Is the 2018 recieving core the best unit on the Iowa football team?

[mikesright]

This is some dumb shit. WR is easily the worst unit heading into the year. They do have a chance at improving to be middling in the Big Ten which would be an amazing improvement. And no you can’t count TE’s with it. Though I might let you count Fant as a hybrid WR since I’m sure they’ll split him out as an X WR in our scheme a time or ten.

 

[IowaNiceHawk]

I say that are cheerleaders are the best unit on the field this year.

Please illustrate in this thread, please............

 

[ghostOfHomer777]

I know, it sounds crazy, but hear me out.

Running back= the 2 guys returning have less than 500 yards and 4 TDs combined. Fant alone trumps that.

OLINE, replace 2 or 3 interior linemen, including a very skilled center. Nod WR/TE.

Dback, safety is set, but who even knows who the CB's will be? We could start true freshman.

LB=no.

So its Dline or Wr/TE.

We have stud DE's but with Nixon not making it, and the young heavyweights being freshman, there are some serious questions about run stuffing on the inside.

With what we have seen from Easley, Ism, Fant, Hock, and the addition of T. Tracy, you could make a serious argument for the recieveing group being the best unit on the team.

What say you?

Maybe we rephrase things in terms of experience ... and not just production (although production certainly matters).

RB + FB: RBs had starter quality reps vs North Texas, but that was pretty much it. Young and Ivory were either our co-#3 RBs or our #3 and #4 RBs. At FB, Ross is effectively a returning co-starter. Toren and Ivory will each be SOs, whereas Brady will be a JR.

WR: Although on paper, VandeBerg was our #1 WR entering the season ... in terms of production, health, and targets - Easley turned out to be our #1 WR. From there, ISM returns and was our #3 WR and B. Smith was our #4. Of those guys mentioned, Easley and ISM are the guys who return the most starter-quality snaps. Easley will be a SR. ISM and Smith will each be SOs.

TE: Both TEs are returning starters. Wieting is also a guy who's seen starter quality reps in each of the last 2 seasons. While just a FR 2 years ago, Fant was also a primary receiving TE when Kittle wasn't on the field. All that said, the returning TEs only have 1 year of prior starts (i.e. they're not yet multi-year starters). Fant and Wieting will be JRs, and Hock will be a SO.

QB: A unit of one guy ... but he is a talented guy who returns with a season of starts under his belts. All his backups are newbies. Stanley will be a JR.

OL: Render is a multi-year starter (likely what, our #4 O-lineman last year?). Jackson and Wirfs each are returning starters ... Jackson with essentially 12 starts under his belt ... Wirfs with a few fewer. Reynolds returns as our #6 O-lineman ... a guy who was esteemed enough that he regularly rotated in at OG. Banwart and Levi Paulsen were what ... likely co-#7s. They saw quality reps ... just not necessarily a lot of them. Render and Reynolds will be SRs, Paulsen will be a JR, and Jackson, Wirfs, and Banwart will each be SOs.

CB: Oddly enough, Rugamba, Ojemudia, and Hankins each saw starts through the year. Rugamba and Ojemudia return the most returning starts .... whereas, Rugamba and Hankins have arguably shown the brightest "flashes" of potential. However, "flashes" don't cut it for a regular starter - you need to demonstrate consistency. Once Josh Jackson demonstrated that ... we truly saw his level of play take off. Last year, on any given week we could fairly describe Manny, OJ, or Matt as a #2 CB. It's important to remark that while all the returning guys have starting experience ... none return a full season of starts. Manny and OJ will each be JRs and Hankins will be a SO.

S: Snyder was a #1 S back in '16. Gervase is arguably the guy who returns the next most starts. Amani Hooker is the guy who arguably returns the most impressive play while starting. Stone saw starter-quality reps against Nebraska ... and played extensively on special teams. Nobody returns more than a season of starts. Snyder and Gervase will each be SRs, Amani will be a JR, and Stone will be a SO.

LB: First off, none of the guys really have returning starts. The guy who arguably has had the highest quality prior reps was Hockaday ... but those reps were quite a while ago. Amani Jones and Nick Niemann were special teams aces in '17. In terms of experience, Hockaday will be a SR; Jones and Welch will be JRs; Niemann and Wade will be SOs; and Colbert, Doyle, and McDonald will all be FR.

DE: Hesse essentially returns with 3 years of prior starting experience. A. Nelson returns will essentially 2 years of starter-quality reps under his belt. Epenesa saw starter-quality reps ... but it is also true that he mostly saw situational reps as a pass-rushing ace. However, starting during the PSU game - Epenesa saw the occasional 1st and 2nd down reps too. Brincks returns as a top backup at LDE. However, now that Epenesa has been learning how to play both sides ... that will likely encroach upon the snaps that Brincks sees (that's why Sam has also been practicing at DT). Golston is also a guy who might see some reps at DE ... although he's likely to see just as many quality reps at DT. While Iowa fans might tout our TEs as being a nation's best duo ... our group of DEs are more experienced ... and, I'd argue, are every bit as skilled as their TE counterparts. Hesse and Brincks will be SRs in '18, Nelson will be a JR, and Epenesa and Golston will be SOs.

DT: While many folks are worrying about our DL on the interior ... they forget that DT was supposed to be the big concern in '17. While we lose our #1 DT in Bazata ... by the end of the season, I'd argue that Matt Nelson's play may even have rivalled Bazata's. Matt had a full season of prior starts before at DE ... and then has had roughly a half season of starts at DT. The rotation at DT has been very active ... so it really didn't matter that much who was starting. At the very least, Nelson ended the season as our #2 DT. After him, I'd argue that Lattimore and Reiff were arguably co-#3s ... maybe Lattimore gets a slight nudge because he likely saw a few more reps. Furthermore, Lattimore started at DT through nearly the first half of the season (before Matt took over the gig). When the dust settled, Nelson, Lattimore, and Reiff each saw a lot of snaps in a very active rotation at DT. Furthermore, Jansen saw snaps in our NASCAR package on obvious passing downs in the latter part of the season. Throughout the season, Hesse also slid inside to contribute at DT on pass-rushing downs ... and looking at '18, both Golston and Brincks will be competing for reps to help us out at DT too. Matt Nelson will be a SR and Lattimore, Reiff, and Jansen will each be JRs. While we don't necessarily return a lot of starts at DT ... we're throwing mostly JRs and SRs at the position too ... and the implication is that they're guys who have been executing our D for a while now AND they're guys who are pretty mature physically from working with Doyle for so many years.

 

[wcbtee]

TE's alone are certainly the most talented position, but including all of the unknowns at receiver, I do not agree with this being our strength.

1) D-Line - potential to rival any of our best lines
2) D-Backs - Hard to replace Jackson, but we have depth, this is one group that always seems to overachieve (thank you Phil)
3) QB - I think he is set to have a break out year
4a) O-line - lost a lot, but having both T's back with upperclassmen manning the interior, I am optimistic
4b) TE's/WR's - Our TE's are arguably the best in college football, certainly have more options at wide out this year, If ISM, Easley, Fant & Hockenson stay healthy this group should over achieve.
5) RB - I think we will be fine here, but still unproven, depth and inexperience are both factors
6) LB's - I think the talent is certainly there, but we need to avoid injuries and see how long it takes them to become comfortable. If we have solid LB play, this defense will be very good.

Talent wise I think we are in good shape, but need to see how the young wide outs, RB's and inexperienced LB's perform.

Special teams - Recinos is a stud and I think Gersonde will be solid to very good.

 

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

 

[iowa12]

I know, it sounds crazy, but hear me out.

Running back= the 2 guys returning have less than 500 yards and 4 TDs combined. Fant alone trumps that.

OLINE, replace 2 or 3 interior linemen, including a very skilled center. Nod WR/TE.

Dback, safety is set, but who even knows who the CB's will be? We could start true freshman.

LB=no.

So its Dline or Wr/TE.

We have stud DE's but with Nixon not making it, and the young heavyweights being freshman, there are some serious questions about run stuffing on the inside.

With what we have seen from Easley, Ism, Fant, Hock, and the addition of T. Tracy, you could make a serious argument for the recieveing group being the best unit on the team.

What say you?

The wr talent level during the kf era is abysmal

 

[bumpstock]

Our TE's grade out at A minus on blocking & receiving; while our WR's get a D plus at blocking & receiving. Combining the two positions results in skewed data.

 

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

This is some dumb shit. WR is easily the worst unit heading into the year. They do have a chance at improving to be middling in the Big Ten which would be an amazing improvement. And no you can’t count TE’s with it. Though I might let you count Fant as a hybrid WR since I’m sure they’ll split him out as an X WR in our scheme a time or ten.

Nothing for nothing mate but the fact you dont consider TE's part of the recievers is odd.

 

[BCRoss89]

I know, it sounds crazy, but hear me out.

Running back= the 2 guys returning have less than 500 yards and 4 TDs combined. Fant alone trumps that.

OLINE, replace 2 or 3 interior linemen, including a very skilled center. Nod WR/TE.

Dback, safety is set, but who even knows who the CB's will be? We could start true freshman.

LB=no.

So its Dline or Wr/TE.

We have stud DE's but with Nixon not making it, and the young heavyweights being freshman, there are some serious questions about run stuffing on the inside.

With what we have seen from Easley, Ism, Fant, Hock, and the addition of T. Tracy, you could make a serious argument for the recieveing group being the best unit on the team.

What say you?

1. TE
2. QB
3. DL
4. RB
Are all easily better units. WR could be close to the RB unit at 4, but they have demonstrated far to much inconsistency.

Answer: You are crazy.

 

[ZumaHawk]

I'm not trying to throw gas on a fire but if Stanley wouldn't have overthrown every wide open WR last year would our receivers been more respected?

 

[ghostOfHomer777]

Nothing for nothing mate but the fact you dont consider TE's part of the recievers is odd.

Given the varied responsibilities of the TE ... sometimes they're like FBs. Sometimes they're like smaller OTs. And yes, sometimes they're like WRs. When approaching the fans of most teams - few would likely lump TEs along with the WRs.

 

[ghostOfHomer777]

I'm not trying to throw gas on a fire but if Stanley wouldn't have overthrown every wide open WR last year would our receivers been more respected?

Isn't it an exaggeration to state that every wide open WR was overthrown? I remember many good passes that were also defended or dropped too. Also, how often does a WR run a route at the wrong depth ... and consequently, when the QB passes to a "spot" ... it makes it appear as though the QB's accuracy is off? How many times does the WR break stride and lose a step or two on the ball ... and then that gives the appearance of an overthrow? And, of course, how many balls truly were overthrows?

One thing that is less debatable is that Stanley will not be splitting reps for the #1 spot this summer and fall. Thus, WRs who want to get a lot of targets will be wise to work a ton in the off-season with Nate in order for them to get their timing down. When that happens .. that should likely pay dividends in terms of accuracy and precision.

 

[ZumaHawk]

I would say yes it is an exaggeration that he over threw every one. He did over throw multiple or quite a few wide open WR's. Whether they got bumped or whatever, when he threw it they were overthrown. I'm thinking had they been completed our WR's would have gotten a lot more respect than what they're getting. I could also word it this way....since the WR's were so bad that when they finally got open deep NS didn't complete the pass. Maybe I'm trying to help out our WR's more than they deserve.

 

[hawkeyeinmo]

I would say yes it is an exaggeration that he over threw every one. He did over throw multiple or quite a few wide open WR's. Whether they got bumped or whatever, when he threw it they were overthrown. I'm thinking had they been completed our WR's would have gotten a lot more respect than what they're getting. I could also word it this way....since the WR's were so bad that when they finally got open deep NS didn't complete the pass. Maybe I'm trying to help out our WR's more than they deserve.

I had this debate last year on here with someone on how overblown the overthrows were so went back and rewatched every throw at about the half way point in the season. There were only about 3-4 at that point and I think he really cut down on overthrows the 2nd half of the season. There were really only a couple that were really poorly overthrown. A couple were on the receivers for quitting on their route.

 

[ghostOfHomer777]

I would say yes it is an exaggeration that he over threw every one. He did over throw multiple or quite a few wide open WR's. Whether they got bumped or whatever, when he threw it they were overthrown. I'm thinking had they been completed our WR's would have gotten a lot more respect than what they're getting. I could also word it this way....since the WR's were so bad that when they finally got open deep NS didn't complete the pass. Maybe I'm trying to help out our WR's more than they deserve.

I like the upside of our WRs ... however, they will still need to earn the targets they get. With Wadley gone from our group of RBs ... that could open up more targets/looks that otherwise would have gone his way. Iowa made a clear effort to try to get him the ball in space. The problem is that opposing Ds took notice and defended it accordingly.

Furthermore, the talent-level of our tight ends is well documented .... WRs will have to earn every target that they pull from the TEs. This is obviously because Fant and Hock simply pose such mismatches ... that it makes them very alluring guys to target. If Fant can catch a larger percentage of his targets ... that could make quite an impact in our passing game too. Wisconsin was able to neutralize him by disrupting him at the line of scrimmage. If he can be sufficiently physical to defeat that approach ... then he'll demand bracket coverage more frequently. That will open up more man-coverage on our WRs (usually on our SE).

I agree that Stanley definitely overthrew a number of balls ... however, I also think that Iowa fans overstated the issue too. Regardless, overall accuracy is something that Stanley is working hard to improve upon ... and assuming that the game continues to slow down for him as he continues to gain experience ... he'll be even more dangerous in the passing game.

As my recent pattern of posting has suggested ... I'm exceedingly bullish on the upside of Stanley's development. Had his completion percentage been even a little better in '17 ... more of his games with yardage in the ball-park of 170s would balloon more towards the 200s. Furthermore, he laid 2 eggs .... where in two games his combined passing yardage was still less than 150 yards. If he can mitigate that inconsistency and raise output in those sorts of games to more around 150 yards .... we'll see significant improvements on the O. The above factors are easily the difference between his actual output of a little over 2300 yards ... and an output of around 2700 yards. Myself, I'm already on record thinking that his yardage production could potentially push upwards of 3000 yards. However, we'll have to wait and see if such speculation might get realized.

 

[ghostOfHomer777]

View embedded media

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Paschal claims that the "issue" with Lockett was that the QB simply wasn't quite good enough to get him the ball more. When Lockett did manage to get the ball in his hands - he seemed to be a big-play waiting to happen.

 

[Riverking1969]

I know, it sounds crazy, but hear me out.

Running back= the 2 guys returning have less than 500 yards and 4 TDs combined. Fant alone trumps that.

OLINE, replace 2 or 3 interior linemen, including a very skilled center. Nod WR/TE.

Dback, safety is set, but who even knows who the CB's will be? We could start true freshman.

LB=no.

So its Dline or Wr/TE.

We have stud DE's but with Nixon not making it, and the young heavyweights being freshman, there are some serious questions about run stuffing on the inside.

With what we have seen from Easley, Ism, Fant, Hock, and the addition of T. Tracy, you could make a serious argument for the recieveing group being the best unit on the team.

What say you?

I say you are delusional

 

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

JUST WHEN I HAD STARTED TO COME BACK TO EARTH ON B. SMITH COACH AND N.S. HIT US UP WITH THIS!!!!

“Brandon really realized his strength,” the junior quarterback said. “He did a great job at the ‘X’ position and really made a lot of great plays. He became a lot more physical.”- N.S.

Copeland was given a chance Wednesday to tamp down his expectations for Smith. He didn’t.

When asked how sure he was that Smith would deliver, Copeland responded: “I’m really confident. You know what, if I had to name one person that had the biggest improvement this past spring, it’s Brandon Smith, hands down.”

Check out @ChadLeistikow’s Tweet:


I dont care what you fellas say, I'm drinking the passing game kool-aid. Best position group '18.(YES I AM INCLUDING TE)

C'MON BRANDON!!!!

 

[paladinhawk]

Hopefully there's significant improvement from last year.

Landof10 has a pretty good profile of Tyrone Tracy. If he can live up to 1/2 the hype in that article....

https://www.landof10.com/iowa/iowa-receiver-tyrone-tracy-playmaker-slot-receiver

 

[INXS83]

WR is a lot closer to worst position group than best position group

Until they prove otherwise.

 

[desihawk]

JUST WHEN I HAD STARTED TO COME BACK TO EARTH ON B. SMITH COACH AND N.S. HIT US UP WITH THIS!!!!

“Brandon really realized his strength,” the junior quarterback said. “He did a great job at the ‘X’ position and really made a lot of great plays. He became a lot more physical.”- N.S.

Copeland was given a chance Wednesday to tamp down his expectations for Smith. He didn’t.

When asked how sure he was that Smith would deliver, Copeland responded: “I’m really confident. You know what, if I had to name one person that had the biggest improvement this past spring, it’s Brandon Smith, hands down.”

Check out @ChadLeistikow’s Tweet:


I dont care what you fellas say, I'm drinking the passing game kool-aid. Best position group '18.(YES I AM INCLUDING TE)

C'MON BRANDON!!!!

If the WR position actually becomes as potent as kool-aid drinkers are dreaming, there's a very high likelihood that iowa plays in the ccg even if they drop a couple. I'm imagining 3 OOC games where we deliberately grind out slow and steady wins and then in the opener against Wisky, BF and KOK unveil/inaugurate an incredibly potent passing attack that leaves the entire conference speechless and scrambling back to their drawing boards on how to defend Iowa. That would make for true enjoyment.

 

[paladinhawk]

... and then in the opener against Wisky, BF and KOK unveil/inaugurate an incredibly potent passing attack that leaves the entire conference speechless and scrambling back to their drawing boards on how to defend Iowa. That would make for true enjoyment.

Iowa under KF will always run a 'deliberate / time of possession' offense. I'd like the passing attack be potent enough to pull defenders out of the box and give the running game some mismatches.

We can dream, right?

 

[Melrose_Place31]

They're young, need experience, but have loads of talent. If Tryone Tracy is given the opportunity ISM received as a true Freshman, he could end up being the X-factor this fall.