By Blake Dowson
[email protected]
The Iowa football team is coming off its first 12-win season in school history, and it will return 15 starters from the team that advanced to the Big Ten Championship and Rose Bowl.
With spring practice starting this morning, head coach Kirk Ferentz held a press conference Tuesday afternoon to touch on some events that have occurred since he last spoke to the media.
Ferentz noted the spring depth chart, quarterback progression, update on defensive end Drew Ott, and staff changes.
Injuries carry over from 2015
A number of returning starters are absent from the spring depth chart. Ben Niemann, Greg Mabin, Derrick Mitchell Jr., and James Daniels will either be out or limited this spring because of injuries.
Ferentz said in most instances it is carry-over from last season, and he expects everyone to be fully healthy by June.
“Medically, we’ve had a couple other medical issues that have come up since last time we met,” he said. “Guys that are going to be kept out of spring ball, Ben Niemann, Derrick Mitchell, and Greg Mabin, three guys that were in the two-deep last year, will not be able to really practice this spring, so they’re going to have to stay in tune mentally and try to grow that way.”
No news on Ott
Senior defensive end Drew Ott has applied for a medical hardship that would grant him one more year with the Hawkeyes. Ott, who tore his ACL against Wisconsin in the fifth game of the season, saw his request granted by the Big Ten. It has been passed on to the NCAA.
Ott has played 19 games in the past two seasons, recording 19.5 tackles for loss and 12.5 sacks.
“No real update on Drew Ott,” Ferentz said. “We’re still appealing that. We’ve had some encouraging news from some other cases … Just learned actually yesterday about Case Keenum who is playing for the Rams right now, when he was at Houston, he actually got a sixth year, redshirted one year, played three and then was injured in his fifth year and got a sixth year.
“I think [we’ll find out] probably within weeks here. The clock is kind of ticking a little bit, too, because the NFL people are at some point going to make a move, too.”
Backup quarterbacks
C.J. Beathard will be the starter and barring injury will be the starter all season. Redshirt sophomore Tyler Wiegers took the backup snaps last year, and he will again in 2016.
Iowa is also developing two redshirt freshmen at quarterback, Ryan Boyle and Drew Cook. Ferentz said spring practice is a good time to develop young quarterbacks.
“It’s a really good opportunity,” he said. “We do some work during the fall. Not as much as we’d like but some work. We got a chance in December to do work with those guys running our offense, not an opponent offense. So it’s a really good learning experience.”
Ferentz on how Iowa recruits
With coaches such as Jim Harbaugh stealing the spotlight becuase of their recruiting antics, Ferentz touched on what he tries to sell to recruits when he sits down with them.
“We try to be as honest as we can and straightforward with what we offer here,” he said. “We think this is a great opportunity for a young guy to come into. But we’re not selling the glamour part of it, because they’ll probably be disappointed if that’s what they’re in it for.”