Observations and Impressions from Hawkeye’s Open Practice
QB position has a definite order
Jake Rudock is the leader in the clubhouse for the starting job and while Kirk Ferentz wouldn’t actually confirm it officially the scrimmage told the story. Rudock lined up with the first team offense against the first team defense almost exclusively. CJ Beathard and Cody Sokol rotated with the second team and while they made flashier plays they did it playing against the second team defense. Beathard has the lead to be the back-up but Sokol played fine too. It looks like the real competition here is between Beathard and Sokol for the back-up job and the next two weeks of practice will be spent fine tuning Rudock’s game and deciding what to do behind him. While Beathard and Sokol both made more big plays than Rudock during the scrimmage if you watched closely I would say it had more to do with the first team WR’s struggling against the first team defense while the second team WR’s did a much better job against their counterparts. One thing I noticed more during the pre-scrimmage drills that makes me like Rudock is the speed in which he delivers the ball on short routes. Last season the quick out to the WR was one of the least effective plays the Hawkeyes ran and while some of that was due to WR’s lacking big play skills it was actually more because James Vandenberg was too slow to get the ball out to the WR giving the defense ample time to diagnose the play. Rudock looks quick, decisive and accurate running this play and that should put the receivers in a position to make plays.
It’s doubtful that the WR position is settled
Disappointing doesn’t begin to describe the feeling I had watching Don Shumpert line up with the first team offense to start the scrimmage. Kevonte Martin-Manley was a no-brainer and it was great to see Damon Bullock split out wide on the first play but Shumpert was a surprise. Tevaun Smith has been listed as a starter and he lined up with the second team along with Damond Powell and Riley McCarron. The good news is that Powell and Smith were the stars of the scrimmage and Shumpert played like Shumpert. Powell was the unquestionable star of the day with a great TD catch from Beathard and another big play from Sokol followed by another long play after the team stopped tackling. The best news is the Powell has only been with the team for two weeks and he’s already playing like this, give him two more weeks and I don’t care who starts the Northern Illinois game Powell will be the difference maker. I don’t know what it is the coaches see in Don Shumpert, I’ve been watching this kid for four years and he has no receiver instincts. Powell barely knows the offense but he knows how to get open, how to set up a defensive back and he’s a natural pass catcher, all traits that Shumpert still lacks. I mentioned how Rudock was playing against the first team defense and it was Shumpert, Martin-Manley and Bullock that were struggling to get open for him while Powell and Smith were having their way against the second team. I would have liked to have seen Powell and Smith get a chance against the first team defense and I suspect that either one of them would have done better than Shumpert.
Bullock looked comfortable at WR and I suspect he won’t come off the field much as he lined up at WR for the first two downs and then moved to tailback on third down. The Hawkeyes have to get the ball in his hands in space because he can be a playmaker. Riley McCarron looks small on the field but the kid can get open and he catches everything he gets his hands on. Kevonte Martin-Manley was quiet but he spent most of his day lined up against BJ Lowery or Jordan Lomax and he didn’t see a lot of targets so it’s understandable. The young guys look like they are still learning but I have to say I was impressed, physically they look like they could contribute if needed.
Daniels is going to make it interesting at RB
I mentioned in my preview that LeShun Daniels is the only freshman that is physically ready to contribute and boy was I underselling it. Weisman is the starter and he struggled as the first team defense played well against the first team offense. Weisman is what he is, a big powerful straight ahead runner that will punish the defense. He doesn’t run away from people and it looked as though the Hawkeyes would count on Jordan Canzeri and Damon Bullock to be the game breakers in the backfield. With Bullock moving out to WR for the most part it seemed Canzeri would be the main compliment to Weisman but Daniels isn’t going to make it that easy on the coaches. Ferentz basically said they expect Daniels to play this season and not redshirt which means he’s already passed by Barkley Hill (who sat out the open practice) and Mike Malloy (who played behind Daniels). Anyone watching Daniels on Saturday would make the obvious comparison to Shonn Greene and it certainly looks appropriate. Daniels is powerful with great feet and balance, he has a strong base and more speed than you would expect out of a guy his size. He is a freshman so pass protection and blitz pick up are the things he needs to work on and Ferentz is unlikely to trust him until he proves himself in that part of the game. However, if Weisman struggles or gets injured like last season it won’t be the least bit shocking if it is Daniels taking over the bulk of the carries and not Canzeri. Oh and given the lack of experience at fullback when the Hawkeyes get into short yardage or goal line situations they may want to consider lining up Weisman and fullback followed by Daniels; that would be a tough backfield to deny.
The offensive line will be just fine
Brandon Scherff is a monster and it’s safe to say he’s fully recovered from his injury and if you don’t believe me just go ask the DE’s that he was manhandling most of the day. Van Sloten has his RT position on lockdown too so the edges are just fine. It’s tough to get a great sense of the interior of the line watching them live but they did struggle against Carl Davis and I’m going chalk that up to Davis continuing his great play from the spring and the guard spots not being settled. Conor Boffeli wasn’t suited up so Andrew Donnal started at LG and he has a shot at that job. Jordan Walsh started at RG and he was in more of a rotation and that’s where it gets interesting. Someone I forgot to mention in my preview because he wasn’t in the two deeps and he hasn’t played much is Nolan MacMillan. MacMillan has constantly battled injuries while at Iowa but during the few moments he’s been healthy (moments is barely an exaggeration) the coaching staff has loved the way he played. He rotated in at both guard spots and if he’s healthy he’s a possibility as a back-up tackle. It would be a great story if this oft injured senior could stay healthy and contribute on the line. The only injury that happened during the scrimmage was Eric Simmons injuring his leg while playing second team center and while he needed a lot of help to get off the field he actually returned to action later so no harm done.
Ferentz wasn’t kidding about his TE’s
Kirk Ferentz made reference to playing five TE’s this season and it appears he meant it. CJ Fiedorowicz is an imposing figure and he seems poised for breakout season. Ray Hamilton and Henry Krieger-Coble saw plenty of action. Jake Duzey lined up all over the field and was targeted a number of times. None of this is much of a surprise but George Kittle’s playing time might be. Kittle is a still undersized redshirt freshman that actually lined up out wide quite a few times. I’m not sure if Kittle is an undersized TE or an overgrown WR but either way it looks like the coaching staff plans to use him in the passing game.
The defensive tackles will make the defensive ends better
My expectations for the defensive line this season are that they will be better and that the pass rush will come as much from the DT position as it will from the DE position, thank you Carl Davis you are going to make me look like a genius. While the defensive line wasn’t getting sacks (not that they were allowed to tackle the QB anyway) they were getting a push. The light came on for Carl Davis in the spring and it’s going to shine brightly this season. You would think a 6’5 315 pound DT would just be a big run stuffer but Davis collapsed the pocket right in the middle and is going to make life tough on opposing QB’s and opposing RB’s are going to hate him too. Louis Trinca-Pasat has reclaimed his starting spot after missing spring practice and he’s pretty good too. Dominic Alvis looks better and we may see a return to his pre-injury form. Drew Ott was the surprise as he no longer looks so undersized, if he can bring some pressure from the outside the defensive line a chance to be pretty good. Nate Meier was probably the biggest surprise, not necessarily for his play but for the fact that he rotated in as a pass rushing specialist with the first unit and played a lot on the second team. He’s not the biggest DE and so he won’t hold up playing a lot of downs but as specialist he could be a big contributor.
The linebackers are good, no kidding.
Nothing really stood out about the starting linebackers but they were free to run since the defensive line was playing better and that’s a good sign. The one back-up I noticed make a couple of nice athletic plays was Travis Perry. Just a few times I noticed him in on some plays and he has really grown into a nice linebacker. The one young guy I noticed was Reggie Spearman, he has good instincts and is a fluid athlete but he’s pretty undersized so let’s hope he doesn’t have to play this year.
Talent and depth all over the secondary
BJ Lowery and Jordan Lomax are going to be a fantastic set of CB’s and they are going to make it tough on opposing QB’s. Sean Draper may eventually be better than either one of them and that may come this year. When you lose the Big 10 Defensive Back of the Year in Micah Hyde it’s tough to believe your CB’s could actually be better but Lowery is going to be a star and won’t back down from anyone and Lomax just needs playing time. Draper has all the tools you look for and he is just getting better and better.
John Lowdermilk has distanced himself from Nico Law in the race for SS and he looks pretty good. Lowdermilk looks bigger than his listed weight of 207 and is a sure tackler, something missing at this position last season. Tanner Miller is the guy at FS and he should benefit from a much better secondary around him, Anthony Gair is a good athlete but he isn’t ready for the job. The player that stood out at safety to me was Ruben Lile, they brought him in and lined him up covering TE’s. Lile has the size and athletic ability to actually cover TE’s and possibly slot receivers if necessary, that’s a nice player to have.
Specialists
Kicker Mike Meyer could be in for a big year if the offense can move the ball. Punter Connor Kornbrath didn’t shank any punts that I recall so that’s good. He wasn’t always great but he didn’t look bad either, he also looks like a TE, he’s listed at 6’6 240 pounds and I think that may be an underestimate. Little warning to opponents trying to block punts, rough the punter at your own risk.
Kevonte Martin-Manley, Jordan Canzeri and Riley McCarron all fielded punts and only Canzeri muffed one so I guess the competition is down to two (I’m just assuming Ferentz is going with the last guy to drop a punt wins). Jordan Cotton is likely to be one kickoff returner and I would hope they give Damond Powell a shot just to get him on the field more but Sean Draper is a possibility too and he could be dangerous.
The Hott Read 
so……4-8? 8-4? 6-6? Obviously there is no way to tell. If the Hawks stay healthy I am going to say 7-5. I also think we should be disappointed if we go 3-1 or worse in non-con. NIU is a good program with a really good QB. But last year was the game NIU should have won. Yes the Iowa State game is in Ames but they seem a little small up front on the d-line. And their QB has barely more experience than ours.