Iowa offensive coordinator Greg Davis and defensive coordinator Phil Parker spoke with the media Wednesday.

By Ian Murphy
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So things are a bit different today. We’re at football on a Wednesday, not Tuesday, and defensive coordinator Phil Parker and offensive coordinator Greg Davis are speaking, not head coach Kirk Ferentz. Ferentz is getting a massage at a day spa, probably.

We’ll have stories in Thursday’s paper, but in the mean time, here are highlights from each coordinator’s presser.

Greg Davis:

• First word: well
• On the bye week: “It comes at a great time… It gives us a chance to work with some of the younger guys”
• On the injuries: “Next man in, we’ve had four different tackles in and two different running backs over 200 yards”
• On the line: Throughout camp we mix and match lineups … guys had already played different positions”
• On big plays: “Our backs are doing a good job, CJ is seeing opportunities to take the ball down the field, the other thing I think that goes unnoticed, our full backs are doing a great job, and our receivers are doing a good job.”
• On screen plays: “We’ve worked hard on our screens, that’s putting the backs in the right situation.”
• On Tyler Wiegers: “Tyler had a really good week last week, he took most of the reps with the first unit. “
• CJB did not practice much last week, Davis said, they worked more on the run game.
• On Ryan Boyle and Drew Cook, who are both true freshmen, Boyle worked with the second team last week, but Davis says don’t read too much into that. “We’d like to redshirt them both”
• Davis says without question, when you can run the ball, you can have more success. “We haven’t done a lot of different things … for the most part we still believe in running the zone and the slant.”
• On the impact of having a real running back playing running back not a full back: “You’ve seen a bunch of ball games, you can see that.”
• Running back depth has been a blessing so far: “You go in with one or two guys, and then you’ve got a third down back.”
• Biggest surprise so far: “We’re probably more explosive through seven games than I thought we would have been in August.”
• Davis said CJB has done a good job of getting the ball to the second and third receivers.
• On how he felt on CJB preseason “Until you put the quarterback out there with the band and the lights on, you’re unsure.”
• LeShun Daniels Jr. should be 100 percent by next week, Davis said he wasn’t sure what the back rotation would look like for next week.
• When Boone Meyers gets healthy, Davis said they’ll work more on a rotation.
• “Everybody can see his ability to jump sideways and make people miss, but everybody can see the ball was out way too many times,” Davis said of Akrum Wadley. Said running back coach Chris White was “Pounding the table” in support of Wadley last week.
• Jake Duzey update: “Jake looked like Jake this morning,” Davis says you can never have too many tight ends.

Phil Parker:

• First word: Alright
• The linebackers: “They’re working together, they’ve got another year together.”
• Parker said Josey Jewell has settled in at middle linebacker.
• On setting the edge: “Everything goes back to leverage, it’s not like we weren’t coaching it last year, we weren’t as efficient as we were now … guys running to the ball with the proper leverage.”
• Parker Hesse reminds Parker of Nate Meier, high motor, “Going and going and going.”
• Parker says there will be times when they’ll have to blitz more than they want to, but it will be situational.
• On Desmond King: “He has a feel for the game, I think he has a natural instinct for what’s going on in the football game.”
• Linebackers improved play: “It’s fundamental football … A lot of times our guys were running and didn’t know where the ball is at.”
• Joshua Jackson moving from wide receiver to defensive back: “Everybody grows up at a different time,” Parker said they had a need when they pulled Jackson over, and Jackson responded well.
• On Greg Mabin: “He’s really become a student of the game more, there’s obviously some times when he needs to improve on his fundamentals.”
• Parker said they pulled Jack Hockaday’s redshirt because they saw he could play both on special teams and on defense.
• On Miles Taylor: “Miles Taylor is a very intense individual and very violent football player. He’s played pretty good. I think he could play better.”
• Parker said Jaleel Johnson and Nathan Bazata have been effective at tackle, especially on first and second down.
• Morning practice clears up his players’ days, Parker said.
• Matt Nelson will play a lot of football, Parker said. “The last week he’s practiced hard.”
• On the next level play of the defense so far: “This team has a chemistry, a togetherness, that reminds me of the teams in the early 2000’s”
• “Everybody’s trying to outdo everyone with their effort,” Parker said.
• On where improvements can be made: “My biggest thing I think we need to improve on is giving up big plays,” 5 runs over 15 yards, and 22 passes over 15, says they’ve been successful as a defense when they’ve been around 40.
• “This is a great week to go back and self scout yourself and see what issues the issues are,” Parker said. He said a bye is a good week to do that.