Iowa football: Three freshman who could play right away
By Andrew Wade
The Iowa football team is not known for playing true freshman right away, but there is a strong chance these players find their way on the field in 2019.
Historically, the Iowa football team is slow to bring players along. Part of this by design and part of this by nature of their recruiting plans. It’s not often you find the Iowa football recruiting classes ranked in the top 25 as many of their players are three-star recruits or relatively unheralded players without much power-5 attention.
Kirk Ferentz hands these players over to Chris Doyle who then transforms their bodies to be ready for the rigors of college football.
Heck, even when the Iowa football team gets a player like AJ Epenesa, they still bring them on along slowly (Epenesa has yet to actually start a game).
In years past, however, Kirk has shown a penchant for bringing guys in sooner rather than later. Look no further than this season when true freshman Julius Brents and walk-on true freshman Riley Moss both started multiple games at the corner position.
With a few underclassmen departing earlier than expected plus a few solid members of the senior class graduating, there are some holes on the Iowa football team that will need filled. Fortunately, the Hawks did a great job of pulling in a solid early signing period recruiting class, and there are three guys that immediately stand out as day-one contributors. Here are the three:
Miller, is the highest ranked recruit in the class of 2019, and although there are no spots available at the tackle positions, there is a chance the Miller can make into the rotation.
Two-thirds of Iowa’s interior offensive line is graduating, and there is a chance that Tristan Wirfs and/or Alaric Jackson could depart early for the NFL. Both have prototypical size for playing the tackle position in the NFL, and they are being coached by two of the best guys in the business (Kirk and Brian Ferentz). Iowa, historically, has taken these opportunities to get younger guys involved so when they are ready to step into the starters role, it’s not a huge shock.
For Miller, this could mean sliding inside to the guard position to relieve one of the Paulsen twins for a few players here and there.
One might look at Iowa’s running back situation and think they are good to go considering they have three guys who alternated snaps this season and there is former three-star back Henry Geil also waiting in the wings. Taking a look at the bigger picture though, the Iowa football team sorely missed Akrum Wadley.
Ivory Kelly-Martin is the closest thing Iowa has right now to Wadley but he can’t stay on the field, and Mekhi Sargent and Toren Young are solid, yet unspectacular backs that don’t really progress the offense forward as much as an Akrum Wadley did.
Enter Tyler Goodson, who has often been compared to Wadley as a guy who could steal some carries this season if he can show the explosiveness and agility to make defenders miss on a consistent basis.
Jacobs was a huge get for the Iowa football team. The four-star linebacker from Ohio was a hot commodity by many big schools, but he stayed strong to his commitment to the Hawks and for good reason.
The linebacker position is in relative flux right now. Iowa almost never rolled out the same starting rotation at linebacker this season due to injuries and ineffectiveness, and they began the transition to a 4-2-5 defense to better accommodate the movement towards spread offenses in the Big Ten.
With nobody truly separating themselves from the rest of the pack in Iowa’s first season post-Josey Jewell, Ben Niemann, and Bo Bowers, there is opportunity for newcomers such as the uber-talented Jestin Jacobs to step right in and get playing time with the Iowa football team.
Obviously, a lot can change from now to then. You never quite know what to expect when bringing in freshman to the collegiate atmosphere. How are they going to adapt and handle the expectations? Can they pick up more complex offensive and defensive concepts?
dark. Next. Four position battles for 2019
As of right now though, these three guys appear to be the front-runners for early playing time, but as expected, we will be providing updates as the Iowa football team’s depth chart and roster begins to take shape this spring.