Concerns coming into the yr

[NorthKCHawk]

I like your point that the drop-off between 1st string and 2nd is steeper...because of better top-line talent. In some positions (DL, notably), I think we have gotten to a point where there won't be much drop off among the top 8 or so. In other positions, losing a Campbell, Moss, or Keagan Johnson would be devastating.

One of the biggest gaps between an Iowa and an OSU is depth. Yes, OSU recruits better athletes across the board, but once KF has had them for a few years, the talent gap lessens through great coaching. But, when OSU's starter gets hurts, there is a 4-5 star red shirt freshmen ready to step in. Iowa's redshirt freshmen isn't quite ready.

Our depth has been harmed more by early graduations than injury of late.

The other part of developing talent like Iowa does is that if you swing and miss in recruiting a position, it is much harder to backfill when you don't have 5 star freshmen coming in every year. Case in point, our OL class in 2018 was a bust. TL was an alltimer, but he was recruited as a DL, and now we have lost him to the draft. Guys who should be starting as seniors from that class are lacking. 2019 was a bit better, but still inconsistent. I think we are seeing much better classes since 2020, and obviously what we have coming in next year is ridiculous.

 

[Fryowa]

I work with a guy who has represented several schools in breached grant/donation cases. They all have pretty much the same fact pattern. Some big swinging dick makes a pledge to a school. There is a grant or pledge agreement associated with it. The school does something to piss off the big swinging dick. Big swinging dick doesn't cut the next check. School calls him and says "what the F broheim?" Then they run up a few million bucks in legal fees pissing and moaning about whether the school breached and the school ALWAYS pleads poverty and says they detrimentally relied on the pledge in undertaking some hiring initiative or capital project. Then they settle.

It's a good thing I don't go to Iowa tailgates anymore because if I ever heard of a credible anecdotal story about Iowa taking a shitty player over a piss ant $5 million grant I would probably have an aneurysm on the spot.

Bruce Rastetter fueded with Sally Mason and stopped payments while she was Prez. He made another payment after she left but I never heard if he finished out or not. He was on the board of regents at the time so I’m sure no one would’ve pushed him on it other than the DMR writing hit pieces about him. But if you’re a billionaire who cares what some shithole political newspaper writes about you?

 

[Grady]

Lack of a homerun hitter on offense.

Charlie Jones and Tyler Goodson could give you chunk yardage plays on offense and that element is gone. Methodically, going down the field, 10 plays,80 yards will still be a huge task for this offense. Both of the Williams' are better at grinding out yardage to move the chains, but you are going to need a guy who can get big yards when the offense is stalling out. Goodson could do that, we don't know if either Williams can.

My thoughts exactly. Iowa prides itself on having a 'ball control offense', but if you look at some of Iowa's biggest wins they've come because of long, explosive runs, i.e. Wadley & even Goodson last year. I think the more plodding your offense is -- and Iowa certainly qualifies -- the MORE important it is to have at least one explosive player on offense, because if you can't score a breakaway TD you're starting a drive perhaps inside the opponent's 40 yd line instead of kicking a PAT. Wisconsin is a run-first team, but their RBs usually not only have power, but also breakaway speed. Rumors are there's a FR burner on Iowa's practice field, but nobody fits that description in the RB room that I know of. It's a big, and I think underreported, concern.

 

[JoeyLabasForPresident]

Bruce Rastetter fueded with Sally Mason and stopped payments while she was Prez. He made another payment after she left but I never heard if he finished out or not. He was on the board of regents at the time so I’m sure no one would’ve pushed him on it other than the DMR writing hit pieces about him. But if you’re a billionaire who cares what some shithole political newspaper writes about you?

Liked because the Register fucking sucks. Time to raise the prices for even less content, again.

 

[trj]

I'm hoping Johnson can be that at receiver. He's just gotta stay healthy and be used more.

Honestly with our Oline last yr we needed our RBs to be able to push the pile for an extra yard more so than get HRs. Goodson had way too many carries for like 1 yard or less because he'd go down on first contact. Both WIlliams boys against UK were falling forward/breaking tackles and getting extra yards after contact. There's just a huge difference between having a 2nd and 6 in our offense and a 2nd and 10. Which we far too often had. If the Williams boys can break a long one now and then that'd be great but our style of play isn't reliant upon big quick hitters in the running game. They need to help sustain drives and keep the clock moving more then what Goodson did last yr

I am skeptical about Iowa's ability to chew up clock and lot of that has to do with #7. Without doing the homework I am guessing Goodson led the team in plays of 20 or more yards... so it balances out all of the being tackled behind the LOS stuff.

IMO, Iowa will win 9,10, 11 games this year, but it is going to look a lot like last year.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

I am skeptical about Iowa's ability to chew up clock and lot of that has to do with #7. Without doing the homework I am guessing Goodson led the team in plays of 20 or more yards... so it balances out all of the being tackled behind the LOS stuff.

IMO, Iowa will win 9,10, 11 games this year, but it is going to look a lot like last year.

Can Iowa get into makeable 3rd down situations and can #7 convert them? Because like you I have little faith he can convert the tough 3rd and 7s and longer very often. That will depend on the Oline/running game and of course BFs play calling.

Our schedule is tough Michigan comes to town and we go to OSU. A 10 win yr would be fantastic. Our D should be good enough to get us that but will the O?....

 

[Wundershozen]

The saving grace of all of this is that unlike the last time Ken O'Keefe left (which as we all recall was to coach in the National Football League), this time Ken will still be around to give advice. I know he's not technically "on the staff" or whatever other wishy washy shit they said, but mark my words, this is going to be just like Nick Saban stockpiling coaches down at Alabama and will lead to an amazing year out of the offense.

My brain knows (or at least I think it does) that you're being sarcastic...but my heart hopes to hell you're spot on!

 

[Wundershozen]

I'm not even asking for 1.21 Gigawatts out of our offense, because that's just a pipe dream that I've only seen once during the KF era. But a spark, just a tiny shock...is that too much to ask?

 

[teachercoach]

If you count Ragani/Bruce as 1 position and the 2 Williams at RB as 1 position, Iowa has 9 sophomores and 4 seniors on offense... they were really young last year and still are this year.
Might explain some struggles.
Go Hawk!!

 

[Gibsonian]

Lack of a homerun hitter on offense.

Charlie Jones and Tyler Goodson could give you chunk yardage plays on offense and that element is gone. Methodically, going down the field, 10 plays,80 yards will still be a huge task for this offense. Both of the Williams' are better at grinding out yardage to move the chains, but you are going to need a guy who can get big yards when the offense is stalling out. Goodson could do that, we don't know if either Williams can.

Lay down Goodson could nearly always be run down, I think the Williams boys will help us get over Tyler's departure in short order. Someone will likely step up to at least partially fill Charlie's shoes, I hope.

 

[guffus]

Lay down Goodson could nearly always be run down, I think the Williams boys will help us get over Tyler's departure in short order. Someone will likely step up to at least partially fill Charlie's shoes, I hope.

I certainly won't miss those plays where Goodson would back into the defender for a 1-yard loss. It felt like Goodson was playing scared all last season. I hope he has better luck in the pros but he might have helped his draft status if he just would have put his shoulder down and ran forward.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

If you count Ragani/Bruce as 1 position and the 2 Williams at RB as 1 position, Iowa has 9 sophomores and 4 seniors on offense... they were really young last year and still are this year.
Might explain some struggles.
Go Hawk!!

I think ideally, it's ok to have youngsters at the skill spots. WR and RBs. But It's more ideal to have upper classman be your Oline and QB. Our Oline may still struggle I'm afraid. How this O does will totally depend upon how they progress

 

[CP87]

I think ideally, it's ok to have youngsters at the skill spots. WR and RBs. But It's more ideal to have upper classman be your Oline and QB. Our Oline may still struggle I'm afraid. How this O does will totally depend upon how they progress

The 2018 OL recruits (RS Sr):
Tyler Linderbaum (NFL)
Jeff Jenkins (retired due to injury)
Jack Plumb (#1 at RT)
Cody Ince (retired due to injury)
Matt Fagan (walk-on, earned scholarship in spring 2022, #2 at LG)

The 2019 OL recruits (RS Jr):
Ezra Miller (4 star, transferred to Nebraska)
Tyler Endres (4 star, not on 2 deep)
Justin Britt (out for the year)
Noah Fenske (transferred to Colorado)
Nick DeJong (walk-on, earned scholarship in spring 2021, #2 at RT)

The 2020 OL recruits (RS So):
Logan Jones (#1 at C)
Tyler Elsbury (#1 at LG)
Josh Volk (not on depth chart)
Mason Richman (#1 at LT)

The 2021 OL recruits (sophs or RS Fr):
David Davidkov (#2 at LT)
Connor Colby (#1 at RG)
Beau Stephens (#2 at RG)
Gennings Dunker (not on depth chart)
Griffin Liddle (not on depth chart)
Michael Myslinski (#2 at center)

The 2022 OL recruits:
Kale Krogh
Jack Dotzler
(having only 2 OL recruits in this class makes me wonder if they have designs on Aaron Graves being a future OT)

From the classes that should be our RS Srs and Jrs, we have one scholarship player on the 2-deeps.

Our RS Soph and Fresh classes have 7 of the 10 spots on the 2-deep. Two more are held by former walk-ons from the '18 and '19 classes (DeJong and Fagan).

Part of this is explained by talent in the '20 and '21 classes. But there were certainly a lot of misses and bad luck in the '18 and '19 classes.

 

[Fryowa]

The 2018 OL recruits (RS Sr):
Tyler Linderbaum (NFL)
Jeff Jenkins (retired due to injury)
Jack Plumb (#1 at RT)
Cody Ince (retired due to injury)
Matt Fagan (walk-on, earned scholarship in spring 2022, #2 at LG)

The 2019 OL recruits (RS Jr):
Ezra Miller (4 star, transferred to Nebraska)
Tyler Endres (4 star, not on 2 deep)
Justin Britt (out for the year)
Noah Fenske (transferred to Colorado)
Nick DeJong (walk-on, earned scholarship in spring 2021, #2 at RT)

The 2020 OL recruits (RS So):
Logan Jones (#2 at C)
Tyler Elsbury (#1 at LG)
Josh Volk (not on depth chart)
Mason Richman (#1 at LT)

The 2021 OL recruits (sophs or RS Fr):
David Davidkov (#2 at LT)
Connor Colby (#1 at RG)
Beau Stephens (#2 at RG)
Gennings Dunker (not on depth chart)
Griffin Liddle (not on depth chart)
Michael Myslinski (#2 at center)

The 2022 OL recruits:
Kale Krogh
Jack Dotzler
(having only 2 OL recruits in this class makes me wonder if they have designs on Aaron Graves being a future OT)

From the classes that should be our RS Srs and Jrs, we have one scholarship player on the 2-deeps.

Our RS Soph and Fresh classes have 7 of the 10 spots on the 2-deep. Two more are held by former walk-ons from the '18 and '19 classes (DeJong and Fagan).

Part of this is explained by talent in the '20 and '21 classes. But there were certainly a lot of misses and bad luck in the '18 and '19 classes.

You have Logan Jones as #2 C. He should be #1

 

[CP87]

You have Logan Jones as #2 C. He should be #1

Thanks, fixed it.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

The 2018 OL recruits (RS Sr):
Tyler Linderbaum (NFL)
Jeff Jenkins (retired due to injury)
Jack Plumb (#1 at RT)
Cody Ince (retired due to injury)
Matt Fagan (walk-on, earned scholarship in spring 2022, #2 at LG)

The 2019 OL recruits (RS Jr):
Ezra Miller (4 star, transferred to Nebraska)
Tyler Endres (4 star, not on 2 deep)
Justin Britt (out for the year)
Noah Fenske (transferred to Colorado)
Nick DeJong (walk-on, earned scholarship in spring 2021, #2 at RT)

The 2020 OL recruits (RS So):
Logan Jones (#1 at C)
Tyler Elsbury (#1 at LG)
Josh Volk (not on depth chart)
Mason Richman (#1 at LT)

The 2021 OL recruits (sophs or RS Fr):
David Davidkov (#2 at LT)
Connor Colby (#1 at RG)
Beau Stephens (#2 at RG)
Gennings Dunker (not on depth chart)
Griffin Liddle (not on depth chart)
Michael Myslinski (#2 at center)

The 2022 OL recruits:
Kale Krogh
Jack Dotzler
(having only 2 OL recruits in this class makes me wonder if they have designs on Aaron Graves being a future OT)

From the classes that should be our RS Srs and Jrs, we have one scholarship player on the 2-deeps.

Our RS Soph and Fresh classes have 7 of the 10 spots on the 2-deep. Two more are held by former walk-ons from the '18 and '19 classes (DeJong and Fagan).

Part of this is explained by talent in the '20 and '21 classes. But there were certainly a lot of misses and bad luck in the '18 and '19 classes.

2019... swing and a miss.... For different reasons it's a bust of a class and should have been the foundation for what our line could be now. RS juniors should be pillars for the program but... Makes coaches job an uphill climb when that happens. You can swing and miss on a receiver here and there and even a QB but Oline as an entire unit not so much....

 

[SwirlinLingerie]

The WR position group is an injury or two away from being an abyss, especially if some of the guys further down on the depth chart don't start developing. Say Johnson is one of the guys who gets nicked. Pretty light on bodies who can stretch the field or even get separation by being a savvy player. Couple that with a quarterback who isn't particularly accurate, doesn't have good touch and can't buy time for his guys by moving a bit. That starts looking like 2016 in a hurry - but without the NFL QB.

 

[CP87]

The WR position group is an injury or two away from being an abyss, especially if some of the guys further down on the depth chart don't start developing. Say Johnson is one of the guys who gets nicked. Pretty light on bodies who can stretch the field or even get separation by being a savvy player. Couple that with a quarterback who isn't particularly accurate, doesn't have good touch and can't buy time for his guys by moving a bit. That starts looking like 2016 in a hurry - but without the NFL QB.

Probably my biggest concern. Might be some 21 and 20 personnel groupings if they run into injury problems.

 

[haydensly]

2019... swing and a miss.... For different reasons it's a bust of a class and should have been the foundation for what our line could be now. RS juniors should be pillars for the program but... Makes coaches job an uphill climb when that happens. You can swing and miss on a receiver here and there and even a QB but Oline as an entire unit not so much....

I thought the 2019 class of O-Linemen would turn out pretty good but you're right, it was a pretty big bust. I looked at Nebraska's two deeps and Ezra Miller isn't on it; I thought he had the most potential of all of those recruits. Noah Fenske is currently shown as the starting center at Colorado.

 

[CP87]

I thought the 2019 class of O-Linemen would turn out pretty good but you're right, it was a pretty big bust. I looked at Nebraska's two deeps and Ezra Miller isn't on it; I thought he had the most potential of all of those recruits. Noah Fenske is currently shown as the starting center at Colorado.

I thought so, too. Ezra Miller's highlights were ridiculous (admittedly against small school competition).

It doesn't seem like a coincidence that Polasek was an in-your-face type of coach, and we had huge attrition in the '18 and '19 classes. It feels a little like Kaczenski and the DL attrition during the late aughts.