Punters that can’t punt, receivers that can’t catch, lineman that can’t block. We are going to surprise a lot of our opponents this season
FOUR Straight Wide Receiver drops; "that might be a little concerning."
- Thread starter Franisdaman
- Start date
ANNNNDDDDDDDD......right on cue. A post with something negative about whats been a pretty upbeat camp, (minus the suspensions of course), and here you are. Surely you must have radar or an extra long antenna, which alerts you to threads you can join to further your "everything about Iowa football sucks" dogma. Do you have nothing else to do????
I'm a big Fant fan too. I think it's real tough to say it 'probably cost that game'. We were down 7. We would have had first & 10 at about the 12. Still a long way to go for an offense that sputtered all day. Certainly cost us whatever chance we had, but our odds of winning at that point were probably about 30%.
PFF has Fant with 7 drops last year. Says it's his biggest area that could improve.
"You are the king of spin" that one made me chuckle considering the source.
NW will always be jTarpwestern to me
I guess I don't get wrapped up in drops during a practice held open to the public roughly a single week into fall camp all that much. That's why Saturday isn't the final practice before their first game.
And yes, if Iowa recruited better talent at WR it probably means that drops in games are less common. But say Iowa simply went "passing more successfully" in a vacuum. Is that really "better"? In other words, there's an assumption that "better wide receivers automatically means a better Kirk Ferentz offense".
Somehow, I don't necessarily believe it's quite that simple to equate. Maybe a better correlation would be that if Iowa recruited better WR talent that "exactly fits what they've always tried to do on offense and have recruited to over the years".
Call it finding "a better McNutt". A "better Hinkel". A "better Vandeberg". A "better Smith". What I would term "a better perfect fit". Talent just for talent's sake doesn't necessarily mean you win more. They gotta be better overall football players while still being fits within the "Iowa Way" motif of doing things.
I guess I don't get wrapped up in drops during a practice held open to the public roughly a single week into fall camp all that much. That's why Saturday isn't the final practice before their first game.
And yes, if Iowa recruited better talent at WR it probably means that drops in games are less common. But say Iowa simply went "passing more successfully" in a vacuum. Is that really "better"? In other words, there's an assumption that "better wide receivers automatically means a better Kirk Ferentz offense".
Somehow, I don't necessarily believe it's quite that simple to equate. Maybe a better correlation would be that if Iowa recruited better WR talent that "exactly fits what they've always tried to do on offense and have recruited to over the years".
Call it finding "a better McNutt". A "better Hinkel". A "better Vandeberg". A "better Smith". What I would term "a better perfect fit". Talent just for talent's sake doesn't necessarily mean you win more. They gotta be better overall football players while still being fits within the "Iowa Way" motif of doing things.
I am surprised we have been able to get the QBs we have gotten given that we can't seem to find WR's for them to throw to.
It was Stross who dropped crucial passes in the 2009 Ohio State game? Didn't he drop a for sure TD pass where we had to settle for a FG?
in last year's Wisky game, how many dropped passes were there in that very ugly game? As we all know, the Wisky game this year is game 4 and if we lose to Wisky, we can probably kiss the West title away.
bottom line: unfortunately there are a lot of examples in how dropped passes helped lead to an ugly loss.
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Just call Nebby "Debbie." They are a bunch of girls, after all.
Where is Fred Biletnikoff and his gallon of stickem when you need him.Our guys need stickier gloves.
The first group was pretty dang good too. The only WR that Ferentz has had so far that amounted to much in the pros in Kevin Kasper along with national special teams player of the year in Khalil Hill as #1 and 2.
Also, a freshman WR (they "forgot" his name, but Chad said "I don't want to embarrass him") was running around, no one was covering him, and he fell flat on his face. Mark said, "it happens." Well, with Iowa WR's I guess it does.
Chad said he felt good about Easley and Smith-Marsette but he said he was not yet ready to buy on Brandon Smith or Tyrone Tracy; they just didn't show anything. Keep in mind; this is one practice.
Chad said he felt good about Easley and Smith-Marsette but he said he was not yet ready to buy on Brandon Smith or Tyrone Tracy; they just didn't show anything. Keep in mind; this is one practice.
Ferentz has mentioned that despite the fact that Cooper didn't have a particularly good practice during kids day ... he DID say that that wasn't representative of what they'd been seeing from Cooper during camp. The implication being that Cooper had been doing pretty well ... certainly better than he'd been doing as a TR FR.
Ultimately, that is what we want to hear about players - that they're making progress ... that they're improving. Obviously, we'd love to see quantum shifts in the paradigm of their play ... but even incremental shifts in the right direction are tangible positives.
It is what makes the Brandon Smith situation puzzling. Physical specimen. Intangibles. Caught a lot of balls in HS. Good vibe from his position coach. A lot of snaps as a true freshman. I thought this was one of the guys that would make this team special.
He hasn’t played a snap of his true sophomore year yet.
It sounded like he made strides through the spring. I don't have any idea how things are looking through the summer. I'd simply highlight that he's a young player - and you never know when the "light-bulb" will go on for some guys.
Even when Marvin emerged in '09, he was a RS SO ... so he was in his 3rd year on campus. Furthermore, Marvin spent his first year on campus at QB ... and that supplied him with a great opportunity to learn the O and understand what was being asked of both the QB and the WRs.
In contrast, while Brandon might have the measurables/tangibles ... I think that we need to be patient with the young man. He's only in his 2nd year on campus and he may still be trying to understand the O and how he fits in within it. Also, for young players, they often feel overwhelmed ... and they think that they have to do everything perfectly from the outset. Not only does that lead them to heap unreasonable expectations upon themselves ... but they often then have too much on their minds ... so they're thinking too much when they're on the field ... and that both slows down their play AND it takes away from their focus. When their play is slowed - they're easier to cover. When their focus lapses, they're more apt to drop passes (or miss a read/assignment).
This is Year 2 in the program for the WR coach, Brandon Smith, Smith-Marsette, and Easly (the 3 top WRs). Will they all take a giant step forward? I sure as heck hope so. And I hope others step up as well. I would love to see Stanley taking advantage of his cannon arm. Boy, if we have some WR threats AND Font and Hockenson? This could be a very fun offense to watch.
I would think that we should see significant strides in the passing game too. Stanley should be seeing things better. Timing should be better between Stanley and each of his WRs. Just as you pointed out ... Copeland is a year in working with the WRs and meshing with the other coaches on O.
There are no excuses this year for an ineffective offense, imo.
One thing that more often than not happens with regard to the WRs each year:
They will not live up to the hype generated by many/most on this board.
They will not live up to the hype generated by many/most on this board.
I recall how giddy some were when Riley McCarron said Devonte Young was as far along as any freshman WR he'd ever seen. Two years later he's an afterthought
That could have been a remark about the physical tangibles that Devonte brought to the table. Upon stepping on campus, Devonte probably was far stronger than the average WR. However, there is still the remainder of the equation ... getting down technique, getting down the O, and gaining confidence. If a guy gets caught too much in his own head ... then that's going to lead to slower play, missed assignments, and dropped balls. You're not going to play much if you cannot demonstrate consistency.
A pic from Hawkeye Report/WebCentrick from Kids Day:
CLICK ON THE IMAGE FOR A LARGER VIEW (look at the eyes, where the ball is; don't think this ball got caught)
CLICK ON THE IMAGE FOR A LARGER VIEW (look at the eyes, where the ball is; don't think this ball got caught)
