First off, if you don't know Iowa coaches usually choose speakers with players either from this past year's recruiting class or future prospects. Such as (Pella-Garet Jansen, Bishop Dunne TX-Darrion Daniels, Menonomie WI-Nate Stanley. Some are good and some are just so so. One of the biggest tips I got was from Timber Creek HS coach. Chris White was introducing him and saying how great his players were (Quinton Alston) and they would love to get more Timber Creek players...the coach responded with "gotta offer coach". Maybe I'm over analyzing but I feel Iowa has a reputation for not being "quick on the trigger" with prospects. I think all of that has changed with the influence of Seth Wallace. He obviously has impacted recruiting from the standpoint of 160 plus offers out already for 2016.
Kirk Ferentz talked Saturday morning about getting "the right guys" not just the star rated guy. Another poster talked about this as well. I think Kirk has been in the game so long that the high profile guys kind of turn him off. This is good and bad in my opinion. You can take chances if you trust your development, but you also need to take chances on just pure talent.
Chris Doyle and his team put on a show with the weight room stuff. What a great group we have. Made me think about the fact that people are clamoring for Kirk to be gone. I hope they realize the impact this has on Iowa football. If Kirk leaves....everyone is out the door. We will not, mark my word, will NOT ever have a guy the caliber of Chris doyle in our program again. just something to think about.
The facilities are amazing...just a few things.
-when you walk in it is all glass and high ceilings...very modern. They have a Iowa History snap shot timeline that is really cool. and at the end of the hall is a huge glass case holding all of our bowl trophies...very cool.
-Up the steps you have glass boxes with Alex Karras shoes/Nile Kinnick heisman and Cal Jones??? helmet...very neat memorabilia.
-They have a coaches wall of fame with a giant hall of fame like head of Hayden Fry along with a picture collage of basically him and Ferentz.
-through glass doors is the lounge area set up with about 5 flat screens, tables and chairs for players to eat and black leather couches to lounge and watch TV...highlight is a projector TV that is huge....very player friendly.
-through the doors you go down the players hallway which is a balcony over the weight room. this is where all the position groups have their own room equipped with white board walls and position specific murals...very sweet. also plaques of past players at that position (all big, all american, NFL, academic)
-the weight room is like 5 times bigger equipped with nutrition refrigerators, pools, 70 yard area for speedtraining....it's state of the art.
-there is an NFL locker room
-NFL dedication area with pictures and gloves of past Iowa players in NFL
-piano key looking things highlighting everyone ever been drafted.
-bowl history plaques
-I'm sure I forgot something but WOW..........STATE OF THE ART.
-People will be saying now it's time for Kirk to respond without the facilities excuse but in reality, this is built for the post-Kirk era. And it ensures we should be able to recruit the best coaches/players in the nation. I hope Kirk sees it through and reaps the benefits of what he put together.
If not Kirk, I hope it's Brian.....great coach. great motivator. lots of talking.
Phil Parker is a mean dude....players are terrified but respect him....Seth Wallace is no sloutch either and is a lot like Phil.
coaching assignments:
QB: Greg Davis and DJ Hernandez
RB: Chris White
WR: bobby Kennedy
TE: LeVar woods
OL: Brian and Kirk hit this hard.
DL: Reese Morgan and Broderick Binns.....reese is a great teacher.
LB: Jim Reid/Chris Polizzi
DB: Phil Parker/Seth Wallace
QB: CJ is the man without question. He is walking around with a swagger and he has what he wants, run with it. He is a silent confident dude. Weigers shows potential but is a drop off. Would be great if he was #3. Will be fine though...has good size.
RB: Tons of them! Canzieri is #1 and he really leads the others. constantly helping the new guys and keeps them on task. Daniels is huge and is getting a lot of work. It will be the 2 of them this year for sure. Thunder and lightning. Daniels catches out of the backfield pretty well too. Wadley is #3 and is very quick to the hole, almost too quick as he was told to back up a little in his stance. Needs to work on ball security. Watch out for Derrick Mitchell, great combination of size and speed. I was surprised by him maybe more than anyone else on the team. Marcel Joly is next and like a DB said...he is a new player now. sounds like he was frustrated for awhile and wasn't giving best effort, now he is new and rejuvenated...hope he sticks it out. Hilliard is young and brings everything to the table but others seem to bring more to the table right now.
Canzieri/Daniels, Wadley, Mitchell, Joly/Hilliard
FBs: Huge to our running game and the return of Adam Cox will be big. Macon is a dependable backup and with John Kenny staying here, this is our best position on the team probably. All are working on catching balls out of the backfield and consistency in the run game.
Cox, Plewa, Kenny, Kulick, Manders, Kelly
WR: Oh no....not confident at all here. Tevaun looks great and I think his production will increase with CJ, but we need someone to step off to take pressure off of him. Hillyer is #2 and to me, we know what he brings to the table. He is a #4 WR and we are pushing him to #2. He is a senior and I hope he has a great year, but he seems to be a possession WR that struggles with drops sometimes...not good. Vandeberg is slot and will replace KMM. He will surprise and be better than people think. We need him to be huuuuge this season. Big time drop after these 3. Currently Andrew Stone is #4, McCarron #5 and wow, they better bring something huge to the table because i don't see it. McCarron fair caught punts and Stone had what seemed like 2 catches all year and we hope they are the next Wes Welker...um check again. God i hope i'm wrong. Andre Harris shows signs and he is just a year or two away. Disappointed in Jay Scheel...either he is still coming along, still getting in shape or just not passing anyone. Connor Keane got as much time as Scheel did. Parker is learning and is doing a lot of the same things Damond Powell did. He will be out back guy in our stacked 2 X 2.
1. Smith 2. Hillyer/Vandeberg 4. Stone/McCarron 6. Harris/Scheel/Parker/Keane
TE: Very solid and wish we would use them more. we know what we got here. Wisnieski is getting a lot of work in and is a big boy...still a step slow but we have a solid 5 guys.
Duzey, HKC, Kittle, Wisnieski, Pekar
LT: Myers, Croston
Boone WILL be great. High energy guy, a fighter with an edge. always willing to learn and ask questions...definately an Iowa guy that ferentz loves. He will be fine. Croston looked better but so dang skinny.
LG: Simmons, Keppy, Reynolds/LeGrand
I liked what I seen from Simmons and it seems he will be our 1st man in on the inside. Keppy was solid and Reynolds will get there, needs to work on flexibility a little. LeGrand was getting coached pretty tough and had a lot of "re-dos" but has good size.
C: Blythe, Ferentz, Daniels
Blythe is a stud and although Brian was all over him saying he will be a Remington Award winner if he ever gets consistent and figures it out. Steve sounds like he fights all the time, he definatley don't take any crap and will out work people. Lacks ideal size. Daniels...needs the redshirt. Skinny and just not used to the physicality of the big 10 yet...he fumbled about 10 snaps in two days driving everyone (players included) nuts. But....he will improve.
RG: Walsh, Render
Walsh looked good and Render seems to be the top of the freshman class getting looks at G and RT but is still at least a year away from playing as he got knocked around a bit. Hope Walsh has big year.
RT: Boettger, Ward, Render/Ferguson
Ike struggled a bit and I think he will be our weak spot this year...too bad we missed on so many tackles as I think if Boone could start at RT this year we would be just fine...but our lack of depth hurts and Boettger is thrown to the fire. He got beat a lot by Nate Meier and that can't be good as Meier is not a great Big 10 player. Ward is soft, plain and simple. Coaches talk about finding OL that fight tooth and nail and Ward just doesn't fight...super nice kid, but in the Big10 OL that doesn't cut it. Render getting looks at RT and Ferguson looks to be a nice looking project.
Sorry folks gotta go....will come back to talk D tomorrow!
Kirk Ferentz talked Saturday morning about getting "the right guys" not just the star rated guy. Another poster talked about this as well. I think Kirk has been in the game so long that the high profile guys kind of turn him off. This is good and bad in my opinion. You can take chances if you trust your development, but you also need to take chances on just pure talent.
Chris Doyle and his team put on a show with the weight room stuff. What a great group we have. Made me think about the fact that people are clamoring for Kirk to be gone. I hope they realize the impact this has on Iowa football. If Kirk leaves....everyone is out the door. We will not, mark my word, will NOT ever have a guy the caliber of Chris doyle in our program again. just something to think about.
The facilities are amazing...just a few things.
-when you walk in it is all glass and high ceilings...very modern. They have a Iowa History snap shot timeline that is really cool. and at the end of the hall is a huge glass case holding all of our bowl trophies...very cool.
-Up the steps you have glass boxes with Alex Karras shoes/Nile Kinnick heisman and Cal Jones??? helmet...very neat memorabilia.
-They have a coaches wall of fame with a giant hall of fame like head of Hayden Fry along with a picture collage of basically him and Ferentz.
-through glass doors is the lounge area set up with about 5 flat screens, tables and chairs for players to eat and black leather couches to lounge and watch TV...highlight is a projector TV that is huge....very player friendly.
-through the doors you go down the players hallway which is a balcony over the weight room. this is where all the position groups have their own room equipped with white board walls and position specific murals...very sweet. also plaques of past players at that position (all big, all american, NFL, academic)
-the weight room is like 5 times bigger equipped with nutrition refrigerators, pools, 70 yard area for speedtraining....it's state of the art.
-there is an NFL locker room
-NFL dedication area with pictures and gloves of past Iowa players in NFL
-piano key looking things highlighting everyone ever been drafted.
-bowl history plaques
-I'm sure I forgot something but WOW..........STATE OF THE ART.
-People will be saying now it's time for Kirk to respond without the facilities excuse but in reality, this is built for the post-Kirk era. And it ensures we should be able to recruit the best coaches/players in the nation. I hope Kirk sees it through and reaps the benefits of what he put together.
If not Kirk, I hope it's Brian.....great coach. great motivator. lots of talking.
Phil Parker is a mean dude....players are terrified but respect him....Seth Wallace is no sloutch either and is a lot like Phil.
coaching assignments:
QB: Greg Davis and DJ Hernandez
RB: Chris White
WR: bobby Kennedy
TE: LeVar woods
OL: Brian and Kirk hit this hard.
DL: Reese Morgan and Broderick Binns.....reese is a great teacher.
LB: Jim Reid/Chris Polizzi
DB: Phil Parker/Seth Wallace
QB: CJ is the man without question. He is walking around with a swagger and he has what he wants, run with it. He is a silent confident dude. Weigers shows potential but is a drop off. Would be great if he was #3. Will be fine though...has good size.
RB: Tons of them! Canzieri is #1 and he really leads the others. constantly helping the new guys and keeps them on task. Daniels is huge and is getting a lot of work. It will be the 2 of them this year for sure. Thunder and lightning. Daniels catches out of the backfield pretty well too. Wadley is #3 and is very quick to the hole, almost too quick as he was told to back up a little in his stance. Needs to work on ball security. Watch out for Derrick Mitchell, great combination of size and speed. I was surprised by him maybe more than anyone else on the team. Marcel Joly is next and like a DB said...he is a new player now. sounds like he was frustrated for awhile and wasn't giving best effort, now he is new and rejuvenated...hope he sticks it out. Hilliard is young and brings everything to the table but others seem to bring more to the table right now.
Canzieri/Daniels, Wadley, Mitchell, Joly/Hilliard
FBs: Huge to our running game and the return of Adam Cox will be big. Macon is a dependable backup and with John Kenny staying here, this is our best position on the team probably. All are working on catching balls out of the backfield and consistency in the run game.
Cox, Plewa, Kenny, Kulick, Manders, Kelly
WR: Oh no....not confident at all here. Tevaun looks great and I think his production will increase with CJ, but we need someone to step off to take pressure off of him. Hillyer is #2 and to me, we know what he brings to the table. He is a #4 WR and we are pushing him to #2. He is a senior and I hope he has a great year, but he seems to be a possession WR that struggles with drops sometimes...not good. Vandeberg is slot and will replace KMM. He will surprise and be better than people think. We need him to be huuuuge this season. Big time drop after these 3. Currently Andrew Stone is #4, McCarron #5 and wow, they better bring something huge to the table because i don't see it. McCarron fair caught punts and Stone had what seemed like 2 catches all year and we hope they are the next Wes Welker...um check again. God i hope i'm wrong. Andre Harris shows signs and he is just a year or two away. Disappointed in Jay Scheel...either he is still coming along, still getting in shape or just not passing anyone. Connor Keane got as much time as Scheel did. Parker is learning and is doing a lot of the same things Damond Powell did. He will be out back guy in our stacked 2 X 2.
1. Smith 2. Hillyer/Vandeberg 4. Stone/McCarron 6. Harris/Scheel/Parker/Keane
TE: Very solid and wish we would use them more. we know what we got here. Wisnieski is getting a lot of work in and is a big boy...still a step slow but we have a solid 5 guys.
Duzey, HKC, Kittle, Wisnieski, Pekar
LT: Myers, Croston
Boone WILL be great. High energy guy, a fighter with an edge. always willing to learn and ask questions...definately an Iowa guy that ferentz loves. He will be fine. Croston looked better but so dang skinny.
LG: Simmons, Keppy, Reynolds/LeGrand
I liked what I seen from Simmons and it seems he will be our 1st man in on the inside. Keppy was solid and Reynolds will get there, needs to work on flexibility a little. LeGrand was getting coached pretty tough and had a lot of "re-dos" but has good size.
C: Blythe, Ferentz, Daniels
Blythe is a stud and although Brian was all over him saying he will be a Remington Award winner if he ever gets consistent and figures it out. Steve sounds like he fights all the time, he definatley don't take any crap and will out work people. Lacks ideal size. Daniels...needs the redshirt. Skinny and just not used to the physicality of the big 10 yet...he fumbled about 10 snaps in two days driving everyone (players included) nuts. But....he will improve.
RG: Walsh, Render
Walsh looked good and Render seems to be the top of the freshman class getting looks at G and RT but is still at least a year away from playing as he got knocked around a bit. Hope Walsh has big year.
RT: Boettger, Ward, Render/Ferguson
Ike struggled a bit and I think he will be our weak spot this year...too bad we missed on so many tackles as I think if Boone could start at RT this year we would be just fine...but our lack of depth hurts and Boettger is thrown to the fire. He got beat a lot by Nate Meier and that can't be good as Meier is not a great Big 10 player. Ward is soft, plain and simple. Coaches talk about finding OL that fight tooth and nail and Ward just doesn't fight...super nice kid, but in the Big10 OL that doesn't cut it. Render getting looks at RT and Ferguson looks to be a nice looking project.
Sorry folks gotta go....will come back to talk D tomorrow!
