JonDMiller
Publisher/Founder
Been this way at Iowa as long as I can remember.
I mean, Chuck Long threw to Bill Happel and Scott Helverson as his primary receivers.
McNutt and DJK probably the best duo Iowa has had and neither played WR in HS
#1 priority, need better wide outs
- Thread starter mrolympia
- Start date
Been this way at Iowa as long as I can remember.
I mean, Chuck Long threw to Bill Happel and Scott Helverson as his primary receivers.
McNutt and DJK probably the best duo Iowa has had and neither played WR in HS
lightning1
Well-Known Member
Thats what I was thinking. You could pin this thread to the top of the page for the next 10 years and it would be accurate every year.
judzeehawk
Well-Known Member
If my memory serves me correctly there have been some very good wr's play high school ball here in Iowa only to go elsewhere. I don't even want to mention the schools they went to. If we can't even get the Iowa kids how do we get anybody?
McNutt was an athletic QB. Maybe we target a few of those with speed and height.
SpecialKHawk
Well-Known Member
We had a guy in Derek Willies with size, speed and hands but it did us no good. I think he's a JUCO All American now.
Same when we had Damond Powell. No one could stay with that guy downfield but we did not put him on the field much.
Same when we had Damond Powell. No one could stay with that guy downfield but we did not put him on the field much.
I still dont see how it takes much learning of the playbook for Damon Powell and Jerminic Smith or Derrick Willies or other fast athletes to run fly patterns, go routes or whatever you want to call it. Stretch the field and if the QB, CJB or another QB sees the speedy WR getting open in the first 2 seconds of his read he can launch it.
We can complain about play calling or lack of talent at WR and all of that. It doesn't matter, Iowa under KF, is what it is, and we've had a lot of success doing it his way. We all enjoyed the 12-0 season. But if we can't win the battle up front, we will lose more often than we win. In the Rose Bowl, our offensive line was beaten unmercifully, and Stanford had a guy we couldn't tackle. So we got our butt kicked. In my opinion the offensive line is the #1 priority.
trj
Well-Known Member
I get what you are saying. But man it would be nice to have some dudes that can make you miss in space. GD's whole scheme is based on speed, yeah he does some hybrid stuff with the KOK/Ferentz offense and has dialed it back a bit because of talent. Every so often he will creep back to Texas mode and call plays as if Limas Sweed was running out there.
With some speed the offense wouldn't be so reliant on flawless execution. Everyone uses play action to get guys open, but it seems like that is the only way Iowa can get guys open.
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hawkdrummer1
Well-Known Member
To get better wide outs, we have to throw downfield more. Period.
MelroseHawkins
Well-Known Member
..... or in the NFL. Both on tops in Iowa's record books and couldn't make an NFL roster. What's that tell you about Iowa and the WR position.
MelroseHawkins
Well-Known Member
To me, they seem to run up to the defender and do this schizophrenic stomping of the feet & cocking of the arms to try to fake the defender and then make an attempt to cut & run the route. To me the receivers need to make more demonstrable fake and cut. One true fake and a hard cut, & Beathard needs to try to get the timing down when that window is open.
hawkfan2679
Well-Known Member
It's not so much a fake as a means of slowing down in order to get in and out of their cut quicker. There might be a little fake with the head and with the feetwork, but what they are doing is slowing down and then (theoretically) exploding out of the break into the post-stem part of the route. Hard, speed cuts get rounded when done with too much speed, allowing for a DB to undercut the route. Usually the shorter routes (slant, quick out, hitch, i.e. horizontal breaks or stops within 5 yards) are done without the "drum the feet" technique because the WR hasn't gotten up the speed yet and can usually make a very sharp cut. Anything past that, though, and you are usually going to get that action in order to slow down and square the cut.
I don't know if that's explained very well, but it is a best effort explain why they do what they do.
HawkeyeWalker
Well-Known Member
Ugh. Yes, we need more speed, but it's not the glaring level you think, and the example you give is awful.
The player who picked off the pass was running almost full speed the other way. VB was going the other way, had to stop, then reverse field. Unless of course you also think Bo Bower has elite speed when he had his pick six and ran away?
It was a bad playcall, worse decision by an otherwise very smart CJ, and the guy read it and made a great (backbreaking) play.
Tim Dwight? Yeah, he was elite speed. All we need is another 1-2 of him to pop out of Iowa high schools.
Yes, we need more speed. But geez.
HawkeyeWalker
Well-Known Member
That said, I'd take 3 Ed Hink's all day, every day. And he wasn't fast.
HawkeyeWalker
Well-Known Member
Yes. ^
The skill positions have, imo, improved in terms of talent and I really believe we are going to see a couple examples of that next year (barring injuries and overblown egos). If we get solid Oline/Dline play to go along with it....I think we are going to like what we see...except for playcalling(at times)
archiehawk
Well-Known Member
Doesn't work to have better wide outs. As soon as they show more personality than KF likes he runs them off.
