Freshman!

     Watching the bowl games made me really sad because I remembered Iowa was 4-8 this year.  I came up with a bad excuse but I am sticking to it in hopes that we have a better season. Iowa was a very young team this year. And they played like it. Penalties, missed assignment, blown coverages, poor tackling, bad reads, wrong routes...you name it and Iowa probably did it wrong this year. There were plenty of upperclassmen making mistakes too. But part of it was that Iowa played a lot of freshmen.

     By the end of the year, there were 13 freshmen listed on Iowa's 2-deeps, which feels like some kind of a record. Only the junior class had a bigger presence on the depth chart with 15. There were 12 seniors and 8 sophomores.

     Here is a list of freshman on the depth chart who played this year.

     Tevaun Smith - Played in 9 games. 3 catches for 31 yards. He also was back as a kick returner, though didn't return any. He looks like he has the speed to be a factor at WR. I'd put him as number 3 heading into next year behind KMM and Jordan Cotton.

     Jordan Walsh - Started in 1 game and played in 6 total and was part of the OG rotation during the final half of the season. He will probably be in the mix for one of the OG spots again next year.

     Austin Blythe - Started in 9 games and played in 10. He missed a couple of games due to injury and really didn't play as well after the injury. I expect him to be back strong next year and to win one of the OG spots.
     Greg Garmon - Started in 1 game and played in 10. He had 122 rushing yards and 57 receiving yards. Early in the year he also returned kicks. He looked okay at time and like a freshman others. But now he is gone, so good riddance.

     Drew Ott - Played in the final 5 games of the season. The coaches were pleased enough with his play in practice that they burned his red-shirt at the very end of the year. He didn't play a lot though and had just 3 tackles. Hopefully burning that red-shirt will end up being worth it. Iowa could really use a DE to step up.

     Darian Cooper - Started the first and last game of the year and played in all the others. He was inconsistent, but had a few good games and totaled 34 tackles on the year and 3.5 for loss. It'll be interesting to see if he can hold off the two freshmen that red-shirted this year (Ekakitie and Johnson) and earn a permanent starting spot.

     Sean Draper - Played in every game but the last, mostly in dime. He had 6 tackles. He could be the front-runner to take over for Micah Hyde.

     Connor Kornbrath – My man! The punter!!! He shared punting duties with Wienke. He punted 53 times for a 37.9 yards average.
     These aren’t the greatest stats but they have to mean something.  There were a lot of freshman who played this year.  Ferentz is known for developing players.  Who knows, maybe next year, we will have a nine win season.

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