By Jordan Hansen
The Iowa defense needed a stop.
Mere minutes after Iowa running back Akrum Wadley pranced into the end zone — giving his team a 14-0 lead in the first quarter — the Miami (Ohio) Redhawks marched down the field. A 67-yard completion from Billy Bahl to Rokeem Williams had the ball on the Hawkeyes’ 8-yard line.
Enter Anthony Nelson.
Iowa’s redshirt freshman defensive end sacked and stripped the ball from Bahl. Matt Nelson (no relation) pounced on the ball from the other defensive end position, and suddenly, all the momentum was back in Iowa’s corner. The Hawkeyes then marched down the field, scoring another touchdown and Miami never threatened again.
Iowa went on to win, 45-21.
“I was doing my best, doing whatever I could do to help,” Anthony Nelson said. “I got a wide set, I was able to get free, and I thought the quarterback was going to throw it, so I just kept going.”
He ended the game with a gaudy statline — 6 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and a pass breakup. It was a huge boost for a defense that lost defensive end Parker Hesse early in the game to a leg strain, middle linebacker Josey Jewell to an ejection (for targeting), and outside linebacker Ben Niemann to injury for parts of the game as well.
The constant pressure the defensive line provided was critical in limiting the opportunities Bahl had to chuck the ball down field, because the secondary struggled at times. Nelson even managed to earn himself some praise from Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, who believes the talented defensive end hasn’t scratched the surface of his potential.
“What he did today is really what he does in practice. He’s a guy we’ve been excited about, going back to the spring,” Ferentz said. “He really did some good things. He’s not near at the physical maturity that he will be before he graduates, but he’s a real good football player.”
On Anthony Nelson's huge day: pic.twitter.com/gtOQU8950V
— Daily Iowan Pregame (@dipregame) September 3, 2016
Things weren’t perfect. The Redhawks rushed for 212 yards and passed for another 192, with the pass rush sometimes lacking. Losing Hesse and Jewell in quick succession wasn’t exactly something Iowa was prepared for, and the defense was shuffled around on the fly.
With Hesse out, sophomore Sam Brincks saw some non-garbage time play, as he and Matt Nelson split playing time. In the middle, defensive tackles Jaleel Johnson and Nathan Bazata were fairly effective as well.
Overall, in the unit’s first live action, it was a promising look. The size, certainly, is there and the instinct is coming.
They’ll have to do it fast, however, because an incredibly amped-up Iowa State team will walk into Kinnick next week.
A strong presence up front will be important not only against the Cyclones on Sept. 10, but in the long run as well. Opposing quarterbacks having less time makes life easier for the defensive backs on the team, and with two new safeties, there’s still quite a bit of learning to do. Having this game on tape will be a massive benefit for the Hawks; they hope to fix the small things that went wrong.
It wouldn’t have been a season-opener if there hadn’t have been a few errors, but the Hawkeyes were able to limit most of the errors and come away with a sizable victory.
“There were a couple times when [Miami] squirted through,” defensive back Greg Mabin said. “But for the most part, they played a pretty good game.”
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