Here's a more detailed rundown of our depth chart, with a brief look at 2016 to follow (pessimists, you should enjoy this forecast, so get your notepads ready):
QB- Beathard, Wiegers, freshmen.....and some kid named Justin Joyce (Soph.)
.....The future is set, but again we're talking about a skill position and Iowa develops those about as fast as trees grow....except QBs only get 4/5 years to do so. Trees usually take several decades..........
Beathard gets to be the one-man show until fans get tired of him and call for the next backup to become the star of the franchise, err wait this is college. We shouldn't treat it like we do our pro teams.... lol.gif
RB- Canzeri, Daniels, a bunch of guys who fumble a lot...or more than the two starters
.....Again the future is set. Canzeri and our two FBs (Plewa and Cox) are the only seniors in this group. As long as the young guys can learn to hold onto the football, they should be a pretty solid group for the next several years. Of course they'll always look as good as the line that blocks for them, but that's down the page a bit.
TE- Duzey, Krieger-Coble, Kittle
.....Another solid group of TEs for Ferentz to under-utilize....or is it the QB that under-utilizes them? Duzey could be All-Big Ten. Kittle is one of those guys that comes out of nowhere to make a big catch (23 ypc) and then fades back into the nowhere from whence he came. Seriously, who actually sees this guy sub in? He is the master of the subtle sub. Appear unassumingly on the field, and then make a 23 yard catch or is targeted for one...and then off the field he goes, and nobody is the wiser. Meanwhile, I still can't overlook the fact that Krieger-Coble once jumped out of the way of a ball on an onside kick. That's almost as bad as Parker lateraling the ball to nobody before running out of bounds against Tennessee.
WR- Tevaun Smith, Hillyer, Vandeberg (not Vande
nberg), Stone, and lots of trial by fire......
.....Smith could honestly work himself into a mid to late round draft prospect IMHO. He's probably gonna be the main guy for our beleagured WR unit. The question will be how are we gonna get him open considering that every team presumably knows this? Oh btw....good luck finding someone to throw to in 2016, C.J.
OT- Boone Myers (the pride of Webster City, Iowa), Ike Boettger (the pride of Cedar Falls, Iowa..........right after Ross Pierschbacher committed to Alabama), Cole Croston, Keegan Render, Ryan Ward, and lots of other nameless faces
.....So basically Iowa has struggled every year they're breaking in a new, or new
er, offensive line, especially at OT. Iowa is replacing two. And yet you people honestly think 8+ wins is expected, anyways? Judging the outcome of the 2015 season should start and end with this position right here....but it won't because people need to have their expectations or else they're not being fanly enough for the fandom of the fanbase...................
OG- Walsh and Welsh, Keppy, Reynolds, freshmen and friends....
.....Walsh and Welsh should be somewhat better with another year of experience under their belts although there's been rumors about the status of Welsh on the team. Behind them though are mostly unproven guys. It'll be interesting to see if any of the incoming freshmen and second-year guys get a shot or see playing time in the unlikely event that we build a 3+ score lead on a team this year.
C- Blythe, Simmons, and btw Steve Ferentz is still playing football
.....Blythe has All-Big Ten potential and could be a draft prospect as well. Here's to hoping for an injury free 2015 for our offensive line........because otherwise we're f***ed.
DE- Ott, Meier, Matt Nelson, Parker Hesse (yeah, that athletic QB that led Waukon to the State finals in 2013....up to 240 now), Melvin Spears
.....Ott is another All-Big Ten and NFL draft candidate. It also looks like we've gone the way of the current trend with more slimmer, athletic DEs in Meier and now Parker Hesse, who was a play-making QB in high school converted to DE. Apparently, he's made enough of a splash to land a 2nd string spot on the depth chart behind Ott. Depth though is rail thin.
DT- Johnson, Bazata, Ekakitie, Terlouw, Reiff, maybe Darian Cooper. It's unfortunate that Cooper hasn't been able to stay healthy. Hopefully we see him back this year because DT is another thin spot. Losing Davis and Trinca-Pasat will be hard to replace. 10 of the 20 defensive linemen on Iowa's current roster are from Iowa...................
LB- Niemann, Bower, Jewell, Fisher, Perry, Mends, and young people only the crowd that spends their time following the recruiting of high school kids would know............not judging..............or am I?
.....Well, for starters...they can't get any worse, amirite? Hahahahaha...guys? Anyone?. 11 of the 16 linebackers are freshmen or redshirt freshmen, which is basically everyone after our top 5 listed. Howwwww does that happen? On the bright side, they'll be here a while, and have plenty of time to develop. That usually spells success in years 3, 4 and 5. Unfortunately, this is still year 2.....
CB- King, Mabin, Fleming, Draper, committee
.....King is the other star of the defense, along with Ott. The hope is that he continues his progress from a solid freshman and almost-as-solid sophomore season to become the next lock-down corner at Iowa. Fortunately, he didn't have a sophomore season like Amari Spievey had so regardless of how well King does this year, we should expect to see him back for his senior season in 2016, which will be nice. Mabin and Fleming need to also improve because getting off the field on 3rd downs is a key statistic in judging the success or failure of a Kirk Ferentz team. And it's not just getting stops on 3rd down or winning the 3rd down conversion battle in a given game, a certain percentage must be met. And more often than not when we struggle, it's because we're giving up 3rd and longs and passing situations. The secondary needs to find a way to force more turnovers, and get off the field on 3rd/4th and longs.
S- Lomax, Taylor, Gair, Snyder, whoever the f*** Kirk feels like putting out there
.....Is Solomon Warfield still on the team? If so, he's a name to keep an eye on, as well. Lomax should be better-ish. I have no idea who Miles Taylor is, but he's replacing John Lowdermilk, soooo.....and Gair is turning into a career back-up. There's potential among the defensive backfield group. But it takes time to develop them. Time Iowa, and especially Kirk Ferentz, doesn't have.
ST- Koehn is back at kicker. Kidd is back at punter. Kornbrath is the backup, as well as the listed holder. All 3 are seniors already.
Parker is the lone kick return man listed, though we'll probably see another WR or RB back with him. Vandeberg takes over for Riley McCarron at punt return, which excites the Hawkeye fanbase to no end. Tyler Kluver is the long snapper, and Jackson Suppert is the backup.
Now, along with having to replace all special teams players next year, Iowa returns just 5 listed starters on offense (QB, WR, LT, RT, OG), and 8 on defense (DT, DT, LB, LB, LB, CB, CB, S).
If 2016's team is suppose to be better, then it must be because we'll have a lot of experience on the defensive end along with a plethora of young running backs for our improving O-line to block for. Maybe Iowa should run more
option next year........or even this year, wouldn't hurt.
