We now have a very interesting situation ...

D

dirtwrap

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We all know ISM's speed and how much we need that to stretch the defense. We also know how much of a talent Brandon Smith is. We also have heard nothing but rave reviews for Nico Ragaini, especially his quickness and habds and route running in the slot. And we all know Martin and what he brings to the table, even though he didn't do it here he has done it at this level.

We also know our TE's are not proven at all. And we also know that it is really really hard to run the ball efrectively when there are 8 and 9 defenders in the box. We have also seen many times how well Stanley sees the field from shotgun and either empty sets or single back sets.

So what are we going to do? If we designed our offense around our players and their skills, would our strength not spread our formations out? We would get these guys in the game, all of them. Martin and Ragaini are better than our fullbacks right? Better than the TE's? Wouldnt we running game benefit from making the defense play an honest 6 or 7 in the box and make the linebackers play in space?

Fascinating stuff as I cant remember an Iowa team like this with a veteran quarterback, a bevy of talent on the edges and WR as a whole, and a lack of any experience at the TE spot. Ever.

What do you all think?
 
I think Fant satcout half of the plays last year to get Max Cooper on the field. It makes sense to have 4 receivers on the field a lot, but I wont hold my breath.
 
Sounds like a perfect recipe for one running back, one tight end, and three receiver formations. Mind bender for opposing defenses. :eek:
 
BigD said:
Sounds like a perfect recipe for one running back, one tight end, and three receiver formations. Mind bender for opposing defenses. :eek:
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The options with this type of formation is unlimited. As many as five receivers at anytime (counting the RB and TE).

If you keep the RB and TE in to block Stanley will have all day to find an open receiver. Also if you spread out the offense it will open HUGE holes for the running back.
 
I would expect to see Smith, IKM and Martin all split time on the outside. Nico/Tracy can split some time in the slot.
 
BigD said:
The options with this type of formation is unlimited. As many as five receivers at anytime (counting the RB and TE).

If you keep the RB and TE in to block Stanley will have all day to find an open receiver. Also if you spread out the offense it will open HUGE holes for the running back.
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All of this sounds great and makes sense to most people that watch football...BUT is this something that is even being worked on or is it going to be the same old saying. "Iowa knows who they are and they run the football Blah Blah Blaah".

I can handle that to a point but when the defense starts to take things away you need to be able to adjust and create the mismatches. This year it sounds like we actually have the weapons to do some creative things outside of our normal box. Will we end up doing ti? Time will tell.
 
We finally have what most other teams have had. That doesn't necessarily make it an "interesting situation". It merely makes Iowa "on par" now. Consistency with a unit that hasn't proven itself for several years still has to be proven.

But yes, Iowa now has ingredients for the recipe in place.
 
ibahawkeye said:
I would expect to see Smith, IKM and Martin all split time on the outside. Nico/Tracy can split some time in the slot.
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I think that is conventional wisdom, but is that our most effective strategy? We will leave Martin on the bench and replace him with a FB? Or another TE? Any of those options just allows the defense to stack the box, and how does our offense usually look against 8 and 9 man fronts when they blitz our gaps as they slant to the play side? I think Wisconsin 2017. Our personnel is abnormal this year from years past, and i wonder if we wont tweak our philosophy this year to take advantage of that.
 
MelroseHawkins said:
We finally have what most other teams have had. That doesn't necessarily make it an "interesting situation". It merely makes Iowa "on par" now. Consistency with a unit that hasn't proven itself for several years still has to be proven.

But yes, Iowa now has ingredients for the recipe in place.
Click to expand...

I certainly think it makes it an interesting situation for us. We may be like everyone else now personnel wise, but it hasnt always been that way. We also dont have a proven TE either.
 
Careful boys.

Let’s have some trepidation here.

We’re all well aware of what happens when we start counting chickens right away. If you do t set the expectation bar too high it doesn’t hurt as bad when it falls on your head, and it also makes it so much sweeter if and when you surpass it.

Chill TF out.
 
It will be interesting to see where he fits into the hierarchy of go to WRs/TEs. Clearly the top 3 from last year are gone so the new pecking order is about to get established on Saturday night.

I have to go with Melrose here. I think adding Oliver might get Iowa to that par range with the middle of the B1G.

They are still probably a long ways from the top WR groups in the conference like Minnesota or Michigan.
 
If nothing else ...

a) We now have some excellent depth at WR
b) We should see far fewer defenses stuffing 8 in the box, which in turn helps our running game.
 
I think he is a rotation receiver, probably in line for 15-20 or so receptions.

The entire WR corps last year had 112 for 1307 and 10 TDs.
Fant/Hock = 88 for 1279 and 13 TDs

In 2017, it was 100 for 1111 and 8 TDs.
Fant/Hock = 54 for 814 and 14 TDs

Let's say Stanley throws for 3000 yards this year (2852 last year).

TEs will probably account for between 400 yards (roughly the 2011 and 2016 totals, as low as Iowa ever gets) and 700 yards (roughly their average TE yearly production). I think 500 yards is a conservative estimate.

Last year, RBs accounted for 293 yards receiving.
In 2017 RBs accounted for 456 yards (353 by Wadley).
I think RBs will be counted on to replace TE production in the passing game, so maybe this year is around 400 yards.

That would leave 2100 yards to divy up amongst the WRs. This is very optimistic, because they have not hit that number as a WR corps since 2011 (2,396 yards that year; best years since then are 1,952 in 2014 and 1,675 in 2015).

How would you divy those 2100 yards up among Smith, ISM, Ragaini, Tracy, and Martin?

I would say maybe ISM and Ragaini around 600 yards each (Ragaini way more receptions, ISM much better ypc). Our leading WR has not hit 600 yds since 2015 (MVB), but if you look at the good O'Keefe offenses, their top WRs were usually around this mark.

If Brandon Smith could do a Tevaun Smith impersonation (500 yds, 15 ypc), that would be fantastic.

That leaves 400 yards for Martin and Tracy to split up.

I am probably way off on how it will shake out, we will see.
 
CP87 said:
I think he is a rotation receiver, probably in line for 15-20 or so receptions.

The entire WR corps last year had 112 for 1307 and 10 TDs.
Fant/Hock = 88 for 1279 and 13 TDs

In 2017, it was 100 for 1111 and 8 TDs.
Fant/Hock = 54 for 814 and 14 TDs

Let's say Stanley throws for 3000 yards this year (2852 last year).

TEs will probably account for between 400 yards (roughly the 2011 and 2016 totals, as low as Iowa ever gets) and 700 yards (roughly their average TE yearly production). I think 500 yards is a conservative estimate.

Last year, RBs accounted for 293 yards receiving.
In 2017 RBs accounted for 456 yards (353 by Wadley).
I think RBs will be counted on to replace TE production in the passing game, so maybe this year is around 400 yards.

That would leave 2100 yards to divy up amongst the WRs. This is very optimistic, because they have not hit that number as a WR corps since 2011 (2,396 yards that year; best years since then are 1,952 in 2014 and 1,675 in 2015).

How would you divy those 2100 yards up among Smith, ISM, Ragaini, Tracy, and Martin?

I would say maybe ISM and Ragaini around 600 yards each (Ragaini way more receptions, ISM much better ypc). Our leading WR has not hit 600 yds since 2015 (MVB), but if you look at the good O'Keefe offenses, their top WRs were usually around this mark.

If Brandon Smith could do a Tevaun Smith impersonation (500 yds, 15 ypc), that would be fantastic.

That leaves 400 yards for Martin and Tracy to split up.

I am probably way off on how it will shake out, we will see.
Click to expand...

That is a great evaluation, thank you for putting those numbers together.
 
Here are some comments Brian Ferentz made to us last week:

“He can play outside. He can play inside. He’s a good short-area, quickness guy. He does a real nice job on some vertical type routes and tracking the ball down the field. He’s more of a utility guy,” Ferentz said.

LINK
 
RobHowe said:
Here are some comments Brian Ferentz made to us last week:

“He can play outside. He can play inside. He’s a good short-area, quickness guy. He does a real nice job on some vertical type routes and tracking the ball down the field. He’s more of a utility guy,” Ferentz said.

LINK
Click to expand...
The “utility guy” quite has me thinking. Perhaps we could be looking at the receiver version of the DB Cash position for Martin.
 
dirtwrap said:
We all know ISM's speed and how much we need that to stretch the defense. We also know how much of a talent Brandon Smith is. We also have heard nothing but rave reviews for Nico Ragaini, especially his quickness and habds and route running in the slot. And we all know Martin and what he brings to the table, even though he didn't do it here he has done it at this level.

We also know our TE's are not proven at all. And we also know that it is really really hard to run the ball efrectively when there are 8 and 9 defenders in the box. We have also seen many times how well Stanley sees the field from shotgun and either empty sets or single back sets.

So what are we going to do? If we designed our offense around our players and their skills, would our strength not spread our formations out? We would get these guys in the game, all of them. Martin and Ragaini are better than our fullbacks right? Better than the TE's? Wouldnt we running game benefit from making the defense play an honest 6 or 7 in the box and make the linebackers play in space?

Fascinating stuff as I cant remember an Iowa team like this with a veteran quarterback, a bevy of talent on the edges and WR as a whole, and a lack of any experience at the TE spot. Ever.

What do you all think?
Click to expand...

Whom ever blocks the best will play the most.
 
dirtwrap said:
We all know ISM's speed and how much we need that to stretch the defense. We also know how much of a talent Brandon Smith is. We also have heard nothing but rave reviews for Nico Ragaini, especially his quickness and habds and route running in the slot. And we all know Martin and what he brings to the table, even though he didn't do it here he has done it at this level.

We also know our TE's are not proven at all. And we also know that it is really really hard to run the ball efrectively when there are 8 and 9 defenders in the box. We have also seen many times how well Stanley sees the field from shotgun and either empty sets or single back sets.

So what are we going to do? If we designed our offense around our players and their skills, would our strength not spread our formations out? We would get these guys in the game, all of them. Martin and Ragaini are better than our fullbacks right? Better than the TE's? Wouldnt we running game benefit from making the defense play an honest 6 or 7 in the box and make the linebackers play in space?

Fascinating stuff as I cant remember an Iowa team like this with a veteran quarterback, a bevy of talent on the edges and WR as a whole, and a lack of any experience at the TE spot. Ever.

What do you all think?
Click to expand...

My concern is that this conundrum also has our offensive coordinator baffled. He may decide to punt on 3rd down.

In all honesty...my guess is that Martin or Ragaini take the slot that used be occupied by a TE in our four wide sets. Man...I also have a lot of confidence in Brian Ferentz to use these guys effectively. He just needs his QB to hit them 65% of the time...at least.
 
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