My column on Ferentz/Willies/Beathard & Cracks in Foundation

You know when cracks start to show in a foundation? Several years after it's already been settling and sinking.

No different here.
 
Too bad for Willies. I feel for him - the thought process at that age - not always on point - and he's certainly been pulled many different ways in his young life - and not had the best direction and guidance the whole time, that is for sure. Decisions made in youth effect a person for the rest of your life. Wonder how long he's stayed at any one place in his lifetime?
 
I agree the problem is first and and foremost Kirk. But I believe that is first and foremost because of his massive ego driven QB choice.

That was not imaginary when the entire team took it up a notch against Pitt when CJ came. That was not imaginary when no one helped Jake up when he was cheap shored against ISU.

They absolutely know who should be the QB.

Everything would work so much better if we had a real QB in the game.

There are deep routes in GDs O, they just aren't being thrown to with Kirks QB.

The simple decision to play the blatantly superior QB fixes so many issues with this team. Everything works better including the GD offense.

Kirks is sinking his own ship for no good reason .
 
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If Kareful Kurt doesn't start Sunshine and extend the field and run the hell out of Weisman, he's toast, because there's one win max on that schedule if he's gonna stick with the Derpvis/Riddick program.

The ice is so very thin.
 
If Kareful Kurt doesn't start Sunshine and extend the field and run the hell out of Weisman, he's toast, because there's one win max on that schedule if he's gonna stick with the Derpvis/Riddick program.

The ice is so very thin.

The 3 of them together are exponentially less than the sum of their parts.

None of it fits together.
 
I still hate seeing people lay any blame on Willies for this.. He has an NFL body frame.. And if he's willing to put in hard work and effort and he isn't seeing the field with his natural gifts... Why should anyone honestly expect him to play?

this is his job interview for making money, and a lot of it, in the future.. And if he's not getting a shot in the door to produce when he's very capable.. Then I applaud his decision to go against the grain. Don't keep enabling a broken system.
 
Too bad for Willies. I feel for him - the thought process at that age - not always on point - and he's certainly been pulled many different ways in his young life - and not had the best direction and guidance the whole time, that is for sure. Decisions made in youth effect a person for the rest of your life. Wonder how long he's stayed at any one place in his lifetime?

I think he'll be ok. What's gonna happen? It's not like he's gonna grow up to sit there and talk crap about a 20 year old on the internet.
 
I've been a fan of Iowa football long enough to know what it looks like. A running back running through a hole to the second level where he gets taken down in the open field. A wide reciever who stops, catches the ball in his chest, turns around, and gets tackled.

Then every so often I see a guy make a play and I think "that was very "uniowalike". Like Parker's jet sweep td. Or Powell's bubble screen (learn the game) td. It seems like the players that make those plays spend most of the time on the sidelines.

It's always the same excuses. Doesn't know the offense. In the doghouse. Fans always like the backup. Can't block. I just don't understand why every playmaker we ever have is for some reason not good enough to see the field on a consistant bases.
 
Well written, Jon.

As a guy who was in your position for the better part of 6 years, I understand it isn't easy writing something like that with your name attached to it when you'll inevitably have to look the people you're writing about in the eyes. But, it needed to be said and I give you credit for saying it. I hope many people see your words and actually comprehend them.
 
I think he'll be ok. What's gonna happen? It's not like he's gonna grow up to sit there and talk crap about a 20 year old on the internet.


you are suggesting that i'm 'talking crap' about him?

look, there are PLENTY of guys who have talent. Not all of their talents are realized. In any sport and or profession. Academic or athletic. people make choices. some good, some not.

i feel for the kid - i'm certainly not 'talking crap'.
 
I've been a fan of Iowa football long enough to know what it looks like. A running back running through a hole to the second level where he gets taken down in the open field. A wide reciever who stops, catches the ball in his chest, turns around, and gets tackled.

Then every so often I see a guy make a play and I think "that was very "uniowalike". Like Parker's jet sweep td. Or Powell's bubble screen (learn the game) td. It seems like the players that make those plays spend most of the time on the sidelines.

It's always the same excuses. Doesn't know the offense. In the doghouse. Fans always like the backup. Can't block. I just don't understand why every playmaker we ever have is for some reason not good enough to see the field on a consistant bases.

They don't work as hard in practice.

Kirk thinks the way to keep things in order is play the guys who work hardest in practice.

In reality the best players rarely ever work the hardest in practice, not because they are lazy but the over achiever types are always going to out work their competition .

Kirk thinks hes is motivating the talented players to work as hard as the walkons but really he's just contributing to a mediocre team.

Every once in a while you get a Bob Sanders who is the most talented and hardest worker but for everyone of those there is 10 DJKs and if you choose to not play the DJKs you don't win.
 
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I still hate seeing people lay any blame on Willies for this.. He has an NFL body frame.. And if he's willing to put in hard work and effort and he isn't seeing the field with his natural gifts... Why should anyone honestly expect him to play?

this is his job interview for making money, and a lot of it, in the future.. And if he's not getting a shot in the door to produce when he's very capable.. Then I applaud his decision to go against the grain. Don't keep enabling a broken system.
Meh, there are plenty of guys with NFL body frames. There are only 5 big shot WRs in the NFL and the odds of Willies being one are exceedingly low, especially if he can't stay the course in his freshman year of college. The kid is getting horrible advice. You have to eat a lot of turd sandwiches to get to where Calvin Johnson is and if you squeal at the first bite of turd sammich in your freshman year, odds are you aren't gonna be cut out to deal with what goes on in the NFL. Ferentz's hazing of making you ride pine behind a terrible upperclassman and watch 60 minutes a week of terrible football is absolutely nothing compared to what the dudes in the NFL do to players.
 
Meh, there are plenty of guys with NFL body frames. There are only 5 big shot WRs in the NFL and the odds of Willies being one are exceedingly low, especially if he can't stay the course in his freshman year of college. The kid is getting horrible advice. You have to eat a lot of turd sandwiches to get to where Calvin Johnson is and if you squeal at the first bite of turd sammich in your freshman year, odds are you aren't gonna be cut out to deal with what goes on in the NFL. Ferentz's hazing of making you ride pine behind a terrible upperclassman and watch 60 minutes a week of terrible football is absolutely nothing compared to what the dudes in the NFL do to players.

Wrong, Calvin Johnson could've done just about anything he wanted too.

Physical ability of that caliber trumps EVERYTHING when the exclusive objective is winning.

Dez Bryant case in point and he is not any where near what Johnson was at his prime.
 
I still hate seeing people lay any blame on Willies for this.. He has an NFL body frame.. And if he's willing to put in hard work and effort and he isn't seeing the field with his natural gifts... Why should anyone honestly expect him to play?

this is his job interview for making money, and a lot of it, in the future.. And if he's not getting a shot in the door to produce when he's very capable.. Then I applaud his decision to go against the grain. Don't keep enabling a broken system.
If he wants to leave at the end of the semester, then fine; but leaving in the middle of the season is just a bad move on multiple levels.
 
They don't work as hard in practice.

Kirk thinks the way to keep things in order is play the guys who work hardest in practice.

In reality the best players rarely ever work the hardest in practice, not because they are lazy but the over achiever types are always going to out work their competition .

Kirk thinks hes is motivating the talented players to work as hard as the walkons but really he's just contributing to a mediocre team.

Every once in a while you get a Bob Sanders who is the most talented and hardest worker but for everyone of those there is 10 DJKs and if you choose to not play the DJKs you don't win.

I see a lot of truth here. I know KF played DJK all 4 years and that was big of him. And DJK certainly didn't make it easy on himself or Kirk Ferentz. But when we played Minnesota near the end of his career he was the only one to bring 110% that day. Playmakers like him live by the motto "make plays or die". They have the talent and they love showing it off. I think Willies may be like this without the added luggage DJK brought with him. If I were in KFs shoes I would play Smith/Powell/KMM/Willies almost exclusively. Hillyer would get some garbage time. Vandberg/McCarron wouldn't be on the depth chart and neither would have touched the field this year. Not because I dislike them, but because we have better options and I like beating teams like Iowa State.
 
Good column Jon! KF is seemingly "Disconnected" with anyone under the age of 40. And this just gave Beathard an excellent platform to speak of lack of playing time while using a teammate as an example.
 

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