okeefe4prez
Well-Known Member
Does college allow you to kick field goals and XPs with drop kicks? If so, this guy might be picking up some extra duties.
Ourlads
- Thread starter karras
- Start date
Does college allow you to kick field goals and XPs with drop kicks? If so, this guy might be picking up some extra duties.
Anyone else think Brents and Hankins are our Day 1 starters at CB?
Back 5 would be Brents , DJ Johnson (cash), Merriweather, Stone and Hankins. There is a lot of athleticism there... maybe more than I can ever remember.
Welch, Niemann, Colbert, Doyle and Benson in a real dogfight at LB. wow. We are deep there. Not even mentioning McDonald and Jacobs ( or Jones or B Wade)
Back 5 would be Brents , DJ Johnson (cash), Merriweather, Stone and Hankins. There is a lot of athleticism there... maybe more than I can ever remember.
Welch, Niemann, Colbert, Doyle and Benson in a real dogfight at LB. wow. We are deep there. Not even mentioning McDonald and Jacobs ( or Jones or B Wade)
NikeHawk21
Well-Known Member
Brents and Hankins are our two most talented corners in my opinion. Both look like future NFL guys. However I doubt OJ gets benched as a senior, so I’m not sure how it plays out. Brents needs to be on the field, he has way too much talent not to be.
I was hoping OJ would slide back to safety or cash, but the developments of Merriweather and DJ Johnson are exciting. Tons of talent in our secondary, not worried about that group at all.
Adam
Well-Known Member
Ya tell LSU about it.
Fryowa
Administrator
For all the faults to be found with Iowa coaching, playing guys according to seniority isn't generally one of them. Parker will play whoever he thinks will play the best football.
Adam
Well-Known Member
Parker gives no fucks. His defense is never gonna suck because I believe Parker's heart would explode on the spot. He could easily be one of my top 10 favorite people except for that he went to MSU....yuck.
NikeHawk21
Well-Known Member
I like OJ. He provides very good run support out of the secondary. Maybe that is more important with one less linebacker in the 4-2-5. He’s a long and athletic corner, he just has the tendency to get beat in coverage. As I said I just feel Brents is too good to keep off the field. It’s a good problem to have having that much talent back there (as long as we don’t lose Brents to a transfer).
As far as your comment about coaches not playing guys based on seniority. I think it’s gotten better as of late but their was a saying “KF union card”, so I’m not sure everyone would agree with you on that.
Fryowa
Administrator
That might be true if he doesn’t like you for whatever reason, but that has nothing to do with seniority. The depth chart is full of 2nd and 3rd strong seniors with underclassmen playing.
And since we’re talking defense here, KF is well known for being hands-off with the defense. Norm and Phil have been ridiculously good and there’s zero reason for KF to start tweaking the knobs. And he knows it. Parker will play the best man for the job.
NikeHawk21
Well-Known Member
Agreed that Phil runs the show with his defense. In this case I think OJ is a very good football player so it’s a tougher spot.
As I said it’s gotten better in recent years and a bunch of young guys are getting playing time. I was just responding to your post saying that wasn’t a complaint about this coaching staff, when it very much has been by a good portion of our fan base (not me in particular).
Adam
Well-Known Member
I'm quite confident that it was one of Parker's stipulations to taking over DC.
Let's just hope Dantonio can hang on at MSU for another decade so Phil can stay right here.
To me, Ojemudia is basically Greg Mabin. He is a very good player with some strengths, but he can occasionally be exposed in man-to-man because he doesn't have the hips or ball skills of Hyde/King/Jackson/Hooker. Just like Mabin, despite the flack he gets from some of our fan-base, I think he will end up on an NFL roster. The buzz on Ojemudia has been very positive this spring, I am hoping for a great senior campaign.
I agree on the potential of Brents. One thing interesting to note: as @Fryowa pointed out, Parker has been very willing to play young guys (even true freshmen) if they have talent. But have you also noticed a bit of a sophomore slump from those players lately?
Josh Jackson played in a lot of nickel/dime packages as a RS Fr, but then lost that playing time to true Fr Rugamba the next year. As a junior, Jackson jumped back ahead of Rugamba, who struggled mightily and was actually eventually benched for true Fr Hankins (Rugamba eventually left the program, obviously).
Expectations were high for Hankins going into his soph campaign, and he struggled with injuries. In come true Fr Brents and Moss. I think many expected an Ojemudia switch to safety and for Brents to slide in next to Hankins, but Brents has not had much buzz this spring. I think I have heard more about DJ Johnson, Moss, Roberts, and even the true Fr (McKinney).
So that is 3 straight "next big thing" corners who have had a sophomore slump (Jackson and Rugamba supposedly due to inattention to detail, and Hankins due to injury). It did not seem to affect King before them, so hopefully Brents will avoid it, but it makes me cautious in my expectations. I think Parker raises his expectations for those guys once they have gotten a taste, and if they do not meet those expectations, he sends a message in no uncertain terms.
I agree on the potential of Brents. One thing interesting to note: as @Fryowa pointed out, Parker has been very willing to play young guys (even true freshmen) if they have talent. But have you also noticed a bit of a sophomore slump from those players lately?
Josh Jackson played in a lot of nickel/dime packages as a RS Fr, but then lost that playing time to true Fr Rugamba the next year. As a junior, Jackson jumped back ahead of Rugamba, who struggled mightily and was actually eventually benched for true Fr Hankins (Rugamba eventually left the program, obviously).
Expectations were high for Hankins going into his soph campaign, and he struggled with injuries. In come true Fr Brents and Moss. I think many expected an Ojemudia switch to safety and for Brents to slide in next to Hankins, but Brents has not had much buzz this spring. I think I have heard more about DJ Johnson, Moss, Roberts, and even the true Fr (McKinney).
So that is 3 straight "next big thing" corners who have had a sophomore slump (Jackson and Rugamba supposedly due to inattention to detail, and Hankins due to injury). It did not seem to affect King before them, so hopefully Brents will avoid it, but it makes me cautious in my expectations. I think Parker raises his expectations for those guys once they have gotten a taste, and if they do not meet those expectations, he sends a message in no uncertain terms.
I think that we have depth. We are sitting pretty good just about everywhere.
Everyone knows players get dinged up and everyone knows the first place any offensive coordinator is going to test is the replacement. (Same with a defensive coordinator)
So the question is not how good our starters are. Yes they need to continue to grow and get better, but the real push is from the #2's.
How good are they? Are they pushing the #1's? Iron sharpens iron.
A person can sit around all day and argue about how good bama and a few others are, but you don't make serious runs deep into the season without depth.
The philosophy of next man in means no drop off. It means holding the guys who might not have their number called as a starter the first few games accountable.
Even in his raw form last year, that's what AJ gave us. We knew he was a little raw, but we also knew if needed to be the starter we could count on him.
Count on him (holding the #2 accountable)
Depth (if you want to go deep into the season)
See how that works?
So I'm thrilled to hear all the names across every position and the competition for the spots.
Everyone knows players get dinged up and everyone knows the first place any offensive coordinator is going to test is the replacement. (Same with a defensive coordinator)
So the question is not how good our starters are. Yes they need to continue to grow and get better, but the real push is from the #2's.
How good are they? Are they pushing the #1's? Iron sharpens iron.
A person can sit around all day and argue about how good bama and a few others are, but you don't make serious runs deep into the season without depth.
The philosophy of next man in means no drop off. It means holding the guys who might not have their number called as a starter the first few games accountable.
Even in his raw form last year, that's what AJ gave us. We knew he was a little raw, but we also knew if needed to be the starter we could count on him.
Count on him (holding the #2 accountable)
Depth (if you want to go deep into the season)
See how that works?
So I'm thrilled to hear all the names across every position and the competition for the spots.
The biggest misconception about KF is that he won't play talented underclassman over experienced, less talented upperclassman.
The truth is he won't play you regardless of your age if you don't know the playbook and don't execute your assignment on the field. If you can do those two things he'll even play you if he doesn't like you (DJK)
NikeHawk21
Well-Known Member
Great post. Worth noting Brents had some injuries of his own in spring.
It was only spring ball, there is a possibility that Brents tears up summer camp and makes it so he’s simply too good to keep off the field.
We could also rotate some guys back there. Say OJ on earlier downs for run support and then Brents in there on passing situations. Parker has shown the ability to adapt based on his personnel.
NikeHawk21
Well-Known Member
I think we're sleeping on Hankins a bit. As stated, he's battled injuries and a bit of a sophomore slump (which is rather common at most levels actually), but he's arguably our best cover corner right now. He had a fantastic Outback Bowl too, including a great effort to make a tackle on a long gain, which led to our goal line stop.
karras
Well-Known Member
https://www.hawkeyenation.com/forum/threads/pff-college-iowa.87047/
courtesy of NikeHawk - pro football focus ratings
Brents - 5th best CB in the B1G
Stanley - 2nd best QB in the B1G (Gil Brandt has him as the 3rd best QB in the draft)
Epenesa - grades out at 90% (not sure where that places him, but 1st round talent = top DE in the conference in my book)
Stone - best safety in the B1G
Jackson - best tackle in the B1G
Wirfs - 3rd best tackle in the B1G
Brandon Smith - 2nd best big ten WR in the "contested catch" category
and we know some guys not mentioned here are gonna make a name for themself
- Rob is optimistic the RBs will be improved and I agree with him
- The TEs? Come on, we are TE University
- Parkers Defense? Again, top 25 scoring D almost every year
Seriously, tell me why we shouldn't contest for a west title?
courtesy of NikeHawk - pro football focus ratings
Brents - 5th best CB in the B1G
Stanley - 2nd best QB in the B1G (Gil Brandt has him as the 3rd best QB in the draft)
Epenesa - grades out at 90% (not sure where that places him, but 1st round talent = top DE in the conference in my book)
Stone - best safety in the B1G
Jackson - best tackle in the B1G
Wirfs - 3rd best tackle in the B1G
Brandon Smith - 2nd best big ten WR in the "contested catch" category
and we know some guys not mentioned here are gonna make a name for themself
- Rob is optimistic the RBs will be improved and I agree with him
- The TEs? Come on, we are TE University
- Parkers Defense? Again, top 25 scoring D almost every year
Seriously, tell me why we shouldn't contest for a west title?
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Adam
Well-Known Member
I haven't seen enough of any of them really. OJ broke out and then regressed. Hankins looked awesome and then bad. Brents seems solid. Riley Moss was pretty solid as well. We really have 4 CB's that I don't know that it makes a lick of difference which one is out there. Kind of a new experience.
Adam
Well-Known Member
Simply because history tells you so.
