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MourningView
Sep 2, 2006


Is this Heaven?
University of Iowa Hawkeyes

No one. Unless you can actually get yourself to Kinnick Stadium with time to tailgate beforehand, don't actually watch Iowa football. It's horrible. Go back to bed and wait for the Baylor game to start. BUT if you are trapped in some sort of Clockwork Orange situation and absolutely cannot look away from the screen while Iowa Football is sadistically beamed at you, then keep an eye out for these people!

Brandon Scherff, OT: That's right, the first guy on the list is a tackle. And there isn't even really a close second. I wasn't kidding about this being awful! Now, if you don't want to watch the offensive line, I totally get that. I like it, but I am a huge dork and also played it so I sort of know what I'm looking at. But I know why you think it's boring. They don't have the ball, they don't score any touchdowns, they're kinda fat, and they are very rarely involved in anything that could be called a highlight. Don't let people tell you are a bad fan for not caring. They are dumb football elitists. There is no wrong way to watch sports, and you are not a better person for understanding a proper pass protection drop.

THAT SAID, Brandon Scherff can be pretty fun. He not only has close to textbook technique (like most Kirk Ferentz-coached linemen), but he is strong and mean as poo poo. He doesn't just block guys, he goes out of his way to embarass them. He will routinely drive his man 10-15 yards off the ball and bury him. It's pretty awesome. He's probably the best OT in the country, one of the handful of best players in the country, and should be a high draft pick! When everyone is doing draft scouting and pretending they have any idea who any of the linemen are, you can say you actually know one of them!

Desmond King, CB: King is a cool story. He was a 2* true freshman corner who immediately stepped in and was one of the best DBs in the conference last year, playing for an Iowa defense that left it's corners on an island playing man coverage more than ever before. Like most Iowa corners, he's physical and good in run support, but he also did a good job sticking to his man and showed amazingly advanced technique for someone with that experience level. I can very rarely recall him badly blowing an assignment. In the Outback Bowl, he played a big role in Iowa shutting down an LSU passing game featuring multiple high NFL draft picks. He should challenge for All Big Ten the next 2-3 years.

Carl Davis, DT: Probably the single most talented guy on the whole team. He's a 6'5" 300+ pounder who has the quickness and agility of someone at least 50 pounds lighter. Before last year he had such horrible technique and stamia that he'd get blown off the line for most of the game, but last year he really started to figure things out and became one of the best players on a very good Iowa defense. Since he's playing DT he didn't rack up a ton of stats, but he consistently got good penetration and blew up the interior of opposing offensive lines, and generally demands a double team. With a decent season he could very easily be a first round draft pick.

Mark Weisman and Jordan Canzeri, RBs: Hey some skill position players! Iowa, for the first time in god only knows how long, actually has a decent bit of depth at running back, and should be an extremely run heavy team again this year. It won't be a good offense, but these are going to be the two guys who carry it all year.

Weisman you probably know if you watch the Big Ten at all, since he's been Iowa's primary back the last two years. He's not anything spectacular, and he tends to get overworked and dinged up, but when he's healthy he's a solid between the tackles workhorse who very rarely loses yardage and will occasionally run some folks over for a cool run. He's slow as poo poo and doesn't break any long runs, but he consistently moves the ball forward. He is also a former walk-on fullback, so it's pretty cool that he's been able to become an even marginally effective lead back.

Canzeri didn't really do much until the end of last year, so you might not know him yet. He really came on towards the end of the season and I'm hoping the coaches trust him enough that he can get a decent number of carries and being the lightning to Wesiman's thunder. He's a small, extremely quick back who can produce some highlight runs with his speed and ability to make guys miss. He's really fun to watch when he gets some space, and he'll probably be the closest thing Iowa has to a highlight reel guy.

Jake Duzey, TE: This one might be wishful thinking. Outside of a big game against Ohio State (mostly due to one long play where he took a short pass and then just outran the entire OSU defense), Duzey didn't really get a ton of work. But the little bit he did was really intriguing and suggests that he could be a legitimate weapon for a passing game that could use one. He's less a traditional tight end than a hybrid WR/TE in the Dallas Clark mold, and with a more inventive offense I think he could be a lot of fun. Unfortunately this a Kirk Ferentz offense soooo, probably not. Ray Hamilton, the actual starting tight end, should also be pretty decent and likely get drafted, but he's more of the traditional blocking type like CJF last year.

MourningView fucked around with this message at 15:50 on Aug 22, 2014

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MourningView
Sep 2, 2006


Is this Heaven?
I think he's probably the best in the whole country, much less the Big XII.

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