Appreciate you throwing all those guys names out there...of those freshman, how many actually played any sort of meaningful time on non-special teams (i.e. at their respective position)?
Just looking at the most recent post...
Hampton - Got decent run as Greene's backup
Prater - Didn't he RS? I could be wrong there...didn't think he played as a TR FR
Paine - I don't think he played any offense...maybe some mop-up time
Davis - One of my biggest gripes was that KD didn't get into more action his freshman year
Hyde - Pretty sure he got valuable time at CB (out of necessity?)
Wegher - Valuable time out of necessity
Coker - Valuable time at RB, but probably could have been more
CJF - Got some time at TE
Hitchens - Mostly special teams until pressed into service late in the season
Kirksey - See Hitchens
Lowery - See Hitchens
Miller - See Hitchens
Morris - Pressed into service and will be a stud!
Shumpert - I don't remember him seeing the field on offense last year
I don't agree with the assertion that seeing minutes on special teams ISN'T valuable game time ... and that's just what you're asserting.
Quite frankly, if you look at a lot of Iowa's top players .... Sanders, Godfrey, Roth, Hodge, Edds, Greenway, Considine, and many, MANY more proved themselves first on special teams before they proved themselves at their respective positions. The fact of the matter is that the effort, aggression, and attention to detail that players give to special teams ALSO translates over to their positional play.
One of the biggest "transitions" for young players ISN'T seeing game action at their respective positions .... it's getting acclimated to the speed of the game PERIOD. Now ask yourself, does ANY game action really get played faster than action on special teams (particularly on coverage units)?
Furthermore, if a guy is receiving game action ... then they're going to be on the travel squad. That means that they're also DEFINITELY going to be the recipient of A LOT more coaching attention during the regular season than guys who are on the scout team. That means that those guys are also receiving more quality reps in PRACTICE ... and that ends up pushing ahead their development.
I agree that sometimes the TR FR who get pushed into early action are guys who benefitted from us having poor depth ... thus, they benefitted from the fact that the coaches were a bit on the desperate side. However, you cannot forget that some guys who receive game action have never generated any "internal buzz" from within the program ... whereas, other guys have.
When you look at guys like Lowe, Castillo, Meade (admittedly, he was a SO), Bowman, and Chaney, among others .... they all saw pretty early action as underclassmen DESPITE never really generating much legit buzz.
In contrast, guys like Kirksey, Miller, Shumpert, Moses, Coleman, Morris, etc ALL generated legit buzz before hitting the field.
