Growing Up By Facing the Best

April 12, 2010

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IOWA CITY, Iowa — James Ferentz, Adam Gettis, Josh Koeppel and Markus Zusevics are competing for starting positions on the offensive line for the University of Iowa football team. Their daily sparring partners happen to belong to one of the most-feared defensive fronts in the Big Ten Conference.

“There’s no better way to grow up than to face some of the best guys that there are,” UI offensive coordinator Ken O’Keefe said Monday. “When you’re facing (Karl) Klug and (Broderick) Binns and (Christian) Ballard and (Adrian) Clayborn, you have your hands full every play. That’s going to help make us a better offensive line down the road.”

O’Keefe, along with head coach Kirk Ferentz and defensive coordinator Norm Parker, will meet the media Tuesday, April 13, in the player’s auditorium of the Hayden Fry Football Complex beginning at 12:30 p.m. To watch the press conference on hawkeyesports.com, click HERE.

The Hawkeyes have completed 12 of 15 spring practices and O’Keefe took a break from a morning of staff meetings to share his thoughts on an Iowa offense that returns six starters from its FedEx Orange Bowl championship team, including quarterback Ricky Stanzi.

“Rick’s doing well, he knows the system and he knows how to operate the system,” O’Keefe said. “He has a feel for everybody in the system, which is big. It’s been encouraging to see a guy like Rick coming into his senior year working and pushing himself harder than he ever has. He’s not relaxing and living on the laurels of last season, which at this point seems like ancient history anyway.”

Iowa won its first nine games of the season in 2009 and finished 11-2 overall and ranked No. 7 in the nation following a decisive 24-14 win over Georgia Tech in the FedEx Orange Bowl.

Stanzi completed 56.2 percent of his passes for 2,417 yards (219.7 per game) and 17 touchdowns. Lost from the 2009 offensive line are `Stanzi Protectors’ Bryan Bulaga, Kyle Calloway, Rafael Eubanks, Dace Richardson and tight end Tony Moeaki. The starting front five for Saturday’s scrimmage will include sophomore Riley Reiff (left tackle), Zusevics (junior, right tackle), Gettis (junior, guard) and Julian Vandervelde (senior, guard) and either Ferentz (sophomore) or Koeppel (senior) at center. Freshman Nolan MacMillan will return from offseason surgery when fall camp begins. O’Keefe called Zusevics one of the most improved offensive players in the program.

“He’s having a good spring,” O’Keefe said of the junior from Arlington Heights, Ill. “He’s doing a nice job up front and developing into a leader in his own right.”

O’Keefe said the center position is still up for grabs, with the two front-runners being Koeppel and Ferentz — two Iowa City High graduates.

“Both are having good springs,” O’Keefe said. “Josh has a little more experience and he’s been around a little longer. We rested Josh the last two practices, so James is getting a little bit more work right now.”

Conor Boffeli is also in the mix at center and Cody Hundertmark is making progress at guard. Hundertmark moved over from defense during practices leading up to the FedEx Orange Bowl.

“There are some young guys behind the others like Brett Van Sloten, Drew Clark and Matt Tobin,” O’Keefe said. “It’s a young group of guys and (offensive line coach) Reese (Morgan) is working like crazy to push them along at get them better.”

The deepest and most experienced offensive position for the Hawkeyes will be receiver, where the top two pass catchers from a year ago — Derrell Johnson-Koulianos (45 receptions, 750 yards, two touchdowns) and Marvin McNutt (34-674-8) — return. They will be joined by Colin Sandeman (14-136-1), Keenan Davis (4-55-1), Don Nordmann (1-35-0) and redshirt freshman Jordan Cotton.

“Some folks would say we return a large degree of skill,” O’Keefe said. “You look at McNutt and Koulianos and Sandeman’s been around as well. Then you’ve got Donny Nordmann who’s turned himself into a reliable, possession, big-target-type of receiver. Then you’ve got Keenan Davis and Jordan Cotton; (coach Erik Campbell) is getting a lot of work to the younger guys so they can learn what to do, learn how to react and learn how to compete at this level. That’s part of spring as well, to make sure you’re pushing an improving the right guys and giving them enough opportunities and reps where they can get better.”

O’Keefe said that like nearly every other spring session after three weeks, the coaches wish they had 10 more practices and the players wish they had 10 fewer.

“We’re making some progress and we’re fighting our way through some stuff at the running back position from an injury standpoint,” O’Keefe said. “It’s important we find out where we’re at with the offensive line right now. It’s important we see where we’re going at tight end as well with some of the younger guys from a depth standpoint.”

Battling for a spot at tight end behind senior Allen Reisner (14-143-1) are junior Brad Herman, sophomore Jonathan Gimm, sophomore Zach Derby and redshirt freshman Dakota Getz.

“Because of the number of tight ends we play, we need to make sure we have three guys giving us what we need,” O’Keefe said.

The Hawkeyes have been thin at running back all spring. During a scrimmage Sunday, Brad Rogers and Jason White performed extremely well.

“It’s going to be interesting to see what it looks like when you put (Jewel) Hampton, (Adam) Robinson and (Brandon) Wegher all in the same pot and start stirring it up,” O’Keefe said.

O’Keefe said there has been no discussion about any of the running backs switching position.

“It all depends on how you look at it,” O’Keefe said. “If you’re a team that runs the football, you probably can’t have enough running backs.”

Rogers, a redshirt freshman, is working at both running back and fullback, but he has seen more repetitions lately at running back. Iowa returns its top two fullbacks in senior Brett Morse and junior Wade Leppert.

“We run enough one-back sets that it’s nice to have a big, strong guy in there who can run the ball and also protect,” O’Keefe said of Rogers.

For the first 10 spring practices, White played free safety. Now he is working in the opposite backfield.

“(Running backs coach) Lester Erb seems to have a knack for taking guys who don’t know anything about the position and turning them into players by the time he’s done with them,” O’Keefe said. “Jason’s one of the most unselfish guys we have on the ball club.”

O’Keefe remembers spring’s past where the Hawkeyes were down to one running back and did not tackle during the open spring practice.

“We’ve kind of been through it before,” he said.

O’Keefe said the returning quarterbacks help and push each other to improve. He said James Vandenberg is “very good mechanically” and John Wienke has “taken a step forward this spring.”

Another interesting situation for the Hawkeyes is with quarterback A.J. Derby, who five months ago was playing for a high school state championship. He graduated from high school early, enrolled at the UI in the second semester and is making rapid progress during spring drills.

“We have probably pushed more at A.J. than any freshman initially would have gotten in the first 12 practices, including Drew Tate,” O’Keefe said. “A.J. has a good feel for what we’re doing, he learns fast and is a coachable guy. We’ve exposed him to a lot, so he’s taken reps with the two’s in 7 on 7 and with the two’s in 9 on 7 just so we can get him up and running. He’s done well.”

The annual spring practice that is open to the public will be Saturday, April 17, inside Kinnick Stadium, beginning at 1:05 p.m. The Hawkeye coaching staff is still trying to decide on the format to use for that final practice.