It is game week we finally made it to week one of the College Football season. Iowa opens up against Northern Illinois on Saturday at 2:30 in Kinnick Stadium. As you know from reading my offense thoughts from kids day I was planning a defensive blog too. This blog will be all about the Hawks defense so lets jump right in with the positives from the kids day scrimmage.
The most critical question for this defense is can they generate a pass rush from the defensive line position, they just weren't very good last season at getting to the quarterback. Here is the good news I saw a lot of defensive lineman getting penetration into the backfield and pressuring the QB. Now looking at the defensive lineman as a unit I'm very excited about the potential. They have a lot of young guys and veteran guys that look ready to make a big leap forward. The guy that has been generating the most buzz is Carl Davis at 6 ft 5 310 pounds he has been dominant on the line and looks to make a huge step forward this season. We return LTP who played a lot and pretty well last season, Dominic Alvis is back again this year and will start at defensive end hopefully being his second year since the ACL injury he will look a lot quicker this year. Also returning on the defensive line is Darian Cooper who seemed to be playing well near the end of last season. Other players returning our Drew Ott, Riley McMinn, Mike Hardy, and Nate Meier finally has a position at defensive end. A number of young guys look ready to emerge like Jaleel Johnson who is listed as the second string defensive tackle after Davis, Faith Ekakitie is another guy that red shirted and moved to defensive end he is a guy that could make an impact for the Hawks this season.
As you know the team that controls the line of scrimmage usually wins the game and with the rotation we have of 8 or 9 guys that can be productive, this defensive line could take a huge step forward this season. For Iowa to do some damage this year in the Big Ten the defensive line has to generate more of pass rush with so many teams that just throw the ball out of shot gun. Also during the BTN practice they said Iowa was thinking about using linebackers like Quinton Alston as pass rushing specialist so that could be interesting to see if Meier, Alston and possibly a freshman like Reggie Spearman line up at defensive end. The Good news about the defensive line is they look to have improved a lot since last season
The most experienced group we have is at linebacker we return all 3 starters from last years team. The linebackers looked like they had a little trouble getting off blocks and making plays even though all 3 were top 10 in tackles in the conference. With an improved defensive line it should only make Morris, Hitchens and Kirksey's job that much easier. This is the group that could be really special this season they can all run especially Kirksey who sometimes looks like a defensive back with his size and speed. I expect all of these guys to have very good senior seasons making a lot more plays in the backfield or near the line of scrimmage. The front 7 of this defense looks to have a lot of potential to be very good if they can stay relatively healthy and play to their potential. Some of the other linebackers who are back include Quinton Alston, Travis Perry, Marcus Collins, Cole Fisher, while adding some new guys to the mix in red shirt Freshman Laron Taylor and true Freshman Josey Jewell, Reggie Spearmen and John Kenny. I don't expect the true Freshmen to play and Spearmen is listed as a linebacker but his future looks to be at defensive end so if we do have trouble generating a pass rush don't be surprised if you see him on passing downs rushing the QB. As always a number of guys that play linebacker usually get a chance to play on the special teams units which is an important role on this team. Looking at these young guys the future is bright but with 3 starting linebackers and other more experienced guys I wouldn't expect to see the younger guys in on defense.
The position that looked the best on Saturday was the secondary they were dominant at times. B. J. Lowery will be the next Iowa defensive back drafted into the NFL he looks to be the shut down corner for this team very physical and athletic. The offense could barely get anything completed on his side. On the other side was Jordan Lomax who looked really good again a physical corner that can run and make plays. The other corners that played Gavin Smith, and Sean Draper were in a lot. At the nickle corner look for Reece Flemming to be the main guy and Gavin Smith and Sean Draper playing too. I expect to see Draper play a lot as he played last season Smith didn't have his best day as he got beat a number of times. Overall though the corner position looks like a strength we still have to see Lomax prove it in a game but I'm excited about his potential. The younger corners coming in are Malik Rucker, and Desmond King who could see some action this year. Solomon Warfield is another true Freshman that could be a Safety or a Corner. The other Corner that looks to have serious potential is Greg Maybin the former Wide Receiver just has the look of a potentially great corner standing at 6 ft 2 he is big and physical. I think we will see him emerge more later in the year or next year. The Corner backs as a whole look to be very good if Lomax can fill in at the other corner opposite Lowery we could be a very difficult team to pass on.
At Safety we return Tanner Miller who had a rough season last year but looked really good on Saturday. He is locked in at the starting Free Safety position at Strong Safety there was a battle during camp between Nico Law and John Lowdermilk but Lowdermilk seems to have wrapped up that spot. He didn't play a whole lot last season but he got his feet wet on special teams. Looks like a pretty athletic safety that should be able to make some plays. Nico Law is still the best hitting safety on this team and will play a lot during running situations he had a couple of big hits. The Second string free Safety is Anthony Gair a RS Freshman so besides Miller at safety there isn't a whole lot of experience back there which could be a little shaky in the early going. Tanner Milller improving is a must if we want to be successful this season. That is a little preview on what the defense will look like position wise hear are some of the things I noticed about the actual defense.
The defense was very aggressive I saw a number of corner and safety blitzes. It seemed on most plays we would be blitzing at least one player or running some type of stunt on the defensive line. I think with the Corners we have this we should be able to play a lot of man coverage. The defensive line was really led by Carl Davis who lived in the backfield during the scrimmage. I would say the players that need to emerge this season for Iowa to be successful, Carl Davis he seems to have already done this in the practices I've seen just needs consistency, Darian Cooper looked ready last season to make an impact should be a big time player this season, Louis Trinca Pasat needs to stay healthy. At defensive end we must have Alvis play well and one of the younger defensive ends take a jump forward to become that pass rusher. I think this front 7 is as good as the any in the Big ten Conference with 3 starting linebackers, the defensive line is the key question mark can they take a step forward to create pressure with a 4 man front. The Secondary I'm excited about the corners but still have some questions about the Safety position.
All I know is I'm super excited for next Saturday the Hawks play Northern Illinois should be a fun game to open the season. I really believe this defense has great potential to become a very good defense. In my next blog I'm going to preview week 1 against Northern Illinois probably tomorrow or Thursday
Thanks for reading as always
Go Hawks.
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