Tag: TJ Hall

Kirk Ferentz comments on TJ Hall winning Iowa’s starting CB job

TJ Hall won the second starting CB job, but it sounds like this battle could continue into the start of the 2024 season.

One of the most hotly contested competitions in the lead-up to Iowa’s season opener against Illinois State has been at cornerback.

Graduate cornerback Jermari Harris was penciled in as a returning starter for the Hawkeyes given his 18 career starts and 12 starts in the 2023 season. Harris, a 6-foot-1, 189 pound cornerback, has registered 78 tackles, 17 passes defensed, five interceptions and 2.5 tackles for loss during his Iowa career.

Iowa still had a battle to sort out opposite Harris, though.

On Monday, junior TJ Hall was listed as the starting cornerback opposite Harris, winning the opening-day nod over sophomores Deshaun Lee and John Nestor.

Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz met with the media on Tuesday to preview the Hawkeyes’ season opener versus Illinois State and discussed why Hall earned the starting job.

“Probably just a little bit of consistency, and it’s gone back and forth. It’s a little bit like the running back position. Difference is most of those guys have been available, the four corners have been competing and practicing. So, probably a little consistency thing, but it’s still really close,” Ferentz said.

That’s in line with what Iowa defensive coordinator Phil Parker said last week about the cornerback position. Parker indicated that Iowa might play more bodies in its defensive backfield in 2024 and that the cornerback competition had been very tightly contested.

“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.

Based on Parker’s comments last week and Ferentz’s remarks on Tuesday, it feels like Hall, Lee and Nestor will all get a look at corner and that this could still be an ongoing competition into the 2024 season.

“We have a lot of positions right now where we’ve got to start somewhere Saturday and start somewhere this week when we practice with our first team. But I will say this, it won’t surprise me, especially in certain groups, where it may take a month to figure out where we’re at.

“And I say that in a positive way because I think we have a lot of young guys right now that we’re going to learn a lot more about them. John Nestor’s a good example. He hasn’t played an awful lot. We’ve seen him on special teams. So, to see him in game action, I think we’ll learn a lot about him. I think our receiver room’s a lot like that. The back thing will probably sort itself out, but I think we’ve got guys that are capable. That’s part of the process as we move forward and just it’ll be interesting to see what it looks here six weeks from now as opposed to just this Saturday,” Ferentz said.

Iowa’s season opens on Saturday, Aug. 31 at 11 a.m. from Kinnick Stadium as the Hawkeyes play host to Illinois State with the game broadcast on Big Ten Network.

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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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Kirk Ferentz updates Iowa football injuries after Kids’ Day at Kinnick

TJ Hall exited Kids’ Day at Kinnick with an injury, but Kirk Ferentz indicated it isn’t serious.

Fans got an extended look at the Hawkeyes during Iowa’s 2024 Kids’ Day at Kinnick.

In the open practice, the biggest microscope was on graduate quarterback Cade McNamara’s health and effectiveness and on junior transfer quarterback Brendan Sullivan from Northwestern. That duo’s performance generated the most takeaways and the most social media reaction from the open practice.

Still, there was plenty else to take in, too. The starting cornerback position opposite graduate Jermari Harris is being hotly contested by junior TJ Hall and sophomores Deshaun Lee and John Nestor.

Hall got the first look on Saturday and performed well. The 6-foot-1, 187 pound defensive back from Fresno, Calif., broke up a pass intended for senior wide receiver Kaden Wetjen.

Hall was shaken up on the play, though, and exited the Hawkeyes’ Kids’ Day at Kinnick scrimmage.

Afterwards, Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz said the early prognosis was that it was a minor injury for Hall.

“Sounds like an ankle. It doesn’t sound like a big one, so that’s good news. So far, so good,” Ferentz said.

Iowa was also without starting safety Xavier Nwankpa and starting tight end Luke Lachey in the scrimmage. It didn’t sound like those injuries for Nwankpa and Lachey were deemed as serious ones either.

“Yeah, Xavier’s had, he’s been nursing an injury not the whole camp but part of camp. Luke came up a little sore the other day, yesterday, so we just held him out, but he’s fine. He’s doing good. He’s gotten a lot of work obviously,” Ferentz said.

Ferentz said on Friday during Iowa Media Day that senior running back Leshon Williams was working his way back from a soft tissue injury.

“So we’ve got four or five guys that have been out with soft tissue injuries and stuff like that, and unfortunately Leshon is one of them, so you triggered a thought there.

“We know who he is, and we’ve got total confidence in him, but he hasn’t been able to go. Hopefully we’ll get him moving here pretty quickly. But he’s working through some stuff. Nothing long-term,” Ferentz said of Williams.

The 5-foot-10, 214 pound running back was the Hawkeyes’ leading rusher last season with 170 carries for 821 yards.

Sophomore defensive back Koen Entringer was listed as Iowa’s backup strong safety behind Nwankpa on the Hawkeyes’ defensive depth chart prior to Big Ten Media Days.

Ferentz noted on Friday that Entringer has been back practicing with Iowa after sustaining a knee injury in the Citrus Bowl versus Tennessee that required offseason surgery. But, Entringer tweaked his ankle on Friday morning and was held out of the Kids’ Day at Kinnick scrimmage and seen with a boot on his left foot.

“One thing I’m pretty sure of, everybody is different in terms of their healing capacities, pace, all that stuff. He’s broken every record. He’s practicing. We’re not letting him tackle anybody or anything like that. But he’s practicing. He did tweak his ankle this morning, so I don’t know if he’ll practice tomorrow or not, but doing a really good job.

“We’re going to try to be really smart because it takes—what I also know or have learned, when guys get cleared, it takes a while for them to get their confidence back. He’s really kind of running around like there’s no problem, but try to protect him from himself a little bit,” Ferentz said of Entringer.

Other notable names that sat out during Kids’ Day at Kinnick included junior wide receiver Seth Anderson, redshirt freshman wide receiver Dayton Howard, redshirt freshman defensive back Kahlil Tate and freshman defensive back Jaylen Watson.

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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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Iowa Hawkeyes 2023 Snapshot Profile: No. 2 TJ Hall

After a year of growth and development, the Fresno, Calif., native is back in Iowa’s secondary. What’s in store for TJ Hall in 2023?

TJ Hall had his big “welcome to the league” moment last year in the regular season finale.

In a must-win matchup against Nebraska, Iowa was extremely shorthanded at cornerback. Already without Terry Roberts and Jermari Harris, breakout starting corner Cooper DeJean exited the contest after just a single play. Plagued by injuries, Iowa had to turn to true freshman TJ Hall in the biggest game of the year.

The assignment was an extremely tough one for Hall. He was matched up against one of the best receivers in the conference in Trey Palmer. A speedster, Palmer would break the single-season record for yards in a season for the Cornhuskers before being drafted by Tampa Bay in the sixth round. Palmer tortured the Hawkeyes’ defense with nine catches for 165 yards and two touchdowns. Both of those touchdowns came against Hall.

It was a real trial by fire situation for Hall in his first genuine playing time for Iowa, and, unfortunately, the results went against him. Only a sophomore, TJ Hall’s story is far from over at the University of Iowa despite a rocky start.

A four-star cornerback, TJ Hall is a talented player with a good bit of potential for Iowa. That game was a great learning experience for the young California native, and he will look to use those great lessons moving forward to improve. As the primary backup at corner, Hall will look to put that Nebraska game behind him with a big 2023 season.

Here is a look at Iowa corner TJ Hall.

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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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Iowa Hawkeyes seeing multiple freshmen impressing in 2022 fall camp

It’s great news for the present and the future. Several freshmen have been making a statement throughout fall camp for the Hawkeyes.

Fall camp is the perfect venue to gauge where young players stand heading into the season. While much of the attention will be placed on the projected starters, camp presents a unique opportunity for growth and exposure for the next generation of Hawkeyes. Through injury replacement and general rotation, several young players have shown the potential for an early impact this season.

As Hawk Central’s Kennington Lloyd Smith touched on, multiple freshmen have already shown flashes despite the abrupt adjustment to the rigors of Big Ten competition. Due to an injury that has kept likely starting running back Gavin Williams off the field the past week, redshirt sophomore Leshon Williams has received a bulk of the first team carries. Leshon Williams’ stock is reportedly rising internally amongst the Hawkeyes.

Freshman running backs Kaleb Johnson and Jaziun Patterson both took advantage of the opportunity, combining for an unofficial 21 carries during the Kids’ Day scrimmage. Both have sparingly received first-team reps in practice. Gavin Williams is back at practice but it would be reassuring to know there are capable runners behind him, whether it is in relief or to complement his play.

Wide receiver Jacob Bostick is another seizing his opportunity, learning multiple receiver positions.

Due to low numbers, Bostick is playing all three of Iowa’s receiver positions during camp. Wide receivers coach Kelton Copeland said Bostick has shown promise over the last few practices, and he worked heavily with the team’s second and third units on Saturday’s scrimmage. When healthy, the Hawkeyes feel good about their top three options. But if injuries continue, the speedy Bostick could be counted on to play early. – Lloyd Smith, Hawk Central.

While the availability of field time might not be as frequent on the defensive side of the ball, a trio of freshmen look to be in the Hawkeyes’ future plans. Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz said after the Kids’ Day scrimmage that the Hawkeyes would be silly to redshirt defensive lineman Aaron Graves. Defensive backs Xavier Nwankpa and T.J. Hall have taken advantage of their early start with Iowa so far, too.

The benefits of Hall and Nwankpa early enrolling were two-fold: They got a head start on learning the system and they arrived at a time when there were injuries in the secondary, allowing for more reps during spring practice. Both feel like they’re much more comfortable in fall camp. – Lloyd Smith, Hawk Central.

Hall currently figures to be in the second group of cornerbacks, while Nwankpa continues to develop as a safety behind veterans Quinn Schulte and Reggie Bracy. Safety is one of the key positions for the Iowa defense. The CASH position, a role that Nwankpa easily projects to in the future, has seen some of the biggest stars on defense in recent years.

Amani Hooker and Dane Belton were both first-team All-Big Ten members in that role. The CASH spot requires not only high-level skill and athleticism, but communication, the key adjustment for Nwankpa in his first offseason in Iowa City.

Iowa is bringing back a ton of starters this year, especially on the defense. It is why there is a lot of buzz around the team as a contender for the Big Ten West division yet again. It is not just about the experienced players, though. If the new blood of the Iowa program can find ways to contribute right away despite the massive adjustment to Big Ten play, the Hawkeyes will be better off from it both now and in the coming years.

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‘It kind of gets passed down’: Iowa Hawkeyes star Riley Moss embracing 2022 leadership reins

As a returning All-American and elder statesman, Iowa Hawkeyes cornerback Riley Moss is embracing the leadership reins entering 2022.

As a returning first-team All-American, Iowa cornerback Riley Moss is naturally going to be looked to for leadership. The 6-foot-1, 193 pound defensive back from Ankeny, Iowa, registered four interceptions, five pass breakups and 39 tackles last season.

The fact that he also brings back 25 career starts with him only adds to that.

Plus, the Hawkeyes are replacing a pair of players in safety Jack Koerner and cornerback Matt Hankins that started 32 and 37 games in their careers, respectively.

In his first meeting with the Iowa media since the spring, Moss broke down with Hawk Central‘s Chad Leistikow, HawkeyeReport‘s Tom Kakert and others how he’s handling that leadership responsibility.