I'm going to try and come at this not from a negative perspective so much as an observational one.
So we all know we have two stud leaders at QB and Corner. What are the biggest weaknesses this team may have this year so long as the injury bug don't hit?
As far as offense goes the obvious seems to be WR in that it's Vandeberg and everyone else has hardly made any plays yet. But to what extent should their be worry? I think they have some athletes to work with in Smith and Scheel. You can put me on the Scheel band wagon for sure. This group may make more explosive plays this year in that if the Oline is better then last yr (many are predicting them to be really good) and CJ is healthy and improved then the sky could be the limit there I hope. However last years group did a whale of a job blocking in the run game and I have a tough time seeing this group matching that.
TE as a group will have questions. Kittle will be the man obviously but who will step up and play with him and play well? Heck if I know. Wiesnewski has the most time in program I suppose but really haven't seen enough of him to know how he'll do. Freshman will all be given a chance to show what they can do in camp so may the best players play there.
Kicking... replacing Koehn will be a big deal and I know nothing about who's going to win that job but who ever does will have had next to no kicks with 70k plus in the stands... Will that affect how the coaches call the game and the confidence they'll have in who wins the job may be telling early on...
OL. Now I'd mentioned how as a group the expectations are high. And they should be. However let me point out that Calhoun had a hay day against our tackles. Improvement amongst Croston/Boetteger and Myers will have to be made. Welch is pretty much the best of the group and it sounds like he'll be at center. Now Daniels I know got his feet wet last yr and did OK. But he is coming off some surgery and will still be a young player so I hope he's up for the challenge of starting and being in there every rep.
DEs.. Everyone knows how we are replacing two starters there. I'm not too sold on Hesse although he played well at times. He's just not big and athletic enough just yet to make an impact against the run and I think he can get bear hugged when rushing the passer. The Nelson boys I think will be an upgrade as far as their pass rushing goes. But how they'll do against the run I'm not so sure about either. I think a freshman or two will get thrown in there early on depending on how they look and given a shot. It will be interesting to see who all emerges and how the rotations look.
Safety. Snyder in particular and I know it was a close race last year when Taylor beat him out to play next to Lomax. Now from the best I could tell last year Lomax didn't do that great in pass coverage or even in pursuit of ball carriers. He took bad angles and was just out ran a lot. Now when he came down hill and filled the hole against the run he could bring the hammer. So what Snyder will bring may or may not be an upgrade we'll just have to see.
Corner and ole Mr. Mabin will have a target on his back. I really like him in that his size is great at 6'2 200 with long arms for a corner. But with the year King had Mabin will have his work cut out for him play in and play out. Iowa pretty much puts them on their sides of the field. King will move to the slot on 3rd downs but they don't usually move him around playing man up against the other teams stud. So other teams can game plan on how to get who they want on their studs fairly easily (unless Iowa shakes that up this year)
I think RB we are really solid not just with talent but depth. And LBs I think we will be really good. Now Mends hasn't been in the fire much and he'll be a question mark too. But he's a heck of an athlete/weight room warrior from what I've heard. The other LBs should be great. So I'm curious what you all think how this overall group may look.
So we all know we have two stud leaders at QB and Corner. What are the biggest weaknesses this team may have this year so long as the injury bug don't hit?
As far as offense goes the obvious seems to be WR in that it's Vandeberg and everyone else has hardly made any plays yet. But to what extent should their be worry? I think they have some athletes to work with in Smith and Scheel. You can put me on the Scheel band wagon for sure. This group may make more explosive plays this year in that if the Oline is better then last yr (many are predicting them to be really good) and CJ is healthy and improved then the sky could be the limit there I hope. However last years group did a whale of a job blocking in the run game and I have a tough time seeing this group matching that.
TE as a group will have questions. Kittle will be the man obviously but who will step up and play with him and play well? Heck if I know. Wiesnewski has the most time in program I suppose but really haven't seen enough of him to know how he'll do. Freshman will all be given a chance to show what they can do in camp so may the best players play there.
Kicking... replacing Koehn will be a big deal and I know nothing about who's going to win that job but who ever does will have had next to no kicks with 70k plus in the stands... Will that affect how the coaches call the game and the confidence they'll have in who wins the job may be telling early on...
OL. Now I'd mentioned how as a group the expectations are high. And they should be. However let me point out that Calhoun had a hay day against our tackles. Improvement amongst Croston/Boetteger and Myers will have to be made. Welch is pretty much the best of the group and it sounds like he'll be at center. Now Daniels I know got his feet wet last yr and did OK. But he is coming off some surgery and will still be a young player so I hope he's up for the challenge of starting and being in there every rep.
DEs.. Everyone knows how we are replacing two starters there. I'm not too sold on Hesse although he played well at times. He's just not big and athletic enough just yet to make an impact against the run and I think he can get bear hugged when rushing the passer. The Nelson boys I think will be an upgrade as far as their pass rushing goes. But how they'll do against the run I'm not so sure about either. I think a freshman or two will get thrown in there early on depending on how they look and given a shot. It will be interesting to see who all emerges and how the rotations look.
Safety. Snyder in particular and I know it was a close race last year when Taylor beat him out to play next to Lomax. Now from the best I could tell last year Lomax didn't do that great in pass coverage or even in pursuit of ball carriers. He took bad angles and was just out ran a lot. Now when he came down hill and filled the hole against the run he could bring the hammer. So what Snyder will bring may or may not be an upgrade we'll just have to see.
Corner and ole Mr. Mabin will have a target on his back. I really like him in that his size is great at 6'2 200 with long arms for a corner. But with the year King had Mabin will have his work cut out for him play in and play out. Iowa pretty much puts them on their sides of the field. King will move to the slot on 3rd downs but they don't usually move him around playing man up against the other teams stud. So other teams can game plan on how to get who they want on their studs fairly easily (unless Iowa shakes that up this year)
I think RB we are really solid not just with talent but depth. And LBs I think we will be really good. Now Mends hasn't been in the fire much and he'll be a question mark too. But he's a heck of an athlete/weight room warrior from what I've heard. The other LBs should be great. So I'm curious what you all think how this overall group may look.
