Iowa Thoughts

I'm not out for blood. Just prefer to have all the information when making my (meaningless) assessments of our coaches.

Nico's bowl performance tells me he should have been playing more, if not the entire season. He looked better in his first start of his college career than Joe did at any point this season, IMO. You don't even have to know football to watch both guys and see the difference.

You can make a case that we would have recruited better if Nico played earlier/more. Can't prove it one way or the other, but the case can be made. I lean towards it would have helped.

It's 100% true that Nico would go into next season significantly more experienced had they played him earlier/more this season. Stuff like him holding the ball too long yesterday may have already been worked out at this point. Would also have baseline chemistry built with returning teammates. Keyton slowing up on that should-have-been TD pass is the perfect example of a play that probably gets made if it wasn't Nico's first start.

I also lean towards him starting positively affecting the record, and I think Florida is the one. Have we already forgotten Joe throwing what might have been the most ridiculous interception of all time on the college level during that game? Seems very realistic to me that we win that game if Nico gets significant PT against APSU.

I don't really buy into the injury stuff. Any player can get injured at any point during any play of any game. Just don't like making decisions about playing time based on that sort of thing.

It is what it is though. I'm not too terribly upset with Joe playing all season after sticking with it. And we will never know how things might have been different if Nico played more, so no sense worrying about it.

 

Imagine the [itch bay]ing and moaning if he started after Bama and finished 3-2 as a starter. It'd be doom and gloom.

 

So Bru coming back or not?

 

probably would if Nico woulda played more

 

Yesterday was probably enough. I think he'll come back.

 

will he be 90-100% before combines? If not, I imagine he would want to come back. That was a pretty brutal injury and would really cost him a big draft drop, I would think.

 

Nico is working on it:

 

Milton sucked against Florida but we also got our asses kicked up front.

 

I'm worried about the offensive tackles. All the pressure was coming from outside yesterday. Darnell Wright was such a difference maker.

Here is what someone on VN came up with as a projected 2 deep:

QB- Nico Iamaleava (RSFr.), Jake Merklinger (Fr.), Gaston Moore (RSSr.)*

RB- Dylan Sampson (Jr.), Cameron Seldon (So.), Peyton Lewis (Fr.), Khalifa Keith (RSFr.), DeSean Bishop (RSFr.)*

WR- Chris Brazzell (RSSo.), Dont’e Thornton (Sr.), Kaleb Webb (RSSo.)

WR- Bru McCoy (RSSr.), Mike Matthews (Fr.), Nathan Leacock (RSFr.)

WR- Squirrel White (Jr.), Chas Nimrod (RSSo.), Braylon Staley (Fr.), Nate Spillman (RSFr.)

TE- Holden Staes (Jr.), Ethan Davis (RSFr.), Cole Harrison (Fr.), Emmanuel Okoye (RSFr.)

RT- Gerald Mincey (RSSr.), Shamurad Umarov (RSFr.), Dayne Davis (RSSr.), Larry Johnson, III (RSJr.)

RG- Javontez Spraggins (Sr.), Ayden Bussell (RSFr.), Gage Ginther (Fr.)

C- Cooper Mays (Sr.), Vysen Lang (RSFr.), William Satterwhite (Fr.)

LG- Andrej Karic (Sr.), Jackson Lampley (RSSr.), Masai Reddick (RSSo.), Max Anderson (Fr.)

LT- John Campbell (RSSr.), Brian Grant (RSSo.), Bennett Warren (Fr.), Jesse Perry (Fr.)


SDE- Tyre West (Jr.), Dominic Bailey (RSSr.), Tyree Weathersby (RSFr.), Carson Gentle (Fr.), Kellen Lindstrom (Fr.)

DT- Omar Norman-Lott (Sr.), Bryson Eason (RSSr.), Daevin Hobbs (So.), Trevor Duncan (RSFr.), Jamal Wallace (Jr.)

DT- Omari Thomas (Sr.), Elijah Simmons (RSSr.), Jayson Jenkins (RSSo.), Nathan Robinson (RSFr.), Jeremias Heard (Fr.)

LEO- James Pearce (Jr.), Joshua Josephs (Jr.), Caleb Herring (RSFr.), Chandavian Bradley (RSFr.), Jordan Ross (Fr.)

MIKE- Keenan Pili (RSSr.), Jeremiah Telendar (So.), Edwin Spillman (Fr.)

WLB- Arion Carter (So.), Elijah Herring (Jr.), Kaleb Perry (Jr.), Jalen Smith (RSFr.), Jordan Burns (Fr.)

LCB- Gabe Jeudy-Lally (RSSr.), Jermod McCoy (So.), Kaleb Beasley (Fr.), Marcus Goree (Fr.)

RCB- Rickey Gibson (RSFr.), Jordan Matthews (RSFr.), Chrsitian Harrison (RSSo.)

NB- Jourdan Thomas (Jr.), Boo Carter (Fr.), Christian Conyer (RSFr.)

S- Jakobe Thomas (Jr.), John Slaughter (RSFr.)

S- Andre Turrentine (RSJr.), Christian Charles (RSJr.), Edrees Farooq (Fr.)

 

Ollie Lane got killed all day, was he playing tackle

 

17/20 passing and 9/11 3rd downs for UF in first half.

 

And sitting in zone on defense. I still get angry at that game.

 

I thought he was playing left guard. Cannot remember

 

That’s where he normally plays but I didn’t pay attention if they had to reshuffle things as they do sometimes on the OL

 

Yeah I mean 2 of the losses we had 3-snap quarters. You can blame the QB or you can blame the defense for not getting off the field at all. Hell, Peyton Manning had 3&outs every now and then

 

I don't know. It was just that the edges seemed to be having even more trouble with the pass rush than the middle. Definitely room in there with all we saw for a guard to have a bad game too.

 

As of right now, yes

 

Dayne Davis was the tackle getting whipped

 

Our defense finished 19th in the country in YPP and second in the conference. Not an elite unit but I have a feeling our defense is gonna be good next year.

 

Not sure Oklahoma on the front end will be much better.