Iowa football: Injuries remain, but Hawks returning several key players

The Iowa football team has been banged up all season, but the hope was to have most guys back vs Michigan. Here’s the breakdown of the injury report.

I know I have been beating this drum quite a bit, but can the injuries just stop for a bit, please? Fortunately, it hasn’t impacted the Iowa football team too much so far this season but with the remaining eight games being against Big Ten foes including the next two against ranked teams, it’s pertinent that the Hawks get healthy quick.

With the Michigan game just a few days away, we did receive some good news though.

Both season-opening starters Kaevon Merriweather and Alaric Jackson made their return to the two-deep depth chart, and according to Kirk Ferentz Jackson could even make his way to the starting tackle spot if his continues to progress the way he has. Merriweather, meanwhile, might be stuck in a backup role after the solid play of Koerner in his absence.

On Jackson starting if he’s ready, Ferentz had this to say:

"It depends how the week goes. He looked good today and the film looked good. As long as he can keep progressing — if he’s capable, certainly we’ll start him"

As you can see, it was a quite different answer when addressing the Merriweather situation, and at one point, Ferentz even referenced true freshman Dane Belton as a possibility.

"Kaevon came in as the starter, but he came in and played one game. It’s not the same discussion as Jackson who’s played two years for us now. We know who he is and what he is."

Getting Jackson back will be huge for an offensive line that has already been doing outstanding. What will be interesting to see is who occupies the guard spots. Will it be both Paulsen twins or will one be relegated to a backup role with Cole Banwart making his second start of the season. My guess is we will see both Paulsen twins starting with Banwart on the bench, but that’s just me.

In addition to the Merriweather news, it sounds like the Iowa football team will get another jolt in the secondary with the likely presence of true sophomore corner Julius Brents who played outstanding in limited time last year. For now, though, DJ Johnson has earned the starting role over Brents and the Indianapolis product is expected to mostly be available for special teams and sub-packages.

With Michigan deploying a foursome of outstanding wide receivers, if the Iowa football team’s base 4-3 package can’t keep up, we will likely see the trio of Michael Ojemudia, Johnson, and Brents out on the field a lot Saturday.

One guy who won’t be there for the secondary is starting corner Matt Hankins who continues to nurse a hamstring injury.

In addition to Hankins, defensive tackle Brady Reiff remains out and as of now, Austin Schulte takes his place with last week’s starter Daviyon Nixon back to a backup role.

From Michigan’s perspective, they’re a bit healthier than the Iowa football team but they will still be playing the game likely without their top contingency plan if Shea Patterson struggles (Dylan McCaffery is listed as doubtful). Furthermore, their starting middle linebacker Josh Ross is likely out as well, which is a big blow for a Michigan defense that has struggled to stop the run.

Although I wish a few more guys were able to make it back, I feel good about Jackson, Merriweather and Brents at least being available when the Iowa football team heads to Ann Arbor this weekend.