Kaleb Brown to Iowa!
- Thread starter SharpShinnedHawk
- Start date
This signing would seem like a tremendous coup. But now let's see if Cade can convince KF and BF that throwing the ball to a wide receiver way down the field . . . 20 yards, 30 yards, 50 yards . . . is legal in college football. If Cade can do that, he'll have accomplished the near impossible, and Iowa might have an offense in spite of itself. At least Kaleb Brown is a sign of hope, and for now, that's huge.
You'd you feel comfortable letting Spencer Petras, or laugably dumb Alex Padilla, throwing a lot of deep balls? To a receiving group that had no small number of drops.
Also, you should go back and chart each game. I think you will find more deep and intermediate throws than you now think were run. The players just ****** them up.
Good points. But how about these: Who brought Spencer Petras to Iowa City? Not me. Who brought Alex Padilla to Iowa City? Again, not me. Who said, for three years, Petras "gives us the best chance to win"? Again, not me. And who brought in the guys who kept dropping the ball? Not me.
And I do believe the number of passes Iowa launches more than 20 yards beyond the line of scrimmage most years are few and far between.
Iowa had Charlie Jones, but what did KF and BF do with him? I think he caught NINE passes in his last entire SEASON as a Hawkeye. He averaged about that many PER GAME with Purdue and is now a member of the Cincinnati Bengals.
What did KF and BF do with Johnson and Bruce? They, as you may recall, followed Jones and hit the portal.
So I'm not exactly sure what you're trying to say, but if you're trying to blame the players for Iowa's bottom-feeding offense, try again, because every way you slice it--from recruiting to game planning--it falls on KF and BF--Ferentz Family Football . . . whether you like it or not. IMHO, of course.
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First, I am blaming the players. One player specifically. Sadly that's the most important position, the only guy that can single handedly lose a game. Spencer Petras. Petras and Padilla were obviously huge misses at QB. That's on the coaches. But you play the games with the players you have, not the players the chat room fans think you have. I will concede that the usual Ferentz winning game plan, shorten the game, minimize risks, win on D and Special Teams bit him in the ***. His fear of playing Labas led KF to stick with the bad QB that would provide the least risk of turnovers. Overcaution failed because Petras and Padilla were turnover machines. But it was Petras and Padilla actually making the mind-boggling mistakes. The more you think through the compounding effects of the QB'errors in their full context you see the source of the offensive play problems. Not every problem but the one big one that ***** it up for everyone else on offense.
What did we do with Keagan Johnson? Well, you might recall KJ was rarely healthy. He was on Iowa's roster for 27 games, and only played in 11. Although he commenced his first season of college ball injured-missed five games, once he got healthy quickly became a starter and the second most targeted player. Since the guy with more targets was just drafted in the second round can you really argue with the targeting priority in '21? Iowa threw him a lot of deep balls, he averaged 19.7 YPC. Two scenarios explain last '22's lack of usage. Either KJ was really injured, which meant he couldn't be used or he had already decided to transfer and malingered, thus stealing his schollie. One thing is certain, one must play to be used as a player and KJ was usually unavailable. Talented but fragile at best. One must play to be used, right?
Arland also missed a couple of games as a freshman and a ton of practice time. That prick Charlie Jones was the primary returner when Arland began his career. I assume you agree that Charlie Jones should have been the primary returner. Arland was also starting by the end of his true freshman year. Still, Arland was used as a ball carrier on jet sweeps, short outs and, of course a traditional wide receiver. He had 25 catches as a true freshman. Beginning in 22 Arland was used in every capacity and the target point of the offense. Arland lost the kick return job to Kaleb Johnson, that's an upgrade. Arland lost the punt return job to CDJ, and that's an upgrade. I will also say one skill Arland did not develop, although he still may, the ability to get good separation on medium and deep balls. Probably had a significant effect on 8.4 YPC in '21 and 7.5 in '22-the result of not getting deep.
I don't anticipate any of the QB problems we've seen. Think we have a better receiver than Jones, Bruce, and kid with the two Ts name. Quite likely better than KJ. This receiving corps will have a QB that completes in the mid sixties so there will a lot more first downs and that means a lot more downs overall. Don't really care about Charlie, the 2Ts guy or Bruce. We would like to have KJ back. We would have a dominant offense in the West if were still here.
Back to 2020. The Iowa coaches get credit for being the only P5 school to offer Charlie Jones anything. He immediately became the primary kick and punter returner and caught a few balls. Then, in '21 after he became a much bigger part of the offense. Punts, kicks, primary target on many plays. Then he transferred after spring ball leaving Iowa is a lurch, although he would have been a starter and shared the primary target position with Sam LaPorta. Charlie was thrown every kind of ball all over the field. You are making the mistake of assuming Charlie was as good at the start of 20 than he was at then end of '21. He wasn't.
There is also the issue of keeping all those guys happy in 21. Every wide receiver wants more targets. We already had an All Big Ten TE requiring significant targets, obviously. There were four wides looking for balls at a school known as a running team and a TE factory. Let's not forget the 1st team All Big Ten halfback on the roster.
And in the end, Petras' misses, and Padilla's not in same time zone misses are what diminished their statistical production. Like I said, most of his mistakes did not cost just a play and a first down, they cost at least 5 plays, the original miss and the 4 new downs that would have followed a more accurate thrower.
I think the Petras problem was KF's caution backfiring. We know the game plan is fewest possible mistakes and taking the fewest riskes to avoid mistakes. So he played two guys that seemed more predictable than Joe Labas but worse in every other way. There was a divided team, including Thanksgiving table at the Ferentz house. BF wanted Labas and KF wanted Petras. That soph class wanted Labas. In the end, KF chose the QB.
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