Assuming there isn’t a slew of injuries, will this not be the most talent on an Iowa team since…2009? 2002?
I guess it will depend on the growth/improvement of the OL. But if that unit can gel and be respectable, here are some of the pieces Iowa has to work with next year:
Offense: McNamara, All, Lachey, Kaleb Johnson
Defense: Shannon, Lee, X, DeJean, Higgins, Jackson
I’ve left out some really good players, but those are the guys who I believe can or who already have made all-conference honors.
So, is this team good enough to have one of those special KF seasons that lands Iowa in the top ten at the end of the year?
Hard to say ... usually I'm on the optimistic side.
It's VERY rare during the Ferentz era for a single position group (with possibly the exception of the WR corps) to be a problem-area multiple years running.
The fact that the OL-play was subpar in BOTH '21 and '22 is a glaring area of concern. As I often write about, there is certainly context to the situation which helps to explain WHY the play was subpar. However, given that the play was a concern 2 years in a row ... there is no guarantee that the play will be better. Whether the play is better is entirely up to the players to fix (and the coaches to facilitate them getting there). The fact that opposing coaches were suggesting that our OL was "soft" adds to the concern about whether or not the players have the pride and the "edge" necessary to fix the problems.
Of course, given that Kirk is there to observe all the work being done with the OL ... you gotta figure that the right things are being done on the level of coaching. Heck, Morgan still hangs around fort Kinnick ... and can give pointers if the need arises. Thus, there are no lack of resources available to the players or Coach Barnett to be successful (on the OL).
What will be interesting and/or odd to observe is that the B1G west is getting quite a "facelift" heading into the '23 season.
Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Purdue have all-new coaching staffs
Illinois will AT LEAST be featuring a new DC.
Both Northwestern and Minnesota had shake-ups in their respective coaching staffs too.
With all of this potential "newness" ... how will this impact the weekly preps for those teams?
With a new DC ... will the Illini's D continue to be elite? ... or will they take a step backward?
What impact will portal players have? Who will benefit from the '21 Mel Tucker effect ... where the portal players made a large and positive impact? Who will get hit by the the '22 Scott Frost effect ... where all the mercenaries didn't help the team get over the hump?