GrandpaHawk
Well-Known Member
It's pretty clear that coach is trying to lite a fire in some of the players butts.Sounds like some of the guys need to step up if they want to see playing time.
Spring Two Deep Roster & Thoughts
- Thread starter JonDMiller
- Start date
CaneHawk62
Well-Known Member
Yeah, he is only an oline guru who has sent numerous lineman to the pros and coached the position in the NFL, im sure he is clueless when it comes to this position.
GrandpaHawk
Well-Known Member
I changed my wording on my original post but my point still stands. What I meant was that coach won't flat come out and say we are in trouble but there is no way you average 280 in the middle and be able to run effectively. And let's face it, other than 2008, the oline hasn't exactly been great for us the last several years since Phillibin left. I am afraid of a disaster oline year like 2007. I am still holding out hope that we won't have a 270 pound center starting for us but it is not looking good. Coupled with at least one guard who is undersized and inexperienced I think that could be really bad.
PlanoHawk
Well-Known Member
Agree with the early comment and for comparison sake... found a two deep from may 2009. (can't confirm if this is the ACTUAL, but you get the idea) Obviously changes from where they started in spring to where they ended up.
Great to have options- and wouldn't be concerned about how is listed at KR/PR at this time, as we saw last year it's good to have 4-5 names to consider!
Not worried at all about size with the animal we have leading our weight program- would rather be technical and strong on the field rather than look good getting off the bus.
AKAGOATMAN
Well-Known Member
Was visiting some family last year and had a chance to see C.J. Fiedorowicz play- this guys is a STUD! I look forward to him suiting up for the Hawks!
homerHAWKeye777
Well-Known Member
From everything I've gathered, James Ferentz is bigger than Eubanks ever was. So assuming James ends up winning the spot, we should have adequate "beef" at C. Furthermore, Vandervelde is a guy who has never lacked size at OG. Lastly, Gettis is a 4th year JR who will likely be in the upper 280s by fall. From what everything I've heard about Gettis, it sounds like he's awesome athlete for his size and has great explosion off the line. Provided he gets down the position details too ... I'm under the impression that size really won't be an issue for him.
As for beef at OT ... last I checked Reiff will likely be in the 290s (or so) by the fall ... and even playing a little on the undersized side as a RS FR, he still had great success against tOSU's Heyward ... and there aren't all that many O-linemen who can say that the got the best of Heyward (and probably no other FR can say that). As for the RT spot ... I'm sure that it will be well-manned between Zusevics, Orne, or MacMillan.
There's A LOT more to OL-play than just fielding big bodies ... technique and strength are HUGE ... and the majority of the guys who we have vying for the open spots are either guys whom I'd argue are elite underclassmen or comparatively physically mature upperclassmen. Starting experience is the primary knock on the 2010 Hawk OL.
Lastly, while I liked Philbin a lot too ... I don't understand the logic that suggests that Iowa's OL play went south after he left. That's simply not true. If you notice the correlation between experienced depth on the OL and success on the field ... you soon learn that that is the driving force behind our success .... irrespective of whether Philbin or Morgan was the OL coach. If you don't recall, Iowa's OL wasn't exactly all-world when Betts was the starter ... and Philbin was the OL coach then. Similarly, Morgan had to contend with a bunch of OLs that were both racked with injuries and lacked experienced depth. All the same, Morgan fielded some decent OLs in 2003, 2005, 2008, and 2009. The facts simply don't support the revisionist history that the success of Iowa's OL was purely due to Philbin's coaching.
theiowahawkeye
Well-Known Member
I imagine he was told to play it conservative. They had some great momentum going; it would have been disasterous to blow it on trying to be a hero on a ten yard gain.
theiowahawkeye
Well-Known Member
Winning State at the high hurdles is impressive - very impressive. That says a lot for the athleticism for a 6-3 220# DE. He sounds like a pure pass-rusher with that kind of speed and explosiveness. However, I would like to see what he can do against the run. At just 220 pounds (I can't beleive I just said that) he could be a bit small against some Big Ten OTs.
theiowahawkeye
Well-Known Member
Eubanks went out at 280. James Ferentz is listed at 265. That is a 15 pound loss at the position.
Thanks for your response homer. You are definitely one of the guys I like to weigh in on this issue. My point about the oline since Philibin left wasn't to say that he was solely responsible for the oline success, just to counter the arguement that just because it is Ferentz means we will have a good oline. I agree about experienced depth being a big factor but also size being a huge factor. The good olines you mentioned all had size that this oline simply doesn't have.
You mention Eubanks and I agree that he had a better senior season than I anticipated. He was also a fifth year senior with a ton of experience. For the previous four years of his career he got pushed around a lot. Brueggman saved the 2008 oline by replacing Eubanks who just wasn't big enough. While no doubt technique and strength are important it is hard to replace size. Our biggest player on the inside will be Vandervelde and he is simply smaller than the vast majority of other Big Ten guards or past Iowa guards (he also really struggled last year I realize in part to injury). I hope I am wrong on this issue but with the lack of size of our interior I don't see how we will have a lot of success running the ball in the Big Ten.
Tarpinian not starting shows how deep we really are at LB. As far as Bernstine, he was out for an entire season with a broken ankle, so that's not surprising at all.
lightning1
Well-Known Member
If we avg 300 lbs at both OG and OT spots, we will be fine. The Iowa OL system isnt predicated on drive blocking. I would be happy to have 5 Reily Rieffs at 285 lbs per, as my starting 5.
GravyJones
Well-Known Member
Am I the only one who doesn't think Tarpinian should be starting? He's a fine special teams player, but he always seemed to be lacking as a LB (slow, bad angles, bad reads).
You also forgot that other then one play vs GT he had great success against Morgan, a guy that on some lists will be a top ten draft pick this year.
iowahawkeyes89
Well-Known Member
How many times have you seen him play meaningful minutes in a game?
Other than special teams, I'm not sure what you have to make that assumption.
tm3308
Well-Known Member
He didn't look too good when he was in the OSU game. Made a bad read and got sucked inside, while Saine bolted right past where Tarp should have been. End result: 53 TD run.
Not really fair to judge him based on just that play, but Johnson looked pretty damn good against Minnesota, and Nielson's time has come. There's just too many guys there, someone has to get the short end of the stick.
GravyJones
Well-Known Member
I was absolutely thinking the OSU game. He made several terrible reads and took several terrible routes.
iowahawkeyes89
Well-Known Member
Right...but its one game isn't it?
And even at that...its spring.
A lot will change IMO.
Tarp had a horrible game vs. tOSU, bad reads, getting pancaked by their TE, and was out of position a few other times.
In saying that it was just one game, he was an animal vs. GT on kick coverage and really hope that he has a great spring and can help out at LB this year.
