UI secondary ... ranked #2 by Rivals

DOCB said:
Rivals.com College Football - Preseason unit rankings: Secondary

2. IOWA
BUZZ: This unit is led by SS Tyler Sash, who will be paired with Brett Greenwood to give Iowa one of the top safety duos in the nation. Keep an eye on the cornerback slot opposite Shaun Prater
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Ironically, I've been reading so much about Micah Hyde doing well over the past year that the cornerback slot opposite of Shaun Prater is one the least worrisome things about this team to me. With Bernstein healthy and an improved Lowe and Castillo, we even have pretty good depth.
 
I agree, but still a big part of our secondary's success last year was the linebackers and Amari. Amari basically eliminated 1/3 of the field, so they were forced to jam it in away from him. Thus interceptions for sash/greenwood.
Don't get me wrong, I know our secondary will be great this year. I am skeptical of better than last year though.
 
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HaydensDad said:
I agree, but still a big part of our secondary's success last year was the linebackers and Amari. Amari basically eliminated 1/3 of the field as passable, so the were forced to jam it in away from him. Thus interceptions for sash/greenwood.
Don't get me wrong, I know our secondary will be great this year. I am skeptical of better than last year though.
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Good point. Iowa does have depth, but do they have another shut-down corner like Spievey? Also, does Iowa have linebackers that can cover like Edds & Angerer? Those can be the telling tales about Iowa's pass D for this coming year.
 
MelroseHawkins said:
Good point. Iowa does have depth, but do they have another shut-down corner like Spievey? Also, does Iowa have linebackers that can cover like Edds & Angerer? Those can be the telling tales about Iowa's pass D for this coming year.
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No better time to break in some new linebackers with the #1 DL playing in front of you.
 
I have always thought the best pass defense is your line. The only teams I see this year with the O-lines to slow up our pass rush are Wisky and OSU, and both have mediocre passing QBs and neither have WRs that scare me.
 
I definitely think we got the best defense in the nation. I think our secondary is rock solid. Just because we have to replace a CB and Hyde will fill in, after watching hyde last weekend, i think we'll be just fine! Nickel package will be shut down with Bernstein in. This defense is nasty!
 
HaydensDad said:
I agree, but still a big part of our secondary's success last year was the linebackers and Amari. Amari basically eliminated 1/3 of the field, so they were forced to jam it in away from him. Thus interceptions for sash/greenwood.
Don't get me wrong, I know our secondary will be great this year. I am skeptical of better than last year though.
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I agree with you in the sense that Iowa's coverage ability, more than some other styles of defense, should really be looked at as part of the performance of the entire back seven. The success of the defense will largely depend on how well this back seven is able to mesh with the new faces this year.

This said, where Iowa has been consistent even more than other areas the last decade has been producing solid back seven units. Sure there are standouts, like Greenway and Edds, that are uniquely great at what they do, but even when we don't match that greatness we seem to always be solid. Like the Klinkenborg/Humpal years.

I can remember bad quarterback play or inconsistent oline play. I can remember decimated running back depth (seemingly every year) I can even remember a few overmatched defensive lines and wide receivers that couldn't get open. But can you remember a year when we haven't had great cornerback and linebacker play? I can't. Maybe way early in the Ferentz tenure when we were bad at just about everything?
 
We never have "bad" CB play because when we are weak at that position the CBs play 10 yards off of the guy. We make sure we don't get beat deep but if our CBs are weak then you can complete 5 yard passes at will. Most people judge a corner by whether or not he gets burned for big yards. I hate to say it but Adam Shada anybody?
 
Antwan Allen was clearly the weakest link of the defenenses he played on. Granted, the rest of the defense was outstanding, but he frequently got beat deep.
 
MelroseHawkins said:
Good point. Iowa does have depth, but do they have another shut-down corner like Spievey? Also, does Iowa have linebackers that can cover like Edds & Angerer? Those can be the telling tales about Iowa's pass D for this coming year.
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Melrose -

Hunter is playing his absolute best ball of his career. The very fact that he's much improved in coverage himself really helps us. Tarp is every bit as good as Angerer in coverage. I'd be surprised if Nielsen were as good as Edds in coverage ... however he was mentored by Edds, I recall hearing that he's faster than Edds, and Edds remarked that Nielsen has a "long" body. I believe that the implication of the remark made by Edds is that Nielsen is tall and has pretty long arms ... which makes it harder to get passes around and over him.

Anyhow, I really suspect that we won't see much of a drop with our LBs in coverage.

As for the secondary, Prater will be a year better and more experienced. Furthermore, the guys have been getting A LOT of experience playing a lot of tight press coverage. While our CBs may not yet be at Spievey's level ... the level of play is still very high. Furthermore, Phil Parker says that the two safeties see the game like he does ... the immediate implication there is that the secondary basically has 2 coaches on the field there in the secondary ... and that will help the group that much more!

As for concerns about losing Spievey in run support ... that is definitely a legit concern. However, given how experience and talent laden the DL is ... to go along with having quality LBs on the edges ... I anticipate that we won't see quite as many runs making it to the secondary. And, if they do, it sounds like our defensive backs have been doing a very good job tackling. It goes without saying that it's critical that our D tackles well ... so the news about the tackling of our defensive backs is positive news.
 
hawkinn3 said:
We never have "bad" CB play because when we are weak at that position the CBs play 10 yards off of the guy. We make sure we don't get beat deep but if our CBs are weak then you can complete 5 yard passes at will. Most people judge a corner by whether or not he gets burned for big yards. I hate to say it but Adam Shada anybody?
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Shada didn't get beat by everybody. The problem is that he got beaten badly by Hardy. And, mind you, Fletcher didn't have much luck against Hardy either. Hardy was so big and strong that he'd beat you on jams ... and then that automatically puts the CB at a disadvantage ... and the fact that Hardy had good speed made the margin for error that much less.
 
homerHAWKeye777 said:
Shada didn't get beat by everybody. The problem is that he got beaten badly by Hardy. And, mind you, Fletcher didn't have much luck against Hardy either. Hardy was so big and strong that he'd beat you on jams ... and then that automatically puts the CB at a disadvantage ... and the fact that Hardy had good speed made the margin for error that much less.
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I agree. Shada wasn't THAT bad, IMO. Was he the best? Certainly not. But he's hardly the worst CB I ever saw play a college football game.

Now, if Hyde is really as good as people think he is (I believe the coaches thought he could end up being even better than Spievey), then we've got nothing to worry about. It's only going to take a few interceptions and tipped balls, and people will start avoiding either Prater or Hyde. Teams threw at Spievey a little bit in '08, and that's how he got his reputation, because he shut them down.
 
Norm Parker has got to be feeling like a kid in a candy store and on Christmas morning.

With the defensive line and secondary so highly regarded I bet he can't wait to see his troups perform on gameday.
 
Here's how I would rank the Kirk Ferentz Cornerbacks:

  1. Spievey
  2. Fletcher
  3. Stockdale
  4. Godfrey
  5. Jovon Johnson
  6. Prater
  7. Benny Sapp
  8. Antwan Allen
  9. Shada
  10. DJ Johnson
  11. Chic/Haralson/Mikkel Brown (all the random subsitutes)
  12. Tim Dodge
 
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