After missing his first game since 2014, Josey Jewell should be back on the field for Minnesota.

By Courtney Baumann
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After missing the game against Northwestern because of a nagging shoulder injury, Josey Jewell should be back to play this weekend against Minnesota.

While the senior middle linebacker still leads the Big Ten in tackles after taking a game off, his absence did not go unnoticed.

It was the first start in 19 games that the linebacking corps of Jewell, Ben Niemann, and Bo Bower did not take the field together, and it was also the first time Kevin Ward, a senior who has been named special-team captain in every game this season, spent a majority of the game on the field.

Bower stayed at his usual weak-side-linebacker position, but Niemann slid into the middle, and Ward took over at outside for the game.

Though the team practiced those positions during the two weeks prior to the Northwestern game, it was still an adjustment come game time.

“It’s a whole different world, just being in the box, playing against the offensive line … compared with me usually being in space, jamming receivers and all that. It’s two totally different positions,” Niemann said after the game. “I got some reps, so that helped, but it’s still a different world.”

While Ward is listed on the depth chart as the No. 2 middle linebacker, he transitioned to outside in 2016. This pushed Niemann, who had started the 33 games prior at outside, into the middle to take over leadership of the defense.

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Although the team had been practicing as if Jewell would not play against the Wildcats, the coaching staff did not make the decision to leave Jewell out of the lineup until the day before the game.

That’s when Ward found out he would make his first start as a Hawkeye.

Even after learning and practicing the position for the past year, Ward leaned on Niemann for a little bit of guidance in Evanston.

“After every series, we’d come off and talk to each other, what we were seeing,” Ward said. “All week as well, he was a great resource about stuff that he keys on during games and little stuff like that.”

Against the Wildcats, Bower and Niemann took charge of the defense, tallying 12 and 11 tackles.

While the defense did hold Northwestern to just 10 points during the first 60 minutes of the game, it was obvious the group was missing the heart and soul that is Jewell.

Through his six games so far, Jewell averaged 11.7 tackles, and he also had 9.5 tackles for a loss, 2.5 sacks, 4 pass breakups, an interception, and a fumble recovery.

So when Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz made the announcement on Tuesday that he would return for the game against Minnesota, it was a good sign.

“We’ll expect Josey to play,” Ferentz said in his weekly press conference. “He’s practiced the last few days. Unless he suffers a setback of some type, we expect him to be in there.”

The linebacker group will be back, and Bower couldn’t help but throw a little joke in about his teammate’s durability.

“He’s good to go,” Bower said. “He’ll be fine. He’s tough-ish.”