It is Year 2 in the Program for the IOWA WR Coach & the Top 4 Wide Receivers

[Franisdaman]

Interesting column from HawkCentral.com.

Coach Copeland suggested Max Cooper (6-0, 185) needed to improve physically, which would make him a good candidate to save a year of eligibility under the NCAA’s new redshirt rule if he plays four games or less.

Regarding FIRST YEAR PLAYER Tyrone Tracy: “He’s just electric with the ball in his hands,” Copeland said. “For a high school level kid, (he’s) probably one of the more complete players that I’ve seen in person.”


Some excerpts regarding our current Top 4 WR's:

Iowa’s wide receivers coach, he’s in … Year Two in the program.

The four guys on Iowa’s depth chart — top-liners Nick Easley and Brandon Smith, and backups Ihmir-Smith Marsette and Kyle Groeneweg? Different ages, but all in ... Year Two in the program.

The spring-game star, Max Cooper? Year Two in the … you get the point.

In a 20-minute interview that largely detailed the Hawkeye receivers, who certainly underwhelmed a year ago for the most part, Copleand sounded bullish about his group.

And maybe he should be. When Iowa took the field last September, the three receivers Ferentz mentioned — Easley, Smith-Marsette and Smith — were brand new, and Matt VandeBerg never quite returned to his 2015 form.

Add 12 months of training under Ferentz, Copeland and Chris Doyle to the equation and … there’s truly an exponential difference in experience, in maturity.


LINK TO THE COPELAND INTERVIEW/PODCAST and COLUMN: https://www.hawkcentral.com/story/s...ceivers-have-hype-now-need-back-up/699235002/

 

[unclesammy]

Interesting column from HawkCentral.com.

Coach Copeland suggested Max Cooper (6-0, 185) needed to improve physically, which would make him a good candidate to save a year of eligibility under the NCAA’s new redshirt rule if he plays four games or less.

Regarding FIRST YEAR PLAYER Tyrone Tracy: “He’s just electric with the ball in his hands,” Copeland said. “For a high school level kid, (he’s) probably one of the more complete players that I’ve seen in person.”


Some excerpts regarding our current Top 4 WR's:

Iowa’s wide receivers coach, he’s in … Year Two in the program.

The four guys on Iowa’s depth chart — top-liners Nick Easley and Brandon Smith, and backups Ihmir-Smith Marsette and Kyle Groeneweg? Different ages, but all in ... Year Two in the program.

The spring-game star, Max Cooper? Year Two in the … you get the point.

In a 20-minute interview that largely detailed the Hawkeye receivers, who certainly underwhelmed a year ago for the most part, Copleand sounded bullish about his group.

And maybe he should be. When Iowa took the field last September, the three receivers Ferentz mentioned — Easley, Smith-Marsette and Smith — were brand new, and Matt VandeBerg never quite returned to his 2015 form.

Add 12 months of training under Ferentz, Copeland and Chris Doyle to the equation and … there’s truly an exponential difference in experience, in maturity.


LINK TO THE COPELAND INTERVIEW/PODCAST and COLUMN: https://www.hawkcentral.com/story/s...ceivers-have-hype-now-need-back-up/699235002/

Franisdaman, appreciate the work you do providing interesting articles about Iowa football and basketball.

 

[Hawk_4shur]

I would like to see a stat - the # of catches by Iowa WR's in the last 5 years vs. the # of catches by Iowa opponent WR's. It would have to be absurdly lopsided.

Maybe this is the year that Iowa can connect to WR's on a regular basis.

 

[TheHawkeyeDudeAbides]

Really like Coach Copeland. I think the newer coaches on staff (Bell, Copeland, Foster, Polasek) are trailblazers and they are changing the program for the better. Young and hungry but smart and thorough.

Seems like Iowa's recruiting is catching up with the social media trends and is reaching to new areas once verboten.

 

[HawkSTL]

These are important years for ISM and Smith. They are Big 10 level talents physically—something we haven’t had much of over the last several years (T. Smith excluded). These guys should be able to make a leap this year; and, if not, that would Ben concerning.

 

[hawki05]

Good coaches sell their players! Copeland is beefing up that confidence. Going to be a fun year!!

 

[bumpstock]

I'm all in, but the time for talk is over ~ deliver the results in Fall 2018!

 

[sober_teacher]

I would like to see a stat - the # of catches by Iowa WR's in the last 5 years vs. the # of catches by Iowa opponent WR's. It would have to be absurdly lopsided.

Maybe this is the year that Iowa can connect to WR's on a regular basis.

To an extent, sure, but that’s also a misleading stat because of style of play differences. Northwestern for example would have way more catches because they run a spread offense. It probably wouldn’t be that far apart for Wisconsin tho. They’ve still got more but idk if it would be as bad as you might think.

 

[Titanhawk2]

I would like to see a stat - the # of catches by Iowa WR's in the last 5 years vs. the # of catches by Iowa opponent WR's. It would have to be absurdly lopsided.

Maybe this is the year that Iowa can connect to WR's on a regular basis.

Overall in 2017 teams attempted 29% more passes than Iowa and completed 29% more but only had 12% more passing yards.

In 2016, they again attempted 29% more but only completed 12% more, but gained 30% more yardage.

In 2015, 33% more attempts, 17% more completions and on 7% more yards.

Other teams pass more than we do, but don't typically do better with it than Iowa, except 2016 looks like a lot of big plays given up. Don't know how that breaks down to WR's and others

 

[ChuckThomas12]

Compared to the top end Big Ten teams, our WR talent is still lacking - due to Kirk’s inability to recruit marquee skill position players.