This season I believe is one of those seasons that could go either way. There are enough weapons for this team to win the B1G West but there are enough holes on the team to be a 6-7 win team. One area that concerns me the most is overall team depth. When you figure in graduating SR's those who left early for the draft and those who left the program Iowa has lost 39% of it's roster from last year. For a program that develops guys over the long term that's a huge chunk of your roster gone from last year. Obviously new guys will emerge that really didn't factor in last year and hopefully a few FR step up and are ready for B1G play. OL, LB and DB could be very thin this year. If the OL struggles the Iowa offense struggles. If the LB's struggle the Iowa Defense typically struggles. We have some potential stars on both sides of the ball that could offset some weak position groups but if injuries to one or more of them happen it could drastically change the outlook for this team. I think if this team wins the B1G West this year it will because Iowa maintained a mostly healthy roster, kept its stars healthy and only sees 1-2 starters/key backups a week miss game time.
Team Depth
- Thread starter Auger
- Start date
Team depth, and maybe more importantly, the quality of the depth, is a key factor you'll find in successful seasons (10+ wins). Look at all the 10+ win teams, and you'll find they had injuries/failures of starters, but were able to overcome the problem with the strength of their depth. If you can identify a position (WR?) that you wouldn't be comfortable starting your 2nd/3rd stringer, for whatever reason, then you've identified a problem. That's what, IMHO, makes the Alabama's, etc., so tough: quality depth. Hat's off to the young men on stand-by who await the "next man in" call.
I think this is a key area that Wisconsin has been beating us on lately as well. Overall depth. They have been able to survive key injuries a lot better than they have been able to in the past and also a lot better than we have been able to. They have typically always recruited slightly better than us and are also developing guys at just as good a rate as Iowa or even slightly better than Iowa. We have never had great depth and most years we typically have a position group or two that is below B1G average. Its the pitfall to our recruiting. We develop a good number of guys but half of every recruiting class amounts to nothing and we can rarely ever develop solid depth from top to bottom.
We have a lot of quality depth this year, especially at key positions like OL and DL, TE, DB, and RB. I think people are a little scared because they haven’t seen some of them play yet.
I would disagree that we have a lot of quality depth at OL and DB. At OL we lost our two best members from that unit last year and both Wirfs and Jackson were below average last year for much of the year. Render isn't playing his best position this year for a reason. Not a lot of experience with that unit and skill still needs to be tested with the starters. DB seems like it has some solid depth but like you said a lot of that depth is untested. If both the LB and DB units have growing pains it could be a tough start to the season on D. If the OL takes a bit to get going this year it could be a tough start overall.
Depth, injuries, and leadership ... those tangibles and intangibles can be THE MARGIN for the Hawks.
2002 - The Hawks were shockingly healthy ... they also then had the most dominant season by the Hawk squad.
2005 - Many folks view as a "forgettable" season .. however Ferentz often harkens back to this season as one belonging in that run from 2001 to 2005 (while fans tend to simply emphasize 2002 to 2004). Depth and health most certainly was an issue in this one! Lee Gray was injured - so we couldn't return our LT from '04. Is there a surprise that we were out-muscled on the line by ISU that season? Also, if Ed Hinkel doesn't break his arm that season - Iowa beats both Michigan and Northwestern. It's odd how the ball bounces sometimes ....
2009 - Shonn Greene leaves after '08 and Hampton suffers an off-season ACL injury ... all of a sudden the Hawks have to rely on a RS FR who slid over to RB from S (Adam Robinson) and a TR FR (Brandon Wegher) to man the RB spot. On top of that ... we all know the Hawks are a Stanzi injury away from beating Northwestern and Ohio State ... right?!
2010 - Depth issues and injuries ... both at RB and LB cooked this goose. Adversity concerning Norm likely contributed to what we saw against Arizona. However, we're not lamenting a fake punt against Wisconsin if our LB situation were different. Also, where was the leadership on that '10 squad? At the end of the season, the group seemed to collectively curl up into the fetal position. That reflects a lack of leadership coming from the players.
2015 - Potentially embodies Doyle's and Ferentz's philosophy that culture trumps scheme more than any other Hawk squad. This squad had leadership oozing from nearly every pore. The OL was a trauma ward at time ... and yet the Hawks still killed the clock against many teams (largely in part to the terrific leadership of Blythe and Walsh). Beathard got injured ... but his toughness was also arguably inspiring to many (if not most) of his teammates. Jake Duzey was easily considered our best TE in '15 ... and yet an injury grounded him before he could lift off. Big problem? Not at all ... leadership from Krieger-Coble and himself still helped power the group forward ... George Kittle continued to elevate his game. To the surprise of many opposing B1G teams - TE was a huge team strength in '15. RB was a trauma ward too ... but under the leadership of guys like Canzeri and Daniels ... I've never seen a group of Iowa RBs excel more in the face of such adversity! On D we had SO LB in Josey Jewell demonstrate uncanny leadership (rarely have I seen a young player demonstrate such leadership) ... and that was on top of all the great leadership demonstrated by Drew Ott, Nate Meier, Jordan Lomax, and Desmond King. Even when Ott was out, he was instrumental in making sure that Hesse was well prepped for each and every game!
.....
So what will we see in '18?
2002 - The Hawks were shockingly healthy ... they also then had the most dominant season by the Hawk squad.
2005 - Many folks view as a "forgettable" season .. however Ferentz often harkens back to this season as one belonging in that run from 2001 to 2005 (while fans tend to simply emphasize 2002 to 2004). Depth and health most certainly was an issue in this one! Lee Gray was injured - so we couldn't return our LT from '04. Is there a surprise that we were out-muscled on the line by ISU that season? Also, if Ed Hinkel doesn't break his arm that season - Iowa beats both Michigan and Northwestern. It's odd how the ball bounces sometimes ....
2009 - Shonn Greene leaves after '08 and Hampton suffers an off-season ACL injury ... all of a sudden the Hawks have to rely on a RS FR who slid over to RB from S (Adam Robinson) and a TR FR (Brandon Wegher) to man the RB spot. On top of that ... we all know the Hawks are a Stanzi injury away from beating Northwestern and Ohio State ... right?!
2010 - Depth issues and injuries ... both at RB and LB cooked this goose. Adversity concerning Norm likely contributed to what we saw against Arizona. However, we're not lamenting a fake punt against Wisconsin if our LB situation were different. Also, where was the leadership on that '10 squad? At the end of the season, the group seemed to collectively curl up into the fetal position. That reflects a lack of leadership coming from the players.
2015 - Potentially embodies Doyle's and Ferentz's philosophy that culture trumps scheme more than any other Hawk squad. This squad had leadership oozing from nearly every pore. The OL was a trauma ward at time ... and yet the Hawks still killed the clock against many teams (largely in part to the terrific leadership of Blythe and Walsh). Beathard got injured ... but his toughness was also arguably inspiring to many (if not most) of his teammates. Jake Duzey was easily considered our best TE in '15 ... and yet an injury grounded him before he could lift off. Big problem? Not at all ... leadership from Krieger-Coble and himself still helped power the group forward ... George Kittle continued to elevate his game. To the surprise of many opposing B1G teams - TE was a huge team strength in '15. RB was a trauma ward too ... but under the leadership of guys like Canzeri and Daniels ... I've never seen a group of Iowa RBs excel more in the face of such adversity! On D we had SO LB in Josey Jewell demonstrate uncanny leadership (rarely have I seen a young player demonstrate such leadership) ... and that was on top of all the great leadership demonstrated by Drew Ott, Nate Meier, Jordan Lomax, and Desmond King. Even when Ott was out, he was instrumental in making sure that Hesse was well prepped for each and every game!
.....
So what will we see in '18?
I think that the linebacker group is going to have some growing pains, but is not a weak point. Just because you could not break the starting lineup behind three 3-year starters, doesn't make you bad. Hockaday did a very serviceable job 2 years ago when he had to step in for Jewell. He has had injuries, but could be a Cole Fischer in the making. If Welch beat him out on talent, rather than strictly injury, that makes Welch a pretty good player.
It seems to be accepted that Niemann is bigger, faster, and a better athlete than his older brother. If so, once he has the mental part figured out, which isn't easy, but as the son of a coach, I like his chances, he should be a very good one. And Amani Jones seems like a guy who will make some mistakes, but they will be very aggressive mistakes. Some might get us hurt, but they could also cause some big plays. Bob Sanders wasn't always in the best position(not saying he's Bob Sanders, just an example) but it often times worked out very well for us.
The freshmen and JUCO guys are also there for depth.
We also have a big, experienced DL to help keep them clean, and some pretty good, if not great, safeties to clean up some messes.
I can't wait for this season!
It seems to be accepted that Niemann is bigger, faster, and a better athlete than his older brother. If so, once he has the mental part figured out, which isn't easy, but as the son of a coach, I like his chances, he should be a very good one. And Amani Jones seems like a guy who will make some mistakes, but they will be very aggressive mistakes. Some might get us hurt, but they could also cause some big plays. Bob Sanders wasn't always in the best position(not saying he's Bob Sanders, just an example) but it often times worked out very well for us.
The freshmen and JUCO guys are also there for depth.
We also have a big, experienced DL to help keep them clean, and some pretty good, if not great, safeties to clean up some messes.
I can't wait for this season!
Not to mention all 3 are in their 3rd year in the program so they are not young and new just inexperienced. They should be very well drilled as to their responsibilities.
Don't forget the attrition factor..be it from defection, injury or early exit for the NFL.
Did you hear what they said about the tOSU O line during last year's game? They had gone something like 3 seasons without losing a starting player during the season. Look back and think about how many seasons would have turned out differently if we'd had the same starting 5 for the entire season.
BirdistheWord
HB Legend
Agree on recruitment, Wisky has been consistently better. Player dev is debatable, I would say their stronger recruiting has been the driver of their better depth. Just opinion. They do a fantastic job with Offensive Line and RB, as good as we have been they have been much better. Also, WR has been stronger, not saying much of course.
Wiscy D has our offense totally flummoxed or Kirk is too stubborn to adapt. From 2002-2009 we could line up and "bully" them fairly consistently. Now their D bullies us. It's the one thing that honks me off about our coach. look what Penn St and Ohio St did to Bucky in the last 2 Big 10 championship games, scored by keeping their D off balance and throwing on 1st down and out scoring them.
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