Coaching: C-, there were a lot of bad decisions over the course of the year, and the team really didn't improve much over the course of the year with the exception of the D-line. OTHO, they did pull the team together for Mich. and Prudue games and Kirk started going for it on 4th in Maroon zone [except against Nebraska for some reason :-\ ]. They also got Marvin as involved as they could in every game.
QB: B, he lit up bad defenses and struggled mightily against good ones. Overall, he was better than average.
RB: C-, I'd give Coker and Rodgers an A- here, but we had no depth (or didn't let the depth play) and it showed. Rodgers only played half the year as well. We ended up 10th in B1G rushing I believe. For Coker and Rodgers my comments are as follows: came on strong in B1G season. Were very, very good at times, but weren't dominant on the whole season. Coker improved as the season went along in running, receiving, and blocking.
WR: A-, the biggest strength of the team. Yeah they had drops, but they also made some ridiculous catches and JVB was off the mark on a number of those drops. This is about as good of a corp as you're going to get, headlined by the best receiver in Iowa history having the best season in Iowa history.
OL: B-, better than average. I thought they played well for their size. They also weren't dominant and got manhandled by PSU. Run blocking improved greatly over the course of the season.
TE: C, did fine blocking, not really a factor in the receiving game although they did perk up towards the end of the year.
DL: C+, absolutely terrible to start the year, then they came on strong towards the end. Were the biggest weakness coming in and ended up holding their own. Binns and Daniels were very good. Not a talented group, but worked their way up to servicable.
LB: D, injuries played a part here, but we didn't get great play out of our linebackers. Talent dropoff in recent years has really hurt. Not real good in either run D or pass D.
DB: B-, some talent here, but also had a bunch of miscues. Miller was learning on the fly and got better. Hyde and Prater were better than average, but gave up a few dumb plays. Mental errors hurt as did trying/needing to do too much on run help.
FG: B+, better than average, but not a sure thing. Struggle later in the year.
KO: C+, last year was an F-- so there was a lot improvement here. The actual coverage was pretty good, but Meyer isn't getting the ball deep enough.
KOR: C+, some decent returns by Bernstine, but we had a killer fumble and weren't consistently getting great field position.
P: B+, I was pleasantly surprised. Did a nice job for the most part.
PR: F-, pretty much a lost cause. I like having the ball in Hyde's hands but it was basically a fair catch or the ball hit the ground and rolled 20 yards on 90% of our punt returns. We lost of ton of yards on punt return.
