Offensive explosiveness

[dbrocket]

Can anyone tell me when was the last time we had four players on offense as explosive in their positions as Akrum Wadley, Ivory Kelly-Martin, Ihmir Smith-Marsette and Noah Fant? And for once, we have a coaching staff willing to get creative to put them all on the field (both Akrum and IKM have played in the slot at times).

A lot of those guys are young and haven't shown enough yet to project the production, but we have seen the speed and quicks.

 

[QChawks]

2009

Robinson, Wegher
DJK, McNutt
Moeoki

 

[dbrocket]

Robinson wasn't what I would call explosive. DJK and McNutt were playmakers, and these guys would be incredibly lucky to get to that level, but they were not really speed guys and definitely not as fast as Smith-Marsette.

 

[jdv77]

I will agree on Wadley and Fant. Early returns on IKM and ISM appear promising, but I want to see conference play for the true freshmen.

 

[dbrocket]

Well, they are not established players. But we have seen for a fact that they have explosive speed and quickness.

 

[93hawkeye]

Last year? Wadley was Wadley. Kittle was Fant (or better than). IKM and ISM have not yet proven they can turn an ordinary play into an endzone dash.

 

[David1979]

Moeaki, Wegher, McNutt and DJK.

 

[dbrocket]

Last year? Wadley was Wadley. Kittle was Fant (or better than). IKM and ISM have not yet proven they can turn an ordinary play into an endzone dash.

Kittle was not as explosive as Fant for most of last year, due to his ankle injury (or foot?).

Also, we have eyes. It's okay to see the explosiveness before the guy busts one for 80 yards.

 

[TKingpin]

2009

Robinson, Wegher
DJK, McNutt
Moeoki

I am liking it! IIRC we beat PSU in a night game on national TV that year! We need a big ol' Hoss to block a punt and take it back to the house! Also, our #43 LB punched out the football when their RB was loose in the secondary for a really important turnover.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Robinson wasn't what I would call explosive. DJK and McNutt were playmakers, and these guys would be incredibly lucky to get to that level, but they were not really speed guys and definitely not as fast as Smith-Marsette.

Go back and watch some of those games. Robinson was a serious workhorse. There were some amazing highlight runs from him in the Iowa-PSU game alone. I think he was under-appreciated.

 

[dbrocket]

Go back and watch some of those games. Robinson was a serious workhorse. There were some amazing highlight runs from him in the Iowa-PSU game alone. I think he was under-appreciated.

I didn't say he sucked. I said he wasn't explosive. He was not a physically impressive or fast running back and did not have many long runs. He was a consistent, grinder type.

 

[93hawkeye]

Kittle was not as explosive as Fant for most of last year, due to his ankle injury (or foot?).

Also, we have eyes. It's okay to see the explosiveness before the guy busts one for 80 yards.

Well, semantics, I guess...IKM and ISM do look fast. I call that potential explosiveness. Actual explosiveness will be big chunks of yards and dynamic touchdowns.
We can agree to disagree

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

I didn't say he sucked. I said he wasn't explosive. He was not a physically impressive or fast running back and did not have many long runs. He was a consistent, grinder type.

I guess it depends on what you mean by "explosive". If you're talking 80 yard TD runs....definitely not. If you're talking about a player who gets a lot of yards after contact and turns a 5 yard run into 15...he did that quite a bit. Certainly much more than I remembered until I was watching some Hawkeye Historian vids from back then.

 

[Eternal Return]

I will agree on Wadley and Fant. Early returns on IKM and ISM appear promising, but I want to see conference play for the true freshmen.

This is how I see it, too. IKM and ISM both performed well against bad defenses so it's hard to tell how they measure up against middle-tier and upper-tier Big Ten teams. I would put up Stanley and Easley as the more likely to be the other two explosive playmakers. Easley has proven to be more reliable and explosive than ISM at this point. And Stanley and Easley seem to be developing the sort of chemistry CJ and Vandeberg had. It's really promising for the future of the program to see this. We might be expecting too much given that this is the first year of the system with a lot of skill players who have never seen game time on the offense, but who knows? Well, we'll learn a lot more Saturday night.

EDIT: I'd also put Hockenson ahead of IKM and ISM in terms of passing game importance this year.

 

[Scott559]

Iowa is Iowa, we want to pound the ball, I don't know how "explosive" some guys are but I do believe we have several that can exploit teams trying to stack the box, now we have to hit a good percentage of those plays when available, I like the odds going forward as Stanley gets more experience.

 

[soybean]

1996 - Tim Dwight, Tavian Banks, Sedrick Shaw, Demo Odems, Matt Sherman

1985 - Chuck Long, Ronnie Harmon, Quinn Early, Robert Smith

1999 - Matt Rodgers, Mike Saunders, Dannan Hughes, Alan Cross, Lew Montgomery

2002 - Brad Banks, Fred Russell, CJ. Jones, Ed Hinkle, Dallas Clark.

2004 - Drew Tate, Jermelle Lewis, Ed Hinkle, Clinton Soloman, Scott Chandler

2008 - Ricky Stanzi, Marvin McNutt, Tony Moeaki, Shonn Greene, Brandon Meyers

 

[Eternal Return]

1996 - Tim Dwight, Tavian Banks, Sedrick Shaw, Demo Odems, Matt Sherman

1985 - Chuck Long, Ronnie Harmon, Quinn Early, Robert Smith

1999 - Matt Rodgers, Mike Saunders, Dannan Hughes, Alan Cross, Lew Montgomery

2002 - Brad Banks, Fred Russell, CJ. Jones, Ed Hinkle, Dallas Clark.

2004 - Drew Tate, Jermelle Lewis, Ed Hinkle, Clinton Soloman, Scott Chandler

2008 - Ricky Stanzi, Marvin McNutt, Tony Moeaki, Shonn Greene, Brandon Meyers

"1999" should be 1990 (or 1991?). I'd add these teams to the list:

2009: Stanzi, (Robinson/Wegher), DJK, McNutt, Moeaki, Reisner.
2010: Stanzi, Robinson, DJK, McNutt, Moeaki, Reisner, Fiedorowicz. Oh yeah, how could I forget: Paki O'Meara!! Seriously, though, Stanzi had one of the best years in Iowa QB history that year. You look at the WRs and TEs at his disposal, it's easy to see why. And look at the OL those years from 2008-2010. They were Beasts!

 

[HawkLogic]

2009

Robinson, Wegher
DJK, McNutt
Moeoki

I think the current set is better/faster.

 

[dbrocket]

I guess, judging from the trend, I wasn't clear enough what I meant. The guys listed are legit home-run threats, guys who can score from anywhere on the field (who I also think are good or will be good). It's been a while since so many of our pieces were 80 yard TD threats. And there may be others I did not include.

(Vandeberg is faster than people think; Easley might be; Hockensen could be, as TEs go; etc)

 

[dbrocket]

1996 - Tim Dwight, Tavian Banks, Sedrick Shaw, Demo Odems, Matt Sherman

1985 - Chuck Long, Ronnie Harmon, Quinn Early, Robert Smith

1999 - Matt Rodgers, Mike Saunders, Dannan Hughes, Alan Cross, Lew Montgomery

2002 - Brad Banks, Fred Russell, CJ. Jones, Ed Hinkle, Dallas Clark.

2004 - Drew Tate, Jermelle Lewis, Ed Hinkle, Clinton Soloman, Scott Chandler

2008 - Ricky Stanzi, Marvin McNutt, Tony Moeaki, Shonn Greene, Brandon Meyers

Tim Dwight, Tavian Banks and Sedrick Shaw together was nuts, for sure. That's the most explosive Iowa offense I remember watching, as far as weapons. I'd love to see what Brian would do with those 3.