KIRK FERENTZ: Good morning, everybody. Merry Christmas.
It's been kind of an interesting month on a couple levels. This is the last day of final exams. A little bit different than it used to be. It's hard to find anybody that has five finals. I don't think we've had anybody on our team with five. The guys have had exams the last couple weeks. Been training, working through doing that, a little bit of practice.
Probably the strangest thing for all of us as coaches, we've been basically grounded to the barracks here. We've been here all month long. That's kind of a strange deal.
I think there's positives. It gives us a chance to reconnect with our team a little bit better coming out of the season, having a chance just to talk about things other than the football or game plans, that type of deal.
We are looking forward to the next couple days ahead of us, having a chance to celebrate Christmas, go through the bowl experience, too. It's all kind of getting ready to transition into a phase where we don't have as much to think about, much going on.
Just take a minute and talk about our program. Go back 26 years when we got here in '99. Tag that term 'developmental program', started using that years ago. Really what it gets down to is us recruiting players that we think are going to fit our program. Taking lessons from past experience, not having height bars or being too fixed on size, all that kind of stuff, that some teams can do. Looking for other things in players. I think that's really kind of been our mode, trying to get guys that are going to fit us, be team-oriented, be comfortable working hard every day.
I think the best part for us as coaches is having a chance to work with really good people and people that are thinking about improvement and growth, also realize it takes patience sometimes to see that growth take place.
That being said, just want to highlight a couple guys that have been talked about here the last couple weeks. One is Jay Higgins will be going over there real quickly, just to see him be selected as an All-American for the second year in a row, a unanimous All-American, certainly very, very special.
The thing about him when he came out, wasn't a five-star guy. He was thinking about going to one of the MAC schools. Came here, contributed on special teams early in his career. He paid attention to what was going on, learned from some outstanding players.
The year before he started, you have Jack Campbell and Seth Benson. In the heart of our defense, doing a great job of leading as well as playing. Jay was paying attention certainly. I don't want to say it's not a surprise that he has played that well. He's played extraordinarily well for two seasons.
The leadership part, the way he goes about his business, not a surprise because we saw that from him from a younger standpoint. Certainly the last two years he's been the leader of our defense and our team. Certainly worthy of being an All-American.
Kaleb Johnson, too. All-American recognition. Certainly deserved. Thing about his career, he came here, really some nice things, intriguing things his first year. He's been a tremendous young guy to work with from the start, had a good skill set. Really did a good job that first year. Second year not as consistent. This year really just blossomed, showed great maturity.
I think the key there is he just kept working. He and I have one thing in common: the start of this year we both started out in the penalty box first game. He certainly did a little bit better after than maybe I did.
A phenomenal year he's had. Each and every game he's performed extremely well. It's a real credit to him. The maturity, taking the experience that he gained, putting that to use. That makes all the difference in the world. That's what good players do.
Certainly had one of the top, top plays in that Nebraska game which put us over the top. That was the kind of game it was where it was a game of big plays. I don't know if anyone had a bigger one than he had. I think that's one of the best plays in Iowa football history, quite frankly. Somebody commented that night it was like Cooper DeJean's play except it counted. And to be recognized, really cool to see.
The thing about our specialist, you think about Kaden Wetjen, Returner of the Year. Noted on some All-American teams. High-energy guy since he came here, too. This year it all came together for him. Did an unbelievable job out there. Drew Stevens, I could say the same thing. Watching these guys grow and develop and keep working at it, it all starts with their attitude and effort.
The other guy I'd like to cite is Nick Jackson. Living in this portal era now, transfers, he's to me the epitome of what you're looking for in a transfer portal. Guy looking for an opportunity, the right fit. I think the criteria he was looking to make a decision was a mature approach and a perfect fit from our standpoint, more importantly from his standpoint.
I don't know if Jay was a five-star recruit when he came out, but he's been a five-star teammate and really valuable football player for us. A bonus for us to get a sixth year with him. I think he set a record for career games now. Power Five, Power Four. And he's one of the all-time tacklers.
That's a fun part about what we do, that's why I'm sharing this. You see guys getting recognized and getting rewards. The stories behind makes it fun, interesting. From our standpoint, you always wonder who that next story is going to be as we watch guys working in practice, that type of thing. That's really what makes it enjoyable.
Preparation-wise, we have a couple new players joining us actually tonight I think it is. They'll be on the field as I understand it tomorrow. Two new quarterbacks joining us. Hank Brown coming from Auburn University. He's going to transfer. Played his high school football in Nashville, coincidentally.
Jimmy Sullivan is going to be joining us also, a high school midyear graduate. He'll start classes here in January. He's able to practice with us here for whatever it is, five days before the game. Great to have those guys both join us. Obviously they're not going to be playing, but get them indoctrinated.
As we go into the game, Brendan Sullivan is healthy. We expect him to be our starter. Jackson will be the backup to him. That will be our 1-2 depth chart there.
I won't say a lot about Missouri. I will talk about that when we got down to the bowl game. Just on the surface, a 9-3 team. Really a good football team in the SEC. Had some outstanding games this year.
They have some veteran players where it really counts. Quarterback is an outstanding player. I think the other thing that jumped out at me, they haven't lost a bowl game since Coach Drinkwitz has been there. They know how to handle the month. It's a strange journey, if you will. Having the experience to find a formula to make it work is certainly a big part of it. It will be a tough game for us, no question about that. We're looking forward to that, trying to get ready right now.
Regarding the bowl, it's obviously a significant accomplishment for our football team. Mid-season we were teetering a little bit. The guys came back, really rallied, won four out of the last five games. Proud of their effort there.
Over a five-year span, our guys have done a really great job in the Big Ten. If you add up the wins, we've done a good representative job there. A credit to our upperclassmen, seniors, juniors that have been a big part of that.
Looking forward to the bowl experience. The folks down there do a great job, TransPerfect Music City Bowl people are outstanding. It's hard to screw up Nashville. It's a great venue. I think our players really enjoyed it last time. We'll look forward to getting back there next week. We leave on Wednesday.
With that I'll turn it to questions.
Q. Your old boss is joining college football, Bill Belichick. What are your thoughts about him becoming a college coach? Did he reach out to you?
KIRK FERENTZ: No, not really. I think he's got firsthand exposure, certainly. His son is coaching at the University of Washington. Was on the field a couple months ago. I know he spent time up there with Steve. I think he's gotten firsthand exposure live and in person. He also knows the college game from going around scouting, talking to college coaches frequently regarding prospects, that type of thing.
To me what it says is he loves coaching. I think that's pretty evident. The other logical thing, if you watch his press conference, he talked a little bit about his dad. His dad was a career college coach at Naval Academy, most of his career. Coincidentally a couple years at UNC, which is interesting. I don't know if that was fate or not. I got to know his dad. His dad was an amazing person. You can see where Bill's love of football came from because his dad was all about football all the time.
I remember catching him in one of the last conventions I was at, probably 20 years ago. I was having a refreshment with a friend of mine. Saw him come in, go to the elevator. It was probably about 11:00. At this time he's probably 85 years old. Ran over to say hello to him, figuring it would be a quick 'how do you do'. We stood there for an hour. He's quizzing me about special teams, going right down the list. That love and passion for football probably stems right from that.
Football is football, pro, college or high school. If you're coaching, then you love coaching. I think it's not a surprise at all. I think it's probably a genius move at UNC.
Q. Hank Brown, what was it that led you to pursue him in the portal? What do you feel he can bring to the team?
KIRK FERENTZ: It's like anything you do in the portal. If you go to the portal, you're trying to improve your depth, trying to improve the level of competition at any given position. Obviously, we're a little thin at that spot right now body-wise. Need some guys that we think have a chance to really develop and grow.
I know Tim has been really thorough with his evaluations on everybody, including high school film. That was a big part of the evaluation, going back and watching all the prospects that we look at in high school, following it to whatever college tape may be there.
I think the things that Tim is looking for, he found that with Hank. The other key component is what is it going to be like when we meet the prospect, his family, how we feel they're going to fit in the program. Vice versa, it has to be a mutual deal. Felt really good about it. We're excited about it.
Again, he's not going to play in this game. We're going to add to the competition here in the spring and see how it goes. Both he and Jimmy Sullivan will be a part of that.
Q. Iowa is the only football program in America with a consensus All-American(s) each of the last six years. What is it that those guys on the wall have in common? What does it say about your program to have this many guys reach that top level?
KIRK FERENTZ: I think it's fair in saying we don't get a lot of five-star guys, unless their dad has played here. Probably about the best chance we've got. Maybe a brother played here. We've had that, too. Otherwise it's just not where we recruit typically.
As I said at the front end, it's about getting guys that have the right attitude and hopefully have a skill set that can be developed. Height bar. Bob Sanders was never going to be able to get on the roller coaster back in Kennywood Park back in Pittsburgh. He could play strong safety pretty good for us. He played it pretty well in the NFL, too. All at 5'8". If we were going by the bar -- other people didn't go by the bar -- he would have gone to Penn State. That's one thing I learned in the '80s: good players come in all sizes and shapes.
The commonality of the guys that are on that wall are guys that really had a lot of pride and they didn't mind working. Sometimes they had to be patient like Jay. Jay has watched other good players play. That's really the secret at any level, for somebody being good, is put that work in. You have to have requisite ability, you can't do it just by chance. I think it's attitude and just ability to work hard, persevere, all the things that football teaches you. Those things all come out and come out in good form for those guys.
Q. No Reece Vander Zee on the depth chart. Is he available?
KIRK FERENTZ: I don't know when we wrote that depth chart, it was probably last month. He's fine. Practicing well. In fact, coming off the field last night, asked him how he felt. He feels great. He'll be in the rotation.
Q. Hank Brown via the portal, are you comfortable where you're at in terms of additions?
KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, so far. It's a process, as you know. A lot of people are out traveling around. I guess it all comes to an end Sunday, I think. Seems like it's been a long journey.
I think we're in a good position. We'll do our due diligence. If it works, it works with players we're involved with. If not, so be it. We have a couple more visitors coming here I guess before Sunday. As far as I know, we're done Sunday. That could change.
I think we're comfortable right now.
Q. Anything you would change about the way the portal works?
KIRK FERENTZ: How long do we have (smiling)?
No, I mean, I'm an optimist. I think we're moving in the right direction, being college football. I think the proposed model right now, is solid. Question is can we enforce it, really make it a reality. I'll believe that when I see it.
I mean, I've been saying this for a while, especially after being in the NFL. One thing is the NFL, it has perfect clarity in terms of what you can and can't do. Also have a Collective Bargaining Agreement, so that makes it easier.
Everybody is under contract in the NFL, coaches and players, and they're binding contracts. If the coffee is not good on Tuesday, I can't just leave and go to the next team because my feelings got hurt about the coffee.
You sign a deal, then you live that deal out, or you sit. The harsh reality in the NFL is they can pay you to sit. They don't do it with players too often, but coaches they'll do. We're not a big expense item.
Anyway, what we need is some structure and clarity. I think everybody should be willing to sign on. You could argue the same thing about coaches. But sign on and live by the binding agreement.
Yeah, right now there's way too much. People have been changing their minds fast, move on. It's disruptive to everybody, quite frankly. Not fair to everybody.
Having structure would be nice. Then enforcement in the NFL is very consistent all across the board. Everybody plays by the same rules. That's the Utopia. We're never going to get that in college football.
Salary cap, which I think we're kind of getting there, if we could enforce it. That will be a great start. Then again, if you're going say you're going to do this, you got to do it. Not a life sentence, but prescribed, whatever you agree to write on a contract, do it, live it out.