There are still a few positions up for grabs on the Iowa football team.
By Blake Dowson
Heading into fall camp, the Iowa football team seems pretty settled at most positions.
The Big Ten media days weren’t filled with questions about who the starting quarterback was going to be, they weren’t consumed with questions about who was going to fill in for an injury on the offensive line.
That being said, there are certain Hawkeye positions seemingly up for grabs, or they could be if the backup performs well in August.
Here are four position battles to keep an eye on before the Hawkeyes kick off against Miami (Ohio) onSept. 3.
Aaron Mends vs. Jack Hockaday: ‘Will’ Linebacker
We get help with all of these position battles, because there is a depth chart to look at. Mends tops Hockaday on the two-deep, but linebacker coach Seth Wallace said in the spring that the two are battling things out.
Mends is the more athletic of the two. The Kansas City native has been lauded by his teammates for the things he can do on the football field athletically. He certainly looks the part of a Big Ten linebacker as well — he is built as well as anybody on the team.
Mends does not have much game experience at “Will” linebacker, but neither does Hockaday, so that is basically a wash.
The one thing that Hockaday seems to have on Mends is a head for the game at this point. Wallace said Hockaday is a very instinctive player on the field, and Mends is yet to fully grasp the playbook and different coverages.
Prediction: when the dust settles, it will be Mends at “Will.”
Jerminic Smith vs. Jay Scheel: Wide Receiver
This seemed to be a new development between spring practice and media days in Chicago last week.
Smith and Scheel are listed as equals on the depth chart now at split end, which wasn’t the case in the spring — Smith had the edge.
Smith had more success than Scheel last year. He had only 9 catches all year, but he played far more snaps than Scheel and had that explosive game against Illinois.
Receiver coach Bobby Kennedy had a lot of good things to say about Scheel during spring practice and said he was finally coming along to where coaches thought he would be.
Incredibly, both are the tallest wide receivers on the team at 6-1, so size won’t be a factor in deciding who gets more snaps.
Prediction: There are a lot of snaps to be found for a relatively green receiving corps. Smith will be listed as the starter, but Scheel will play quite a bit on the opposite side of the field.
Peter Pekar vs. Jon Wisnieski: Tight End
George Kittle will obviously be the starting tight end, as some have pegged him as the best all-around tight end in the country (that seems a bit crazy, but still.) Everyone knows the tight end for the Hawks is vital, and they play with two tight ends on a high percentage of snaps.
That makes the backup tight end battle between Pekar and Wisnieski especially important. Pekar came to Iowa as a walk-on on the defensive side of the ball; the Hawkeyes switched him over to tight end before the start of the 2015 season.
Wisnieski was a highly touted tight end out of West Des Moines, rated as the No. 1 player in the state of Iowa in the 2013 class. He tore his ACL earlier in his Hawkeye career, which has hurt his climb up the depth chart.
Now that he is healthy, he has a leg up on Pekar.
Prediction: Wisnieski seems to be fully healthy now, so I think Hawkeye fans will finally see the tight end who was recruited to Iowa. He could be a game changer.
Miguel Recinos vs. Mick Ellis: Kicker
This will be a full-fledged battle. Head coach Kirk Ferentz was asked about the progression of his two kickers during the spring, and he said they both had a lot of work to do.
Recinos is listed as the starter on the depth chart, so he obviously has the edge. This has the feeling of a week-to-week type of thing, though that’s not always the best thing for a kicker’s psyche.
Prediction: Recinos wins the battle during the month of August, and he kicks off to Miami on Sept. 3.
