Iowa Adds OL from Portal

[Hawkfnntn]

The last two seasons were a combination of bad factors all hitting at once. Recruiting misses, early graduation of the good OLs, no depth, and a QB who had ZERO ability to scramble and even less pocket presence.

The Ferentz boys did not forget how to coach OL the last two years. They know more than anyone that the OL sucked and needs to get fixed ASAP. Experience returning, influx of two good transfers, should get things moving in the right direction. A playmaking QB will also be a big help to the OL and the playcalling.

It's a big ask to have 3 or so of the Olineman back from last yr to magically improve dramatically but here's to hoping. I suspect Rusty Feth will get a starting guard spot. Which one I'm not sure. Will Parker get the RT spot? The competition will be for that and the other guard spot. Be it him Stephens, Colby, Dunker and DeJong I see 5 dudes fighting over 2 spots.

I think Richman and Jones are the only two I see entrenched with their spots pretty much. The other 3 could be a game of musical chairs and I wouldn't want to have to bet on who'll get what exactly.

 

[NorthKCHawk]

It's a big ask to have 3 or so of the Olineman back from last yr to magically improve dramatically but here's to hoping. I suspect Rusty Feth will get a starting guard spot. Which one I'm not sure. Will Parker get the RT spot? The competition will be for that and the other guard spot. Be it him Stephens, Colby, Dunker and DeJong I see 5 dudes fighting over 2 spots.

I think Richman and Jones are the only two I see entrenched with their spots pretty much. The other 3 could be a game of musical chairs and I wouldn't want to have to bet on who'll get what exactly.

I don't think it is all that magical to expect that a school that is built upon player development and expertise in the trenches to expect appreciable improvement on the OL from what we saw last year. This is what KF has done for 20+years at Iowa. And, I think a lot of folks are underestimating what a difference having a playmaking QB who can slide his feet will mean to the OL. They will be better. They will.

I think certainty on the line moves from left to right. I agree that Richman is etched in pen at the LT. I actually think that Colby is pretty close to a lock at LG. The kid started as a true frosh, which is unusual. He took his lumps last season at RT, but started to settle in and play better ball when he slid back to guard. I don't see a two-year starter not starting going into his true junior season. I expect the left side of the line to be the strength of the line. Big, experienced, and hopefully improved technique.

Center is probably Jones, but he did not exactly lock up the position by his play last year. I hope with another spring and fall camp under his belt, we see a jump up in his play. He is so new to the position, one would expect improvement to come quickly. If not, Feth might be in play.

I think the right side of the line is wide open, and I like the size and returning experience of guys who will be fighting for those spots. If I were penciling in starters it would be Dunker at RG and Parker at RT. But, they have all camp and probably the first couple of games to sort out the best 5 guys. I suspect we see some rotation on the right side for a while.

There is every reason to believe that Richman, Colby, and Jones will be improved this season given the arc of OL at Iowa. It seems reasonable that one of the two transfers are likely good enough to start. Thus, you really only need 1-2 of those other returning guys to take a step forward. Or get a campt surprise by a young OL. I like the chances of that coming together.

 

[Hawkboys]

I don't think it is all that magical to expect that a school that is built upon player development and expertise in the trenches to expect appreciable improvement on the OL from what we saw last year. This is what KF has done for 20+years at Iowa. And, I think a lot of folks are underestimating what a difference having a playmaking QB who can slide his feet will mean to the OL. They will be better. They will.

I'm not an expert so I'm not sure of the answer, but was the OL overmatched physically, in skill, or were they schematically out of position too much? I think all 3 are coachable, especially with IA's strength coaching, but schematically might be easiest to "magically" fix than size and definitely skill if it's the cause.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

I don't think it is all that magical to expect that a school that is built upon player development and expertise in the trenches to expect appreciable improvement on the OL from what we saw last year. This is what KF has done for 20+years at Iowa. And, I think a lot of folks are underestimating what a difference having a playmaking QB who can slide his feet will mean to the OL. They will be better. They will.

I think certainty on the line moves from left to right. I agree that Richman is etched in pen at the LT. I actually think that Colby is pretty close to a lock at LG. The kid started as a true frosh, which is unusual. He took his lumps last season at RT, but started to settle in and play better ball when he slid back to guard. I don't see a two-year starter not starting going into his true junior season. I expect the left side of the line to be the strength of the line. Big, experienced, and hopefully improved technique.

Center is probably Jones, but he did not exactly lock up the position by his play last year. I hope with another spring and fall camp under his belt, we see a jump up in his play. He is so new to the position, one would expect improvement to come quickly. If not, Feth might be in play.

I think the right side of the line is wide open, and I like the size and returning experience of guys who will be fighting for those spots. If I were penciling in starters it would be Dunker at RG and Parker at RT. But, they have all camp and probably the first couple of games to sort out the best 5 guys. I suspect we see some rotation on the right side for a while.

There is every reason to believe that Richman, Colby, and Jones will be improved this season given the arc of OL at Iowa. It seems reasonable that one of the two transfers are likely good enough to start. Thus, you really only need 1-2 of those other returning guys to take a step forward. Or get a campt surprise by a young OL. I like the chances of that coming together.

Just depends on how much improvement we are talking... Yeah it's what we normally had been doing. But rarely have we had a season like last yr where they were so so so bad. Just letting guys go by untouched kinda bad too often. Having snaps that were off timing wise and were just herky jerky with the QB and the rest of the line. I agree they should be better this yr and couldn't be worse. But how much better? I don't see a Gallery, Sherffs Wirfs or Linderbaum out there. So we'll just have to see.

If Feth ends up at center that's not good news for Jones obviously cause he wouldn't be playing at guard instead. Too may other guys inline instead. I think the staff is really hoping Jones and Cade get on same page with just the snapping of the ball. For whatever reasons that was an issue most of the yr with Petras. So they are all or nothing at center with Jones. Feth (who coach Barnet knows well from their days at Ohio) I would have a tough time seeing coming off the bench. I bet he'll be the RG with Colby at LG then. Making the RT spot the ultimate question mark for competition.

Dunker is the weight room warrior of the group if he can translate that to the field he'd be a monster road grader. Does he have the feet for RT? I don't think DeJong is gonna be it I really don't he struggled way too much everywhere he was last yr. So that could be a 3 horse race with Dunker Parker and Stephens...

 

[NorthKCHawk]

I'm not an expert so I'm not sure of the answer, but was the OL overmatched physically, in skill, or were they schematically out of position too much? I think all 3 are coachable, especially with IA's strength coaching, but schematically might be easiest to "magically" fix than size and definitely skill if it's the cause.

IMHO, I did not see the OL being overmatched physically all that often. Maybe Jones from time to time, but the OL was big and strong enough to hold the point of attack. They just were not in the right position a lot of the time. There were some schematic issues for sure having Colby outside. He was not quick enough to block on an island and was beat often. He was better inside. I just saw a lot of timing issues with the snap, whiffed blocks, bad footwork, and missed assignments. A lot of that should get better with reps and experience.

I totally get the concern of discounting experience at a position if the experience that is returning has looked like crap. But, while there are a lot of things I don't trust KF to do well, developing lineman is not one of them. A lot of these guys have been in the system 3-4 years now. Its time to see some results and I think we will.

 

[NorthKCHawk]

Just depends on how much improvement we are talking... Yeah it's what we normally had been doing. But rarely have we had a season like last yr where they were so so so bad. Just letting guys go by untouched kinda bad too often. Having snaps that were off timing wise and were just herky jerky with the QB and the rest of the line. I agree they should be better this yr and couldn't be worse. But how much better? I don't see a Gallery, Sherffs Wirfs or Linderbaum out there. So we'll just have to see.

If Feth ends up at center that's not good news for Jones obviously cause he wouldn't be playing at guard instead. Too may other guys inline instead. I think the staff is really hoping Jones and Cade get on same page with just the snapping of the ball. For whatever reasons that was an issue most of the yr with Petras. So they are all or nothing at center with Jones. Feth (who coach Barnet knows well from their days at Ohio) I would have a tough time seeing coming off the bench. I bet he'll be the RG with Colby at LG then. Making the RT spot the ultimate question mark for competition.

Dunker is the weight room warrior of the group if he can translate that to the field he'd be a monster road grader. Does he have the feet for RT? I don't think DeJong is gonna be it I really don't he struggled way too much everywhere he was last yr. So that could be a 3 horse race with Dunker Parker and Stephens...

All fair takes.

Jones will be given every opportunity to retain his job. Feth would have to prove that he is clearly better and I would be surprised to see that happen. KF views the center sort of like the QB. No rotation and once you have named the starter it takes a lot to make a change.

I don't think Dunker has the feet for RT, but who knows. That position has sucked balls ever since Wirfs left. If there is one position on the field that KF should spend the most time addressing it is RT. Fix that, and this team could be dangerous

 

[haydensly]

Just depends on how much improvement we are talking... Yeah it's what we normally had been doing. But rarely have we had a season like last yr where they were so so so bad. Just letting guys go by untouched kinda bad too often. Having snaps that were off timing wise and were just herky jerky with the QB and the rest of the line. I agree they should be better this yr and couldn't be worse. But how much better? I don't see a Gallery, Sherffs Wirfs or Linderbaum out there. So we'll just have to see.

If Feth ends up at center that's not good news for Jones obviously cause he wouldn't be playing at guard instead. Too may other guys inline instead. I think the staff is really hoping Jones and Cade get on same page with just the snapping of the ball. For whatever reasons that was an issue most of the yr with Petras. So they are all or nothing at center with Jones. Feth (who coach Barnet knows well from their days at Ohio) I would have a tough time seeing coming off the bench. I bet he'll be the RG with Colby at LG then. Making the RT spot the ultimate question mark for competition.

Dunker is the weight room warrior of the group if he can translate that to the field he'd be a monster road grader. Does he have the feet for RT? I don't think DeJong is gonna be it I really don't he struggled way too much everywhere he was last yr. So that could be a 3 horse race with Dunker Parker and Stephens...

I don't think you can discount the disadvantage that Jones was playing with last year. Remember, he took his first snap ever at center about five months before we kicked off in September. It's not an easy position to learn. From snapping the ball to getting the line calls correct all while worrying about the guy you have to block. It was a huge jump for him and maybe in hindsight the coaches expected too much from him. But, as NorthKC points out, we have a good O Line development pedigree and I expect Jones to make a big jump this year. I suspect that the center position could have been responsible for a lot of the messiness that the line experienced last year.

As for RT, I would not count DeJong completely out. The coaches were talking him up and said that he had an excellent spring. It wouldn't be the first time we've had a fifth year senior make a big jump. I wouldn't be surprised to see he and Parker split the job.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

I don't think you can discount the disadvantage that Jones was playing with last year. Remember, he took his first snap ever at center about five months before we kicked off in September. It's not an easy position to learn. From snapping the ball to getting the line calls correct all while worrying about the guy you have to block. It was a huge jump for him and maybe in hindsight the coaches expected too much from him. But, as NorthKC points out, we have a good O Line development pedigree and I expect Jones to make a big jump this year. I suspect that the center position could have been responsible for a lot of the messiness that the line experienced last year.

As for RT, I would not count DeJong completely out. The coaches were talking him up and said that he had an excellent spring. It wouldn't be the first time we've had a fifth year senior make a big jump. I wouldn't be surprised to see he and Parker split the job.

Yeah that was noticeably really bad last yr. We shoulda been called for a lot more false starts then we were. I think we got away with a bunch of them for some reason (poor officiating) If Jones does improve and he and Cade have a smooth relationship it gives the O a fighting chance anyway.

I guess put me in the basket of counting out DeJong. Just too many embarrassingly bad plays on tape for him. If we can't put someone else out there better then we deserve what's coming. Coaches talked up Petras too.... All the way to the bitter end they were doing that. So he'll just have to prove me wrong.