By Jordan Hansen
When people outside the circle of Iowa fandom look at the Hawkeyes, one of the first things to come to mind is the ridiculous amount of offensive-line talent the school pumps out.
Professional teams respect head coach Kirk Ferentz and the Hawkeyes to the point where nearly every offensive lineman who comes out of the program gets a significant look from the NFL. This year won’t be any different.
ESPN went out on a limb and projected the Iowa offensive line as the best unit in the country, and while that’s probably not entirely true, there are expectations for this group.
With that in mind, when asked about the ranking, offensive-line coach Brian Ferentz was blunt.
“This year, I have more questions than maybe the rest of the world,” he said. “I’m certainly not as blindly optimistic as some of the prognosticators are. We’re still going to have to line up and block every week, and there are going to be a lot of people waiting for us.”
This comes on the heels of Iowa giving up 29 sacks last year, and while those all certainly weren’t entirely the offensive line’s fault, it was fairly clear there was work to be done. It doesn’t exactly help that center Austin Blythe and guard Jordan Walsh are gone, but on the surface, it seems like the team can reload.
Iowa likely ends up starting Ike Boettger and Cole Croston at tackle, James Daniels at center, and Sean Welsh and Boone Myers at guard. If this lineup does play, there will be 43 combined starts by members of the offensive line — not a small number.
“We have great chemistry going; we have guys who have been together for multiple years,” Croston said. “We’re going to have young guys step in there, and we’re going to be fine.”
Speaking of young guns, one of the most impressive is Daniels. The true sophomore saw a little time last year as injuries took their toll on the depth chart. He flashed some of his four-star potential, but it wasn’t all roses in the off-season.
Daniels sat out much of spring with an injury but seems to be back to full health. He appeared to be confident at Iowa’s media day that he was ready to go and doesn’t feel behind.
“You don’t have to be in to get a rep,” Daniels said. “I just take mental reps every practice, just take a look at how the defense is lined up, going through in my mind what I would need to do.”
While Daniels was taking mental reps, Welsh got time snapping the ball during most of spring and even got named to the Rimington Award watch list, which goes annually to the nation’s best center.
Now, however, Welsh is back to playing guard along with converted tackle Myers. They’re different size guards — Welsh is 6-3, 290, while Myers is pushing 305 and stands 6-5 — but both have experience playing and should be good options come Sept. 3.
Keeping quarterback C.J. Beathard upright and healthy has to be the No. 1 priority for the group; the quarterback had to have surgery after the season. Moving the ball on the ground is also vitally important to the Hawkeye offense, but run blocking shouldn’t be a much of a worry.
In practices and scrimmages during the off-season, the offensive line has looked good, and there will probably be plenty of praise for the unit by the end of the season. If there is anything troubling, it will be the lack of depth.
No one on the two-deeps outside the starters has significant game experience, and with the way things have gone the last several years, expect some players to miss time. Iowa has had pretty good luck with players coming in and producing, so even this shouldn’t be a huge worry.
It’s a tightly knit group, and no matter what happens, this should be one of the most adaptable units.
“We got a great group of guys here,” Welsh said. “A great staff. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
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