2012: ???. If he can improve like the Manzi, he's going to be awesome. Unfortunately the other pieces of the passing game may take a step back to neutralize this a bit.
Sure, we'll be losing an absolutely tremendous WR in McNutt.
However, on the flip side, at this juncture I'd be pretty surprised if Riley Reiff left early. And, getting Reiff back at LT in 2012 will be pretty huge for the O.
TE play has struggled a tad ... and I'd chalk that up largely due to inexperience. Fortunately, Derby and Fiedorowicz continue to make up ground. Furthermore, Hamilton is a VERY promising talent and will squarely be in the picture come the '12 season. While we'll definitely miss a tremendous WR like Marv ... the TEs will likely step up and partially fill the void.
Getting back to the bit about Reiff ... even with the departures of Gettis, Zusevics, and Orne ... provided that Reiff returns, the OL very well could pick up right where it left off. Here are some reasons that support this contention:
- Reiff and Ferentz are obvious anchors of the OL
- MacMillan and Tobin both have starting experience
- MacMillan has the potential to be a "star"
- Scherff has received quality game reps and will be adequately experienced
- Scherff has the potential to be a "star"
- Heiar is an awfully solid guy and he'll be coming "online" for the '12 season
- Van Sloten and Boffeli both are high-quality guys who have seen game reps ... they're both good enough to start
- Donnal has done enough to get on the depth chart ... and also he's already gotten his feet wet on the field.
- Blythe and Walsh are both quality guys ... and I've heard praise coming out from their teammates during camp about their promise
Anyhow, that's some NICE depth ... and definitely there is plenty of talent and experience there!
To complement the aforementioned depth and talent on the OL ... we'll also have McCall returning ... and that's in addition to whatever talented RB recruit jumps aboard in the '12 recruiting class (and I predict that Iowa will land 1 or 2 of such high quality guys). Thus, between Iowa's new found "depth" at RB and quality on the OL ... I honestly believe that the running game will make substantial strides.
Who then wouldn't be excited with the big chunks of yardage that Vandenberg could gain out of play-action then? He's impressive as it is when he's picking apart secondaries out of shotgun ... and his ability to hit the big-play only goes up when opposing teams need to worry more about our running game!
Lastly, there's the fact that we still return 2 guys out of a very productive and confident trio. Both Keenan Davis and Tin-Man are improving before our very eyes through each and every game. More importantly, they're also become more comfortable and confident football players too ... and that will only help them get that much better.
And, lest we not forget, we'll still have Shumpert, Grant, and Hillyer ready to step up for us next year ... all of whom I've heard pretty positive things about! And, on top of that, we've already landed a really promising WR in Wilson in the '12 recruiting class ... and I'm willing to bet that we'll land a few more before it's all said and done!
My point being ... as good as the 2011 O might end up being ... the 2012 O could still end up being EVEN BETTER!!!