The Iowa football team will honor its 21 seniors Saturday before its game with Purdue.
By Danny Payne
Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz and members of his team met with the media Tuesday. Much of the talk was regarding No. 5 Iowa’s overall performance this season, and there was talk of the 10-0 Hawkeyes’ matchup with Purdue Saturday, scheduled for 11 a.m. in Kinnick Stadium.
Senior Day
As is the case with anything, all good things must come to an end. Before Saturday’s game, Iowa will recognize the 21 members of its senior class, who have, of course, made the most of their senior season with the Hawkeyes.
Led by key contributors on both sides of the ball, the Iowa seniors have managed to get their team off to the best start in program history.
“We’ve got 21 outstanding young people in this class,” head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “Going back to January, when they became our senior class, they’ve done a great job of serving as role models for each and every guy on our football team.”
Although Iowa hopes to have at least three postseason games after it plays Nebraska Nov. 27, members of the Hawkeye senior class have thought big picture, just a little bit.
“The guys who have been here since my freshman year, thinking far, far ahead when football is over, they are guys that I’ll remain in contact with for the rest of my life,” running back Jordan Canzeri said. “It’s definitely been great being a part of something like that.”
Staying the course
Many of the questions Ferentz answered Tuesday had little to no relevance to the Purdue football team. To be fair, the Boilermakers are 2-8 and have won only one Big Ten contest, a 55-45 win over Nebraska Oct. 31.
However, that doesn’t mean the Hawkeyes are taking a divisional opponent lightly.
“We can’t walk into this game thinking it’s going to be easy just because of their record,” wide receiver Tevaun Smith said. “On film, it shows they’ve been playing pretty good football, so we can’t take [the game] for granted.”
The Boilermakers are 10th in the league in scoring offense, averaging 24.5 per game, and rank 12th in the Big Ten allowing 34.4 points per game. By comparison, the Hawkeyes allow 18.4 per contest and have scored 33.6 per game.
True freshman Markell Jones — whom Ferentz said Iowa recruited but did not offer, according to rivals.com — is seventh in the league with 69.2 (just shy of LeShun Daniels’ 69.9) rushing yards per game.
When the Boilermakers beat Nebraska this season, Jones averaged 4 yards per carry and scored 2 touchdowns.
Personnel updates
In injury news this week, left tackle Ike Boettger and running back Akrum Wadley could be back against the Boilermakers. Ferentz said both players were medically cleared to play last week, but Iowa chose to hold them out.
“Happy that we didn’t have to play them,” Ferentz said. “I think that’s probably better for them in the long run, and they’re both working forward. I think they should be in good shape to play this week if called upon.”
Tight end Jake Duzey is also getting “closer” to being able to play, Ferentz said. The senior is still recovering from knee surgery in the spring.
“I’m not going to put a snap count on it how many times he’ll get in there, but I think all of us have more confidence; most importantly, he has more confidence,” Ferentz said. “When you come off an injury as a player you’ve got to develop, hey, I can do this again, that feeling, and I think he’s getting closer.”
