NY Times: Likes, dislikes for No. 9 Iowa

[tweeterhawk]

From Paul Myerberg's blog:

Likes

1. Depth at wide receiver might be a worry, but Iowa’s starting duo of the senior Derrell Johnson-Koulianos and the junior Marvin McNutt is as good as any pair in the Big Ten.

2. Iowa’s defensive line ranks with any group in the country. One could easily make the case that Iowa’s front four is the best, in fact, as the Hawkeyes return all four starters from last year’s imposing group.

3. Three starters return from the best pass defense in the Big Ten. Strong safety Tyler Sash is a potential all-American.

4. After a brief lull, it’s clear that Kirk Ferentz has Iowa back in Big Ten contention.

5. How about this? Wisconsin, Ohio State and Penn State go to Iowa City.

Dislikes

1. Iowa’s penchant for turnovers. If the Hawkeyes aren’t careful, this could lead to disaster.

2. The potential loss of Brandon Wegher at running back. He came on strong down the stretch last season, giving Iowa two young options in the backfield.

3. As noted above, depth at wide receiver.

4. If there’s an issue on this defense it’s at linebacker: gone are two multiple-year starters in Pat Angerer and A. J. Edds; Angerer was a first-team all-American in 2009.

5. The offensive line will remain stout, but Iowa must replace four all-conference linemen.

Five and Five: No. 9, Iowa - NYTimes.com

 

[big10fan]

very fair. this might be the first outsider media type to actually have watched our program. sounds like it at least.

 

[arKnaD7]

I think the WR depth is actually very good, but outside of that I agreee

 

[cibula11]

not to be picky but #4 in the "likes" doesn't really fit. LB hasn't been a real issue at Iowa for quite some time.

 

[rdbrett]

I agree w/ earlier poster......I think we are deep at WR. We have talented guys that won't get that many looks. No worries there. If we can reload at LB and OL, we should have no excuses.

 

[PlanoHawk]

not to be picky but #4 in the "likes" doesn't really fit. LB hasn't been a real issue at Iowa for quite some time.

BUT... he worded it perfectly- "If" there is an issue to consider, that would/could potentially be a concern.

I would agree though, I'm not very worried about this group at LB coming together- hopefully it comes together quickly.

 

[HawkeyeDenis]

Fair assessement. I think the D line will negate any problems at LB and open up a lot of secondary oportunities. The turnovers are a major problem. Particularly the pick 6s

 

[KnightHawk9]

I'm fine with concerns about LB, but not WR. This is the deepest we've been at that group...ever?

 

[SDK46]

Any preseason ranking LOWER than what we finished at last year (#7) makes any of those predictions meaningless.

 

[arlhtshawk]

The larger preview (see the link at the top of the article) is even better.

 

[fufred]

ok I'll be the bad guy. Where is all this depth at WR that Iowa fans keep mentioning? No one outside of Iowa fans believe Iowa is deep at WR. DJK and McNutt are very good, who else has proven themselves? Are you going off potential i.e. Keenan Davis? I think Iowa definitely has questions at WR after DJK/McNutt.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Yea. He really missed on the WR assessment. Sandeman has had substantial playing time along with Chaney. It's just that Chaney has been hurt. I really want to see Chaney's track speed this year.

 

[DaHawk56]

ok I'll be the bad guy. Where is all this depth at WR that Iowa fans keep mentioning? No one outside of Iowa fans believe Iowa is deep at WR. DJK and McNutt are very good, who else has proven themselves? Are you going off potential i.e. Keenan Davis? I think Iowa definitely has questions at WR after DJK/McNutt.

In addition to Davis' potential, Sandeman and Chaney have experience and have been productive. If you watched the BTN preview show for Iowa, DiNardo and Griffith said as much. I would say of all positions, WR may be the least concern with respect to depth.

 

[PlanoHawk]

i really don't think you can question iowa's depth at WR. maybe we're used to being relatively thin at the position, but i tend to think that the national "experts" only trash on the group because they're not that highly touted coming in.

 

[Hawkeyes1982x]

In addition to Davis' potential, Sandeman and Chaney have experience and have been productive. If you watched the BTN preview show for Iowa, DiNardo and Griffith said as much. I would say of all positions, WR may be the least concern with respect to depth.

Bingo Bango!

 

[homerHAWKeye777]

ok I'll be the bad guy. Where is all this depth at WR that Iowa fans keep mentioning? No one outside of Iowa fans believe Iowa is deep at WR. DJK and McNutt are very good, who else has proven themselves? Are you going off potential i.e. Keenan Davis? I think Iowa definitely has questions at WR after DJK/McNutt.

fufred -

DJK and McNutt are obvious no-brainers for the top spots. However, Sandeman is BOTH quite experienced (proven) and talented. The first hand evidence there is that he played as a TR FR (not something that necessarily happens a ton at Iowa) AND that he was exceptionally solid in the Orange Bowl game (and has shown plenty of flashes in between).

In addition to the aforementioned 3 guys ... Iowa also has another pretty veteran SR in Paul Chaney Jr. No offense to Warren Holloway, but I actually believe that Paul Chaney is better than Warren. That's a pretty cool thing to say considering that Warren was effectively our #3 WR in 2004 ... and yet Chaney Jr is arguably Iowa's #5 in 2010.

Lastly, while Keenan Davis is obviously not uber-experienced ... he does have a year under his belt and was considered to be good enough to play as a TR FR even though Iowa had a pretty darn talented and veteran group of WRS in 2009. Considering that Davis is already Iowa's #3 WR and that the Iowa coaches expect A LOT more out of Davis in 2010 ... I think that is pretty telling about the young man.

An opposing fan really doesn't have to do a whole lot of homework to see that BOTH Sandeman and Chaney own past starts under their belt. Nor does one have to do a lot of homework to see that Davis was a 4-star WR recruit AND also a guy who managed to play as a TR FR on an Orange Bowl WINNING football squad. Usually all those are indicators of DEPTH.

 

[PTHawk]

...and this is a more general statement about the passing game, but our TE track record has to be considered in this discussion.

 

[fufred]

My research determined Chaney has 28 career catches for 276 yards and Sandeman had 26 career catches for about the same amount of yards. Davis is all potential, every team has those guys. Until he does something of substance he does provide anything. 2 upperclassmen that have less than 30 career catches and no yardage or TD's to speak of aren't my idea of depth.

 

[SeattleHawkeye]

My research determined Chaney has 28 career catches for 276 yards and Sandeman had 26 career catches for about the same amount of yards. Davis is all potential, every team has those guys. Until he does something of substance he does provide anything. 2 upperclassmen that have less than 30 career catches and no yardage or TD's to speak of aren't my idea of depth.

Depth is unquestionably relative. IA fans have seen Chaney and Sandeman for years, and while they may not have much for career numbers, they've both gotten a number of snaps. I think Chaney in particular would've received many more snaps last season had he not been injured. And while at this point Keenan Davis is mostly potential, he's another player that though his numbers weren't much, he also received meaningful snaps and supposedly took great strides this spring. I don't think there's a ton of depth at WR, but by no means is the cupboard bare, as there's also some young talent. I think RS frosh Jordan Cotton will also get reps this season, making the WR position legitimately about 6 deep, not counting any unforeseen players getting time.

 

[kicker22]

My research determined Chaney has 28 career catches for 276 yards and Sandeman had 26 career catches for about the same amount of yards. Davis is all potential, every team has those guys. Until he does something of substance he does provide anything. 2 upperclassmen that have less than 30 career catches and no yardage or TD's to speak of aren't my idea of depth.

Fufred no offense, but to me that is simply an ignorant statement. You're right, they haven't put up huge numbers, but at the same time they've put their reps in and gained valuable experience. Not everyone can come in as freshman and instantly become impact players, but developing players and waiting for them to get their chance to step up is what college football is all about. I remember a certain Doke Walker winner who "had potential" but didn't really have any previous stats to back it up made quite an impact when he got his chance.
Depth simply means there's experience there if needed to fall back on and IMO we've got more than enough guys ready to make a play when it's their turn.