Some thoughts on next year's team

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nickhawk

Well-Known Member
• If Iowa manages to beat LSU in the Outback Bowl I would expect them to start next season ranked in the preseason top 25 – if the Hawks lose the Outback Bowl, I would expect most preseason polls for next year would have them ranked in the #26-35 range.

• Next year’s schedule looks very favorable. I believe the Hawks will be favored to win their first 10 games (UNI, Ball St, ISU, at Pitt, at PUR, IND, at Maryland, NW, at MINN, at ILL). Their two toughest games appear to be their final 2 games of the year vs. Wisconsin and Nebraska and both of those games are in Iowa City. I am not going to predict 12-0, but there certainly is a chance of a really special season next year. I recently read that a few Auburn fans are potentially going to make a lot of money on some 500-1 bets they placed before the start of the season for Auburn to win the National Championship. If Iowa is given 200-1 odds to win a National Championship before the start of next season, I will seriously be considering placing a bet on the Hawks to win it all next season.

• Scherff should most likely be a preseason 1st team All-American selection at LT

• Other Hawks who will probably find their names on preseason All Conference teams include:
A. Blythe, J. Walsh, J. Duzey, KMM, C. Davis, LTP, D. King

• Replacing the 3 senior LB’s will be the biggest challenge – as of right now I see Q. Alston, T. Perry and R. Spearman as the leading candidates to start, but I am intrigued by the rumblings of Nico Law possibly moving to LB – he has a reputation as a big hitter who sometimes struggles in pass coverage, so a switch to LB may actually play more to his strengths.

• There will be a few changes in special teams as our FG kicker (2nd all time leader scorer) and long snapper both graduate, so it will be interesting to see how M. Koehn handles the kicking duties. I hope to see Damond Powell and Jordan Canzeri used on kick returns.
 
I haven't checked on Pitt for next year but that may be tough game.

I agree on Scherff. Blythe, Davis, LTP and possibly King get preseason recognition. Walsh and Duzey didn't do enough to get those honors and I don't see KMM as a preseason standout as WR.

Don't overlook Cole Fisher at LB. I think he will be in the mix too.
 
Team may even be as good as its record. Problem with a schedule like that is that it does not stretch the team like a tougher schedule would. I remember going into 2009, people thought that team could be better than 2008 but have a worse record with games on the road at PSU, MSU and Wisconsin. Hawks won each of those. No doubt those tough games helped the team get better.
 
Pitt could be a challenge, but they do lose their senior QB, and will probably go with a redshirt frosh.
They are losing some good players, and are not supposed to be significantly better...bout the same..they play in the Pizza bowl in Detroit with a 6-6 record...early scouting opportunity.
 
nickhawk said:
• If Iowa manages to beat LSU in the Outback Bowl I would expect them to start next season ranked in the preseason top 25 – if the Hawks lose the Outback Bowl, I would expect most preseason polls for next year would have them ranked in the #26-35 range.

• Next year’s schedule looks very favorable. I believe the Hawks will be favored to win their first 10 games (UNI, Ball St, ISU, at Pitt, at PUR, IND, at Maryland, NW, at MINN, at ILL). Their two toughest games appear to be their final 2 games of the year vs. Wisconsin and Nebraska and both of those games are in Iowa City. I am not going to predict 12-0, but there certainly is a chance of a really special season next year. I recently read that a few Auburn fans are potentially going to make a lot of money on some 500-1 bets they placed before the start of the season for Auburn to win the National Championship. If Iowa is given 200-1 odds to win a National Championship before the start of next season, I will seriously be considering placing a bet on the Hawks to win it all next season.

• Scherff should most likely be a preseason 1st team All-American selection at LT

• Other Hawks who will probably find their names on preseason All Conference teams include:
A. Blythe, J. Walsh, J. Duzey, KMM, C. Davis, LTP, D. King

• Replacing the 3 senior LB’s will be the biggest challenge – as of right now I see Q. Alston, T. Perry and R. Spearman as the leading candidates to start, but I am intrigued by the rumblings of Nico Law possibly moving to LB – he has a reputation as a big hitter who sometimes struggles in pass coverage, so a switch to LB may actually play more to his strengths.

• There will be a few changes in special teams as our FG kicker (2nd all time leader scorer) and long snapper both graduate, so it will be interesting to see how M. Koehn handles the kicking duties. I hope to see Damond Powell and Jordan Canzeri used on kick returns.
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I have two issues with what you listed above. # 1 Jordan Walsh split reps most of this season and it had nothing to do with injuries. Yes he started most of the time at RG but he isn't a All conference type player right now or should he get preseason consideration. # 2 Nico Law to LB is purely a fan thing, this never came from anyone inside the program so if your intrigued by it then you are wasting your time, this isn't going to happen.
 
Fair enough - I can see your point that Walsh may not garner preseason acclaim, but I have a feeling that both he and Andrew Donnal will play well enough next year to garner some post-season acclaim. As for Law, you are right that a potential move is all speculation, but I sure hope he follows Hitchens example and shows vast improvement in his senior year - the kid has been hyped for 3 years but hasn't really made a significant impact yet - hopefully he has a big year next fall.
 
I don't think the defense is as good next year. We're losing too many playmakers. Morris, Kirksy & Hitchens is a huge blow.

Losing Alvis in the DL is a slight step back. Not sure if Hardy, McMinn or Meier will step into the starting spot but all three are a slight step back.

Our defensive back field also worries me. Tanner Miller cetainly had his issues but it is possible we could regress at the FS spot. Lowery will also be missed with no proven replacement to take his spot.

I think it is possible next year's secondary could be a bigger liability than this year's. Hopefully the offense can make up for the potential gap.
 
nickhawk said:
Fair enough - I can see your point that Walsh may not garner preseason acclaim, but I have a feeling that both he and Andrew Donnal will play well enough next year to garner some post-season acclaim. As for Law, you are right that a potential move is all speculation, but I sure hope he follows Hitchens example and shows vast improvement in his senior year - the kid has been hyped for 3 years but hasn't really made a significant impact yet - hopefully he has a big year next fall.
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I hope you're right about Walsh (RG)and Donnal (possible RT or LG), they could have big years next year. Plus I think that Connor Boffeli was vastly under appreciated this year. Maybe it was because he played next to Scherff and it made him (Connor) look better but I think he played extremely well either way.

Nico isn't close to the size of Hitchens. Sure, Nico can lay a big hit now and again but Hitchens wasn't just a big hitter, he was a great tackler as well. You have to rap up runners when playing linebacker, not just throw a shoulder into them like most safeties do.
 
nickhawk said:
Fair enough - I can see your point that Walsh may not garner preseason acclaim, but I have a feeling that both he and Andrew Donnal will play well enough next year to garner some post-season acclaim. As for Law, you are right that a potential move is all speculation, but I sure hope he follows Hitchens example and shows vast improvement in his senior year - the kid has been hyped for 3 years but hasn't really made a significant impact yet - hopefully he has a big year next fall.
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I incorrectly titled the "Law at Kirksey's spot" thread as it was just a total one year wonder kind of thought.

You know, we lose all our lbkrs and we have this really good athlete in Law, and I just threw out a question 1) was he even big enough to be looked at as a Lbkr and 2) might it happen.

No inside poop on this at all. I love that saying/cliche "I got the inside poop (or dope)"
 
dave3912 said:
I hope you're right about Walsh (RG)and Donnal (possible RT or LG), they could have big years next year. Plus I think that Connor Boffeli was vastly under appreciated this year. Maybe it was because he played next to Scherff and it made him (Connor) look better but I think he played extremely well either way.
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If I were to point out the weak link in our line, I would have said Bofelli.
 
dave3912 said:
I hope you're right about Walsh (RG)and Donnal (possible RT or LG), they could have big years next year. Plus I think that Connor Boffeli was vastly under appreciated this year. Maybe it was because he played next to Scherff and it made him (Connor) look better but I think he played extremely well either way.

Nico isn't close to the size of Hitchens. Sure, Nico can lay a big hit now and again but Hitchens wasn't just a big hitter, he was a great tackler as well. You have to rap up runners when playing linebacker, not just throw a shoulder into them like most safeties do.
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However, this was Hitchens biggest weakness last year. He did not wrap up and way too often just threw his shoulder into players. In fact, he was benched a few times last year for this very reason. He really improved that this year.
 
smbhawk1 said:
And you would be incorrect, IMO. I would say this was Walsh
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I agree, and my question to Briggs would be if Boffeli at LG was never benched and Walsh split reps at RG with Donnal, then why would you consider Boffeli the weaked link?
 
smbhawk1 said:
However, this was Hitchens biggest weakness last year. He did not wrap up and way too often just threw his shoulder into players. In fact, he was benched a few times last year for this very reason. He really improved that this year.
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I agree, but the point was about Nick playing LB, due to his size I believe he would struggle to get disengaged from blocks from the online and he would struggle to rap up and tackle properly. Not to mention Hitch played LB for a few years, Nico never played LB.
 
Our offense should be pretty good next year. Best we have had in a while. I cant see the Defense being any better. Just hope they can be as good. Got some big holes to fill. Fun part is seeing guys step you wernt counting on. Like King this year
 
tubahawk said:
I don't think the defense is as good next year. We're losing too many playmakers. Morris, Kirksy & Hitchens is a huge blow.

Losing Alvis in the DL is a slight step back. Not sure if Hardy, McMinn or Meier will step into the starting spot but all three are a slight step back.

Our defensive back field also worries me. Tanner Miller cetainly had his issues but it is possible we could regress at the FS spot. Lowery will also be missed with no proven replacement to take his spot.

I think it is possible next year's secondary could be a bigger liability than this year's. Hopefully the offense can make up for the potential gap.
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Losing Alvis at DE will have no impact on next year's team!!!!

He was an average(and that's being kind) B1G DE.
 
CJSHawk said:
Losing Alvis at DE will have no impact on next year's team!!!!

He was an average(and that's being kind) B1G DE.
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I cant argue with what you have said. But in Alvis Defense he was a huge leader on the Defenseive line. Maybe someone will step up. But that doesnt always happen. He may be the best leader on the DL since King and Kroul
 
LASBUR said:
I cant argue with what you have said. But in Alvis Defense he was a huge leader on the Defenseive line. Maybe someone will step up. But that doesnt always happen. He may be the best leader on the DL since King and Kroul
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That is debatable as the dl played better without him. Great leaders bring those around them up to a new level. Yet the dl found a new level without him on the field. I would say he wasn't the leader but just an average player. Trinca pasat seems to be the real leader.
 
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