Lineups for 2018 season?

[Eternal Return]

This is what I see at this point, noting that a lot of it could change:

QB: Stanley (JR)
RB: IKM (SO)/T. Young (SO)
WR: ISM (SO)
WR: Easley (SR)/B. Smith (SO)
TE: Fant (JR)
TE: Hockenson (SO)
LT: Jackson (SO)
RT: Wirfs (SO)
C: J. Daniels (SR)
G: K. Render (SR)
G: ??? LeGrand (SR)/Paulsen (JR)/???

[Assuming Jackson goes pro]
DT: M. Nelson (SR)
DT: Lattimore (JR)
DE: Epenesa (SO)/Hesse (SR)
DE: A. Nelson (JR)/Hesse (SR)
LB: ??? Welch (SO)/A. Mends (SR)/D. Colbert (RFR) ???
LB: ??? Hockaday (JR)/A. Jones (SO?JR?) ???
LB: ??? N. Niemann (SO)/K. Taylor (SO)/B. Wade (SO) ???
CB: Hankins (SO)
CB: ???Rugamba (JR)/Ojemudia (JR?SR?)/???
S: Hooker*
S: Stone*

*--If B. Snyder makes it back healthy at the level he can play, maybe he supplants Stone (I hope not). But what really scares me is that Gervase is somehow going to be chosen as one of the starting safeties over either Hooker or Stone; I know, it's insane, but we've all seen how this works in the past. It was so unbelievably obvious that Hooker and Stone were the two best safeties last year, but the coaches wouldn't take Gervase off the field. We saw it the year before, too, when A. Gair came in and helped the defense improve dramatically the last three games when Taylor went out with an injury. As far as LBs go, I have no clue. Someone who watches practices or knows someone in the program can probably clear up some of the confusion. As of now, I'd guess it's going to play out in spring practices and August training camp. Cheers.

EDIT: Players with "/" between them indicate that either one may start or there may be a platoon situation. It doesn't specify its team second team. Sorry for not making that clear.

 

[StallmanCurse]

I think you can pencil Reynolds in for G opposite Render for now. He rotated heavily with Render this year, and did a pretty solid job.

 

[Eternal Return]

I think you can pencil Reynolds in for G opposite Render for now. He rotated heavily with Render this year, and did a pretty solid job.

Forgot about Reynolds. Good call.

 

[DougFHawkeye]

Allen Trieu today listed Iowa as his prediction for Honas so if true he would be a strong contender to be in the mix at LB

 

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

Easley is a junior this year I believe.

 

[IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life]

OL will be Jackson, Reynolds, Daniels, Render, Wirfs

CBs should be Hankings and Ojumedia/Rugumba
S should be Hooker and Stone
LB should be Honas if he comes to Iowa, then Hockaday and Mends.

 

[Muskie5]

This is what I see at this point, noting that a lot of it could change:

QB: Stanley (JR)
RB: IKM (SO)/T. Young (SO)
WR: ISM (SO)
WR: Easley (JR)/B. Smith (SO)
TE: Fant (JR)
TE: Hockenson (SO)
LT: Jackson (SO)
RT: Wirfs (SO)
C: J. Daniels (SR)
G: K. Render (SR)
G: ??? LeGrand (SR)/Paulsen (JR)/???

[Assuming Jackson goes pro]
DT: M. Nelson (SR)
DT: Lattimore (JR)
DE: Epenesa (SO)/Hesse (SR)
DE: A. Nelson (JR)/Hesse (SR)
LB: ??? Welch (SO)/A. Mends (SR)/D. Colbert (RFR) ???
LB: ??? Hockaday (JR)/A. Jones (SO?JR?) ???
LB: ??? N. Niemann (SO)/K. Taylor (SO)/B. Wade (SO) ???
CB: Hankins (SO)
CB: ???Rugamba (JR)/Ojemudia (JR?SR?)/???
S: Hooker*
S: Stone*

*--If B. Snyder makes it back healthy at the level he can play, maybe he supplants Stone (I hope not). But what really scares me is that Gervase is somehow going to be chosen as one of the starting safeties over either Hooker or Stone; I know, it's insane, but we've all seen how this works in the past. It was so unbelievably obvious that Hooker and Stone were the two best safeties last year, but the coaches wouldn't take Gervase off the field. We saw it the year before, too, when A. Gair came in and helped the defense improve dramatically the last three games when Taylor went out with an injury. As far as LBs go, I have no clue. Someone who watches practices or knows someone in the program can probably clear up some of the confusion. As of now, I'd guess it's going to play out in spring practices and August training camp. Cheers.

You forgot Brincks. He played about 50/50 with A. Nelson and I don't think that will change unless they move him inside to shore up that rotation.
And sorry, but Gervase played really well he last 5 games of the year after struggling some the first few. PP even made note of it. You obviously forgot how bad Hooker got burnt against OSU at FS (among others) and playing FS at Iowa is as much about making coverage calls and communicating as it is anything. That's why Iowa normally have HS QB types back there and it has worked really well for them. There will be really good competition between the 4 of them (Snyder/Gervase and Hooker/Stone) and it's nice having the luxury of having 4 guys back that have starting experience. No matter who starts/plays, we are in really good shape back there and we'll need it with 3 new LB's.
Oh, and Easley will be a SR.

 

[bigfridaynite]

Parker Hesse will be on the field the kid is a real good football player

 

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

Needs to be said: "our" d-line is going to be SALTY next year. I'm talking 8-9 guy rotation that can all get after it. "We" are going to grind down a fair amount of teams on that alone.

 

[Eternal Return]

You forgot Brincks. He played about 50/50 with A. Nelson and I don't think that will change unless they move him inside to shore up that rotation.
And sorry, but Gervase played really well he last 5 games of the year after struggling some the first few. PP even made note of it. You obviously forgot how bad Hooker got burnt against OSU at FS (among others) and playing FS at Iowa is as much about making coverage calls and communicating as it is anything. That's why Iowa normally have HS QB types back there and it has worked really well for them. There will be really good competition between the 4 of them (Snyder/Gervase and Hooker/Stone) and it's nice having the luxury of having 4 guys back that have starting experience. No matter who starts/plays, we are in really good shape back there and we'll need it with 3 new LB's.
Oh, and Easley will be a SR.

As far as Brincks goes, I was sticking to guys I thought would be starters rather than spot players. That's why I had Hesse in there with Epenesa and A. Nelson. I kind of look at those three as starter quality, which is a nice "problem" to have. Maybe Brincks is at that level, too, I guess it wasn't clear to me that he was in and out like Hesse and Epenesa were. I'd like to see Epenesa and Nelson on the field at the same time more this year, but the D-Line seems solid and deep no matter who is out there.

We'll have to agree to disagree on Gervase. I'm glad rot have him on the team for depth and now plenty of experience, but ... no need to get into it over a projection for next year.

And thanks for the heads up about Easley being a senior. I thought he had only one year of play at the JUCO level. I'll double check and then change it if that's the case.

EDIT: The players with the "/" between them mean co-starters or platoon players (like Wadley and Daniels in 2016)/ In other words, the list wasn't meant as a two-deep roster. Sorry that wasn't clear. I made an EDIT note in the original post.

 

[Eternal Return]

Easley is a junior this year I believe.

You are right, indeed. I double-checked. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[Suterman]

Parker Hesse is going to start.

 

[Eternal Return]

Parker Hesse is going to start.

Yeah, I added an EDIT at the bottom of the OP to indicate that the "/" meant co-starters or a platoon situation.

 

[Muskie5]

I think our Dline will be this next year. I'm archiving it to see if I'm right.
RDE- Hesse/Epenesa
LDE- A. Nelson/Gholston
DT- Brinks/Reiff
DT- M. Nelson/Lattimore
I think this would be a killer 8 man rotation. And you have 3 seniors and a Junior starting who have like 70 starts between them, with some explosive underclassmen rotating.
Yes, I think they are going to put a few lbs. on Brincks and move him inside for 2 reasons; One, I don't think they can keep Gholston off the field any longer, the guy's a stud, and 2, they need to shore up the inside a little and Brincks probably plays with better leverage than anyone on the line this year outside of Bazata and Hesse. Lattimore still is struggling with leverage, so I don't see him starting (he lost his starting job to M. Nelson) but I'm not giving up on him. Davis didn't really 'get it' until about his SR yr. I was like the first to say that they would move M. Nelson inside last yr., so we'll see if I'm right again.

 

[Eternal Return]

I think our Dline will be this next year. I'm archiving it to see if I'm right.
RDE- Hesse/Epenesa
LDE- A. Nelson/Gholston
DT- Brinks/Reiff
DT- M. Nelson/Lattimore

I like the idea of moving Brincks inside. That might be a really good idea on passing downs. I would love to see this DL on passing downs (as of now, who knows who develops in the offseason):

DE A. Nelson
DT S. Brincks
DT P. Hesse
DE A. Epenesa

That's a fierce pass rushing line right there.

 

[Muskie5]

I like the idea of moving Brincks inside. That might be a really good idea on passing downs. I would love to see this DL on passing downs (as of now, who knows who develops in the offseason):

DE A. Nelson
DT S. Brincks
DT P. Hesse
DE A. Epenesa

That's a fierce pass rushing line right there.

That is intriguing. I like it. And the nice thing is that Hesse can catch 75% of the QB's if they try to take off up the middle. He's still got really good speed.

 

[Eternal Return]

That is intriguing. I like it. And the nice thing is that Hesse can catch 75% of the QB's if they try to take off up the middle. He's still got really good speed.

The other nice thing Hesse brings from the DT spot is the quickness and smarts to stunt with whoever the DE is on his side of the ball. Reiff played well in pass packages, too, so there are a lot of different lineups the coaches can use next year. It's so weird having this level of depth on the D-line. I love it and with all new LBs next year it should help make the transition a little easier for the new starters.

 

[Muskie5]

The other nice thing Hesse brings from the DT spot is the quickness and smarts to stunt with whoever the DE is on his side of the ball. Reiff played well in pass packages, too, so there are a lot of different lineups the coaches can use next year. It's so weird having this level of depth on the D-line. I love it and with all new LBs next year it should help make the transition a little easier for the new starters.

As far as the LB's go next yr., I think we'll see what we've seen in mop-up at Mike and Will. Welch at Mike and Mends at Will (they let Ward mop up at LEO). The LEO is wide open from what I can see. A healthy Hockaday could play there or 'No-Neck Nick' Niemann (the No-Neck thing is from a comic named Greg Warren). Jones will be pushing hard at either Will or Mike. He's a big hitter but might be struggling with reads and coverages. He's a terror on kick off coverage.The rest of the LB's we haven't seen nor heard enough about to have a clue. There is probably a 'good story' in there somewhere who will emerge and surprise us. There usually is.