What Happened to "Next Man In"?

J

jameskalina

Well-Known Member
Recently I have not heard the expression "Next Man In" from the football team.

Seems in the rebuilding and early success years when a player was injured it was the next man in, meaning the football team refused to allow injuries to get in their way of success.


Is a change in attitude of this next man in concept a factor in Iowa's won loss record this year? Or, does the next man in attitude still exist within the team and I'm just not seeing it?
 
Not to mention that the next man in was a freshman. Morris is going to be a good one, but he was put into positions he wasn't ready for.

I don't think anyone in their right mind could have foreseen the entire linebacking crop missing over 1/2 the season.
 
"Next man in" became "Next man after the next man after the next man in." If Robinson went down with the concussions and we had Hampton and Wegher back there we wouldn't be so disappointed with how the season went. Same is true if we were able to use Bruce Davis this year, since we'd be able to put Morris at LEO when Tarp got hurt. We just got hit at two crucial positions way too many times for "next man in" to work like it should.
 
Aptly put and all true...and that explains the D maladies...explain to me the offensive meltdown the last 4 games against some of the worst Defensive teams in the conference OSU withstanding.
 
Next man in got injured, as did the next 3 men in, and the next man in after that didn't have as good a week of practice as the previous next man in, so we had to play with 10.
 
jameskalina said:
Recently I have not heard the expression "Next Man In" from the football team.

Seems in the rebuilding and early success years when a player was injured it was the next man in, meaning the football team refused to allow injuries to get in their way of success.


Is a change in attitude of this next man in concept a factor in Iowa's won loss record this year? Or, does the next man in attitude still exist within the team and I'm just not seeing it?
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Expecting the next man in to step in and play at the level of the person he replaces, every single time, is a bit much, no?
 
As others have said and especially with the LB position, the next man in was the 3rd and 4th string, I don't care who you are, any team will have a dropoff when your down that far on your roster.
 
hawkeyescott said:
As others have said and especially with the LB position, the next man in was the 3rd and 4th string, I don't care who you are, any team will have a dropoff when your down that far on your roster.
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And since this is Iowa, with a seeming lack of "natural" talent, that fall-off will be felt far more than at other programs such as tOSU, Wisky and Michigan.
 
Our INJ's this year unfortuneately occurred at the positions we could not afford to get hit. We were already re-building at LB, a position we lost 2 of the most under-appreciated LB's we've ever had. I say under-appreciated because our scheme puts a lot of pressure on LB's to play in pass coverage and Edds and Angerer were soooo good at that as LB's. We had a tidal wave of INJ's all season at LB, our RB depth evaporated into thin air and CB's, what ever happened to Bernstine, he's not even our #4 CB this year?!?
 
JonDMiller said:
Expecting the next man in to step in and play at the level of the person he replaces, every single time, is a bit much, no?
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I agree.

The same can be said for replacement players earlier in Kirk Ferentz' program. But somehow those teams overachieved.

It just seems the bring it on attitude wasn't quite there this year, and more so in November.
 
Now we all know that injuries are part of the game...but strength and conditioning is prevention of injuries. But dont you find it odd that every year we have RB's going down? and now we have linebackers going down? Just wondering if our buddy Chris Doyle who gets alot of credit, is the one who needs to change gears and do somethings differently? Im not one to point too many fingers and like I said I know injuries are part of the game, but really all of the RB's injuries every year...? "c'mon man"
 
hawkeyescott said:
As others have said and especially with the LB position, the next man in was the 3rd and 4th string, I don't care who you are, any team will have a dropoff when your down that far on your roster.
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I understand that.

It seems to me at times the team was lacking a certain aggression, and more so after the MSU game.
 
When the next man in is a true freshman sitting at the bottom of the roster...you can't really expect all THAT much, can you?

On defense, the weak link was, IMO, the LB position, and at one point we were playing two freshman. Against Minnesota, we also had the fortune of playing Castillo and Lowry instead of already shaky Prater and Hyde.

On offense, we were down to freshman RBs (again), and were still trying out guys on the OL.

This really was not the year for "next man in", and it showed.
 
Jeebus said:
Next man in is a little different than 4th man in.....both LB and RB.
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Next man is next man in, regardless of the year, string, or position. If the Hawks are down to the 3rd string and he goes down, then it's the next man in.

I interpret the next man in phrase as an attitude where players play with a level of confidence, aggression and with a chip on their shoulder regardless of who they are or what level they are on the team.

It's up to the coaches to instill this attitude among the players.

I just didn't sense that attitude as much this year, and more so in November.
 
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