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Final report card

By Eric Page | 4 comment(s)

OK, OK, I know … It’s taken me a long while to get to this, but, in all honesty, I had to let the loss to Western Michigan fully digest so I could step back and look at the whole season without letting that last display sour the entire picture. And I wanted to make sure the season was, in fact, over — Iowa did have a shot at a bowl game, albeit long, until the last day of the season.

So, here goes, my final grades for the 2007 season, position by position, with a brief outlook for the future: 

QUARTERBACKS (D): It’s so hard to grade Jake Christensen because of the amount of pressure he was under when he dropped back to pass and because he was often leading an offense that was playing from behind. He was sacked 46 times, a Big Ten high, which was 12 more than any other team in the league. Coaches and players said some of the sacks were his fault, some were because of the line, some were because of the receivers making mistakes on routes. That’s why you’ll see I’ve given the quarterbacks, receivers and offensive line the same grade. At times, Christensen performed well. At others, he struggled. He just never got into any kind of rhythm that he could carry from game to game. His final numbers were respectable: 2,269 yards and 17 touchdowns with only six interceptions. His completion percentage was only 53 percent, but, in his defense, the receivers did drop a lot of balls, and he was under constant pressure. Still, when he had time and receivers were open, he often hesitated on throws that led to sacks and had trouble throwing on target. OUTLOOK: Christensen is young, and he’s got a good head on his shoulders. With a better offensive line and more experienced receivers down the line, he could develop into a solid Big Ten quarterback. Will he ever be among the conference’s elite passers? I don’t think so, but it’s really too early to tell. I do think he is capable of leading a winner at Iowa. 

RUNNING BACKS (B): I thought Albert Young and Damian Sims were misused the entire season. Iowa never fully committed to the run game, and the coaching staff never took advantage of its two most dangerous offensive weapons. Why weren’t Young and Sims on the field at the same time, either in a two-back set or with one in the backfield and one in the slot? Both are proven runners and receivers and didn’t get a chance to help their team. When they did run, the offensive line often didn’t give them enough room, and they didn’t get any help from a passing game that never evolved into much of a threat. Between the two of them, they had 303 carries for 1,467 yards and nine touchdowns. They both averaged better than 4.5 yards per carry. That’s not bad. But they averaged only 28 touches per game between the two, and I think the Hawkeyes would have had more success if that number was up near 40. Overall, I do think they made the most of their opportunities. OUTLOOK: With Jevon Pugh leaving Iowa, the Hawkeyes have no scholarship running backs returning next season. Shonn Greene might be back, and Iowa has one solid verbal from a top junior college player, but running back has quickly become the biggest question mark on the team.

RECEIVERS/TIGHT ENDS (D): Given the problems the receiving corps faced — the arrests and suspensions of Dominique Douglas and Anthony Bowman and injuries to Andy Brodell and Tony Moeaki — Iowa had to count on a group of pass-catchers with hardly any experience. They improved drastically as the season progressed. Derrell Johnson-Koulianos proved to be somewhat explosive, and James Cleveland developed into one of the better downfield blocking receivers in the Big Ten. Brandon Myers filled in admirably at tight end after Moeaki went down, and Trey Stross and Paul Chaney flashed some potential. DJK ended up leading the group in receptions and yards with 38 and 482, respectively. Cleveland had 36 catches for 464 yards. Myers, with 21 catches for 208 yards, led the team with five scoring receptions. OUTLOOK: Pretty good. Everyone is back, including possibly Douglas and Bowman. Brodell and Moeaki will be back from injury, and the others will have valuable experience. A two-tight end set with Moeaki and Myers will be strong, and with no running backs, Iowa is going to have to pass a lot. This group will be the strength of the offense in 2008.   

OFFENSIVE LINE (D): The line improved dramatically after true freshman Bryan Bulaga was inserted at left guard midseason. It still wasn’t good, but it was light years ahead of the unit that surrendered nine sacks against Indiana. Dan Doering also appeared to make an impact at right guard, though he continued to rotate with Julian Vandervelde. Bottom line, 46 sacks is far, far too many to give up. And the Hawkeyes need to be able to establish the run in order to have success as an offense. That’s all going to hinge on the offensive line next season. The good news is they’re all back, all 10 players in the final regular-season depth chart. The bad news is, they’ll be the same players. Will they improve? I don’t know. Dace Richardson, who missed most of the season with a knee injury, could be back next year, but he isn’t expected to be full strength. OUTLOOK: I’d expect the line to be better in 2008, but I’m not sure the pieces are there to be an elite unit like Iowa has leaned on in the past. Keep an eye on Bulaga, though. I think he is going to be one of the top linemen in the country by the time he is through. 

DEFENSIVE LINE (B-): With Kenny Iwebema, Mitch King, Matt Kroul and Bryan Mattison back for a third year starting together, the defense line was supposed to be dominant in 2007. It was good, but it didn’t control games the way expected once the Big Ten season started. Still, no one really ran wild on the Hawkeyes, and a big reason for that was the play of the front four. Freshmen ends Adrian Clayborn and Christian Ballard played some valuable minutes down the stretch of the season, putting pressure on opposing quarterbacks and being very disruptive in the backfield. King was named first-team All-Big Ten by the league’s coaches, which was a testament to how much attention was being paid to him by opposing offensive lines. Even with all that attention, King finished seventh on the team with 58 tackles, including 14 ½ for a loss of yardage. Kroul was fourth on the team with 74 stops, and those two will be back next season to anchor the defense. OUTLOOK: With King and Kroul back and Ballard and Clayborn stepping in as starters, the defensive line might be better in 2008 than it was this past season. Not to take anything away from Mattison and Iwebema, but Ballard and Clayborn could be special. They are more explosive and more disruptive and will cause a lot of problems for opposing teams in the seasons to come. 

LINEBACKERS (B+): The linebacking corps was a nice mix of veterans living up to expectations and young players showing their potential. Mike Humpal emerged as one of the top linebackers in the Big Ten, finishing with 123 tackles. If it weren’t a very strong year for linebackers in the Big Ten, he would have been first-team all-conference. He was named the team’s co-MVP for good reason. He played through injury and carried the defense after Mike Klinkenborg went down with injuries. Klinkenborg played well when he played, but missed three games and parts of three others with injuries. That’s tough for a senior. Sophomore A.J. Edds was a mainstay at outside linebacker, and it looks like he’ll be a good one for the next two years. As for the young guys, Jacody Coleman played a lot at middle linebacker and showed that he is going to be a capable of taking over where Klinkenborg left off. Jeff Tarpinian and Dezman Moses also got on the field and held their own. OUTLOOK: Humpal and Klinkenborg will be missed, but with Edds, Coleman and Moses or Tarpinian in place for next year, this group should be OK. The linebackers won’t be as strong as the Hawkeyes are used to having, but there will be room to grow.  

DEFENSIVE BACKS (C): This was another group on defense that fought through injuries and improved as the season went along. Yes, they got torched for 367 yards in the loss to Western Michigan, but, overall, the secondary played much better at the end of the year than it did at the beginning. Nothing against Adam Shada, but I thought the secondary was much stronger with Bradley Fletcher on the field at the end of the year than it was before Shada went down with an injury. It could have been coincidence or who they were playing, but the Hawkeyes were better with Fletcher on the field. Charles Godfrey led the team with five interceptions and was second-team All-Big Ten pick. He was streaky, but when he was on his game, he was a solid lockdown corner. The safeties were a major weakness early and still weren’t real strong at the end of the year but did show improvement. Former walk-on Brett Greenwood stepped in at free safety after Devan Moylan went down with an injury and really made a difference. He finished with 45 tackles and two interceptions, including a game-sealing pick at the goal line in Iowa’s upset of then No. 18 Illinois. OUTLOOK: Fletcher and sophomore-to-be Jordan Bernstine will be back at corner, as will walk-on Drew Gardner, the hero of the Michigan State game. The loss of Cedric Everson and Abe Satterfield will hurt, but Amari Spievey might be coming back from a semester at Iowa Central. Both Greenwood and Harold Dalton will be back at safety, and Moylan might be granted another year of eligibility. Lance Tillison and Diauntae Morrow are a couple of young safeties who could step in and make a difference, too. The foundation is there with some potential, but there are a lot of question marks.

SPECIAL TEAMS (C+): After struggling at the beginning of the season, Ryan Donahue blossomed into one of the top punters in the Big Ten, earning honorable-mention all-conference honors. He’s only going to get better. Though Daniel Murray settled in at place-kicker for the second half of the season, he never was what I would call a reliable option. Before Brodell went down in late September, his explosive ability on punt returns looked like it would be a huge asset to this team. But after he was lost, the Hawkeyes really had no threat returning punts. DJK showed some explosiveness on kickoff return, but had trouble handling kickoffs cleanly late in the season. OUTLOOK: There will be another battle through the spring and fall for the kicking duties, and the return of Brodell and maturation of DJK will help in the return game. Donahue will continue to be a weapon.

COACHES (D-): On the field, the coaches did a decent job of bringing the team back from a dreadful 2-4 start to nearly qualify for a bowl game. Off the field, the staff lost control of a team that has had far too many run-ins with the law the past year. Kirk Ferentz explains the 15 arrests since April as a cyclical thing, but it still is his responsibility to minimize off-the-field problems, and things like that don’t help an already struggling team come Saturday. I can’t even tell you how many times the players and coaches said, “For some reason, we just didn’t come out ready to go.” That’s got to fall on the coaches. As for scheme, Iowa is behind the times. The play calling is conservative and predictable on both sides of the ball. That works when you have more talent than the opponent, but when you’re dealing with young, inexperienced players, it’s not going to win games. OUTLOOK: Don’t expect any wholesale changes. The coaching staff will return intact, and the scheme, for the most part, will remain the same. It worked for the Hawkeyes from 2002-05, and I’m sure the coaches expect it to work again. There will be some new wrinkles here and there to play to the strengths and weaknesses of the roster, but I’d expect to see a similar team on the field in 2008.

VERY EARLY PREDICTION FOR 2008: 6-6, 3-5 Big Ten

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