If Kirk Ferentz plans on replacing even a scant amount of Shonn Greene’s production from a year ago, he’s going to have to do it with a assortment of inexperienced tailbacks who sport 21 combined career carries.

Ferentz announced on Tuesday that sophomore Jewel Hampton, Greene’s likely replacement and Iowa’s No. 2 back from last year’s Outback Bowl run, will miss the entire season because of a knee injury.

Ferentz said Hampton, who rushed for 463 yards and seven touchdowns as a true freshman last year, will have surgery by week’s end and will redshirt this season, leaving the Hawkeyes without an experienced running back just three days before their opener against Northern Iowa.

“It’s just unfortunate,” Ferentz said.

The 11-year head coach said Hampton’s injury sequence went as follows: Around the July 4 weekend, rumors surfaced that Hampton had hurt his knee. According to a report on WHO 1040 AM in Des Moines, the injury didn’t require surgery and the sophomore would be ready for the Sept. 5 opener.

When the Indianapolis native sat out the team’s open scrimmage on Aug. 15, more red flags raised. But at the time, Ferentz said Hampton tweaked his knee two days prior to the scrimmage and that he was uncertain about the running back’s availability in the opener.

In the last 48 hours, Ferentz said, Hampton re-aggravated his injury — this time much more seriously than the other time.

“Everybody felt like he had a legitimate chance to make it back — not a 100 percent chance, but a legitimate chance, otherwise … they would’ve done surgery right away,” Ferentz said. “He actually did some work this weekend. That’s the way it goes.”

With Hampton out, the crop of backs vying for a permanent starting job includes junior Paki O’Meara, true freshman Brandon Wegher, and redshirt freshmen Adam Robinson and Jeff Brinson.

In the short term, O’Meara, the only one of the group with any playing experience, is listed as the starter, with Robinson listed as the No. 2.

Brinson is just now getting back to practice after recovering from an ankle injury. In his weekly Big Ten teleconference on Tuesday, Ferentz said the Florida native is “way behind” the other backs because of missed practice time.

Ferentz acknowledged that he’s “comfortable” with a running-back-by-committee system, in which as many as four backs could split the reps in the backfield. But on Tuesday, as he sat in the basement of the Hayden Fry Football Complex with a somber look on his face, Ferentz’s excitement about the start of the season was drowned out by Hampton’s injury.

“Discipline and injuries are the two things I hate to deal with,” Ferentz said. “And it’s nobody’s fault when it comes to injuries. … It’s never fair.”

True freshmen will play

Wegher and wide receiver Keenan Davis came into Iowa as two of the more heralded in-state prospects in recent memory, while cornerback Micah Hyde couldn’t have come in more under the radar.

Regardless of the true freshmen’s hype coming into school, Ferentz said, “We plan on playing those three guys, and after that we’ll tread water a little bit probably.”

Ferentz welcomes Fry back

On a day of bad news for Hawkeye fans, Ferentz took some time to laugh when a reporter asked him about what he knew about legendary Iowa coach Hayden Fry before Ferentz came to Iowa City.

Fry, whom Ferentz coached under for nine seasons, will be in town this weekend for the first Fry Fest.

“I’m laughing because [my mentor, Joe Moore, had a son who] read that Coach Fry was a square-jawed Texan [and a] former Marine,” Ferentz said. “All I knew was [first], get a haircut, and [second] … I think I borrowed a sport coach [from coach Moore]. … It was a blue blazer. And that’s what I wore out here.”