Tag: Drew Stevens

Report card: Grading the Iowa Hawkeyes’ dominant 33-13 win over Northwestern

Finally, a report card Iowa can safely bring home. The Hawkeyes get high marks across the board after a 33-13 thumping of Northwestern.

A three-game losing streak reminds everyone just how sweet winning is. As Vince Lombardi once said, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”

Truly, it’s the tonic for plenty of woes. Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz said as much leading into the Hawkeyes’ Homecoming game against Northwestern and he said as much afterwards.

“Just one thing that never changes in football, losing stinks, and winning is a really good feeling. So our guys needed to experience that. So we’re right back. We have four weeks left in conference play. But the biggest thing is we’re moving in November. And November is about playing your best football. That’s what it’s all about. So that has to be our goal,” Ferentz said.

Iowa (4-4, 2-3 Big Ten) heads to Purdue next week looking to get the record back over the .500 mark. Before that, let’s hand out some grades that Iowa can actually feel comfortable taking home to mom and dad. Pull up a chair, class is in session.

Several Iowa Hawkeyes freshmen already starting to make an impact

Running back Kaleb Johnson and kicker Drew Stevens are the two prominent names, but there’s several other freshmen making impacts for Iowa.

If there are any bright spots on this middling 3-3 Iowa football team (we certainly need some good with Ohio State coming up this week), it is the youth carving out roles already.

We already know the impact sophomore Cooper DeJean has made in the secondary this year, looking like the next star Hawkeye defensive back. Multiple freshmen, though, have started to gain significant playing time early in the season.

According to Sean Bock of 247Sports’ Hawkeye Insider, his midseason Iowa redshirt tracker shows that six true freshmen have received game time this season.

Running back Kaleb Johnson, kicker Drew Stevens, and defensive backs Xavier Nwankpa and TJ Hall have all played in Iowa’s six contests thus far. Defensive tackle Aaron Graves has appeared in five games, tight end Addison Ostrenga in four and running back Jaziun Patterson has one lone appearance this season.

Johnson already has 50 carries for 232 yards with three rushing touchdowns. He finished with seven carries for 103 yards and a pair of scores from 40 and 55 yards out against Nevada. Then, versus Michigan, Johnson scored Iowa’s first points on a 2-yard touchdown run.

Kaleb Johnson has shown flashes of success as perhaps the Hawkeyes’ starting running back of the future, however, the struggles of the offensive line this season have really hampered any consistent impact he’s been able to have. Aaron Graves currently has seven tackles and Patterson has six carries for 20 yards.

Kicker Drew Stevens has probably seen the most success of the Iowa youngsters, staking his claim as the starting kicker. Stevens is 6-of-7 on field goal attempts this season, his first miss a 45-yarder coming in Iowa’s most recent 9-6 loss against Illinois. Despite the miss, special teams coordinator Levar Woods had a lot of positive things to say about the freshman kicker.

“As far as that goes, field goal units, I think Drew is coming along as a player,” Woods said. “He is definitely young. He has had — every game is really like a new experience for him in some way because he was a high school kid a year ago. Really less than a year ago. I think he has made a huge transition since spring. We’ve all kind of seen that. He missed a kick, his last kick, against Illinois, which I know is just eating at him, but to me that shows the guy is a competitor. He may be young. He may be inexperienced, but he is a competitor, and he has that drive inside.”

Both Nwankpa and Hall have received significant playing time on special teams so far this season. While many are anxious to see the five-star Nwankpa get on the field for Phil Parker’s defense, I’d like to remind them of Cooper DeJean’s career arc at Iowa thus far. A lot of his contributions his freshman year came on special teams, and we see how well he’s done in his second year.

It may not be the most glamorous on the stat sheet, but special teams is a great way for both Nwankpa and Hall to get their feet wet, to adjust to the speed of Division 1 ball. Their time will come.

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Week 3 rewind: 3 Iowa Hawkeyes seeing stock rising, falling

The Iowa Hawkeyes moved to 2-1 after a marathon against Nevada due to lightning delays. Let’s check on some of the Hawkeyes’ stock trends.

Saturday night, and eventually into the wee hours of Sunday morning, saw the Iowa Hawkeyes move to 2-1 with a 27-0 shutout of Nevada. In a game that took nearly seven hours from kickoff to the clock hitting zero, the circumstances were some that many players, coaches, or fans have never dealt with before.

That said, there were positives to take away from this game. The Hawkeyes got some things going offensively and were able to string together some drives. Even more promising, the Iowa offense showed some big-play ability, a very welcome sight from an offense that was looking anemic.

The Hawkeyes defense did their thing. Whether it is 7 p.m., 10 p.m , or 1 a.m., the defense is going to be lights out week in and week out. Nevada could not get anything going on a wet field and the Iowa defense didn’t let them sniff an ounce of success.

Let’s get into a handful of Iowa Hawkeyes and some that are seeing their stock take a rise.

‘We’ll let that play out’: Iowa Hawkeyes are comfortable, but undecided on specialists

As the kickoff to the 2022 season nears, Iowa is still figuring out what the final field goal and kickoff assignments will look like.

As the Iowa Hawkeyes get set to play host to South Dakota State from inside Kinnick Stadium on Saturday at 11 a.m. on FS1, one important phase of football isn’t completely ironed out.

That’s the all-important third phase for the Hawkeyes. In the field goal kicking department, Iowa is accustomed to boasting some of the nation’s best in recent years. Last season, Caleb Shudak connected on 24-of-28 field goal tries. That 85.7% field goals made number ranked 13th nationally.

In Iowa’s depth chart reveal ahead of the season opener against the Jackrabbits, sophomore Aaron Blom appeared atop the place-kicking depth chart. The Oskaloosa, Iowa, native was just in front of freshman Drew Stevens from North Augusta, S.C.

According to Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz, though, there’s no true resolution just yet.

“We’ll let that play out, and it may play out for a week or two or a couple weeks, you never know. Unlike this spring, I think we’re doing better certainly in the fall. I’m more encouraged. It’s gone back and forth a little bit, and I don’t think it’s a bad thing quite frankly. But both guys have really improved a lot since last April, and they both have worked hard, have a good attitude, and I think they’re both very capable,” Ferentz said.

Asked which kicker fans would see first, Ferentz said your guess is as good as his.

“I don’t know. I’ll tell you on Saturday. I don’t know right now,” Ferentz said.

If it’s that close of a race for the field goal kicking and kickoff duties, then can fans expect to see both versus SDSU?

“Not necessarily as field goal kickers, but one may kickoff, one may kick field goals, and then we’ll see where it all goes. Right now, there’s no clear plan. We’re waiting to see how the week plays out and how they do,” Ferentz said.

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Week 1 Iowa Hawkeyes offensive depth chart versus the South Dakota State Jackrabbits

The Iowa Hawkeyes

The season-opening week for the Iowa Hawkeyes is upon us and that means it’s almost time for Iowa to lock horns with the South Dakota State Jackrabbits.

Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz and the Hawkeyes released an offensive depth chart ahead of Big Ten Media Days, but, now that kickoff is this week, the Hawkeyes have revealed an updated offensive depth chart.

Fans suspected that Spencer Petras would remain as Iowa’s No. 1 quarterback. That is the case in the season-opening depth chart. What other surprises await Hawkeye fans in the first in-season depth chart reveal? Let’s take a look at the full Iowa offensive depth chart for South Dakota State.

Social media reacts to the Iowa Hawkeyes’ 2022 Kids’ Day at Kinnick

What were the reactions on social media to what fans and media saw during Iowa’s 10th practice, the annual 2022 Kids’ Day at Kinnick?

Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz had plenty to say following his team’s 10th training camp practice, the annual open practice for Kids’ Day at Kinnick.

Overall, Ferentz liked what he saw from his group.

“First and foremost, good opportunity for our guys to change up from the first nine days. First time we’ve been in front of the public a little bit, so that’s healthy. Just a healthy change for everybody. And then, flipping it over, it’s a good opportunity for us to have Kids’ Day. I think hopefully they enjoy it and all of our guys were kids at one point.

“Even me at one stage, I was a kid. So, that’s good and then the Kid Captain program as I said yesterday is just a great concept. Nice to have our seniors get an opportunity to spend some time with them, greet them down here in the end zone, so it was all good. And then, just overall, I’m actually kind of pleased with what I saw today,” Ferentz said.

Ferentz discussed what he liked the most about his group’s performance.

“Two things I feel really good about was, first and foremost, big contrast from the field goal kicking, from what all of you guys witnessed last spring and coaches witnessed as well. I don’t think we had a miss today. I don’t think we did and most of them weren’t even close. One was I know, but that was good, so a lot of growth there since April. We’re not out of the woods yet. I’m not pronouncing us ready to go, but at least that’s encouraging. The third down period I thought was really good, too. That was encouraging. I thought we were pretty sharp there and did some good things. So, those two things were good takeaways,” Ferentz said.

Naturally, the fans and media in attendance had plenty of reactions as well. Here is how Hawkeye social media took in the 2022 Kids’ Day at Kinnick.

Iowa Hawkeyes: 2022 special teams depth chart

Here’s a look at the Iowa Hawkeyes’ official 2022 special teams depth chart.

With Big Ten Media Days underway, the Iowa Hawkeyes went ahead and released their official depth charts entering fall camp. While there certainly could be changes along the way, there were plenty of interesting notes in both the offensive and defensive depth charts.

Offensively, quarterback Spencer Petras is once again listed ahead of Alex Padilla entering camp. At running back, Gavin Williams is given the early nod over Leshon Williams. One of the interesting notes at wide receiver is redshirt freshman Alec Wick listed within the two-deep.

Meanwhile, along the Hawkeyes’ offensive line, the starters moving left to right look like this: left tackle Mason Richman, left guard Tyler Elsbury, center Logan Jones, right guard Connor Colby and right tackle Jack Plumb.

Defensively, while Lukas Van Ness is still listed as a second-string defensive tackle for Iowa, one has to imagine Van Ness will be used both inside and outside on the Hawkeyes’ defensive line in 2022.

In the defensive backfield, junior Reggie Bracy and sophomore Brendan Deasfernandez are listed as second-stringers at free safety and right cornerback, respectively.

How is special teams shaping up? While Iowa didn’t release the full picture on special teams just yet, we did get some idea of what it will look like entering 2022. Here’s everything we know so far according to Iowa’s official depth chart reveal. As noted and discussed below, there are several notable omissions that will be key during the Hawkeyes’ fall camp.