NorthKCHawk
Well-Known Member
Kids are coming in older, bigger, and stronger these days for sure.
Rank Iowa's 9 position groups after Spring Football Practices.
- Thread starter Grady
- Start date
DB is a group I expect to experience a big jump in production. They will be playing more youth, so there will be some mistakes, but I think we will see more plays made.
Last year the DBs had 7 Ints, and Lutmer and Lee (returning) had 5 of those.
Compare that total to prior years:
2024: 11
2023: 8
2022: 12
2021: 21
2020: 10 (prorated)
2019: 9
2018: 18
In particular, the safeties have produced very few INT over the past few years. Moving Lutmer permanently to FS should help to rectify that.
Last year the DBs had 7 Ints, and Lutmer and Lee (returning) had 5 of those.
Compare that total to prior years:
2024: 11
2023: 8
2022: 12
2021: 21
2020: 10 (prorated)
2019: 9
2018: 18
In particular, the safeties have produced very few INT over the past few years. Moving Lutmer permanently to FS should help to rectify that.
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NorthKCHawk
Well-Known Member
I suspect the ball will be in the air a good deal against Iowa this year, so there should be opportunities to make plays and get turnovers. As noted, we need more pressure on the QB and more turnovers on the back end if this defense is going to be formidable.
We really lacked playmakers at all 3 levels last year. Llewellyn, Hurkett, and Graves were solid, but in terms of disruption were far short of predecessors like A. Nelson, J. Evans, ZVV, D. Nixon, AJE., and even the more workman like Y. Black and L. Lee.
Likewise, Sharrar was good (good enough to get drafted), but he was not creating turnovers like his All-American predecessors, and we got even less out of the rest of the LB core.
On the back-end, our corners were solid but not spectacular (TJ Hall was good enough to get drafted), and our safeties created very few turnovers for the 2nd year in a row. It has been a minutes since the DBs have truly earned the Dough Boy moniker.
Our D is going to be much younger. Because of that lack of experience, I think we will give up more big plays. But as we get players like Buffington, Weiskopff, Watson, Wallace, Godfrey, and Tyler Brown into the mix, hopefully we can return to the days of being near the top of the nation in turnover-margin.
TO-margin national rank (out of all 130 or so FBS teams):
2025: 51st
2024: 12th
2023: 107th
2022: 11th
2021: 5th
2020: 6th
2019: 17th
2018: 10th
2017: 26th
2016: 29th
2015: 8th
This year-to-year info is interesting, but frankly I don't care nearly as much about TFL and QB sacks as I do about yds allowed/per run -- and that's my biggest concern heading into the season. I wonder what those numbers look like over the years.
Good point, and obviously, they work together. You want to be able to contain the run to put them in 3rd and long, and then you want to be able to disrupt them to force punts and TOs. My guess is we were okay (not great) in ypc last year, but very weak on the disruption front.
This year, we could be weak in both (yikes!), or optimistically, we might struggle at containing the run but show some progress in being disruptive in the pass game. We might see an uncharacteristically high blitz percentage this year.
NorthKCHawk
Well-Known Member
We also have to acknowledge how pedestrian Xwampa was. He was a solid starter, but got toasted a number of times and rarely made plays. We all wanted him to be better because he was local and a huge recruit, but he never materialized, but took up space for several years. This is true at a number of other positions. It may be addition by subtraction. Yes, these youngsters may make some mistakes, but we also might have some needed playmakers in the bunch. We need sacks and turnovers to be competitive.
#1DieHardHawk
Well-Known Member
I agree with most that the DL is the unit of most concern/angst going into the summer. I would feel more comfortable if we had a little more "beef" along the interior. Not that it's a prerequisite, though. Iowa has had some very good lines with smaller tackles, i.e., Mitch King. Either way, our best defenses by far were when we could count on the DL to manage both the run and pass games without needing to blitz or keep a safety in the box.
Phil's Cover-4 defensive scheme is somewhat of an outlier. Even though we run a 4-3 scheme, he requires the DTs to two-gap, which is normally what you expect with a 3-4. There are pros and cons there, but some of the cons are what led to developing the "cash" position, which has become crucial for our scheme.
With so many new faces, my guess is that Lutmer ends up at cash. There should be some interesting battles at the remaining safety positions. At least one of the transfers (Hawkins, Brown, Styles?) will start.
My only concern at LB (or any position for that matter) is Kirk's tendency to stick with upperclassmen that have limitations athletically over younger players that have less experience but a higher ceiling. While commendable, his stubbornness there has frequently come back to bite us. Montgomery will be that guy this season. He plays hard, but Buffington is bigger, faster and has a much higher ceiling (as is Weisskopf for that matter). We'll see how the coaches' priorities shake out there.
CBs should be set. I'm hoping that this is the year that Lee puts it all together. The skill-set is there, but for whatever reason the game just hasn't slowed down for him yet. Don't be surprised if true frosh Darion Jones sees some action as the season goes on.
Phil's Cover-4 defensive scheme is somewhat of an outlier. Even though we run a 4-3 scheme, he requires the DTs to two-gap, which is normally what you expect with a 3-4. There are pros and cons there, but some of the cons are what led to developing the "cash" position, which has become crucial for our scheme.
With so many new faces, my guess is that Lutmer ends up at cash. There should be some interesting battles at the remaining safety positions. At least one of the transfers (Hawkins, Brown, Styles?) will start.
My only concern at LB (or any position for that matter) is Kirk's tendency to stick with upperclassmen that have limitations athletically over younger players that have less experience but a higher ceiling. While commendable, his stubbornness there has frequently come back to bite us. Montgomery will be that guy this season. He plays hard, but Buffington is bigger, faster and has a much higher ceiling (as is Weisskopf for that matter). We'll see how the coaches' priorities shake out there.
CBs should be set. I'm hoping that this is the year that Lee puts it all together. The skill-set is there, but for whatever reason the game just hasn't slowed down for him yet. Don't be surprised if true frosh Darion Jones sees some action as the season goes on.
