Phil Parker breaks down Iowa football’s cornerback competition

Iowa defensive coordinator Phil Parker broke down his thoughts on the Hawkeyes’ cornerback competition.

The Iowa Hawkeyes have a healthy competition underway at cornerback.

Graduate cornerback Jermari Harris is locked in as one of the returning starters for the Hawkeyes. The 6-foot-1, 189 pound corner from Chicago has appeared in 32 games and started 18 over the past two seasons.

Iowa has three options it feels good about opposite Harris as its other potential starting cornerback. Sophomore Deshaun Lee started six games last season and performed well in his opportunities. Lee was listed as Iowa’s starting cornerback opposite Harris during the spring.

Junior TJ Hall and sophomore John Nestor are both serious options as Iowa’s other starting cornerback, too, though. Nestor, a 5-foot-11, 196 pound defensive back, was listed atop Iowa’s depth chart to start fall camp.

With fall camp ending and game week arriving, Iowa defensive coordinator Phil Parker shared some of his thoughts on how the cornerback competition is shaping up.

“Well, I think it’s really interesting. Jermari Harris has come back and the leadership that he’s brung and seeing TJ Hall grow and improve his standard of play. Nestor, he’s really doing a good job, very competitive out there and Deshaun Lee’s doing a heck of a job.

“So, I mean, it’s really interesting to see those four over there. One day one guy might have a better day than the other guy. It’s depending on what day and, at the point of attack, how productive are they? But, I think they’re all into it, they’re all working hard and you can see maybe playing more guys in the back end if you have to,” Parker said.

Asked if Nestor reminded him of former Hawkeye and current Denver Bronco Riley Moss, Parker said he does.

“They’re both probably the same kind of personality a little bit and you’ve just got to calm John down a little bit at times. Hey, just relax a little bit. He’s full go all the time just like Riley was. So, it’s nice to have those guys. You want those guys. Just give me effort, make sure you give me effort. I can deal with everything else,” Parker said.

Parker wasn’t ready to tip his hand on who would be starting in the season’s opening week, though.

“You never know until the day of the game. You know what I mean? I got a good idea. I got a list of guys and rank them, but things change every day with us throughout the practice. This guy could jump ahead of the guy. Most likely I know who we’re going to be,” Parker said.

Throughout camp, Parker has tried to minimize some of the workload on his veteran defensive backs and get younger players reps.

“Jermari’s taken a lot. I try to save guys, the wear and tear on them, so sometimes I’ll give a younger guy more reps so they can get the more experience. I know it’s not a game situation, but that’s what we’re trying to do is make sure that everybody’s playing enough. Because, if you lose a guy, you want to be able to plug a guy in, but you don’t want to lose anything there,” Parker said.

Based on the sounds of it, this is a competition that will continue until Iowa’s season kicks off and maybe several games in. Parker and the Hawkeyes also sound comfortable perhaps rotating more at cornerback in 2024.

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Pro Football Focus asks if Iowa football boasts best secondary in America

It’s a no-fly zone in Iowa City.

The Iowa Hawkeyes have been and are still built upon their defense. It is just how they play the game and how they win a lot of them.

The defense entering 2024 could be primed up to be one of the best they have had in years, despite a historic run of NFL talent coming and going from the ranks. The 2024 Iowa defense is highlighted by eight returning starters.

A large part of the experience and talent of this defense comes in the secondary where Iowa is returning veterans. They bring back safeties Quinn Schulte and Xavier Nwankpa, deploy CASH defender Sebastian Castro, and have a quarter of Deshaun Lee, Jermari Harris, TJ Hall, and John Nestor manning the cornerback position.

With that, Pro Football Focus has begun asking if the Iowa Hawkeyes and defensive coordinator Phil Parker boast the best secondary in all of America heading into 2024.

Nestor did not see defensive time last year as a true freshman, but the other five saw considerable snaps and each graded out above 70 per Pro Football Focus.

The group combines for 84 starts in their careers with appearances in a combined 170 games. This group has seen a lot of different offenses and has incredible depth.

The six defensive backs have 13 interceptions and 54 pass breakups to their names. The group gets their hands on the ball and when they do, they make opposing cornerbacks pay.

Iowa has the potential to be a very good team in 2024. With a strong year from this secondary, they have the ability to be the best in America and elevate this team to great.

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Jermari Harris’ return provides talent, experience infusion for Iowa

Back atop the depth chart, cornerback Jermari Harris provides an instant infusion of talent and experience in the Iowa defensive backfield.

The Iowa Hawkeyes‘ defensive backfield is adding back one of its top pieces this week versus Western Michigan.

Out each of the season’s first two games, junior cornerback Jermari Harris returns just in time to close out the nonconference portion of the schedule for the Hawkeyes.

Hawk Central’s Chad Leistikow reported that Harris missed each of Iowa’s first two games as part of an NCAA-levied suspension for his involvement in the Hawkeyes’ sports gambling investigation.

Now, as he readies to make his season debut, Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz updated how involved Harris has been over the past several weeks and throughout training camp.

“He’s been really active, he’s been great. He’s had a great camp, and, basically, he’s been with our team, was with us Saturday. Just didn’t play the last two weeks. He’s fully engaged, ready to roll and it’ll be good to get him back,” Ferentz said.

Listed as the first team cornerback opposite junior Cooper DeJean coming out of the spring, Harris is also returning for Iowa after missing all of last season with an injury.

The 6-foot-1, 190 pound corner was terrific in 2021 as he stepped in for Matt Hankins as Hankins dealt with a season-ending shoulder injury. Harris appeared in all 13 games and started six that season for the Hawkeyes.

The Chicago, Ill., product tallied 34 tackles, broke up eight passes and came away with four interceptions. He also added 1.5 tackles for loss.

What does he bring back to the table for Iowa?

“Experience. He did a great job in a tough circumstance two years ago. All of a sudden he was in there, not maybe necessarily ready, but stepped up and did a really good job. The fun part, you talk about the human side of things, just to watch the growth that we’ve seen with him over his career, it’s just been unbelievable.

“He’s really developed into not only a good player but a really strong leader on our team and has taken a lot of ownership. Talking about mentoring young guys, he’s really been active helping younger guys try to get better,” Ferentz said.

(Photo by David Purdy/Getty Images)

The other silver lining for the Hawkeyes is that redshirt freshman corner Deshaun Lee picked up some valuable reps and starting experience against Utah State and Iowa State. For an Iowa team that came into 2023 with depth questions at corner, how well Lee played in the Hawkeyes’ first two games was an encouraging sign.

“Yeah, the good news there is, it’s kind of like Jemari’s situation a couple years ago. He got thrown in. I shouldn’t say thrown in, he earned his way to the field. We had an opening and he earned his way. Really did a good job.

“He’s played really well in two games now, and the good news for him is he’s gained a lot of confidence from his teammates, from the coaching staff. We came into the season with that being, depth at that position, the corner position being a real area of interest for us. Now, we have a lot more confidence in him, just like we did when Jermari stepped in and did the same thing,” Ferentz said.

Lee figures to remain a part of what Iowa is doing going forward given how well he performed in the Hawkeyes’ first two contests.

For Harris, his long-awaited return comes on Saturday, Sept. 16, at 2:30 p.m. when Iowa plays host to Western Michigan on the Big Ten Network from Kinnick Stadium.

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