Iowa football: Injuries and ineffectiveness shake up latest depth chart

The Iowa football team’s depth chart versus Northwestern is out, and there is some movement after the win over the Purdue Boilermakers.

As we do every week, I want to caution that a lot can change from Monday to Saturday in college football especially with Kirk Ferentz and the Iowa football program. The Monday depth chart is where we are now, but health and a week of practice can switch things up.

For now, though, there are a few things we need to talk about.

The first being the health of Brandon Smith. Smith injured his ankle late in the win against Purdue after putting together another outstanding performance as the team’s leading wide receiver. After the game, Kirk Ferentz said it seemed like a bruise and that early indications were positive for Smith, but there’s a very real chance Smith is ruled out for Saturday’s contest as the team looks to get him healthy for the big matchup against Wisconsin in November.

With the wide receiver depth of the Iowa football team, this isn’t exactly shocking. Sliding into Smith’s vacated spot is Tyrone Tracy Jr followed by Calvin Lockett.

You all might be wondering where Oliver Martin is, and that’s a fair question, but I will just refer you to what I said up top. A lot can change. Martin could be dealing with some injury-related issues, or Lockett could have passed him up in practice, or in typical Iowa fashion, they aren’t revealing all of their cards yet.

This is especially true now that the Iowa football team is running 3 and 4 wide receiver sets significantly more than they have historically. They don’t even list a slot wide receiver on their depth chart so again, just relax. There is a good chance if Smith is injured we do see a heavier dosage of Oliver Martin, but even if we don’t, it’s not a bad thing. It’s not Kirk being old and senile. It’s because we finally have some talent in that wide receiver room and that’s a good thing.

The other big piece of information gleaned from this depth chart is Riley Moss has potentially taken over as the starter opposite of Michael Ojemudia after Matt Hankin’s disastrous performance against Purdue. It is currently an OR, and if we learned anything from last year’s secondary issues, the Iowa football team is likely to give Moss a shot against Northwestern, meaning it’s his job to lose at the moment.

The only other movement on the depth chart worth mentioning is Max Cooper is now listed as the team’s punt returner ahead of Nico Ragaini. Ragaini had been playing well but two weeks ago he had a few small issues as a returner so it looks like the veteran wide receiver Cooper, who is buried on the wide receiver depth chart, is now the guy.

With Kirk Ferentz speaking with the media tomorrow, we will learn a bit more about the situations above.  Until then, this is the lineup heading into Saturdays’ contest versus Northwestern.