No offense (pun intended), but you're crazy!
First of all, there were two main reasons JVB had such a great statistical year. The first reason was Coker, who teams had to respect, thus giving Vandy more time in the pocket and more reliability in the play-action. The second reason was McNutt who ran as good a routes as any receiver in recent memory and could catch virtually anything. Neither one of those players is back. Teams at this point do not have to respect our running game because somewhere in the neighborhood of 90% of it is gone. So they can load up on JVB. And who in the heck is he going to throw to? C-Fed hasn't proven anything yet. Davis has been a perpetual bust for the most part, save a good game here and there. And other than the Pitt game, K-Mart has done next to nothing.
In addition, I don't give a rip how many stars someone has next to their name. With the exception of Mike Jones (out of necessity), Reiff and Bulaga (too much talent to keep off the field), name me another 1st or 2nd year OL that has seen much of the field? You can't because it doesn't happen in this system. The schemes are tough to learn and KF isn't going to throw someone out there who isn't technically sound. When you lose two bookend tackles to the NFL, it's going to sting. There's no way around it.
I wish I could smoke what you're smoking because I can guarantee with almost 100% certainty that we will struggle mightily on offense.
You are probably right about the crazy deal...but not on football.
1. You cite two reasons for Vandy's big numbers...
a. coker's presence...well, Iowa was 11th in the league in rushing attack last year,so I doubt there was a ton of respect for our rushing attack.
b. McNutt....true,he was an all-time Hawkeye, but Davis still had 50 catches, over 700 yards, and was hurt the last 3 games. Marvin was great,but had his share of drops also. K-Mart was a frosh who caught 22 passes, but lets face it,not many more to go around when you have a guy catch over 80 passes. If Vandy targets these guys, they can catch the ball more.
c. You are dismissing that Vandy has a great arm,and was very accurate for most of the year. As a senior,he should be even better with decision-making(see Stanzi's improvement jr,to sr). A better Vandy is the best QB in the league outside of maybe D-Rob.
2. O-line. McMillan,Tobin,Scherff,Donnal,Ferentz,Van Sloten,and Boffelli are not 1st or 2nd year players. And of course, Scherff was one of those second year guys that was too good to keep off the field. Why do you rule out that Walsh and Blythe might also be that talented? Reiff was not even an o-lineman until late in his redshirt year,and 9 months later was starting,and you are ruling out that 4 star all american guards like Walsh cannot even attempt to get on the field til their 3rd year? This is college football,and guys graduate every year,and by necessity new guys take their place.
Again, who thought that Zuesevics was a ''bookend NFL prospect'' at tackle when he came in as a junior who had never seen the field and was a volleyball player for much of his HS career? Iowa trains offensive linemen..it is what we do,and will continue to do.
So, I guess we could assume that this group will be unlike the past groups and not be able to transition to the field,unlike the uber-talented volleyball player, but I am going to lean on history that suggests that our coaching staff knows a thing or two about offensive line play.
