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Iowa football: Four position battles to watch in 2019

By Andrew Wade

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - OCTOBER 06: Julius Brents #20 of the Iowa Hawkeyes congratulates teammate Riley Moss #33 on an interception during the fourth quarter of the game on October 6, 2018 at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Iowa defeated Minnesota 48-31. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - OCTOBER 06: Julius Brents #20 of the Iowa Hawkeyes congratulates teammate Riley Moss #33 on an interception during the fourth quarter of the game on October 6, 2018 at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Iowa defeated Minnesota 48-31. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /
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IOWA CITY, IOWA- OCTOBER 28: Running back Kobe McCrary #22 of the Minnesota Golden Gophers is brought down in the third quarter by defensive back Amani Hooker #27 of the Iowa Hawkeyes on October 28, 2017 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images)
IOWA CITY, IOWA- OCTOBER 28: Running back Kobe McCrary #22 of the Minnesota Golden Gophers is brought down in the third quarter by defensive back Amani Hooker #27 of the Iowa Hawkeyes on October 28, 2017 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images) /

Position Battle #1: Safety

With the news that Amani Hooker is forgoing his remaining eligibility to declare for the NFL and Jake Gervase graduating, the Iowa football team just lost both of its starters at safety. The good news is that with the flexibility of Hooker and the emergence of sophomore safety Geno Stone, the Iowa football team got a very good look at what Stone can do with starter’s reps. Considering Stone received honorable mention All-Big Ten, I would say the results look incredibly promising.

Opposite of Stone though, there is a lot of talent, but not much production and at this point, there are about six guys fighting for that recently opened spot.

For more information on who could likely fill in for Amani Hooker, check out our article from yesterday when we detailed who was next in line after Hooker’s departure.

The slimmed down version is essentially that the current back up is former walk-on John Milani and the dark horse front-runner is freshman DJ Johnson. This battle will not only be intriguing because it’s pretty wide open at this point, but also because what the Iowa football team ultimately decides to do could have a huge impact on how the Hawkeyes defense continues to evolve to accommodate the move towards spread attacks.

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