Build your best D from the KF era

StanziUSA

StanziUSA

Well-Known Member
Must be former players during the Kirk era. Cannot use current players.
2 DE, 2DT, 2 CB, 2 S, 3 LB.
Include 5 players that just miss the cut that would be on your “bench”.
I know some may not agree but here’s mine:

S-Sash S-Sanders
LB1-Jewell LB2-Greenway LB3-Niemann
CB1-King CB2-Spivey
DE1-Clayborn DE2-Roth
DT1-King DT2-Cole

Just missed: Karl Klug, Pat Angerer, Josh Jackson, Brett Greenwood, Anthony Nelson.
 
Not a bad list. Some names I might use instead
LB3-Hitchens instead of Niemann
CB2-Hyde instead of Spivey
Safety - Hooker instead of Sash.

Hyde (2012) and Hooker (2018) were both Big Ten DB of the year in addition to King (2015) and Jackson (2017).
 
S1-Sanders
S2- Sash

LB1- Greenway
LB2- Hodge
LB3- Jewel

CB1-King
CB2-Hyde

DE1- Clayborn
DE2- Roth
DT1- Ballard
DT2- Babanaux
 
DE- Roth, Clayborn
DT- King, Ballard
OLB- Greenway
MLB- Jewell
WLB- Hitchens
CB- King, Jackson
FS- Greenwood
SS- Sanders

Reserves- Eppy, Daniels, Jovon Johnson, Hooker or Sash (honestly either should be a starter but I couldn't justify placing them above Sanders), Kirksey
 
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DE Roth, Calyborn
DT Babineaux, Carl Davis
LB Greenway, Hitchens, Jewell
CB King, Jackson
FS Hooker
SS Sanders

Reserves: Jovon Johnson, Sean Considine, Colin Cole, Sash, Kirksey
 
guffus said:
Not a bad list. Some names I might use instead
LB3-Hitchens instead of Niemann
CB2-Hyde instead of Spivey
Safety - Hooker instead of Sash.

Hyde (2012) and Hooker (2018) were both Big Ten DB of the year in addition to King (2015) and Jackson (2017).
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It was a toss up between Hyde and Jackson for me but Jackson just seemed like a better true CB than Hyde. Coin flip though. Niemann and sash over both exact guys because of # of starts and respective stats like # of starts, tackles, Sacks, INTs, ect.
 
StanziUSA said:
It was a toss up between Hyde and Jackson for me but Jackson just seemed like a better true CB than Hyde. Coin flip though. Niemann and sash over both exact guys because of # of starts and respective stats like # of starts, tackles, Sacks, INTs, ect.
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With so many outstanding CB's to choose from, it might make sense to list Hyde as a safety.

I know that Hyde ended up being a pro bowl safety in the NFL. In fact Hyde actually started at safety for the first 2 games of his junior year at Iowa. I believe the plan was to have Lowery take over at CB that year, but I believe Lowery ended up being hurt all year, and the backup CB was so awful, the coaches were forced to move Hyde back to CB, where Hyde stayed the rest of his career.

Anyway, then on the the All Iowa team, you could have Hyde and Sanders start at Safety, with Hooker and Sash as backups, and then you could have King & Jackson start at CB with Spivey as backup.

Now that I think about it, is almost tempting to list Hooker as the 3rd starting LB along with Jewell and Greenway. Since Hooker played kind of a hybrid Saftey/LB position his last year at Iowa, and also because in hindsight, maybe Iowa should have switched to the 4-2-5 as early as 2010 when all its LB's got hurt. You got to wonder how history would be different if Iowa was playing the 4-2-5 in 2010.
 
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Hitchens? Probably in the top 6 LBs of the KF era, but I am surprised 3 of you so far have him in top 3. Different positions, of course, but I feel pretty strongly that Kirksey was ahead of him, and the head-to-head comparison is pretty easy since they were on the same team. If you want to go position-specific, Greenway was far and away the best WLB of the era, and Hitchens is probably #2. But there have been a bunch of Mikes and Leos who could thrive at the Will.

Not sure who the best 2 DTs are, but I agree with @BVHawk95 that Daniels has to be mentioned. If it is going to turn into an all-NFL team of former Hawks, I think he is definitely a starter.

Great topic.
 
guffus said:
I know that Hyde ended up being a pro bowl safety in the NFL. In fact he actually started at safety for the first 2 games of his junior year at Iowa. I believe the plan was to have bj Lowery take over at CB, but I believe Lowery got hurt and the backup CB was so awful, the coaches were forced to move Hyde back to CB, where Hyde stayed the rest of his career.

Anyway, with so many outstanding CB to choose from, it might make sense to list Hyde as a safety, then you could have King,, Jackson, Hyde and Sanders all start.
Click to expand...

If you are playing the game of positional flexibility, would it be a step too far to have Hooker at LEO? Probably, not sure he could have played that position over Kirksey or Edds in the 00s.
 
CP87 said:
Hitchens? Probably in the top 6 LBs of the KF era, but I am surprised 3 of you so far have him in top 3. Different positions, of course, but I feel pretty strongly that Kirksey was ahead of him, and the head-to-head comparison is pretty easy since they were on the same team. If you want to go position-specific, Greenway was far and away the best WLB of the era, and Hitchens is probably #2. But there have been a bunch of Mikes and Leos who could thrive at the Will.

Not sure who the best 2 DTs are, but I agree with @BVHawk95 that Daniels has to be mentioned. If it is going to turn into an all-NFL team of former Hawks, I think he is definitely a starter.

Great topic.
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I went off their time during Iowa not what they have become but yes Daniels was good I just find it hard to put him ahead of the guys above, King, Roth, and Clayborn had huge plays in big games. Would you put Daniels ahead Kampman?
 
guffus said:
With so many outstanding CB's to choose from, it might make sense to list Hyde as a safety.

I know that Hyde ended up being a pro bowl safety in the NFL. In fact Hyde actually started at safety for the first 2 games of his junior year at Iowa. I believe the plan was to have Lowery take over at CB that year, but I believe Lowery ended up being hurt all year, and the backup CB was so awful, the coaches were forced to move Hyde back to CB, where Hyde stayed the rest of his career.

Anyway, then on the the All Iowa team, you could have Hyde and Sanders start at Safety, with Hooker and Sash as backups, and then you could have King & Jackson start at CB with Spivey as backup.

Now that I think about it, is almost tempting to list Hooker as the 3rd starting LB along with Jewell and Greenway. Since Hooker played kind of a hybrid Saftey/LB position his last year at Iowa, and also because in hindsight, maybe Iowa should have switched to the 4-2-5 as early as 2010 when all its LB's got hurt. You got to wonder how history would be different if Iowa was playing the 4-2-5 in 2010.
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Also as you can tell by 3LB 4DL I chose Iowa’s base defense not the 4-2-5 which they literally just started running last year. At that, imagine Bob Sanders as the hybrid DB/LB in that system. It’s 2019 so talk about all the targeting calls he would have got lol
 
CP87 said:
Hitchens? Probably in the top 6 LBs of the KF era, but I am surprised 3 of you so far have him in top 3. Different positions, of course, but I feel pretty strongly that Kirksey was ahead of him, and the head-to-head comparison is pretty easy since they were on the same team. If you want to go position-specific, Greenway was far and away the best WLB of the era, and Hitchens is probably #2. But there have been a bunch of Mikes and Leos who could thrive at the Will.

Not sure who the best 2 DTs are, but I agree with @BVHawk95 that Daniels has to be mentioned. If it is going to turn into an all-NFL team of former Hawks, I think he is definitely a starter.

Great topic.
Click to expand...
Exactly what I was thinking when I picked Hitch. Best WLB under Ferentz, though Jeremiah Hunter was underrated as well.

If we were going top 3 LB overall, it'd have to be Jewell, Greenway, Angerer for me.
 
StanziUSA said:
I went off their time during Iowa not what they have become but yes Daniels was good I just find it hard to put him ahead of the guys above, King, Roth, and Clayborn had huge plays in big games. Would you put Daniels ahead Kampman?
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Well, Kampmann was a DE.

Daniels impact gets diminished by the fact he was on some spectacular DLs alongside guys like Clayborn, Ballard, and Karl Klug. His Sr year he was basically our only consistent pass rush, having 7.0 sacks from the DT spot (which itself is dominant numbers), while still missing quite a few snaps due to lingering injuries. He was a one-man wrecking crew against OU in the bowl game. That's what made me pick him.
 
An extended version of “best of” the last 20 years of under coach Ferentz.

FIRST TEAM

DEFENSE

DE: Adrian Clayborn
T: Mike Daniels
T: Jonathan Babineaux
DE: Matt Roth, Aaron Kampman
MLB: Josey Jewell
OLB: Chad Greenway
WLB: Cristian Kirksey
SS: Bob Sanders
FS: Sean Considine
CB: Joshua Jackson
CB: Desmond King

SECOND TEAM

DEFENSE

DE: Anthony Nelson
T: Mitch King
T: Colin Cole, Carl Davis
DE: Broderick Binns
MLB: Abdul Hodge
OLB: Anthony Hitchens, LeVar Woods
WLB: Ben Nieman
SS: Amani Hooker
FS: Derek Pagel
CB: Micah Hyde
CB: Amari Spievey, Benny Sapp*

THIRD TEAM

DEFENSE

DE: Kenny Iwebema
T: Jaleel Johnson
T: Karl Klug
DE: Derreck Robinson
MLB: Pat Angerer
OLB: Grant Steen, Mike Humpal
WLB: A. J. Edds
SS: Tyler Sash, Marcus Paschal
FS: Jordan Lomax, Brett Greenwood
CB: Bradley Fletcher
CB: Shaun Prater

FOURTH TEAM

DEFENSE

DE: Parker Hesse, Nate Meier
T: Matt Kroul,
T: Christian Ballard, Matt Nelson
DE: Drew Ott, Bryan Mattison
MLB: James Morris,
OLB: Jeremiha Hunter, Edmond Miles, Cole Fisher
WLB: Jeff Tarpinian
SS: John Lowdermilk
FS: Jake Gervase
CB: Jovan Johnson
CB: Charles Godfry
 
AreWeThereYet said:
An extended version of “best of” the last 20 years of under coach Ferentz.

FIRST TEAM

DEFENSE

DE: Adrian Clayborn
T: Mike Daniels
T: Jonathan Babineaux
DE: Matt Roth, Aaron Kampman
MLB: Josey Jewell
OLB: Chad Greenway
WLB: Cristian Kirksey
SS: Bob Sanders
FS: Sean Considine
CB: Joshua Jackson
CB: Desmond King

SECOND TEAM

DEFENSE

DE: Anthony Nelson
T: Mitch King
T: Colin Cole, Carl Davis
DE: Broderick Binns
MLB: Abdul Hodge
OLB: Anthony Hitchens, LeVar Woods
WLB: Ben Nieman
SS: Amani Hooker
FS: Derek Pagel
CB: Micah Hyde
CB: Amari Spievey, Benny Sapp*

THIRD TEAM

DEFENSE

DE: Kenny Iwebema
T: Jaleel Johnson
T: Karl Klug
DE: Derreck Robinson
MLB: Pat Angerer
OLB: Grant Steen, Mike Humpal
WLB: A. J. Edds
SS: Tyler Sash, Marcus Paschal
FS: Jordan Lomax, Brett Greenwood
CB: Bradley Fletcher
CB: Shaun Prater

FOURTH TEAM

DEFENSE

DE: Parker Hesse, Nate Meier
T: Matt Kroul,
T: Christian Ballard, Matt Nelson
DE: Drew Ott, Bryan Mattison
MLB: James Morris,
OLB: Jeremiha Hunter, Edmond Miles, Cole Fisher
WLB: Jeff Tarpinian
SS: John Lowdermilk
FS: Jake Gervase
CB: Jovan Johnson
CB: Charles Godfry
Click to expand...

Wow, Iowa is so deep at CB, it's just incredible.

On the other hand, Lowdemilk should not be anywhere near an all-Iowa team, not even 4th team.
 
guffus said:
Wow, Iowa is so deep at CB, it's just incredible.

On the other hand, Lowdemilk should not be anywhere near an all-Iowa team, not even 4th team.
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That's what I get for putting Sach and Paschal together on the third team and adding another at the last minute. Got any suggestions? I have Bob Sanders, Amani Hooker, Tyler Sash, Marcus Paschal listed before him.
 
C Adam Shada
S Tanner Miller
S Johnny Lowdermilk
C Nick Kuchel
DE Dominic Alvis
DE Riley McMinn
DT Martin Hopkins
DT Tom Nardo
LB Travis Perry
LB Quinton Alston
LB Marcus Collins
 
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