Iowa football: Five observations from victory over Minnesota
By Andrew Wade
Brandon Smith will play next week
Prior to the start of the game, Iowa wide receiver Brandon Smith was warming up with the two’s. And when Ihmir Smith-Marsette went out for a play, Smith came onto the field. That’s an impressive turnaround from a few weeks ago when Kirk Ferentz seemed pretty grim about Smith’s chances to return quickly.
Instead, he missed just two games, and he is likely going to be in the starting lineup next week when the Iowa football team takes on the Illinois Fighting Illini.
That will be huge as the Hawks attempt to finish this season strong and win 9 regular-season games.
The other thing that stuck out to me was the fact that Smith was healthy enough to come in if needed. Instead, the coaching staff likely held him out (as much as they could) as a precaution, which is quite the indictment of this wide receiver group. This staff trusts redshirt freshman Tyrone Tracy Jr and they feel confident enough that Nate Stanley has enough weapons to survive without Brandon Smith.
The future is bright with this wide receiver group, and whoever starts next year under center will have quite an array of pass-catching options at his disposal.