Oct. 1, 2005
- Ride the Rails: Hawkeye Express Information
- Game-Day Parking and Road Construction Information
- 2005 Hawkeye Huddles
- Follow the Renovation of Kinnick!
- The Schedule: 2005 and Beyond
- Listen to the Hawkeyes on XM Radio
- Watch and Listen to Kirk, the Hawkeyes
The Sept. 30 editions of the Wall Street Journal took a look at the game of football from a different perspective. It examined the performance of National Football League rookies on the “Wonderlic Personnel Test,” a 12-minute, 50-question standardized test designed to measure cognitive ability.
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“In general, Mr. Reese says he prefers smart players who might lose the occasional physical battle for gifted athletes who struggle to learn the system and make silly mistakes. On example: defensive tackle Jared Clauss, who wasn’t drafted until the seventh round because teams thought he wasn’t big enough to be a tackle or fast enough to be an end.
“When the Titans saw his 45 Wonderlic score, they figured he’d be able to master both positions and play them adequately. So far, Mr. Clauss has taken the field in all three games and been one of the team’s most consistent linemen.” |
Fans of the University of Iowa and the Iowa Hawkeyes would be pleased to know that according to the Journal, the UI not only has an above average graduation rate for its football program, the Hawkeyes also rank in the Top 10 of NCAA Division I schools with more than 20 alumni with reported Wonderlic scores.
The Journal reviewed the test scores of NFL prospects from 39 NCAA Division I schools. Stanford topped the list with an average score of 28.8 by 21 student-athletes. Miami, Fla., was at the bottom of the list, a 16.3 average by 40 student-athletes.
Iowa’s 33 NFL rookies combined to post an average score of 23 to finish eighth. “On (the) field, ranked in the AP’s Top 10 for the past three years. Thank alum Jared Clauss, now (a) defensive tackle for the NFL’s Titans, for boosting its average: He scored a rocket-scientist-worthy 45 last year.”
Iowa finished behind Big Ten Conference peers Purdue (2nd, 25.3 by 21 student-athletes) and Wisconsin (7th, 23.2 by 29) and ahead of Michigan (14th, 21.7 by 36), Ohio State (17th, 20.8 by 43), Penn State (19th, 20.7 by 26) and Michigan State (38th, 16.6 by 28).
Iowa State was not included in the list.
The Journal article includes the following about Floyd Reese, the general manager of the Tennessee Titans – the NFL’s “third smartest” team, based on their players’ scores on the Wonderlic – and former Hawkeye Clauss:
“In general, Mr. Reese says he prefers smart players who might lose the occasional physical battle for gifted athletes who struggle to learn the system and make silly mistakes. On example: defensive tackle Jared Clauss, who wasn’t drafted until the seventh round because teams thought he wasn’t big enough to be a tackle or fast enough to be an end.
“When the Titans saw his 45 Wonderlic score, they figured he’d be able to master both positions and play them adequately. So far, Mr. Clauss has taken the field in all three games and been one of the team’s most consistent linemen.”
The three “smartest” NFL teams? In order, St. Louis (24.6), Oakland (23.3) and Tennessee (23.2).