Excited to see if Derby has progressed at the Spring Game

[03bizHawk]

He has the athletic ability to be the next AJ Edds, and make a paycheck playing at the next level.
I feel he should move, simply due to his athletic ability. We NEED him on the field. Morris, Kirksey, Derby at LB. I like the sound of that.

 

[hawkinn3]

I am in no way shape or form an insider but I have only heard that Vandy is clearly the best QB on the roster now with Wienke a distant 2nd.

 

[troy]

The great thing for Derby is this will be his second spring...he should have a real good idea of where he stands...and a better idea this fall when Rudock arrives.

He will be a redshirt freshman in 2011...him coming in early is going to benefit him greatly if he does make a position change. He could conceivably make that move after spring 2012, play special teams in 2012 and fight to be a two year starter at LB in 13 & 14.

I think Derby is as good as Morris. I think that AJ would have been starting at the end of last year had he chosen to play linebacker.

 

[spudhawk]

I think Derby projects to LEO at Iowa- he has length and quickness plus the ability to get bigger if he chose too. I think Iowa is building depth at linebacker and if he has a poor spring at QB he should make the move quickly because DiBona was better than I thought he would be, and I think that Getz is being groomed to succeed Nielsen.

 

[homerHAWKeye777]

I think Derby projects to LEO at Iowa- he has length and quickness plus the ability to get bigger if he chose too. I think Iowa is building depth at linebacker and if he has a poor spring at QB he should make the move quickly because DiBona was better than I thought he would be, and I think that Getz is being groomed to succeed Nielsen.

From the recruiting process, I loved DiBona's toughness. Furthermore, he had enough athleticism that I figured that he'd end up at LB instead of FB. However, that said, I kinda expected that he'd fit better at the MIKE spot than the WILL spot. Thus, I was a bit surprised when he ended up earning a few starts at the WILL spot as a RS FR.

However, as things stand, it seems like it could end up being an awfully intriguing battle between Kirksey and DiBona at the WILL LB spot.

DiBona reminds me some of Humpal ... much more of an ILB and not as much of a LEO.

Thus, I'd say that arguably our biggest "depth issue" at LB will be at the LEO spot. Given his measurables, I agree with the assessment that Getz could end up being the one who follows Nielsen at the LEO spot. An odd observation I've noted is that on the Hawk roster, they seem to be rather particular about their choice to use the line "due to injury." It's a strange detail to pick up on, however, it seems like they use it to distinguish between guys who were definitely going to see action were it not for action versus guys who simply got beaten out. Anyhow, Getz was among those who was specifically listed as not seeing action due to injury. I could be wrong, but my take is that Getz is a guy who has caught the eye of the staff.

Anyhow, past Getz, it's rather hard to point out any particular guy and say that he's definitely a good fit at LEO. Poggi maybe could be successful there. Alston could potentially make an impact there too. However, if the coaches continue to prefer to man the spot with taller/longer guys ... then I imagine that the staff wouldn't cry at all if Derby or Coe decided to change position and give the LEO spot a shot.

 

[homerHAWKeye777]

I think Derby is as good as Morris. I think that AJ would have been starting at the end of last year had he chosen to play linebacker.

Derby would have only been starting at LB last year because of Nielsen's injury and because the fact that we really didn't have any other guy healthy who as a "natural" fit at the spot.