Iowa football: Ihmir Smith-Marsette worries PSU’s James Franklin
By Andrew Wade
When Penn State takes on the Iowa football team this weekend at Kinnick, James Franklin will be watching out for these Hawkeyes.
Unlike in previous years, this Iowa football team has some star power on both sides of the ball.
On the defensive side of the ball, they’ve got a future top-10 pick and Lott IMPACT quarterfinalist AJ Epenesa at the end position along with some big playmakers in the secondary in Michael Ojemudia and Geno Stone.
Offensively, at tackle, the Hawks feature two of the top tackles in the nation, at quarterback, they have a three-year captain and starter in Nate Stanley who’s got the perfect frame for an NFL quarterback, and at wide receiver, they’ve got an electric weapon in Ihmir Smith-Marsette.
And although national media may not give Ojemudia, Stone, or Smith-Marsette much credit, you better believe Penn State head coach James Franklin isn’t sleeping on these guys.
In his chat with the media, he mentioned each of these guys multiple times as playmakers for the Iowa football team.
On senior defensive back Michel Ojemudia, Franklin put him in the same sentence as Epenesa.
"We are very, very impressed with their defensive end, A.J. Epenesa, No. 94, No. 11 Michael — I don’t want to mispronounce his name, but No. 11, their cornerback."
He went on to heap even more praise on safety Geno Stone and even echoed our sentiment that Stone might be one of the best in the Big Ten.
"And their safety, No. 9, Geno Stone, we’ve very impressed with him…….I’ve got a lot of respect for him. He has really developed into one of the premier players, in my mind, in the Big Ten."
The thing that most stuck out to me in his interview was mentioning the Iowa wide receiver group and more specifically, noting Ihmir Smith-Marsette as a player to watch.
For years, the Iowa football team’s wide receiver group has been near the bottom of the Big Ten pile in terms of talent, but this year things are different and it starts with Ihmir Smith-Marsette, a guy who can score in three phases of the game (passing, rushing, and special teams) who currently leads the team in receptions, receiving yards, and touchdowns.
Next. Geno Stone should be frontrunner for Big Ten DBOY. dark
Smith-Marsette may have flown under the radar before, but he is now firmly in the minds of head coaches, and it sounds like James Franklin will do whatever he can to ensure ISM doesn’t hurt Penn State Saturday.