Great news on the oline. I wonder what the safety positions will look like when Miller returns. Is he destined for backup again next fall and then coming in after Bernstine leaves? Interesting that Sleeper is in there as well. Also wondering if Law will see any time this fall.
While I think that there will be a little bit of a drop with the new starters at safety because they'll be a bit "green" at the spots .... the good news is that at least our "new" starters at safety are still very familiar with key principles underlying our zone coverages.
I think that when Miller returns, he'll still be in the picture to compete for a starting spot. From what I understand, many players have alluded that our FS and SS spots aren't all that dissimilar ... so guys can often interchangeably play them. However, that said, there are still differences between the spots. Anyhow, Miller was prepped a bit more to play FS ... so how might he fare when getting reps at SS? At the very least, Miller will be Hyde's backup at FS. The bigger question is how close the competition will be between Bernstine, Miller, and Sleeper.
What is rather intriguing is Ferentz's comments comparing Sleeper to Edds ... that definitely took me a bit by surprise. However, that said, Norm had "talked up" Nick Nielsen a few years back ... and he's yet to really break on the scene. Of course, Norm does seem to be prone to exaggerate when he's discussing any position group other than LB. Of course, in defense of Norm, Nick Nielsen has been caught behind multi-year starters at safety.
As for whether Law will see early action ... yeah, I definitely think that he'll see the field. However, I think that he'll primarily be contributing through special teams. If he does much beyond that, I'd assume that it would either be in particular defensive packages to allow him to get his feet wet OR in clean-up duty.
The more and more I think about Iowa's secondary, the more and more comfortable I get thinking about their chances of being a very solid group. Here are my predictions:
CB:
starters - Prater, Lowery
backups - Castillo, Campbell and Lomax
remarks: I predict that BOTH TR FR cbs will see early action. I anticipate that they will see action primarily on special teams, but they'll also likely have a chance to contribute some in clean-up duty too.
S:
starters - Hyde, Bernstine/Miller
backups - Sleeper, Donatell, Law
remarks: In the past, we often have had a 3rd safety contribute quite a bit and have pretty decent production. I think that we'll definitely see that this year. Furthermore, given that we're going to face a number of team pretty early who are going to lean pretty heavily on the pass ... I think that we're going to be more willing than usual to use multi-DB looks.