I am not here to get in an argument about the Iowa coaches or someone else's opinion of the coaches or where the program is or going to be, these are my thoughts and observations.
Went to the Glazier clinic in Chicago in Feb. and got to listen to Brian Ferentz talk about Iowa football and offensive line teaching. He talked first a lot about what they look for in recruits and the qualities they value most, #1 on the list is athletic ability and toughness, he made it very clear they are not recruiting the same ol kids as Wisconsin(bigger kids) most of the time. They want athletic kids that want to work hard and don't expect to be treated special. My opinion is they have not had as much success with highly rated kids; that they have sense of entitlement, as one coach I listened to this week-end said they start on 3rd base and think they hit a triple, you get what you earn not what you think you are entitled to.
That was a recurring theme this week-end in talking to the coaches they know that they aren't going to get a lot of high star kids they are going to have to build them up and get great effort out of them. In saying that they have been very pleased with the effort and attention to detail this winter. In the strength and conditioning workouts they have had their best year since they have been at Iowa. The average of the team in the hang clean, squat, and bench have improved significantly, in fact they are the strongest and most explosive team ever.
Another thing that has been a common theme is how much other coaches like and respect the Iowa coaches, especially Kirk Ferentz, you can not find one coach that has had any interaction with the Iowa staff that doesn't mention how professional and how much they appreciate what they do for them and their kids. From the coaches in Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois to the coaches in Texas they love the Iowa coaches and they reflect what KF embodies, which is respect and friendliness.
Clinic thoughts - Coaches on Friday were good; lots of different subjects and you had the opportunity to listen to coaches of a lot of Iowa recruits coming in, Dowling coach, Pella coach, Bishop Dunne In Dallas, Tx . etc.
Practice on Friday afternoon still just helmets on Saturday they had the 1st practice in pads; Team looks faster just in watching them in drills and 7 - 7 and inside run sessions.
QB's- Just 2 qb's Beatherd and Wiegers obviously CJ is the man stronger arm and better grasp on the offense I will say I was a JR man last year but after the WI and NEB games I thought CJ was a better option, my opinion he has a higher ceiling than JR and 2 years to play I was disappointed he didn't stick around and fight for the starting job but he didn't so; so long. It is CJ's team now let's see where he can take us
RB's - A lot of candidates here, 4 fb's and 5-6 tb's JC was #1, Daniels, Wadley, Hilliard, Joly, and Mitchell pretty much in that order. Can JC stay healthy? Daniels needs to stay healthy and get better vision reminds me of Weisman, Wadley can he hold on to the ball? I was really impressed with Mitchell the kid looks like a rb and he has some pop. On a related note at the Glazier clinic BF had a lot of cut ups of the ol plays (we basically only have 3-4 running plays) and in those you could see our fb's weren't always doing a good job and the rb's didn't read the holes very well. That is part of why our offense wasn't very good sometimes last year. If Cox and Plewa are healthy this fall I expect a better running offense.
WR"s - Smith - stud by far our best receiver not even close; Hillyer probably #2 and then Vandenberg( fastest kid on the team in my opinion) after that well we have a lot of bodies and they need to step up their games
TE's - The deepest part of the team in my opinion, they have 3 kids that are players, Duzey, Kittle, and HKC are as good or better than Hamilton last year, maybe not as good in line blocker but very athletic. Should be strength of the team.
OL - wow we need a lot of work in the ol, ot's were not good pass blockers the de's torched them in every drill, either NM and Ott are all-americans or we need them to improve by leaps and bounds the good thing is we have 5 months to improve. KF was working with the centers and guards and BF was with the tackles they are getting lots of reps and good teaching it is up to them to get better
Defense
DL - Ott and NM were unstoppable ; Ott should be all big ten and NM has really improved his speed rush they both looked a lot faster than last year, Jaleel and Bazata looked really good also, Bazata reminds you of high motor intense guys we have had in the past and honestly Jaleel is a poor mans Carl Davis he was really solid. Matt Nelson is one tall dude needs a little more size and speed to be a factor. They were really close to taking his red-shirt off a couple times last year according to one coach. The best coach on the staff in my opinion is Reese Morgan he is always going o have a better than we expect dl
LB's - Perry, Jewell, and Niemann were the starters looked good one coach told me they expect Jewell to be a clone of James Morris, really high praise for him. Perry looked solid in the middle and Niemann is very athletic, I was very impressed with Mends and Outsey they will be a huge upgrade on special teams they are young but remind me of Hitchens and Kirksey size wise and high motor kids.
DB's - King - best db we have had in a long time very physical could be our best safety also, Mabin the other cb, safeties were Taylor and Lomax. liked their aggressiveness and attitude we have some depth also; lots of bodies I know Snyder has been mentioned as impressing has a ways to go looked lost sometimes out there
Kickers and punters - first the bad news we don't have punter they were bad on Saturday low kicks and no distance we are talking 30-35 yds max. the good news is Koehn he has a huge leg best leg I have seen at Iowa longer than Kaeding, Friday he was hitting fg's from 45 yds and the ball was still going up going past the uprights, the ball just explodes off his foot
My thoughts were they looked a lot like past years teams; need a lot of work we need to stay healthy and the ol has to get better. This was my 19 th year going to this clinic and it pretty much looks like a lot of other teams we are a good not great team that hopefully will improve enough and get a few breaks that helps them to 8-9 wins I think the talent and coaching is there now it is up to players to make plays, Is CJ the man, can JC or another rb step up, do we get the ball to Smith or use the te's more? Can the defense step up and stop a team when they need to? I like where we are and expect a good season we shall see.
Went to the Glazier clinic in Chicago in Feb. and got to listen to Brian Ferentz talk about Iowa football and offensive line teaching. He talked first a lot about what they look for in recruits and the qualities they value most, #1 on the list is athletic ability and toughness, he made it very clear they are not recruiting the same ol kids as Wisconsin(bigger kids) most of the time. They want athletic kids that want to work hard and don't expect to be treated special. My opinion is they have not had as much success with highly rated kids; that they have sense of entitlement, as one coach I listened to this week-end said they start on 3rd base and think they hit a triple, you get what you earn not what you think you are entitled to.
That was a recurring theme this week-end in talking to the coaches they know that they aren't going to get a lot of high star kids they are going to have to build them up and get great effort out of them. In saying that they have been very pleased with the effort and attention to detail this winter. In the strength and conditioning workouts they have had their best year since they have been at Iowa. The average of the team in the hang clean, squat, and bench have improved significantly, in fact they are the strongest and most explosive team ever.
Another thing that has been a common theme is how much other coaches like and respect the Iowa coaches, especially Kirk Ferentz, you can not find one coach that has had any interaction with the Iowa staff that doesn't mention how professional and how much they appreciate what they do for them and their kids. From the coaches in Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois to the coaches in Texas they love the Iowa coaches and they reflect what KF embodies, which is respect and friendliness.
Clinic thoughts - Coaches on Friday were good; lots of different subjects and you had the opportunity to listen to coaches of a lot of Iowa recruits coming in, Dowling coach, Pella coach, Bishop Dunne In Dallas, Tx . etc.
Practice on Friday afternoon still just helmets on Saturday they had the 1st practice in pads; Team looks faster just in watching them in drills and 7 - 7 and inside run sessions.
QB's- Just 2 qb's Beatherd and Wiegers obviously CJ is the man stronger arm and better grasp on the offense I will say I was a JR man last year but after the WI and NEB games I thought CJ was a better option, my opinion he has a higher ceiling than JR and 2 years to play I was disappointed he didn't stick around and fight for the starting job but he didn't so; so long. It is CJ's team now let's see where he can take us
RB's - A lot of candidates here, 4 fb's and 5-6 tb's JC was #1, Daniels, Wadley, Hilliard, Joly, and Mitchell pretty much in that order. Can JC stay healthy? Daniels needs to stay healthy and get better vision reminds me of Weisman, Wadley can he hold on to the ball? I was really impressed with Mitchell the kid looks like a rb and he has some pop. On a related note at the Glazier clinic BF had a lot of cut ups of the ol plays (we basically only have 3-4 running plays) and in those you could see our fb's weren't always doing a good job and the rb's didn't read the holes very well. That is part of why our offense wasn't very good sometimes last year. If Cox and Plewa are healthy this fall I expect a better running offense.
WR"s - Smith - stud by far our best receiver not even close; Hillyer probably #2 and then Vandenberg( fastest kid on the team in my opinion) after that well we have a lot of bodies and they need to step up their games
TE's - The deepest part of the team in my opinion, they have 3 kids that are players, Duzey, Kittle, and HKC are as good or better than Hamilton last year, maybe not as good in line blocker but very athletic. Should be strength of the team.
OL - wow we need a lot of work in the ol, ot's were not good pass blockers the de's torched them in every drill, either NM and Ott are all-americans or we need them to improve by leaps and bounds the good thing is we have 5 months to improve. KF was working with the centers and guards and BF was with the tackles they are getting lots of reps and good teaching it is up to them to get better
Defense
DL - Ott and NM were unstoppable ; Ott should be all big ten and NM has really improved his speed rush they both looked a lot faster than last year, Jaleel and Bazata looked really good also, Bazata reminds you of high motor intense guys we have had in the past and honestly Jaleel is a poor mans Carl Davis he was really solid. Matt Nelson is one tall dude needs a little more size and speed to be a factor. They were really close to taking his red-shirt off a couple times last year according to one coach. The best coach on the staff in my opinion is Reese Morgan he is always going o have a better than we expect dl
LB's - Perry, Jewell, and Niemann were the starters looked good one coach told me they expect Jewell to be a clone of James Morris, really high praise for him. Perry looked solid in the middle and Niemann is very athletic, I was very impressed with Mends and Outsey they will be a huge upgrade on special teams they are young but remind me of Hitchens and Kirksey size wise and high motor kids.
DB's - King - best db we have had in a long time very physical could be our best safety also, Mabin the other cb, safeties were Taylor and Lomax. liked their aggressiveness and attitude we have some depth also; lots of bodies I know Snyder has been mentioned as impressing has a ways to go looked lost sometimes out there
Kickers and punters - first the bad news we don't have punter they were bad on Saturday low kicks and no distance we are talking 30-35 yds max. the good news is Koehn he has a huge leg best leg I have seen at Iowa longer than Kaeding, Friday he was hitting fg's from 45 yds and the ball was still going up going past the uprights, the ball just explodes off his foot
My thoughts were they looked a lot like past years teams; need a lot of work we need to stay healthy and the ol has to get better. This was my 19 th year going to this clinic and it pretty much looks like a lot of other teams we are a good not great team that hopefully will improve enough and get a few breaks that helps them to 8-9 wins I think the talent and coaching is there now it is up to players to make plays, Is CJ the man, can JC or another rb step up, do we get the ball to Smith or use the te's more? Can the defense step up and stop a team when they need to? I like where we are and expect a good season we shall see.
