Dec. 19, 2006
hawkeyesports.com continues its video countdown to the 2006 Alamo Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 30, against the Texas Longhorns inside San Antonio’s Alamodome today with a visit with offensive lineman Marshal Yanda.
A 6-foot-5, 300-pound senior from Anamosa, Yanda played two seasons at North Iowa Area Community College in Mason City before joining the Hawkeyes in 2005 for his junior season. He made the most of the two seasons, too. Today, he prepares for Iowa’s sixth straight bowl game as one of two winner of the 2006 Roy J. Carver Most Valuable Player Award.
“It’s special,” Yanda said of the honor, “because it’s voted on by the team. To have earned the respect of my teammates, I am honored. It’s a great honor.”
For Yanda, it’s been all about improvement and hard work. “Day by day, week by week, game by game,” said the all-Big Ten senior.
Yanda is looking forward to the challenge of playing the defending national champions in San Antonio. “It just makes you that much more excited to play….when you play a tough defense like theirs, it gets guys like us – the offensive line – that much more excited,” he said.
To watch the video feature on Yanda – or yesterday’s “Countdown” with Kirk Ferentz or Sunday’s with quarterback Drew Tate – visit the hawkeyesports.com’s Alamo Bowl Bowl Central page by clicking HERE and click on the “Alamo Bowl Countdown – “Marshal Yanda” in the upper right hand corner.
The video is free, but all visitors to Hawkeye All-Access, the multi-media pages of hawkeyesports.com do need to register.
Alamo Bowl Countdown
Sunday, Dec. 17 – Quarterback Drew Tate
Monday, Dec. 18 – Head Coach Kirk Ferentz
Tuesday, Dec. 19 – Offensive Lineman Marshal Yanda