Iowa Football: Five Players to Watch in Spring Practices

The Iowa basketball team seemed to time it perfectly as their season ended on Sunday and spring practices for the Iowa football team kicked off on Wednesday.

Kirk Ferentz and the Iowa Hawkeyes are coming off a school best 12 wins in last year’s regular season.  They won the Big Ten West Division title with an 8-0 record.  They earned a place in the Big Ten Championship game last season, where they fell to the Michigan State Spartans on a historic fourth quarter drive.

After losing that game they still earned a spot in the Rose Bowl to take on Pac-12 Champ, Stanford.  The Cardinal trounced the Hawkeyes in a game that was over after the third drive of the football game.

That left a pain in the side of the players and the fans.  After such a historic season, they were now going to have to sit around for three months or so and swallow all of that.  Well, the time has come to turn the page.  Kirk Ferentz met with the media on Tuesday afternoon in anticipation of spring practices.

The major headline remains Drew Ott.  Ott, who spent a majority of time injured last season, has appealed for a fifth year.  Weeks passed and Ott hadn’t heard anything from the Big Ten.  Finally the Big Ten passed it in to the NCAA to let them decide.  It’s been right around four months since Ott put the paperwork in for a fifth year of eligibility and Iowa is starting spring practices without a decision.

Aside from Ott, it was Desmond King coming back for his senior season that stole a lot of headlines in the offseason.  The Jim Thorpe Award winner decided to come back to Iowa for his senior season instead of going pro.  The way last season ended, it left a bad taste in King’s mouth.  He wants to go out with a win, while also completing is degree and graduating from the University of Iowa.

It appears that degree is the most important thing for Desmond and his family.

Lets take a look at five players to keep your eye on as spring ball progresses.

Next: Number Five