My thoughts from Iowa's BTN Special Practice

kirby said:
That said, a lot of fans question Castillo, but he typically has pretty tight coverage. He may struggle to find the ball sometimes, and isn't real tall/long, but he does not get left in the dust too often.
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He is a serviceable nickel back. Iowa fans are overly critical of defensive back play.
 
ICHawk24 said:
He is a serviceable nickel back. Iowa fans are overly critical of defensive back play.
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This. All anybody chooses to remember, and bases their Castillo opinion on, is the 2009 UNI game. Nevermind that he was a freshman at the time, or that he was much better by the end of the season. He's not starting caliber, but not someone to sneeze at as a #3 or #4 corner.
 
Interesting, like you said, we'll see. If that's the case then I think we're underrating both Law's cover abilities and Miller's run support abilities. I think that's actually good news.
 
ICHawk24 said:
Jon, the staff has mentioned that Tanner Miller will be the safety that will walk into the box, not the SS this year. Otherwise, good points.
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I don't think they have stated this at all. Also, it would make no sense to drop the only safety who has any experience covering the pass and leave the new starter vulnerable in the pass game. Not to mention that the strong safety position is the position that typically helps out more in the run game. I think you are completely off base here.
 
Foval21 said:
they say a lot by saying very little about bullock and rogers...i think hill will become the guy with bullock and/or garmon as change of pace guys.
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They either haven't seen enough of Bullock and Rogers to form an opinion, or they just assume Bullock is stop-gap measure until Garmon/Hill emerge and Rogers will move back to FB. That's the only thing I can surmise.
 
Didn't see the BTN special but what I've gleaned from BTN, coaches, players and Jon's comments...

The defensive backfield will be the strength of the defense and maybe the best unit on either side of the ball. Impressive backups/young players inculde Draper, Campbell(nickle back) and Buford.

Inspite of the losses of three starters the OL will be typically Iowa good, with the potential to be very good.

The RB's, as expected, will be a sore point. Hill is ahead of Garmon at this point(obviously extremely early let's revisit this a month from now, then again in October). I'm not sure if Rogers played TB during the practice, but my guess is he get's more carries at TB against NIU than any other back. My guess is that Davis will develop some plays for Garmon, Carenzi to take advantage of their speed in the open field. So, Hill may be the more traditional Iowa RB(right now...a year of Doyle could change that)but Garmon will be a valuable contributer.

The passing game looks strong. The new wrinkles are helping to sophisticate the short passing game, and add some unpredictability. Vandenberg looks good, and should grow in the offense. Rudock has strong potential, and looks like he'll be a good back up this year and potentially a solid starter in 2013. After him we need work.

CJF is a stud at TE, and we'll likely have good back ups in Hamilton, Derby, and Duzey.

We've improved our speed at WR. Davis has slimmed down and freshman like Mabin and Smith have added speed to the depth chart.

The DL looks like a serious concern, but the good news is we have a old salt in Reese Morgan working with them. Maybe Faith and Jaleel look like they might not play this year, but...wait, a month. A lot of practices between yesterday and the beginning of B1G season. The best news on the DL front to me is that Davis is in shape and looks ready to step up. I expect a whole lot of competition at the DL spots and that should mean some improvement, but really, I think Morgan's record and experience are going to make a difference here. We'll get better.

The LB's are as advertised, a little small but athletic, and intense. I expect this is going to be a good group.

I'll make a virtual internet bet with john that our scoring defense gives up less points this year than last. A weaker schedule being part of that, but I believe the back seven will be good, maybe very good, and the defensive line, while a sore spot, will have better depth than last year.
 
hawkeyebob62 said:
Foval21 said:
they say a lot by saying very little about bullock and rogers...i think hill will become the guy with bullock and/or garmon as change of pace guys.
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They either haven't seen enough of Bullock and Rogers to form an opinion, or they just assume Bullock is stop-gap measure until Garmon/Hill emerge and Rogers will move back to FB. That's the only thing I can surmise.
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i doubt they havent seen enough of bullock or rogers as both have been in the program for at least 1 yr and they are getting the #1 snaps where garmon and hill are getting the #2 snaps. meaning they would be the first ones you see. to me it means that iowa was probably right in originally moving bullock to wr and by being a rb he will probably be relegated to a back up most of the time if not all of the time.
 
Foval21 said:
i doubt they havent seen enough of bullock or rogers as both have been in the program for at least 1 yr and they are getting the #1 snaps where garmon and hill are getting the #2 snaps. meaning they would be the first ones you see. to me it means that iowa was probably right in originally moving bullock to wr and by being a rb he will probably be relegated to a back up most of the time if not all of the time.
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I think you are putting way too much stock into the BTN show.
 
tm3308 said:
This. All anybody chooses to remember, and bases their Castillo opinion on, is the 2009 UNI game. Nevermind that he was a freshman at the time, or that he was much better by the end of the season. He's not starting caliber, but not someone to sneeze at as a #3 or #4 corner.
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He also had a bad game when he started last year against ISU.
 
David79 said:
He also had a bad game when he started last year against ISU.
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Even that wasn't BAD. He was in position an awful lot; ISU's receivers also were pretty solid last year. And, again, he's not starting caliber. Hyde was at safety at the time, meaning Castillo was starting on the outside. That's not where he belongs; as a nickelback or dime back, he's solid.
 
tm3308 said:
Even that wasn't BAD. He was in position an awful lot; ISU's receivers also were pretty solid last year. And, again, he's not starting caliber. Hyde was at safety at the time, meaning Castillo was starting on the outside. That's not where he belongs; as a nickelback or dime back, he's solid.
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Uh, no
 
JHHawk said:
They liked McCall a lot immediately. He was more ready to play that either of these two frosh,but so it goes.

Hill is 210lbs,at 6 dt,that is not small,that is solid. I think he looked like one of those backs who can squeeze thru small holes...ie, run small,but still be strong,a la A-Rob.
It is not ideal,but I think I agree with Dinardo and Griffin that we will be ok at running back,if these guys stay healthy.

Overall, I liked what I saw and heard. Receivers are going to surprise fans. D-Line might not overwhelm,but with numbers,should hang in there.
If Vandy is as good as I think, this team could surprise.
They will win 8 or more,imo.
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Haven't heard anything about Dawson at RB. Does he have to sit out this year?
 
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