Iowa football ready for high 2010 expectations
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| Iowa senior defensive end Adrian Clayborn talks to reporters during media day on Friday. The Hawkeyes open the season Sept. 4 in Iowa City against Eastern Illinois. (Photo by Ryan Kronberg) |
IOWA CITY — Optimism and enthusiasm for the 2010 Iowa football season began building shortly after the Hawkeyes capped the 2009 season with a 24-14 win over Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl.
All offseason, the interest among both the Hawkeye faithful and national media has continued to grow.
That growth reached an early crescendo Friday when it was announced that Kinnick Stadium is sold out for the season and also that the Hawkeyes were picked 10th in the USA Today Coaches Preseason Poll.
Veteran Hawkeyes head coach Kirk Ferentz knows expectations heading into the season won’t translate into reality unless the team works hard over the next three weeks during fall camp.
Practice for the 2010 season officially opened for the team Friday in Iowa City with 105 players reporting for the start of fall workouts.
“It’s a new team, and this is a new season,” Ferentz said during the team’s annual media day festivities at Kinnick Stadium. “We are going to have a lot of new challenges. None of us can predict what’s going to happen. You never know what the course of action is going to be, and all we can do is try to do the best with the things that we control.”
Controlling what they can starts out on the practice fields behind Kinnick Stadium.
“Even though we won so-and-so games last year, if you look at the tape, we left a lot of plays out there. There were a lot of things that we did wrong,” said defensive tackle Christian Ballard. “We did good things, but we can clean up a lot of games that were close that shouldn’t have been that close. We need to come into camp and clean up those mistakes. If we make those kind of mistakes again this year, we could lose those games instead of winning those games.”
Success in recent years has helped fuel expectations that senior wide receiver Derrell Johnson-Koulianos says the team can handle.
“Everybody in the nation is setting these high expectations for us,” Johnson-Koulianos said. “The reason why they’re there is because we’ve been winning, because we’ve had recent success. There’s a target on our back.”
Iowa won a number of close games a year ago. With 16 starters back, the Hawkeyes expect to be hunted instead of the hunter.
“Last year we snuck up on people. We were a routine Iowa team,” Johnson-Koulianos said. “Now, we have a target on our back. There’s no more sneaking up on people. They’ll be ready for us and we’ll sure be ready for them.”
Fueling the expectations offensively include the return of several key skill position players, including quarterback Ricky Stanz. Running backs Jewell Hampton, back after missing last year with a knee injury, Adam Robinson and Brandon Wegher, along with veteran receivers Johnson-Koulianos, Marvin McNutt and Keenan Davis are also back.
Complacency is a word that Stanzi hopes the team avoids this fall with all of the high expectations.
“We have the talent. We have the guys that played last year, so they saw what it takes to get to that level,” said the senior signal caller. “That doesn’t mean we’re going to get back there. If anything, it should be harder to get back there because of what the expectations are and what the mental mind set can be taken away from having a good season.”
Appropriately, Stanzi, entering his third year as the Hawkeyes starting quarterback, wants his teammates to enter each day of practice with a hunger to improve.
“We have to have the mind set that we have to go out and get better and that nothing’s going to be handed to us, which its not,” Stanzi said. “We’re going to have a lot of tough games this year, whether at home or on the road. Nothing is going to be easy.”
One area the Hawkeyes do have question marks coming into the 2010 season is in the offensive line, where just two regulars Riley Reiff and Julian Vandervelde are back.
“How the offensive line comes together and how they play really drives our success,” said offensive coordinator Ken O’Keefe. “We like to run the football. Because of our pro-style attack, we need to have a pocket and those guys are instrumental in doing that and in doing the things that allows you to be successful in the ground and air game.”
Fall camp, the staff believes, is important to not only finding the top five, but also the second unit.
“Finding the right five, and even six or eight guys up front is a challenging task every preseason,” O’Keefe said. “It’s a little more important this year after graduating four guys with experience last year.”
Defensively, eight starters are back, including the entire defensive line — Adrian Clayborn, Broderick Binns, Ballard and Karl Klug. Safeties Brett Greenwood and Tyler Sash return to lead things in the secondary.
Becoming better as a defense each week starts in the film room, noted Sash, who prepped at Oskaloosa.
“A lot of (getting better) is preparation,” said Sash. “When you prepare, the opportunity is there for you. Preparation leads you to knowing your keys and responsibilities and where you’re suppose to be at. If you’re at those spots, you should find yourself in position to make plays.”
Another area the Hawkeyes need to find starters is at the linebacker spot where Jeremiha Hunter is the lone returner.
Linebackers coach Darrell Wilson is confident that a handful of returnees with game experience will step up and fill the voids left by the graduation of standouts Pat Angerer and A.J. Edds.
“They’re all ready to go,” Wilson said. “We’re pleased with the spring with all the linebackers. Today (Friday) was the first day out. It was good to seem them move around. It’s always a work in progress, but we think we have the right tools in place. Jeremiha Hunter may be the only returning starter, but Jeff Tarpinian, Tyler Nielsen, Bruce Davis and Troy Johnson are all very good football players that have been on the field last year in game situations.”
Johnson filled in late last year in an impressive fashion during Iowa’s win over Minnesota.
“That’s the type of players we have,” Wilson said. “They’re all good football players. It really does help to have that next man in philosophy and I don’t think we’ll miss a beat.”
Playing in front of soldout crowds at Kinnick Stadium every week helps fuel the team each day in practice.
“It’s exhilarating playing in front of these fans we have in Iowa City,” said junior receiver Marvin McNutt. “It seems like even at away games, they’re there supporting you. With these fans, they expect nothing less than the best and you want to go out there and give them your best.”
