The regular season has already come to an end. An 8-4 season is nothing to hang our heads about, especially with a huge win against #3 Michigan. However, regardless of how the bowl game plays out, we will always wonder "what if" when looking back at 2016. The media will soon publish all conference/all american/etc. warm and fuzzy awards, Iowalaw's awards are the only place to get a non-white washed version of the best AND worst performers of Iowa's season:
Team MVP - Wadley. Arguments can be made for several Hawks, but this year's MVP goes to...a 2nd teamer! That's right, despite getting 52 less carries than the starter, and leading the entire Big 10 conference in yards per carry (2 more yards each carry than Daniels), Akrum was hands down the most valuable player on this year's team. We may never again see an Iowa player who received more praise from opposing players and coaches than his own head coach. Wadley single handedly carried Iowa on his shoulders to defeat Michigan (115 yrds rushing and 52 receiving)...and the staff's unexplainable benching of him for the NDSU game lost a game for us (Daniels had 14 carries for just 29 yrds, while Wadley got just 4 carries for 20 yards. Embarrassing coaching mistake). Wadley was a 2 game swing by himself.
Team Underachiever of the Year - Beathard. A lot was expected out of the Big Ten's 2015 2nd team all Big 10 QB. CJ returned for his senior year with a stacked RB tandem and 5 OL with starting experience on a 12-0 team. I was his biggest fan, and even speculated that he could be a Heisman candidate if the Hawks had another great season. How did CJ respond? By growing a scraggly goatee and putting up some of the worst QB numbers in the 18 year Ferentz era. The Hawks ranked 13th in the Big 10 in passing offense under CJ, and 113th in the country in scoring offense. CJ, who had been known for his cannon of an arm, scrambling ability, and gutsy leadership, was the king of the 2 yard pass on 3rd and 7, had no ability to avoid sacks while holding the ball way too long in the pocket, and was a shell of a leader this year. Last year he was gutsy and cocky, and this year, he showed no fire, no awareness, and was tagged delay of game penalties/time outs with 1 second on the clock virtually every game. Some say he was "hurt," yet his coaches called designed QB draws every game, and CJ did not show signs of any limp, nor did he discuss any injuries at all at press conferences (he discussed injuries every week last year). Since he wasn't hurt, others blame his production on the WRs sucking...they did. But a good QB finds a way to thread the needle and make his WRs seem better than they are. Pre-season, CJ was the top senior QB going into the draft. Now, he's a 3rd day draft pick at best. Time will tell whether it was the coaches that killed CJ or he was just the beneficiary of a great team and a soft schedule last year.
Defensive MVP - Jewell. Another tough one, with Johnson coming on big time late in the season, but Jewell finished the season with 114 tackles, just 2 away from leading the Big 10 in tackles. This is despite missing a full game after being ejected. Jewell was the team leader on defense and never seemed to take plays off. He played well against the run and pass, and although he did get a few dumb penalties, that was more a sign of being aggressive than mental mistakes. Honorable Mention - Davis and King will probably be drafted higher than Jewell, but Jewell was more valuable to this team.
Defensive Underachiever of the Year - King. The nation's returning 1st team All American CB came back to school for his senior year to rewrite the record books. He had 69 tackles as a true freshmen. 64 tackles and 3 ints as a true sophomore. 72 tackles and 8 ints as a junior. And what was his encore? 53 tackles and 2 ints. Fans like myself were screaming at the coaches since the ISU game to stop being stubborn and have King shadow the opponent's top receiver, regardless of what side of the field he was on. They refused, and opponents picked Mabin apart while King watched from the opposite side of the field. We wanted to see Kind play some WR. They refused, and we watched WRs drop 5 yard slant passes. In the end, the underutilization of King will go down in history as the worst waste of talent since Willie Guy. However, part of King's lack of production was on him. He took plays off this year, he tried to strip balls (and missed) rather than making tackles, and he talked so much trash that NFL analysts have noted that he "randys around too much and needs to just play football." We were lucky to have King, and he will be missed, but he could have been a guy everyeone in the nation was talking about, and he was a non factor this year.
Newcomer of the Year - Coluzzi. What a god send Coluzzi was. We have seen what it's like to have a shaking punter kill us in the field possession game. And we know what it's like to get torched by speedy kick returners. Despite not even being offered a scholarship to Iowa, Coluzzi wanted to play Big 10 ball and knew he was good enough, so he walked on at Iowa. He was as dominant as a punter/kicker as we've had since Ryan Donahue. Had a 41 yard punting avg, but more importantly, virtually no one could return punts against him due to all of the hang time. He had 40 kickoffs that went through the end zone, which is the majority of his kicks.
Wasted Redshirt of the Year - Stanley. It caused a lot of excitement when true freshmen Stanley was named 2nd team QB ahead of a more experienced backup, Wiegers. I openly wondered what the point was, unless CJ got hurt and Stanley was that much better than Wiegers. CJ stayed healthy all season long and played almost every snap, including in blowouts like Neb. So rather than keeping Wiegers happy at Iowa and keeping Stanley on the shelf to save his eligibility, Kirk burned a full 12 games of Stanley's 2020 eligibility so that he could throw a grand total of 8 passes, completing 5 of them. Did Stanley get invaluable experience as the #2 that would make such a dumb move worth while? Probably not, as Wiegers was still the guy who held the clip board, sent in all signals this year and met with CJ during timeouts while Stanley stayed on the bench. Honorable Mention - Jones (LB), Young got zero targets (WR)
Coach of the Year - Chris White. Statistically, the Hawks were pretty mediocre in virtually all categories. However, we were 1st in kick returns, 2nd in punt returns, 3rd in punting, and solid on kick and punt coverage. This is in spite of using walkons in several key positions, including our clutch place kicker...which tells me they were coached up. Kudos to the coach that probably gets the least credit, yet is one of our best recruiters. Honorable Mention - Morgan.
Worst Coach of the Year - Davis. Win or lose, this team was one of the most boring offenses in all of college football. Statistically, the scoring offense was nearly last in D1. Was that because the team lacked play makers? NOPE! We boasted the best RB tandem in the Ferentz era, one of its best pro prospect QBs, and a solid OL. No one will ever know what the offensive staff was thinking, hiding Derrick Mitchell and Jonathan Parker, two PROVEN offensive spark plugs who never got to sniff the field, while Jereminic Smith whiffed on pass after pass and Scheel was a ghost out there. Davis was a square peg in Kirk's scheme, and he simply doesn't belong. QBs regressed under him, and our offense needs a change. Time for new blood, and I am NOT talking about hiring the Coach's inept son.
