We now have a very interesting situation ...

[PCHawk]

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.

Stanley's biggest problem is he can't hit wide open receivers. It might be a bigger issue now that there are guys capable of getting open.

 

[AIRHAWK]

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.

Are you new here? Have you seen Iowa play in the last 20 years? Let me see, run off tackle, gain 1, run off tackle AGAIN, lose 2, pass on 3rd and 11 for 6 yard gain, punt.
Weapons? Weapons? Show me. I hope our WR are as good as everyone is talking. Just haven't seen it and not sure OM is going to change anything. Glad he is a hawk.

 

[HuckFinn]

Whom ever blocks the best will play the most.

Clearly, you are talking about what is demanded of receivers in the NFL.

 

[HuckFinn]

Stanley's biggest problem is he can't hit wide open receivers. It might be a bigger issue now that there are guys capable of getting open.

I trust you are being sarcastic.

 

[HuckFinn]

Are you new here? Have you seen Iowa play in the last 20 years? Let me see, run off tackle, gain 1, run off tackle AGAIN, lose 2, pass on 3rd and 11 for 6 yard gain, punt.
Weapons? Weapons? Show me. I hope our WR are as good as everyone is talking. Just haven't seen it and not sure OM is going to change anything. Glad he is a hawk.

How in the heck did we average 31 points per game last season?

 

[DDThompson]

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’m thinking it’s the end of camp so hell will freeze over before a 3 WR is a staple.

Nevermind, end of camp has nothing to do with it.

 

[Caddy]

We don't have a tight end. The loss of Hock and Fant is going to be much larger than people think. Our receivers struggled getting open last year with those 2 on the field. This year, teams don't have to worry about the tight end. Stanley and our receivers strike fear in no one.

 

[VAHawkFan]

Jeez, this board has been more fun this week...

People act like IA has never put a 3 WR formation on the field. It was LITERALLY part of last year's biggest controversy:

"Why isn't Fant on the field more?"
"Because in our 11 and 21 personnel packages (i.e. 3 wides or 2 wides + a fullback) Hockenson is the lone TE."




…and now, ironically, this thread will careen into a 180 turn and people will start ridiculing the coaching staff for ever putting 3 wideouts on the field last year.

 

[AreWeThereYet]

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?

You're discounting Nate Wieting as a receiving target when he has had a very good spring & fall. Given how well he has done, I don't think the coaches are going to throw that away. It's more likely that we see plenty of Wieting early because that is what has been practiced. Going forward, a lot will depend on how well Wieting releases into receiving routes and if he can remain a reliable target in game situations.

They have been working Oliver Martin at all receiving positions. At least initially, I would expect to see a continuation of that. We'll see how that works out. Some of it depends on whether Martin thrives on being a jack of all trades or whether he needs a more specific role.

A big question is how well Stanley can capitalize on having a wealth of targets at receiver. Stanley's accuracy often suffers when he has too much to think about under pressure. Could the added complexity of having lots of potential targets make him even more deliberate and mess with his timing, hopefully not.

The fullback position may well end up being the odd man out here. It's use could be more situational, where Iowa's offensive line can power up on some of the weaker offensive lines, or if Stanley's game is off. Some of this depends on how good the interior blocking is this year.

 

[Jonrn]

I see OM being a valuable threat in the 10-20 yd range. He’s not the deep threat, he’s not the home run guy. I watched clips of his catches at Michigan and he was very dynamic on crossing routes and getting open when Patterson was flushed out of the pocket. That’s a valuable tool Iowa can use. TJH had that skill.

 

[hawkdrummer1]

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.

We do have nice depth at WR
Until we throw over the top, they're gonna stuff the box. We have to prove it first.

 

[karras]

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 know the narrative is we don't have anyone to catch the ball except our WRs. But secretly you know that's not true. Our RBs & TEs & probably fullbacks can all catch the ball. People confuse "unproven" with "untalented". This team is loaded with guys who can catch a football.

There is no reason for our offense to not be an explosive machine. Well there is one reason, and he can never be questioned about anything. Because he is perfection incarnate.

 

[RobHowe]

Nate Wieting is a solid tight end. Shaun Beyer can be if he stays healthy as can Drew Cook.

No. They're not going to be Fant and Hockenson. That's a historic duo.

But opponents still have to defend the position. It's not like Iowa is void of talent there.

 

[Hawk1960]

We do have nice depth at WR
Until we throw over the top, they're gonna stuff the box. We have to prove it first.

Agree, we do have to throw over the top more. The WR depth is a prerequisite though. The average fan does not realize how far a WR travels (pure step count) during a game. No other position on the field travels more. There is only so many 40-50 yard post patterns a guy can run before they are worn out on game day. Rotating 5 or 6 quality guys is going to help make it possible to keep them fresh and run those deep routes more often to keep the defense honest.

 

[AreWeThereYet]

Sargent had 17 receptions last year and wasn't with the team until the start of fall camp.

 

[BVHawk95]

Nate Wieting is a solid tight end. Shaun Beyer can be if he stays healthy as can Drew Cook.

No. They're not going to be Fant and Hockenson. That's a historic duo.

But opponents still have to defend the position. It's not like Iowa is void of talent there.

But what else is Caddy going to bitch about? It's not like we put TEs in the NFL yearly or anything...

 

[N8theGr8]

I think what we're seeing is that Brian finally has what he wants. Solid TE's, a number of receivers who are good in short spaces, a speed guy, and a big bodied possession guy who can win jump balls. He needs more good wideouts to install those 3 and 4 receiver sets, so much so that he was going for it even when we didn't have the talent/depth for it. The reason for this is succinctly explained in this graphic I saw on BHGP from NFL statistics. The 3 and 4 WR sets prevent teams from stacking the box, so somewhat counter-intuitively they average more YPC with less blockers. Which, for an offense that's trying to be balanced, is exactly what we want to do.