The cupboard isn't bare, but will they add any value through the portal? What about some of the underclassmen stepping up?
I'm legitimately asking these questions. I don't really pay attention...except for some of the speculation posted here.
DL: The main rotation as of now will be Hurkett, Allen (who will miss most of the spring unfortunately) Llewelyn, Graves, Pittman and transfer. They really like Drew Campbell and hopefully someone like Maddux Borcherding-Johnson takes a step. Iose will likely get rotational snaps as well. Anderson, Kennedy, Merrieweather and Chineke will all be redshirt freshman or sophomores next year so they may be thrown in as well. Maybe a Ben Kueter too if he comes back.
LB: Will probably be some combination of Harrell/Sharar/Van Kekerix/Buffington//Weisskopf. They have a million bodies at these 2 positions and Iowa has had 3 consensus All-Americans at this position the last 7 years so I’m sure they’ll be fine here.
DB: X/Lee/Hall/Lutmer/Entringer/Nestor/Watson all played this year. The corner from Miami of Ohio with a 6’8” wing span just visited. Kahlil Tate, Rashad Godfrey and Teegan Davis are all freshman but I’m always skeptical of someone going into their 3rd year at DB that hasn’t played even special teams being much of a factor.
WR: They bring everyone back and are trying to get at least 1 out of the portal. Mota and KJ Parker are the only scholarship guys that haven’t played. Parker redshirted, Mota probably sucks. Vandr Zee, Gill, Anderson, Howard, Buie, Washington Jr. is probably as healthy as the position has been given where it was a couple years ago. It’s still not great but not completely horrible.
RB: Moulton/Patterson/Washington/Doll/Williams. Will be a significant step back from Johnson but Doll has had a good bowl prep and may play in the game
QB: Who knows at the moment
TE: Ostrenga/Ortwerth with Hoffman and Burt as freshman. Also bringing in a couple that could play early.
OL: Jones/Stephens/Dunker back. Would like the OT from Rice but the price might be too high. Pieper got a lot of goal line reps so is probably in line for the second guard spot. They actually have some tackle bodies now in Leonard, Dotzler and Lauck but they’re all relatively young and who knows if any are worth a shit. They brought in Borud last year so I would expect him to push for rotational guard reps. Michael Myslinski appears to be healthy for the first time in his life so maybe he could also surprise next year.
A lot of these guys are probably a year behind developmentally because of the number of COVID guys Iowa brought back for this season. While individual positions like running back could see significant drop off, as a whole I don’t think the team is going to just turn to dog shit because guys graduate like so many are implying.
Every player I mentioned could portal themself today so don’t hold it against me.
