Ferentz C-: unable to take advantage of a soft schedule, lost to two less talented teams on the road, beat one more talented team at home. Failed to emphasize the strength of this team which was offense.
O'Keefe D+: Two solid performances- three terrible performances, seven average performances. No problem with his schemes (formations, etc.), problem with lack of obvious scheming to use one of most talented offense in memory to score more points.
Parker B: Again no problem with scheme- this team improved defensively as the season went on and he did make several notable adjustments this season- blitzed more than in any season since maybe 2008. Least talent to work with in many seasons and still held solid offenses to well below their season averages over the last five games (exception obviously being MSU).
QB B+: Vandenberg exceeded my expectations this season and showed off some very solid physical skills and at times really dissected defenses. Underrated at audibles in the run game. Needs to improve on pocket awareness and manipulating coverage- things that can be improved on, see Stanzi 2010.
RB INC: Coker probably met nearly everyone's expectations, but Iowa failed to develop a second option and that cost both the offense and Coker better performances. Iowa had 5 options at tailback this season and I would guess that after ULM Coker played 98% of the snaps.
WR A-: McNutt had one of the best season's ever for an Iowa receiver and was still plagued by drops. Keenan Davis and KMM leave this position in good hands for next season and KMM really was impressive out of the slot.
TE D+: Herman took an obvious step back this season, struggled with drops and blocking- which he excelled at last season. Derby was solid for what he is- a limited athlete that works hard and understands his assignments. CJFed has some work to to blocking but certainly flashed plenty of ability and potential.
OL A: This unit blocked very well in both phases all season, picked up the blitz as well as any unit has in recent memory and was not often recognized for the work they were doing. Hope Reiff stays, but next season will be tough to match after this season's performance whether he stays or goes.
DL C-: Binns and Daniels were reliable but not explosive, Alvis looked to be ready to shine and tore his ACL. Nardo, Bigach, and Daniel all played hard but were physically over-matched. Really hope that some young players emerge or next season could be worse.
LB C-: this unit improved dramatically with some re-shuffling and it appears that maybe Morris is better suited to play WLB. Nielsen really made an impact at Mike and it is probably no coincidence that the defense improved when the linebackers were shuffled. Maybe no brighter future for any position on Iowa roster than this unit.
DB B- Prater and Hyde made some mistakes but also played the run well, played their responsibilities well. As well as Bernstine played the run, he may have been worse in coverage. Tanner Miller looked solid and seemed to improve every week. Lowery seems to have a similar skill set to Prater and again the future looks bright for this unit even with the losses of Prater and Bernstine.
Special Teams C: Meyer and Guthrie did their jobs fairly well. Kick off and kick return rarely made positive plays in the field position game bringing this unit down. No blocked kicks or punts, basically a -2 TO margin for this unit with the fakes executed against them this season. This was not a winning unit.
Team C-: This team wasted a very soft schedule and failed in so many ways in the five losses that it is tough to give this team an average grade. They also flashed a lot of potential. The certainly seemed to work hard and strove for improvement from game to game.
That honestly was one of the truest and best breakdowns I've ever seen. I wont argue with a C for Ferentz because we had a C year. I'd say KOK is a little lower than he should be, but I get your drift. Parker and the D did improve and will throughout Bowl Prep.
One nit pick is I don't necessarily agree anyone on Iowa's schedule was more talented and I'm afraid the NFL draft and FA's will show this to be true. However your point remains we were out classed a couple times.....and just flat out played others
Just some side notes to add....
I think Zues was talented enuff, but really made some mental mistakes, but will likely play in the NFL...The O-line will be okay next year and very good if Reif returns but not necessarily better.
The Te's are nothing but up and I suspect some of their production was based off Vandy and his comfort level. That will change and Derby is a better athlete than given credit for and made few mistakes, though did drop a coupe balls....
Vandy...no clue what people are bothered about here. Very solid and has BIG Tools, but can definitely improve.
Wr's....lot of lanky, athletic bodies there and Davis (sans injury) and KMM both exceeded my expectations....
DL....Binss will play in the NFL, Daniels I don't know. Alvis has upside if healthy and I liked how Bigach improved and he is very quick and relatively fast, or so it seems...all these guys got WAY out of position early season, but surely there are bodies to work with and for what they were they improved.
Lbers..... play was very spotty as a rule, but like you I do think they got better after shuffling and Hitchens really improved when he got healthy and I absolutely love Kirksey. Seems like he improved all year and was good no matter where they put him and he is still undersized but he wont be next year. Morris...its got to be a head thing with him, seriously. Nielsen I am curious to see run after the season, because I can point you to a web site that suggests he is fast, fast, fast...if so he'll get NFL looks. There are other talented kids there so I also believe we'll be okay. Dibona was a loss, he played very well the season before.
DB....Hyde coming back will be huge and Miller was an absolute stud. He is faster and bigger than Greenwood and Sash and I think just as heady. At least he improved in a similar fashion to what they did as rookie starters. Interesting thoughts on Bernstein, I'll confess I didn't notice but that explains plenty. We still for the most part, as bad as we were, gave up yards very slowly, but we had several uncharacteristic lapses back there. Now as far as I'm concerned Prater had some mind boggling moments, much like Morris did actually. He is fast and very good and he'll play in the NFL, but he absolutely got roasted a number of times and IMO way more often than Hyde did. At least after he got re-acclimated. Also agree with the general talent evaluation back here being good...
Special teams...I'm here to tell you. Until Iowa's special teams get back to consistently covering kicks and being special as a rule, we will mill about in mediocrity. Yes Meyers is okay, but the kicks he missed were very big. Punting was super, hopefully he can be replaced. But the rest was very, very spotty. Punt coverage was fine, actually good, but we aren't very scary returning much of anything anymore.
Finally...I like these coaches and I think they can win lots of football games still. We do need to catch a few breaks, health wise in particular, and we are going to have to grow in some spots. I know Canzeri and Bullock fight injuries all back half of the season and I don't think they really felt McAll was mentally ready, and it kind of showed. That was a very easy dropped football....Johnson I just don't know, what's up there.
As a rule I saw this staff do some stuff they haven't done a lot, and I did see growth. But we are going to have to figure something out and I'm not mad at anybody. But this team still carries talent, so it seems to me we could expect some losses, but 5 is a lot. 4 was a lot for me....
Chad