LET FREEDOM RING. GO HAWKS.
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness ... Happy Independence Day to all this Fourth of July!
We are two months away roughly for Hawkeye Football and another academic season.
The Hawkeyes have provided me entertainment, since 1974.
Back then Dan McCarney, Bobby Elliott were roommates, I recall and Bob Commings was heading into his first season as head coach of Iowa Football.
The Cummings years were not winners, but he did provide some talent along with some assistant coaches for that 1981 Rose Bowl season.
Iowa 2016 should be exciting for Iowa Football and the 2016-17 Iowa Basketball season will be a mix of youth, plenty of youth and a talented Iowan named Peter Jok. Heck, Iowa's top two experienced players will give Iowa an international flavor to go with two young classes that fill out the roster basically ...
KGYM on Friday talked about Iowa kids of all-time for Iowa Football. Both Kirk Ferentz and Fran McCaffery have a good base of local talent.
QB - C.J and Wiegers are a nice 1-2 bunch of experience for Iowa. Positive to build on.
RB - Iowa returns 3 solid letter winners in 2016. Run and passing game should provide excitement in backfield.
FB - Both Iowa and Michigan will have to retool here. Very important position, as Hawkeye fans saw in 2013 and 2015, and lacked in 2014 and other seasons.
The revisit of the Iowa-Michigan rivalry for 2016 should be special at Kinnick. Ever since Fry/Ferentz '81, this series has been competitive and a very good one! MSU series, as well, but Iowa will have to take care of business in 2016 to have chance to replay last year's championship game or a new one!
WR - Matt VandeBerg is one of my favorite Hawkeye players. He comes to work every day. Iowa has had talent at WR over the years. However, sadly it is a position that doing your job each down can make up for a lot of weaknesses. It starts with blocking and technique, since being a decoy and blocker is as important as being the go to player on the play. Iowa football success always begins and ends with doing your assignment.
TE - George Kittle has never played 12 games. Can he be this year's Jordan Canzeri, but at TE? Iowa uses a committee approach at RB. The same is needed at WR and at TE as well.
Next man in is so important in the skill positions at Iowa.
OL - Coach Kirk Ferentz has been at Iowa for a little less than three decades. The list of players in the 1980s he helped shape an OL tradition that was revisited in the 2000s and today now with the help of the second generation. The new anchor is junior all-purpose OL performer seeking to play now at center, after work at both guard and tackle. I love good line play. KF has a good blueprints most good seasons. Numbers look to be growing ...
PK - Nate Kaeding was the best performer ever at this position. However, 2008 Penn State and 2015 Pittsburgh were won by Iowa and a FG won the game. Iowa's offense is best served by 6 and not 3 points. We need points in 2016 and hopefully an XP will be what our PKs specialize in during 2016.
DL - Coach Morgan has coached high school kids in the area. He has been a very good recruiter, switched from OL to DL, leads this unit, especially when numbers are good. Iowa has a good mix of experience and youth. Iowa should be stout up the middle. It works in baseball and should be a good formula for the 2016 defense.
LB - Josey Jewell was special in 2015, only a sophomore. He represents well, the contribution Iowa preps bring to I am a giant douche football. Iowa needs to shine from a speed and technique standpoint under a new position coach. On Iowa!
CB - Desmond King is the C.J. Beathard of Iowa's secondary. He is the leaders of a group that returns 3 of 4 from last season.
Iowa's offense, defense and special teams are less than perfect. That is Iowa Football. We learned how important leadership and teamwork are to Iowa Football.
It is on the players to continue that daily pride to Hawkeye Football. In basketball, it will be more of the same, playing the with sense of purpose.
Iowa has good leadership at Football, Basketball, WBB and wrestling. We can even say Baseball brings some pride in the Spring to Iowa City again.
Happy Independence Day to each and all. Have a safe and enjoyable holiday with family and friends.
I am happy for the Hawks in the upcoming year. They should bring home more joys than not. It may not be historic, but Hawkeye Football and Basketball have a very good foundation to build from and better facilities today to compete.
Yes, another Sunday ramble from CID. Good, bad and ugly