D ... no doubt.
It's an interesting thing to consider the following though ...
- Merriweather was a guy who subbed out when we went to 4-3 in '21 ... and Belton would slide over to SS. Credit to Merriweather for continuing to develop and putting up a strong SR campaign.
- '22 was only Van Ness's second year seeing game reps. Prior to '22 he mainly just had experience at DT for us. So while Van Ness was an important contributor for us, strangely enough, he still wasn't even close to being a veteran player.
- No doubt ... both Moss and Campbell were multi-year starters. Highly productive, important players for the D. However, despite individual greatness ... the LB group needed to pivot after Jacobs got injured. Similarly, while Moss locked down the right side ... Iowa's depth at corner was critically thin. Harris was obviously out for the season; Roberts got injured again (and apparently got disillusioned); Deasfernandes was injured and missed most of the season, DeJean was just a FIRST YEAR starter at CB (after sliding over from CASH/SS), and only remaining depth was a TR FR (Hall) and a walk-on (Heinz).
Iowa's experienced depth at LB will be nil in '23 ... so that is something to keep a close eye upon. However, Higgins and Jackson provide some fine foundations. It doesn't hurt that Seth Wallace has proven that he can coach himself linebackers at a pretty damn high level! While I'm excited about the '23 LB group ... I see it as the lone position group that takes a step backward from '22 to '23.
The interesting thing about Van Ness in '22 was that he was splitting time between DT and DE. This was all coming during a year when Logan Lee was touting how Iowa's DL could go as deep as playing 12 quality guys. An absolute ton of those guys return for the '23 season ... and they're now a year more experienced. It's exciting to think about how much improvement guys like Craig, Hurkett, and Graves can make. Furthermore, it's become pretty common fare for Iowa's D-linemen to put up their best season in their final year. As we look at the '23 season, it should be the final season for Evans, Lee, and Shannon. Furthermore, if Craig can put up a whale of a campaign ... he could find himself in a position to have a decision to make after the '23 season.
Anyhow, given the considerations above, there is absolutely no reason to believe that the DL-play could not be even better in '23.
When you look at corner ... you lose 1 elite corner in Moss ... but then you benefit from having DeJean now entering the '23 season will a lot more experience under his belt. What's more ... Jermari Harris is no schlep ... he had 4 interceptions and solid play in limited starting action back in '21. Most of the internal buzz I heard was hyping Harris as a guy who could have a decision to make after the '22 season ... however, given his injury, that buzz never came to fruition. ... not yet!
Most importantly, concerning the CB spot is that if there is any benefit to having all those injuries ... is that it helped to build some depth. If the '23 group of corners can enjoy some health ... then that should help it to AT LEAST hold serve compared to the '22 CB group. Lack of developed depth at corner (attributable to injuries) most certainly contributed to our losses in no fewer than 2 games this season ... namely against Illinois and Nebraska.
Compared to the '22 group ... the '23 group of corners should be a PUSH. So yes ... Moss is a decorated corner and we lose him ... however, better depth, the return of Harris, and the continued emergence of the star known as DeJean makes the changeover more seamless than folks might expect.
Now consider the situation at safety and cash in '22. We had to break in TWO brand new starters at CASH (DeJean and Castro) and we had to have a new starter at FS too. The lone returning starter was Merriweather ... a great team spokesman and ambassador ... but a guy whose play hadn't yet spoken for itself. When I look at the '23 group ... you see Castro as a guy who has done nothing but improve through every rep that he receives. Usually when there are breakdowns in the secondary ... a common culprit is poor communication ... and a lot of that lands at the feet of the FS. Thus, it was surprising as hell for the '22 secondary to have as few hiccups as it had (especially considering the injury issues at CB). While Quinn Schulte's play hasn't been flashy ... the lack of hiccups is a big credit to him. Last year was the first year starting for both Schulte and Castro ... both of those guys are likely to improve. Oh yeah ... Nwankpa! Not to get embroiled in hyperbole ... but it's very heartening to hear Phil's praise of Nwankpa in bowl prep. His play in the bowl did nothing to diffuse any such positive sentiments.
If we see any emergence at corner from TJ Hall or some other young guy ... that gives Phil the flexibility to put DeJean at CASH (which is arguably his best position). On top of that, it truly appears that Entringer has a chance to be an emerger. I don't know if I've seen that many seasons at Iowa where we've had athletes in the secondary of the caliber of Nwankpa, DeJean, and Entringer. To the credit of both Nwankpa and DeJean ... they've proven to be far more than just mere athletes ... those guys are FOOTBALL players (the ultimate compliment that can be conveyed in the hallowed halls of fort Kinnick). Hopefully Entringer will earn that designation himself.
Anyhow, my point being ... at cash/safety, I see the level of play continuing to rise.
If Higgins can continue to improve AND if Jackson can transition smoothly into our D ... the only real hole in Iowa's D is at OLB. However, even then, we have a number of LBs in the program who will be entering their 3rd year on campus ... guys who Wallace likes. Surely an OLB will emerge ...
You put all those parts together and imagine that Phil will feel comfortable leaning heavily upon the CASH-based D ... then there's plenty of reasons to suppose that Iowa's D could experience little let-down from last season.