Young Guys Come Up Big at Indiana

Nov. 6, 2010

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Meet Marcus Coker, Hawk fans.

Sure. Ricky Stanzi, DJK and Marvin McNutt teamed to give Iowa a hand-wringing, gut-wrenching 18-13 victory at Indiana Saturday by going 88 yards in three plays late in the fourth quarter, but fans of the nationally ranked University of Iowa football team also enjoyed a glimpse of the future inside Memorial Stadium in the form of the true freshman running back.

Coker, a 6-3, 230-pound product of Beltsville, Md., gained 129 yards on 22 carries against the Hoosiers. He rattled off big gain after big gain in his debut…runs of 16 and 20 in Iowa’s first scoring drive, 13 in its second, 12 in a drive that got deep inside the red zone but came up empty.

“He has a great body and great lean,” said Ed Podolak of the Hawkeye Radio Network.

“But, what I really like most of all, is his vision,” Podolak continued. “Often big guys like Marcus want to simply run the defense over. This guy, though, he’s got vision, great field vision.”

Coker wasn’t the only glimpse into the future for the Hawkeyes, however. James Morris, another true freshman, making his second straight start at middle linebacker had another big day topped by deflections of at least two Indiana passes.

“He was 18 yards deep on that one. Wow, what a middle linebacker,” Podolak smiled late in game when Morris batted away another Hoosier spiral.

And, then, there’s Michael Meyer, Iowa’s placekicker. The walk-on from Dubuque nailed kicks of 23, 27, 27 and 42. He also made the tackle on the kickoff that followed Iowa’s game-winning touchdown drive…if three plays can be called a drive.

The Hawkeyes took the field down by 1 and 88 yards from the endzone and only 3:42 on the game clock. As it turned out, the time available didn’t matter.

Stanzi connected with Derrell Johnson-Koulianos for 21 on the right sideline on Play 1. Stanzi found DJK on the left sideline for 15 on Play 2. Stanzi then found a wide open McNutt up the gut of the Hoosier defense for 52.

“We committed to the pass…probably because we had to. We knew we needed to make plays and we did,” McNutt said after Iowa’s seventh win of 2010 – and Kirk Ferentz’s 100th as collegiate head coach.

“We’re thrilled to get this one…seems like we’ve had a few of them over here,” said Ferentz.

“We needed that (big play by Marvin) badly. Everything came hard today. Credit Ricky for getting us down the field and Marvin for making a play when we needed it. We made that one and the plays defensively when we had to.”

Of his freshman running back?

“Marcus stepped up and stepped up big. We have confidence in him,” Ferentz said.