No, Iowa's roster is most definitely NOT full of "gifted athletes".
You can't tell me there wasn't some way Derby couldn't be put on the field. Maybe as a wildcat...or somewhere in the backfield. Give him the ball on third and short with an option to run/pass (instead of the slow off tackle run that rarely worked). Something...ANYTHING to take advantage of the skills he has.
At the very least, having Derby in the backfield somewhere would give the opposing defense pause to think, instead of knowing exactly what Iowa is going to do.
But no.....I guess you can't do things like that at Iowa because it is "too risky".
Funny how other schools manage to get their better athletes on the field (other than special teams). But I guess "that's just football".