Decade of Average Part 3: Playmakers

[drew003]

I really think KF plays favorites. I was curious what Hillyer's numbers were for the season, and he had 10 catches. 10!!! And he was out there for a majority of the snaps all year. I actually feel bad for him because he was almost NEVER targeted. So the joke about Iowa WR running wind sprints....that's what he did.

For someone like Smith to only catch 41 passes this year, it's baffling. KMM caught about the number I would expect for a slot guy....but for our big play ability guys, Smith, Hillyer, Powell....a combined 69 passes caught for them.

Hillyer is part of the problem. He's a junior, tries hard, blocks hard, but he is not a good WR. He was never targeted because he was never open. He is simply to slow and nonexplosive to create separation. He also had some terrible drops during the year.

If Willes is allowed back on the team, the coaches have to let him beat out Hillyer. Smith, Willes, and Vandeburg is a good 3-man WR corps. Smith, Vandeburg and Hillyer is not.

 

[brhawks18]

With every article Jon writes in this "Decade of Average" series, I'm speechless though I shouldn't be.

The statement KF made about fullbacks in the NFL speaks volumes and shows how much KF is stuck in the mid to late 1990's as it relates to football, college or pro. And with the evolution of football at this level, the game is night and day different today versus what it was in the 90's.

Would love to see changes in the program, but with Mason and Barta in charge the odds are not high of getting better options. The state of and future of Iowa athletics is not in a good spot right now as a whole save for a few sports.

 

[mysteron]

The answer to this apparent conundrum is really pretty simple:

Speed.

Everyone in the NFL is almost without fail BIG and fast, fast fast (aside from kickers, punters, and pocket QBs, and some smaller skill guys who are nevertheless abnormally fast.) Speed is a prerequisite, a barrier to entry. You rarely see the speed and size mismatches in the NFL, so you see far fewer huge plays. Every once in a long while you get some freakish confluence of talent (like the Greatest Show On Turf) where risk is rendered almost null but it's a rarity.

In college, you find those mismatches quite often, which compels you to take risks to enable scoring. Unless you're Iowa.

Why would you want to use a 6'3" 210 pound natural WR with an NFL skill set when you could drive him off the team in favor of touches for Vandeberg? In fact why would you want to play a pre-season AA at PR when you could put Vandy back there? In fact why would you hire a competent OC when you can have Vandy call the plays? I mean for God's sakes, when will you idiots realize this program is about giving 8-man football studs from the Dakotas a chance to shine!!

Dammit, forget wins, GET AS MANY OF THESE KIDS IN THE GAME AS POSSIBLE!!!!

Three members of the University of Iowa football team have been named to Phil Steele's Preseason All-America teams. The all-America teams are released as part of Phil Steele's College Football Preview magazine, which hits newsstands June 24. Senior offensive tackle Brandon Scherff and punt returner Kevonte Martin-Manley are recognized on the publication's second team, while defensive lineman Carl Davis was named to the third team.
It was announced yesterday that Scherff and Martin-Manley were tabbed first team all-Big Ten and Davis second team all-conference by the same publication.

 

[HawkPrdatr40]

Why would you want to use a 6'3" 210 pound natural WR with an NFL skill set when you could drive him off the team in favor of touches for Vandeberg? In fact why would you want to play a pre-season AA at PR when you could put Vandy back there? In fact why would you hire a competent OC when you can have Vandy call the plays? I mean for God's sakes, when will you idiots realize this program is about giving 8-man football studs from the Dakotas a chance to shine!!

Dammit, forget wins, GET AS MANY OF THESE KIDS IN THE GAME AS POSSIBLE!!!!

Three members of the University of Iowa football team have been named to Phil Steele's Preseason All-America teams. The all-America teams are released as part of Phil Steele's College Football Preview magazine, which hits newsstands June 24. Senior offensive tackle Brandon Scherff and punt returner Kevonte Martin-Manley are recognized on the publication's second team, while defensive lineman Carl Davis was named to the third team.
It was announced yesterday that Scherff and Martin-Manley were tabbed first team all-Big Ten and Davis second team all-conference by the same publication.

This x 1 Billion!

Isn't it sad, really really sad what is going on behind the walls in Kinnick. It's pretty much a ******* joke if you ask me..

Get this:
KMM was ranked 10th in the NATION in PR last season with 2 returns.. lol

 

[smbhawk1]

Our use of Tavaun Smith this year (or lack there of) has been a downright travesty. Refusal to find ways to get him the ball and use him on goal line is absurd. We all saw what he did Friday when we finally just got him the ball!

Tavaun Smith would be 1st or 2nd team all Big Ten if he were on any other team.

 

[lightning1]

This has been a problem since KF first got here. I remember, very clearly, hearing how a FR RB named Shonn Greene was the best RB on the roster in summer of 2006. That was when we had Albert Young coming off of his 1334 yd season. I remember this because even though this news was coming from people (can't remember who exactly) that were watching the practices and I thought it was a ridiculous notion. Anyone That saw Shonn in 2008 knows that was most likely a true account of practices circa 2006.

 

[MoseSchrute]

Thanks for these excellent articles. I wish the powers that be would read them, not that it would matter. I was just shaking my head through this one. Jon does not need to explicitly say the words. The facts he has laid out just yell, "Ferentz needs to go."

 

[NCHawker]

3 excellent articles in this series. Pretty eye-opening numbers. Its too bad Jon isn't in charge of the football program.

Its pretty amazing that a guy in the energy business who runs a Hawkeye website can break these numbers down and realize things are not going well. But the guys who are actually getting paid to coach football either aren't aware of these numbers (I highly doubt this option) or they believe these numbers are acceptable for the Iowa football program.

Ferentz never said these losses are acceptable. He never said that when the team played poorly it was acceptable. We need to keep our perspective on this. He is more invested in this thing than any of us.

 

[Caddy]

Ferentz never said these losses are acceptable. He never said that when the team played poorly it was acceptable. We need to keep our perspective on this. He is more invested in this thing than any of us.

Sure he never came out and said it was acceptable, but his refusal to do anything different shows that he thinks its acceptable.

 

[tm3308]

this whole thing sounds exactly like what i was saying during the wisconsin game

I was listening to the Wisconsin game on the radio and was constantly screaming for them to get him the ******* ball. Then when they started going to him, I only got more ****** off because he literally picked up at least 15 yards on every target except for the screen that Wisconsin had sniffed out and the one pass that was completely uncatchable (at least that's how Dolph and Eddy's description made it sound). 6 targets, 4 catches (32, 31, 17, -2), 1 DPI call. He's like that almost every week. We've not had very many receivers where you could practically put 15 yards in the bank for every time you even tried to get him the ball.

 

[SCHawkeye2]

Totally agree. At the end of the game it comes down to talent & Iowa is playing with too many 2 stars, walk-ons & MAC talent to compete at the upper level of the B10. But it is also about the inability to change course. (JVB taking every snap in a lost 2012 season). Hard to tell if it is ego or incompetence. Either way the outcome is bad.
Were there no JUCO running backs available the last two years? Or JUCO linebackers this year? It was no secret we needed some talent at those positions. What did Iowa do? What would Bill Snyder have done? That's why K-State is a consistently ranked team and we have not been ranked for years. Ferentz appears to be too stubborn to change any aspect of his strategy - even when it does not work any more.

 

[bogeyman]

Hawkeye Gamefilm‏@hawkeyegamefilm
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Tevaun Smith had 41 catches on 68 targets in 2014, 6 penalties drawn, ~70% success rate. 22/35 on passes targeted 10+ yards, 7/10 on 20+


​Saw this little tidbit earlier, just to drive home our point on Smith.