(This one took a little bit because there were some last minute notes to change things up, notably Logan Lee and Amani Jones.)
2019 Iowa Defensive Spring Practice Primer
The Iowa defense takes some heavy losses from last season’s unit. The entire starting defensive line either graduated (Parker Hesse, Matt Nelson and Sam Brincks) or left early for the draft (Anthony Nelson). The linebacking group lost its steady leader Jack Hockaday. And in the defensive backfield senior Jake Gervase graduated while Iowa’s Star linebacker/safety hybrid Amani Hooker left early for the NFL. That’s the bad news, the good news is Hooker apparently changed Iowa’s defense for good as Kirk Ferentz acknowledged the 4-2-5 alignment is alive and well in Iowa City. Under Ferentz, Iowa has traditionally stuck to its base 4-3 defense even in the midst of more and more teams spreading out their offense, the 4-2-5 gives Iowa a better chance to compete with those teams. More good news is Iowa returns AJ Epenesa at DE, a guy who made 1st Team All-Big Ten without starting a single game last season, and four CBs that all started multiple games last year. This defense has some serious returning talent and some guys that are primed to step up this season. Let’s take a look.
Defensive Line
Starters: DE AJ Epenesa, DE Chauncey Golston, DT Cedrick Lattimore, DT Brady Reiff
Backups: DE John Waggoner, DE Nathan Nelson, DT Noah Shannon, DT Austin Schulte
Spring Roster Notables: DT Daviyon Nixon, DL Levi Duwa, DE Ben Subbert
Potential Impact Fall Freshmen: DE Logan Lee
Even with the loss of all four starters from last season the new starting four looks pretty solid. Epenesa led the team in sacks last season and made 1st team All-Big Ten without starting a game. He’s a potential top 5 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft as an early entry candidate, the defensive line is built around him. Golston really came on at the end of last season as he got more and more reps especially on passing downs. It will be a big step up in snaps for him this year but he has the talent to be an excellent DE and with Epenesa taking the lion’s share of the offense’s attention he’ll be in a position to make plays.
Cedrick Lattimore has been a starter before and while he was replaced last season by Sam Brincks in the middle he still played and he can certainly hold his own. Brady Reiff isn’t the biggest DT but that’s nothing new for Iowa. He can be a penetrator and a disruptor; the key might be whether or not he can handle the work load. The team doesn’t have the depth it had last season so these starters will play a lot of snaps.
The backups at DE are redshirt freshman John Waggoner and walk-on Nathan Nelson neither of whom has taken a single snap. The backup DTs are redshirt freshman Noah Shannon who hasn’t played either and Austin Schulte. Schulte spent bowl prep this last season playing offensive line and was moved back to defense due to a lack of bodies. I expect Waggoner and Shannon to both lend depth as they learn and develop into starters down the road. Levi Duwa was moved to defensive line after being a center for a while and Ben Subbert was a walk-on TE. To say there is an open competition for playing time would be a massive understatement.
The three wildcards here are DT Daviyon Nixon, the former JUCO transfer who sat out last season for academic purposes, a guy not listed here at all, grad-transfer Zach VanValkenburg and Amani Jones a converted LB who is looking to make some noise as a pass rushing specialist at DE. VanValkenburg won’t be on campus until the summer but Ferentz doesn’t take many graduate transfers so if he’s taking this one it’s because he expects him to play. He was a good player at the D-II level so he should be fine as a backup to Epenesa and Golston. Nixon is an internet legend at this point and he brings much needed size to the interior of the line but it’s time for him to show up and play. The defense can really use his size in the middle and if he can live up to the lofty expectations, he could be a force. Jones has played multiple LB spots but he has mostly made his name on special teams. He started at MLB the first game last season but was benched at halftime but he never complained, he simply starred on special teams. Now he’s moving to DE to find playing time and to use his aggressiveness for the better.
It is highly unlikely a true freshman makes an impact if for no other reason than the guys Iowa generally recruits are not physically ready to play Big Ten football. However, the Hawkeyes have announced that Logan Lee will begin his career at DE instead of at TE as expected. This is a development because it seems unlikely the coaches would move Lee from TE to DE if they didn’t expect him to compete. He may be the only one physically ready to at least provide some depth at DE. The Hawkeyes do have four other freshmen coming in at DL in the fall (TJ McCall, Chris Reames, Jalen Hunt and Jake Karchinski). Hopefully there is enough depth that they are not needed this year.
Linebacker
Starters: OLB Nick Niemann, MLB Kristian Welch, WLB Djimon Colbert
Backups: OLB Barrington Wade, MLB Dillon Doyle, WLB Amani Jones (listed here to start spring)
Spring Roster Notables: Jayden McDonald, Seth Benson, Logan Klemp, Jestin Jacobs, Willie O’Hara
Potential Impact Fall Freshmen: Jack Campbell, Yahweh Jeudy
The Linebacking crew will be an interesting group this season. With Iowa using the 4-2-5 alignment more there is less need for the third LB spot and that means less reps available. The team still has plenty of bodies so it will be interesting to see who plays the most. As of now Nick Niemann returns as the starter at OLB while Djimon Colbert returns on the weakside. Colbert didn’t begin the year as the starting WLB last year but he ended it there. Welch was the starting MLB last spring but by the start of the season Amani Jones took the job. Then Jones had an awful start in the first half of the first game and lost his job to the now graduated Jack Hockaday. When Hockaday got hurt it was Welch who stepped back in for a short time. Welch can play multiple positions but when Iowa drops to two LB it’s more than likely it will be Niemann and Colbert on the field.
Barrington Wade and Amani Jones played plenty last season both on defense and special teams. Jones is listed at LB to start spring practice but he’s already moved to DE so this list is a little behind. Redshirt freshman Dillon Doyle should get some reps at MLB as Welch is hardly an established star there. Jayden McDonald, Seth Benson and Logan Klemp were freshman last season who expect to compete for snaps but not everyone is going to get to play unless some of them can show they can cover like a safety and take some snaps away from the Star position. Jestin Jacobs is a true freshman early enrollee but he had surgery on his shoulder and will miss spring practice. He’s one of the guys who is athletic enough to be coverage LB if needed. Willie O’Hara is a junior college transfer who might fight for time but will probably have to make his presence felt on special teams. I think Jack Campbell and Yahweh Jeudy both redshirt but I wasn’t expecting Dillon Doyle and Seth Benson to get as long of a look as they did last season so anything is possible.
Defensive Backs
Starters: CB Matt Hankins, CB Michael Ojemudia, FS Geno Stone, SS Kaevon Merriweather
Backups: CB Julius Brents, CB Riley Moss, FS Jack Koerner, SS John Milani
Spring Roster Notables: CB DJ Johnson, DB Henry Marchese, S Dallas Craddieth, DB Devonte Young, DB Terry Roberts, CB Daraun McKinney
Potential Impact Fall Freshmen: Jamari Harris, Dane Belton, Sebastian Castro
This is where the fun begins. Iowa has four CBs with starting experience; Matt Hankins, Michael Ojemudia, Julius Brents and Riley Moss. However, there is only one safety with any experience and that’s Geno Stone who started last season after the team began using Amani Hooker in the Star position. Phil Parker seems to be high on Kaevon Merriweather at safety but he has limited time on special teams and basically no time playing on defense. For now, there are two walk-ons listed as the backups at safety but this defensive backfield seems like it might be pretty fluid. The reason I say that is that Ojemudia has been mentioned as a possible Star position player and both Brents and Moss were recruited as safeties but became corners.
I like the versatility of the guys on the roster and Iowa showed last season that they aren’t afraid to mix things up defensively, I’ve only been waiting 19 years for this. Ferentz said the 4-2-5 look is here to stay but that doesn’t mean the Star position, as Hooker played it, has to be the only way it’s implemented. Iowa’s recruiting has brought them some versatile defensive backs and with guys like Ojemudia, Brents and Moss all capable of pass coverage and run support the five defensive back look could take on many variations. I would love to see Iowa run out a five-man defensive backfield of Hankins, Ojemudia, Brents, Moss and Stone. DJ Johnson has also been mentioned as a possible Star position player so his versatility seems to match up.
S Dallas Craddieth was a highly rated player in last year’s class so if Phil Parker can work his magic there’s no telling what he could be. Terry Roberts is a CB while Devonte Young is a converted WR but he’s really a special teams stud who likely won’t play much on defense. Daraun McKinney was one of the late Phil Parker special finds on signing day and he’s here for spring practice, that bodes well for him. Out of the three incoming freshmen in the fall I really like Sebastian Castro, if the Star position has a lasting future, I think it could be Castro, his high school film is impressive. Belton and Harris add depth. Just a note, Henry Marchese is listed as a DB for the spring, a position switch from WR last season. However, it looks like that switch may not have taken as it’s been reported he’s back working with the WRs.
Punter
I don’t talk punters much but Iowa has an incoming grad transfer Michael Sleep-Dalton coming from Arizona St. They say it’s an open competition but it better not be. Sleep-Dalton should win the job easily. Two years of watching Colten Rastetter is two too many. Maybe if Ryan Gersonde gets healthy and figures out how to be good it will be a competition but I’m not holding my breath. If I were a betting man, I would bet the loudest cheer for any Hawkeye in the opening game next season will be for Sleep-Dalton when he launches his first good punt of the year.
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