The Pittsburgh wide receiver and potential first-rounder is a dangerous matchup for Iowa.
By Jordan Hansen
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When asked how he planned to counter junior Pittsburgh wide receiver Tyler Boyd’s quick first step, Iowa cornerback Greg Mabin had a simple response.
“A quicker first step,” Mabin said and laughed. “I just got to go out there and play my techniques, play with proper leverage, and just being sound and disciplined out there.”
CBSsports.com has Boyd ranked as the second-best wide receiver prospect this season and assuming he forgoes his final year of eligibility, will likely be playing on Sundays in the near future.
Saturday will mark a huge test for an Iowa secondary that has preformed fairly well through the first two games of the season.
“He’s complete; there are not too many flaws in his game,” Mabin said. “It’s going to take every guy in the secondary, all the linebackers and the defensive line to contain the quarterback and make sure he can’t scramble and buy some extra time.”
Boyd has played in only one game this season — last week’s contest against Akron, but he managed to torch the Zips for 95 yards on 11 catches.
A season ago, Iowa could do little to contain Boyd, who finished with 10 receptions for 153 yards.
“I thought last year he was as good of a receiver as we’ve seen since the two guys we saw in the LSU game,” Ferentz said. “To me, he had that kind of talent, ability, smoothness, and grace.”
Injury updates
Neither defensive end Drew Ott or running back LeShun Daniels Jr. appear to have long-term problems.
Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz seemed confident both would be back by the North Texas game, if not sooner. Considering Ott played days after getting into an accident on his moped a year ago, it will take quite a bit for the star defensive end to not play.
Daniels’ injury also didn’t seem particularly serious, but it seems doubtful the Hawkeyes will gamble with either player. If Iowa is to make a serious push in the Big Ten West, it won’t want two of its star players not to have healed properly.
Ferentz said more information on the extent of their injuries will be available late in the week and that both have not practiced yet this week.
If neither can go, it’ll likely be senior running back Jordan Canzeri and redshirt freshman defensive end Parker Hesse slotted into the lineup.
“Injuries come randomly, and you never know when they’re going to happen,” Canzeri said. “You have to be ready.”
Mitchell un-suspended
Derrick Mitchell Jr. might have set the record for the world’s shortest suspension.
A release from the football team came out Monday afternoon that Ferentz suspended Mitchell from the team for a violation in the student Code of Conduct.
Ferentz shed a bit more light on what happened at his weekly Tuesday press conference but didn’t go so far as to say what Mitchell actually did.
Ferentz said Mitchell received a letter from the university on Sept. 11 and was sent home afterwards. Ferentz then talked with Mitchell on Monday evening to talk about the situation and felt it wasn’t a matter that required him to keep him suspended.
The matter itself wasn’t revealed, and nothing legal seems to be pending.
“He’s back with the football team, and we’ll move accordingly from there,” Ferentz said. “I wouldn’t have brought him back if I wasn’t confident that there’s nothing really much beyond what we were talking about right now.”