OPENING STATEMENT
Thank you guys for being here today. I appreciate it. I know this is your job. This is not typically my job description, but I appreciate every time I get a chance to come out and interface with you guys and get a chance to see you face-to-face, follow everyone on Twitter and social media and get a chance to see what you write and how you write and we appreciate that.
Starting off a little bit about the tight end position, obviously this is a different year, we lost two seniors last year in Jake Duzey and Henry Krieger Coble, two outstanding young men that epitomize what it means to be a Hawkeye and a Hawkeye tight end. They're going to be sorely missed over the next couple of years.
Transitioning into this year, George Kittle who had some playing experience last year, going to be a senior next year, had some good experience last season; and then also there is a host of younger guys that don't have as much experience behind them. Overall, the group is very, very young, and a group that -- but it is a group that is hungry and ready and willing and able to come to practice every single day and work hard.
I cannot say enough good things about the young men that I get to coach. They're phenomenal people, phenomenal young men, each one of them carries a 3.0 or higher GPA, with the exception of one guy and I'm working every single day on him to make sure he stays up with the group and a bunch of guys that are coming out every day trying to work hard and get better.
Q. How has Jameer transferred over from linebacker and how has he made that transition?
LeVAR WOODS: He made the transition. It came about in camp last year, right at the beginning of fall camp. It was new to him initially and I think he sort of picked up speed throughout last year and into the off-season and into spring. He is transitioning well. He still has a long way to go, as everybody does. But he's making the transition well. I think this is more of his natural position. He does some things very, very naturally and there are some things that take more time as far as catching the ball and being more precise in his route running, but run blocking the guy is natural.
Q. Tight end position was pretty loaded on the offensive team last year because of Henry and Jake. What do you perceive this year, and what you do have coming back?
LeVAR WOODS: You hit the nail on the head. The tight end position at the University of Iowa is pivotal. It's been that way for years and years going back to the early 80s, this position at this university is a historic position with the tight ends and we look forward to transitioning to this year. Last year we had two guys that were seniors and then George kind of emerged his junior season, so we had three guys that were readily available. Right now we're trying to find out who those other guys are.
George, he has the experience and he's the guy that's been on the field the most. He's played some -- Jameer started one game out of necessity last year, however, we're just trying to find who the other guys are. Not to say that -- not to say that George is definitely cemented in his position, but he has the most experience. So that should lend itself to being the most stable player, I guess, if you will, and now we're just trying to find out who the other guys are.
Q. You have 4-5 guys coming in --
LeVAR WOODS: Do you know something I don't know?
Q. I'm not sure.
LeVAR WOODS: You must know something I don't, but go ahead.
Q. Do you see anybody, any true freshmen helping out?
LeVAR WOODS: Yeah, I know of two guys that we recruited definitely as a tight end.
Q. Maybe I'm confused with defensive line.
LeVAR WOODS: But two guys that we recruited for sure as a tight end and I'm not sure if I can say their names or not. I just want to make sure, I don't want to screw anything up, but Noah Fant who was a top player in Nebraska coming out of Omaha South and then T.J. Hockenson, you guys from Iowa should know T.J. He broke the all-time receiving record here in Iowa as a tight end.
We're excited about those two and there's a couple of other guys am coming in that we're not sure if they're going to be tight ends or not. We would like to have them, but other positions dictate whether or not they can play tight end or whether they need to play defense, those guys are gonna steal them from me.
Q. Are you fighting it go out?
LeVAR WOODS: A little bit. I think it kind of depends on how things shake out in spring. Obviously I want them all to play tight end. I love coaching good players and good athletes but if they stay on defense, they stay on defense. We recruited a couple of guys as athletes, not knowing which position they would be. But they have length and speed and attributes that end itself to the tight end position and if so be it Coach Ferentz gives me those guys we will coach 'em and make 'em good players.
Q. What was your first year like as the tight end coach?
LeVAR WOODS: It was a wild ride, wild ride. It was a lot of fun, first and foremost that's the first word that comes is fun. It was different being on the offensive side but it was a historic season being here at the University of Iowa and I cannot thank -- I keep talking about the two seniors. I cannot thank those guys enough. They made it a blast every single day to come to work. They were so much fun and the room itself, the tight end room what I saw throughout the year was they constantly gelled together and got closer and closer and became a tight-knit group that I think performed up to what they wanted to do and they were able to achieve the goals they wanted to achieve up until the end of the season.
Q. You are a former linebacker and linebacker coach. Do you try to coach the tight ends what the defense is thinking and try to check what they're doing?
LeVAR WOODS: I do and I do that almost every day. It's fun being on the other side. I joke with the linebackers every day I know what your weakness is and how to attack it so it's definitely fun.
Q. Where is Jon in his development?
LeVAR WOODS: Jon Wisnieski has taken a big step from last season till now. I think going into last year he kind of assumed that he was going to fall right in line because he's the next tight end at Iowa, and I think that sort of set him back a little bit last year. He's been tremendous the last -- since the season ended till now he's been awesome and he's doing very well, he's making his way and out there competing every day, and we will see what happens. But he's putting in good work. He's been great in the meeting rooms, great in practice and we will see where he comes out.
Q. Is there any guy like Krieger Coble last year making unbelievable catches in practice that we don't know about and some of those guys behind Kittle that may be emerging?
LeVAR WOODS: I think I would be doing Hank a disservice if I said that somebody was catching the ball like him. But I will be honest, I have not seen a guy that can catch a ball like Henry at that level. I played with some good players in the National Football League, and I haven't seen them catch a ball like Henry. So I would be doing Hank a disservice in that regard.
However, I haven't had any problems in spring, one of the models we have when the ball is thrown to you, you catch it. I don't care where it goes and who is on you. This route, he dumped it, the point is, catch the football. And we haven't had any issues with that yet. When the ball is thrown they've caught it and that's what we're looking for. But as far as the acrobatic, one-handed, low balls, haven't seen that yet.
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