Ah, I just figured you might be a high school coach or something. I to have many games from last season recorded, thats kinda my thing, I like to go back and break things down, person by person (position by position), I had to ding Iowa for the Hyde move, it might have been the right thing to do, but is still an unknown. It gives me a pretty good idea on what I am looking at for the next season. I am not talented enought to do it with any more sports than football and I tend to like to stay away from NFL. So this is the time of year, with schedules out, I do just that, your assesment of Iowa is about where mine is so I thought you might be doing the same thing. I kinda got thrown for a loop with the divisions but am making progress. Anyway I think you have a good idea at what you are looking at when it comes to Iowa this year. I try and stick with the big ten, but will most likely start taking a more serious look at the b12 now. That conf should be much easier to put pencil to.
But make no mistake, the Hawks are my team, I just look thru different glasses than some people do.
Honestly my thoughts on Iowa are as much intangible as hard facts. In my job I’m very inclined to “figure” things, people, inventory, etc… out by experience and by looking at what is behind people’s actions and words. On that note they would NOT move Hyde if they didn’t feel the upside for him AND our D was thru the Roof. They also wouldn’t do it if they felt Castillo wasn’t good enuff and I personally think their actions also suggest they are very high on Lowery. As my collaborating evidence I’ll point out…Prater played as a true Frosh and started as a Soph, Hyde played as a true Frosh and started as a soph. This staff knows D-Backs (all defensive positions really) and if they thought Lowery should play as a true Frosh in the backfield we had last year it’s because they think he is a stud in waiting.
That’s not to short change the play making ability it frees Hyde up to do as a “playmaker” which he obviously is. It also doesn’t count the potential versatility of a healthy and motivated Bernstein. We have options back there and they are good ones and several of them at that. Miller too is a potential stud.
I’m also giddy about the experience we got our Lbers last year and I don’t think people know how good Tyler Nielsen and James Morris can be…….and they aren’t alone. Dibona had some great moments and Kirksey and Hicthens played well in coverage late. In fact if you remember a tackle for loss that Morris made against MSU it was set up by Dibona coming in hard on the edge and crushing the full back so Morris could scrape out and make the tackle on their Rber. He also made a great ankle tackle in space vs “someone” that Morris had over ran. If he misses, it would have gone 10 or 20 more yards. But Nielsen in particular I don’t think the fans get…had he stayed healthy it would have completely changed our D last year. He was having a very good year. He is a 6-4, 248 Lb, AJ Edds clone that I’ve seen suggested runs a 4.5 something forty. I personally saw him run Noel Devine down from behind in the Army All American game as a high-schooler….
As far as my love of football goes I watch EVERYTHING….The Texas high school state championships, Florida’s, Illinois, Missouri’s, Ohio’s Michigan’s…I’ve watched Wisconsin’s, Oklahoma’s, Washington’s Oregon’s, all manners of relevant high school games throughout the season.
I stay up late watching WAC games, MWC games, Sun Belt games……I’ve had as many as 10 college fantasy football teams and 10 plus pickem’s in a single season….In short I’m a freak about college football and I watch a lot of it. As a rule, I can tell you where the majority of Nflers played in college. I follow the Qb's, Wr’s and Rbers in all the mid-majors, (fantasy football is good for that) and I just have a memory and passion for college football. When you are that passionate about things you have a tendency to look very deep at it.
Now as I grow older and God places more relevance on things that should truly be important, I do cut back on my hobbies and I try not to be so over the top. But that guidance is also what drives me to be fair and real about what I am seeing………bringing this back full circle in nice little box…..
Chad