They probably should have beat Wisconsin, Rudock put the team on his shoulders that day
Iowa Depth Chart
- Thread starter Stormin
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They probably should have beat Wisconsin, Rudock put the team on his shoulders that day
Here's how I see the season:
Illinois St. - W
Iowa St. - W
Pitt - L
N. Texas - W
Wisconsin - L
Illinois - W
Northwestern - L
Maryland - L
Indiana - L
Minnesota - W
Purdue - W
Nebraska - L
6-6, with a horrible schedule.
The big problem will be the defense. Ott is very solid, but Meier at the other end is still undersized and the DTs, especially Johnson, are talented but unproven. The LBs are going to be horrible. The CBs should be decent but our safeties are flat out bad. I see us struggling to stop teams.
On the OL, the word is that Boettger apparently has the stuff to be Iowa's next first-rounder, but he's obviously unproven. I don't think the line will be a strength, but it won't be a big weakness either. Our TEs should be good weapons, Duzey especially. We don't have much at WR beyond Smith, and the RBs are vanilla as always. Hopefully Daniels can establish himself as the guy.
Biggest liability, as usual, is the coaching.
Illinois St. - W
Iowa St. - W
Pitt - L
N. Texas - W
Wisconsin - L
Illinois - W
Northwestern - L
Maryland - L
Indiana - L
Minnesota - W
Purdue - W
Nebraska - L
6-6, with a horrible schedule.
The big problem will be the defense. Ott is very solid, but Meier at the other end is still undersized and the DTs, especially Johnson, are talented but unproven. The LBs are going to be horrible. The CBs should be decent but our safeties are flat out bad. I see us struggling to stop teams.
On the OL, the word is that Boettger apparently has the stuff to be Iowa's next first-rounder, but he's obviously unproven. I don't think the line will be a strength, but it won't be a big weakness either. Our TEs should be good weapons, Duzey especially. We don't have much at WR beyond Smith, and the RBs are vanilla as always. Hopefully Daniels can establish himself as the guy.
Biggest liability, as usual, is the coaching.
I agree with most of your assessment only I think we beat Indiana and Pitt and suffer a loss to Minnesota. So that would be 7-5 with a horrible schedule.
I definitely agree the coaching is the biggest liability once again.
In my opinion, the change at QB and running back will help the offense be slightly better than they were last year, but I will admit some of that is wishful thinking. I'm not really basing it off of anything other than the boring lackluster performances we saw from Rudock and Weisman. They brought the game of football back 50 years. It's funny to me that the coaches have said in their interviews that Weisman was a fullback playing RB. Make a damn change then! It sounds like Daniels and Canzeri are having good spring practices and a wild card could be Derrick Mitchell who apparently moved from WR. He might be able to provide a spark in 3rd down situations. Just having a more exciting QB and a RB in the backfield who should be better at making big plays should help the offense loosen up the defenses a little. Of course on the flip side there will likely be more mistakes because of their inexperience. How well they limit those mistakes will be key. Also, they'll need quite a bit of production out of Duzey because of the lack of a legit 2nd or 3rd receiver.
Defensively I really don't know what to think. Overall, it will probably be a struggle to consistently get stops. I disagree with you that the LB's will be horrible. They were horrible last year, and now they mostly have a year of experience under their belt so while I don't think they'll be anything special I do think they will be at least adequate. No clue what to expect out of the safeties and/or the defensive tackles. Ott and King will be the best players on the defensive side of the ball so if one of them gets injured it's going to be big trouble. Meier at end definitely appears to be a weakness. If I'm an opposing teams offensive coordinator and we have a legit running game I'd be running at Meier's side of the field constantly. I'd be happy to see someone jump him on the depth chart before the season starts.
Hillyer could be that 2nd legit WR weapon. It's just that whole catching the ball thing he struggles with.
I hope you're right on the LBs. What I see is a crew of undersized slow guys who are going to get manhandled consistently unless our DL really steps up.
My point was that he's got good size, decent speed and is pretty athletic. But yes, he doesn't run great routes and has crappy hands, kind of important if you want to play WR.
Hillyer needs to play like a senior. He has shown flashes of being an above average target and he definitely has the size to be an impactful player. If only he can prove to consistently catch the damn ball. He's definitely an asset as a blocker when he's on the field.
I can see where you're coming from with the LBs. It's just hard for me to look past Iowa's history at that position. A lot of guys look slow until it clicks. At the LB position it is hard to tell the difference between being physically slow or simply being a step slow in diagnosing the play. I don't think the guys who are in there are physically slow. I think they mainly need to get better at reading the play so they can put themselves into position to make plays. I'm hoping a year further into their development should help in that area. With that said, I can say with certainty that none of them have the athletic ability of a Christian Kirksey. That much is obvious.
Can someone tell me about this RSFr they have as their back up? I really think they will be very, very lucky if he doesn't have to start at least one game and possibly play more than that. I expect fans to be bemoaning the loss of last year's starter at some point this season despite a lot of good riddance comments.
Fellow Clone fans: Don't let this turn into our version of the Iowa basketball recruiting thread where Iowa fans say Gessel is as good as Monte Morris just because or every random recruit they sign outside their top 6 targets is all-world. It has the potential to be that.
This thread is poking fun at Iowa's roster why? .. ISU is coming off a 2-10 season which is unlikely to improve. Is there even one position where ISU has a distinct advantage over Iowa?
ISU's wide receivers are definitely better. Not any question there. Iowa's CBs and TE's are probably better than ISU's. Outside of those position groups I think it's pretty debatable at this point.
I like how we can trash Iowa's prospects for this season based on last season's results, but if we dare refer to ISU's last two seasons or point to their past performance in the football threads he beats you to death with his cheerleader megaphone.