Freshman Nate Meier working at RB

[alexzelada]

someone used Barry sanders as an example to try to prove a point but I'm pretty sure no one compared meier to him

Correct. It was a simple statement that the great football players weren't great because they played 4-A, or 5-A, or 6-A, etc. They were great regardless of their competition. Greenway isn't the only example. Did Vandenbear play against elite Florida talent when he was in high school? No, but he managed to throw for more than 3000 yards as a first year starter.

For some reason Meier reminds me of Morris. Morris is another example of a kid who didn't play 5-A Texas high school football but he can compete with any Longhorn when they meet on the football field.

My beef isn't with people bashing 8-man football. My beef is people questioning Meier simply because he PLAYED 8-man football.

Does the NFL question whether to draft a Hawkeye simply because he isn't from Penn State or Ohio State or Michigan? Cuz last time I checked Iowa has had more kids drafted over the last 3 years than the football factories I just mentioned. The people paid to evaluate talent don't just write off the Hawkeyes because they are from the "lower class" of football known as the Univ. of Iowa.

 

[MoseSchrute]

I don't have anything against 8-man ball. My alma mater is making the switch to it this year, and I'm excited about it. But one of the posters said 8-man isn't real football. I was being sarcastic.

That's not something to be excited about. It means your school is dying, just like a lot of other schools across the state.

 

[tm3308]

That's not something to be excited about. It means your school is dying, just like a lot of other schools across the state.

My school is the biggest in the county, and will likely absorb the other schools around it when they close down. There are also some bigger classes in elementary, but the high school classes are small. The trip to 8-man is likely temporary. I'm just excited about it because it might get the football program on the right track before going back to 11-man.

 

[tm3308]

Wayne is going 8-man? Numbers really dropped the last few years or what?

Yeah, it's been a pretty steady decline since I graduated in 2008. Every class had between 50-60 kids my senior year, and now it's down to 30-40. There are some bigger classes that should eventually push us back to class A, though.

 

[DFaceHawkeye]

Yeah, it's been a pretty steady decline since I graduated in 2008. Every class had between 50-60 kids my senior year, and now it's down to 30-40. There are some bigger classes that should eventually push us back to class A, though.

Wow, I didn't know that. Seemed like a decent sized school when we played them back in the 90s. The school I currently teach at has dropped in size a few years ago, but has leveled out. Hopefully, it stays about where it is. Some of the other schools around are really getting small.

 

[PJHawk]

My god you people and your creepy defensiveness. Greenway would be the first to tell you that HE WAS NOT READY TO COMPETE AS A FRESHMAN. If you watch the big 10 network special called the next level (something like that), he says that very same thing. And that's why he didn't play until he was a third year.

Ferentz thought Greenway was ready to play as a true freshman - special teams anyway. It's also very safe to speculate that if not for a torn ACL in spring ball of 2002 Greenway would have started that fall at LB.

"... in 2001 when Ferentz approached a pair of freshmen linebackers about helping the Hawkeyes on special teams. Chad Greenway and Abdul Hodge wanted to redshirt.

“I go back to 2001, that group redshirted. Hinkel, Greenway, Hodge, those guys could have helped our special teams. If a guy’s going to play as a true freshman, a lot of those guys, we’ll get them involved