Football looks for added strength in upcoming week

Brandon Snyder’s progression highlighted Iowa football’s weekly football availability.

October 3, 2017

Iowa defensive back Brandon Snyder attempts to tackle Minnesota running back Rodney Smith during the Iowa-Minnesota game at TCF Banks Stadium in Minneapolis on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. The Hawkeyes defeated the Golden Gophers, 14-7. (The Daily Iowan/file photo)

By Adam Hensley
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Six months ago Brandon Snyder tore his ACL during a special teams drill.

After a speedy recovery, the senior safety will try to make his season début this weekend against Illinois, barring no midweek setbacks.

“He was cleared last week, so we’re trying to move him forward,” head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “We’ll see what the week brings here. He’s doing a good job in practice, and I think it’s fair to say he may be out there. How much, I don’t know yet.”

Junior Jake Gervase took over for Snyder, starting the first three games of the season before sophomore Amani Hooker took over at No. 1 free safety.

If all clears for Snyder, Iowa may run a safety rotation on Oct. 7 — Ferentz hinted at this as early as postgame against North Texas.

Coaches and teammates attested to Snyder’s leadership off the field. Iowa wants him back on the field, even if he’s not working his usual pre-injury reps in-game.

“We’re just trying to work him back in,” junior cornerback Josh Jackson said. “His leadership off the field has been great. I think when he comes back and plays, it will be even better.”

Snyder proved to be a leader not just in his vocal efforts on the sidelines but in his rehabilitation.

After all, a torn ACL isn’t something to scoff at.

“Brandon must be a quick healer,” Ferentz said. “He works really hard and has worked hard in the rehab part of it. But, he’s cleared the hurdles a little faster than the average person.”

Sparking the running game

The Hawkeyes have yet to make a dent in the ground game since the loss to Penn State in which Iowa ran for 82 yards.

In the loss against Michigan State, Iowa managed to run for an abysmal 19 yards on 25 carries, the lowest yardage totals since 2005 (minus-9 yards against Ohio State).

A 0.76 yards-per-attempt does not sit well with a program built traditionally on the running game.

“I think [defenses] are stacking the box more, more blitzes,” senior running back Akrum Wadley said.

Iowa averaged 2.1 yards per carry over the course of the previous two games, but Ferentz doesn’t feel the need to stray from his bread and butter.

“Just repetition and keep working on it,” he said. “There’s no magic formula… It’s just all about trying to develop more consistency, being able to sustain a little bit, and part of that is we’ve just got to keep working, and get our lineups settled in, and get the guys working together a little bit more cohesively.”

Ferentz noted that the other running backs, such as redshirt freshman Toren Young and true freshman Ivory Kelly-Martin, could see an up-tick in carries in order to balance things.

Stanley’s control

With defenses stacking the box more and showing pre-snap signs of blitzing, often, the offense relies on quarterback Nate Stanley to make a read and alter the play call.

“It’s just what we have [in the] game plan for the week,” Stanley said. “We have options in the game plan.”

Throwing a slew of pre-snap audibles at a first-year passer isn’t the best thing for any offense, and Iowa’s coaches know it.

As Ferentz has said numerous times this season, little steps here and there are what will ultimately benefit Stanley and his offensive knowledge.

“You can’t play with handcuffs on totally, but we’re probably not asking him to do as much as we will later in the season or certainly next year moving down the road,” Ferentz said.