SB Nation - Andy Kuempel

It's Not Plagiarism If You Link To It Counts the Hours

Hawkeye State — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:00:15 -0000

Fun With Depth Charts. EEE DEPTH CHART IS OUT FOR WEEK ONE EEE (link PDF). A couple of notes:

APAKILYPSE NOW - In case you've been wandering through the barren wastelands of the Mongolian steppe since Friday afternoon and haven't heard, there is no mention of Jewel Hampton. There's an equal lack of Jeff Brinson and Brandon Wegher. The week one starting halfback is a former walk-on, and his backup was playing safety 6 months ago. Those drills they taught you in school aren't going to help; unless you have a fortified bomb shelter, it's probably better to sit on your porch, put on some sunglasses, and enjoy your last few moments on Earth as the shockwave from the PAKIBOMB washes over you.
DJKO'd - If it's a motivational tactic. it's being taken to absurd lengths: Marvin McNutt is starting at split end, and Derrell Johnson-Koulianos is the backup. Either McNutt truly is the velcro-handed speed demon promised this spring, or Kirk Ferentz is playing an absurd game of chicken with a player poised to break every significant career receiving record in Iowa history. Neither would surprise me. (Oh, and Colin Sandeman is conspicuous in his absence from the entirety of the depth chart, while The Veep is backing up Stross).
The Icky Shuffle - Lord only knows what's going on with the offensive line, as injuries (Vandevelde) and suspensions (Calloway) change a group ranked tops in the conference by Phil Steele into a Three's Company rerun. Your starters, from left to right on your FM dial: Bulaga, Gettis, Eubanks, Doering, Richardson. Over/under on number of starters still playing in those positions by Penn State week: 2.5, and the under is the proper play. Subthoughts: Gettis is getting rave reviews and looks significantly bigger; KF told Rivals Friday ($$) that Eubanks had his best three weeks of practice since joining the program; the Doering/Richardson combo on the right fills me with melancholy, as the bookend tackles we were promised instead line up side-by-side for exactly one game, then retreat to diminished roles; the fact that Dace is playing tackle on those knees shows The Mad Russian isn't ready; Andy Kuempel just can't catch a fucking break.
Returning Starters - How did we not see this coming? Your punt returner is not Colin Sandeman. It's not Brandon Wegher. It's not Paul Chaney. It's obviously not Jewel Hampton. No, the returner is Amari Spievey (he'll also be handling kick returns with DAS PAKIBOMB). This is both brilliant (is there anyone on the roster that is more likely to break a big play?) and monumentally stupid. I love it with all my heart, and yet it is clearly even dumber than the hairbrained Jewel Hampton idea from earlier this summer. Not only is Spievey arguably the best player on the team, but there's this...
Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cornerbacks - I've been reading these depth charts for years, and there is always one thing that strikes fear deep into my black heart: The dreaded "or" line. Typically reserved for backups or genuine position battles, the "or" signifies mass hysteria in the ranks. It is also almost always a precursor to getting three names on the two-deep; if two guys occupy the same line, then a third name is needed to fill in the blanks. Well, not only is left cornerback carrying the dreaded "or" line, but there is no third name. Greg Castillo and Willie Lowe are co-starters, and the loser is the listed backup AT BOTH CORNER POSITIONS. Micah Hyde is nowhere to be found, and is almost certainly redshirting. Shaun Prater will serve his two-game suspension. We are, in essence, one catastrophic injury from starting a true sophomore and redshirt freshman at corner with no backups. Tell me again why we're sending Spievey out with a target on his jersey to catch an oblong ball out of the air and attempt to make 225-pound human lawn darts miss him.
Other Than That, Mrs. Lincoln, How Was the Show? - No decision yet on backup QB; Ballard is officially listed at DT; kicker is a toss-up; Cody Hundertmark, long thought to be a potential starter at DT, is now backing up Broderick Binns at defensive end.

SANCTIONPORN. This weekend, I went to a party in North Liberty (clad in The Leman, of course, because I'm classy), drank a few beers, played some poker and table tennis, cleaned my kitchen, and caught up on my sleep. It was uneventful.

How was your weekend, Michigan?

The University of Michigan football team consistently has violated NCAA rules governing off-season workouts, in-season demands on players and mandatory summer activities under coach Rich Rodriguez, numerous players told the Free Press.

Players on the 2008 and 2009 teams described training and practice sessions that far exceeded limits set by the NCAA, which governs college athletics. The restrictions are designed to protect players’ well-being, ensure adequate study time and prevent schools from gaining an unfair competitive advantage.

The players, who did not want to be identified because they feared repercussions from coaches, said the violations occurred routinely at the direction of Rodriguez’s staff.

Of course, the upper peninsula of Blogfrica is losing its collective mind: MGoBlog got its spider monkey on, like Emilio Estevez at the end of Young Guns: They questioned the messenger, chronicled the allegations (in a completely reasonable and measured manner), took the word of two freshmen players' parents -- neither of which are directly involved with the team or college coaching in general, and one of which who admitted he hadn't yet read the article -- as gospel, then tortured and killed the messenger (Brian, you know I love you, but there's a Grand Fucking Canyon in the logic when the "nobody -- not the players, not the former players, not the reporter -- knows the rules" post is right next to the "these players' parents who are not affiliated with anything say we're totally cool and stuff" post.)

UPDATE: Reason and sanity, thy name is Cook.

No, it's Beuford (and Doc Saturday, and Rittenberg, and I think Brian in the initial post) who get this right: Sure, Rodriguez and Barwis probably bent the rules, but not significantly more than 90% of the programs in college football today; for instance, I will guarantee the Iowa guys are going through voluntary-but-not-really workouts with the training staff throughout the year and putting in ungodly hours during the season. The difference here is that Lloyd Carr didn't bend those rules (after all, his weight program was based on the muscle-building properties of mozzarella cheese), and so players at Michigan before Captain Snake Oil came to town are in the rare position of knowing the difference. Throw in a healthy dose of resistance to change and VOILA. It's not quite much ado about nothing, because there's probably going to be some sort of NCAA investigation in the middle of a football season, but it's as close as you can get when "NCAA investigation" is involved.

Sigh. Roy, Roy, Roy:

According to Iowa Courts Online records, [Roy Marble, Sr.] was arrested Monday in Cedar County and charged with driving while barred-habitual offender, driving with a denied or revoked license, distribution of ephedrine and possession of drug paraphernalia....

Marble, who played for the Iowa basketball team from 1985 to 1989 and remains the team's all-time leading career scorer, was stopped for speeding in Tipton, according to authorities. The drug-related charges were filed Tuesday, according to online court records.

Marble, 42, said a friend drove him and Marble's son, Roy Marble Jr., 16, from Cedar Rapids to Southfield, Mich., to take Roy Marble Jr. home. Marble's son is an incoming Iowa basketball recruit. Marble said his friend decided not to return to Iowa and that he had no choice but to drive his friend's car back Monday.

"I did not participate in any drug activity," he said. "I was not doing any drugs or drinking on the road."

Innocent until proven guily, it's all allegations, all that, sure. But we know what happened to Roy once he left Iowa, and given his recent problems -- he had a DUI in 2006 that led to the barred license, his business in Cedar Rapids was destroyed in the flood, and apparently he claims that he's borrowing cars from junkies to give his son a ride to Michigan -- this does not look good. Roy's post-Hawkeye career has always felt like a Shakespearian tragedy, and he's running out of time and opportunities for an ending that doesn't channel Hamlet.

Pat Harty, in his latest attempt to take Skip Bayless' job on ESPN, hops on his blog and writes 500 words about how Roy shouldn't put his son in situations like these, as if we needed to be told that a son might not be happy when his dad is arrested on drug charges. Thanks for that principled stand, Pat.

Footnotes:

Jayme Murphy is officially done at Iowa, after back surgery late last week. He was a terrormonster on special teams, but never found a position that stuck. Of course, it was probably that terrormonstering that caused the back injury in the first place.
Jayme might want to talk to Alex Kanellis, who had his career cut short by concussions. Kanellis chronicles his post-football life for the P-C ("I never looked past playing Iowa football. That's as far ahead as I ever thought.") Alex is now coaching the offensive line at Iowa City Regina under head coach Marv Cook.
On the eve of FRYFest, Hlas scores an interview with Bill Colbert, the guy who created the Tiger Hawk in 1979.
I'm not sure which is funnier: The sheer volume of errors in this post from Fargo, ND on the Iowa-ISU rivalry, or the fact that the Iowa State fan who posts a comment to chronicle the errors misspells his own head coach's name.

Two-Deep Audits: Offense

Oops Pow Surprise — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:30:05 -0000

The two-deeps used in these mid-conference audits are taken directly from The Gazette's Marc Morehouse, whose fine On Iowa blog is a fixture on our RSS readers.

IOWA OFFENSE

WR — DJK, Stross

Well, this is a good place to start. DJK's 2008 has been pretty meh, actually, and while it seems pretty obvious that Stross' legendary speed is gone and never coming back, he's turned into one hell of a possession receiver; his hands are probably the best on the team. DJK is physically capable of making plays that nobody else in the WR corps can make, but he hasn't put it all together for a dominant game since, like, Northwestern 2007. If there was an unsafe starting job on the offense at this point (Kuempel aside), this is it.

LT — Bulaga, Kuempel

Good jesus, Bryan Bulaga. The word on him in summer camp even as a true freshman was that he was a mean, nasty blocker. But nobody could have anticipated the total domination he has put on opposing defensive lines. He regularly plants defenders 10 yards past the line of scrimmage, and it is simply no exaggeration to say he deserves All-American consideration.

LG — Vandervelde/Eubanks, Gettis

What should have been the weak link of this line (I mean, did you see Vandervelde last year??) has been rock solid. Think--if the left guard position was getting abused even half as regularly as with last season, then it wouldn't matter one bit how good Bulaga is, running to the left would be an exercise in futility. But Vandervelde has improved substantially in his second season on the line, and the rotation with Eubanks is perfect for both players, as there's always a fresh pair of arms to throw at opposing DTs. I would not have guessed before the season that this setup would work--at all--but damned if it's not solid.

C — Bruggeman, Koeppel

I often wonder if losing Bruggeman with that ACL last season didn't hurt Iowa worse than anyone could have predicted. Remember, he was right in the mix for a starting spot before he blew that knee out, and by the time NIU rolled around in 2007, Travis Meade was starting. No disrespect to Travis, but, you know, he's not even on this two-deep even with a starting guard injured. Bruggeman has been solid, even if he's on that Beanie Baby tip and he fixes computers and stuff. Clearly no need to make a change here, especially since Josh Koeppel is the long snapper and Eubanks is audibly clearing his throat.

RG — Kuempel, Doering

Seth Olsen was ostensibly Iowa's best lineman coming into this season, even if nobody thinks so at this point. Still, he was hardly a weak link, ever, and you'd think his departure would hurt the line, but Andy Kuempel absolutely dominated in his absence against Wisconsin. Watch this video of Shonn Greene again, but this time, watch Kuempel's blocking at the RG spot.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but you'll notice all four touchdowns went Kuempel's way. He's very good at executing blocks at both the first and second levels, and if Olsen is unable to go, expect to see Kuempel making Brit Miller's life hell this Saturday. Olsen deserves this job when he's healthy, but the lack of dropoff is very encouraging.

RT — Calloway, Aeschliman

Speaking of improvements from Year 1 to Year 2, how about Kyle Calloway? Greene's last TD came on Calloway reach-blocking a corner all the way to the sideline before Greene even came into play. We get the notion that he's a lot happier not being the blindside blocker for the QB in this offense, unlike with the left-handed Christensen. Now he's usually got TE help (and Moeaki and Myers are both very capable blockers) and he's the point man on rollouts to the right, where Stanzi's most effective. Calloway's vast improvement has kept Aeschliman off the field, which is both A) very good (it means there's good blocking) and B) horrible (Aeschliman, at 6'8", 315, is comedically large and fun to watch).

White receivers celebrate like THIS...

TE — Myers, Reisner

Man, it sucks so much to not see "Moeaki" on this 2-deep. He's worked way too hard to be relegated to rehab for so much of his career at Iowa, and we hope he can make anything of his football career, either here or at some next level. Lord knows he's physically capable when he's healthy; hell, he's Iowa's most athletic tight end since Dallas Clark. Or Scott Slutzker. Or Fritz Fequiere. Luckily, Myers has been quite able, if unspectacular, in his replacement of Moeaki, both last year and this. Allen Reisner plays enough snaps to be a part of the offense, and you could legitimately make the case that Reisner is a better receiver than Myers. Both are among the top 5 TEs in the last 10 years for Iowa, though, and that bodes very well for the offense as a whole.

His hair's so... so soft!

QB — Stanzi, Christensen

This, I think, is safe. The Stanziballs are abating, but we'll need to see if for a sustained amount of time, especially with 4 games left, all of which (yes, even Purdue) can be won or lost by Iowa. Seriously, everything from 5-7 to 9-3 is in play. Anyway, you know how Iowa's offense runs, and it's the run setting up the pass. It was disastrous in 2006 and 2007, but it's happening now, and it's working. Stanzi's probably somewhere around the fourth best QB in the conference right now, depending on how you look at Juice Williams and Adam Weber, but he has certainly earned his starting spot. It's too bad for Christensen, because he suffered through an absolute sieve of an offensive line last year while his receiving corps collapsed in front of him. If Stanzi had to suffer through the 2007 offense while Christensen sat on the bench, then Christensen would be rocking this year while Stanzi sat on the bench with a nervous tic. Timing is everything.

WR — Brodell, Sandeman

Brodell has emerged as the real #1 of this offense, as he's been both a solid possession guy (especially on first down and off play action) and a good deep threat (most of Stanzi's shots downfield). Sandeman is much improved over last year, probably because of the 20 pounds of muscle he has put on, but he's not quite at a Big Ten level quite yet.

RB — Greene, Hampton

I think it's safe to say we're okay with this situation. VOTE GREENE PARTY 2008!

FB — Morse, Leppert

Look, it would be extremely stupid to blame the three straight losses on the fullback, but the fact of the matter is that the offense scored points with a lot more ease when Morse wasn't injured than when Leppert was filling in. Again, looking at Shonn Greene's rushing numbers, there's barely a difference in production--he kicks ass either way--but he seems to kick just a little more ass with Morse in there, who's even a more capable receiving target than Leppert. There's no sense in assigning bogeymen to Iowa's losses on the year, of course, but a healthy Brett Morse puts Iowa a whole lot closer to 8-4 or 9-3 on the season, and that's a realistic goal for a team like this.