Observations from Iowa’s final spring practice
IOWA CITY − Iowa’s open spring football practice on Saturday brought colder and windier conditions than were predicted.
“So much for that 50-degree forecast,” Kirk Ferentz mused after a spirited two-hour practice before thousands of bundled-up fans at Kinnick Stadium.
Unpredictability was the theme of the 15-practice session of Iowa spring football, thanks to the offense being implemented by new offensive coordinator Tim Lester.
That made things difficult on a salty defense that Ferentz thinks might be the most experienced he’s had in 26 years as Iowa’s head coach.
“It was a stressful spring,” veteran middle linebacker Jay Higgins said, before repeating himself for effect. “It was a stressful spring.”
Higgins didn’t sound like he was exaggerating when he said it took him 13 practices to start to figure out what Lester’s NFL-style offense, inspired by what Kyle Shanahan does with the San Francisco 49ers, has brought to Iowa City.
Right now, the Hawkeyes lack the on-field talent at quarterback to really make the defense pay. But even so, one recent practice saw Lester’s offense use pre-snap motion on 60 out of 67 play calls. The biggest positive for the offense was that it helped uncork more big runs than Iowa’s seen in many years, according to defensive coaches.
And if Lester’s offense is throwing off a veteran defense that prides itself on filling run gaps with their defensive fits, then that feels like tangible change coming to Kinnick Stadium on Aug. 31 vs. Illinois State.
No, that doesn’t mean this offense will be dynamic, but it’ll definitely look different.
Lester tried to scheme around what the Iowa defense does well and confuse it. That is a tactic the former Western Michigan head coach picked up in his NFL experience last season with the
Green Bay Packers.
“Like the running back jabs right, (Lester) knows that I’m going left,” Higgins said. “Or if the guard pulls, he knows I’m gonna see that guard pull, and then they go the opposite way.
“He basically plays with us all the time. It was really fun. It felt like a game week every time we came on the practice field.”
Higgins said for the first time since he’s been at Iowa, the defensive coaches – led by coordinator Phil Parker – were installing new schemes to counter what Lester was trying to do.
And, by the way, what we saw Saturday was a very vanilla offensive plan from Lester, who situated himself in the Kinnick press box to call plays.
“They kept it simple today. Smart guys,” Higgins said. “There’s probably somebody in here with cameras.”
We know the offense had some good days and bad days. Saturday seemed like a decent day. But with the weather and minimal parts of the playbook revealed, there is only so much that can be concluded.
Overall, Ferentz said of the offense: “The biggest thing is from week to week, practice to practice, we’ve seen improvement.”
With that, here are some things I observed Saturday with context from other interviews done this spring, with a lot of names mentioned and bolded.
Observations about the Iowa offense
Let’s actually start with the running backs, a room that’s so deep that even with starter Leshon Williams out (sprained left ankle), there was no noticeable drop-off. A familiar face that looked really good was Kaleb Johnson, especially when he was able to get outside the tackles. Johnson could be the offense’s best-rediscovered weapon in the Lester era. Too often in the failed Brian Ferentz offense, Johnson’s runs never got going. With Lester’s motions keeping defenses guessing, Johnson might be able to find more creases than he saw last year while being limited to 463 rushing yards and 4.0 per carry.
It appears Kamari Moulton has surpassed Jaziun Patterson on the depth chart. Moulton and Johnson got work with the first-team offense; Patterson and Max White (who scored a 9-yard touchdown) were mostly with the second team. Moulton gives Iowa a nice change-of-pace speed option and still has four years of eligibility after playing only four games as a true freshman.
Terrell Washington Jr. finished the day with a long touchdown run up the right sideline. He switched to receiver this spring but Lester said he’ll still be used for some carries, too. Washington has some juice to him but also dropped a pass. He’s young but exciting with the ball in his hands and gives receivers coach Jon Budmayr something extra to work with, especially with the surprising departure of Jacob Bostick.
While both quarterbacks led touchdown drives Saturday, second-string
Marco Lainez outplayed temporary starter Deacon Hill on the strength of his ability to run. That said, Lainez was going against second- and third-teamers on defense while Hill went against the No. 1 unit.
On one play call for Hill, it appeared Lester dialed up a deep shot to Kaden
Wetjen, who broke open against cornerback TJ Hall. But Hill checked it down for a short gain. Hill made up for that lost opportunity by connecting with freshman Dayton Howard for a long catchand-run game, then delivering a 3-yard strike to Wetjen on third-and-goal for a touchdown on one of his best throws of a shaky day.
It sounds like Wetjen has been the offensive star of the spring for Iowa, with Lester finding ways to get the speedster the football in space.
Lainez seemed to be more deliberate than Hill in the pocket, but he had a really nice long completion to Kaleb Brown early in 11-on-11 action. Lainez also kept the defense on its toes in the red zone with some scrambles and designed runs, and that’s a wrinkle that Iowa should consider during the season, too. Wetjen, Brown and Jarriett Buie were the clear top three at receiver with Seth Ander
son (soft tissue) out for most of the spring. But, Ferentz noted, “the little bit we did see (of Anderson), it looked good.”
It was great to see Luke Lachey look like his old self at tight end. Lachey’s snap count was limited after recovering from right-leg surgery. He caught one pass and made a big gain out of it. Addison Ostrenga (right-hand injury) was out, so tight ends overall were not much of a factor Saturday. Expect that to change when the full playbook is available. Lachey already looks like an NFL tight end and could be a first-rounder at this time in 2025 if he stays healthy.
With center Logan Jones (shoulder surgery; back in May) and right tackle
Gennings Dunker (undisclosed) out, here was Iowa’s starting offensive line from left to right: Mason Richman, Beau Stephens, Tyler Elsbury, Connor
Colby and Nick DeJong.
Ferentz said he thought the offensive line was more mature and physical than it has been in years. On the improvement on the line as a whole since January, Jones said: “It’s just ridiculous,” and he meant that in a good way.
The second-team offensive line (from left to right) was Jack Dotzler, Kade Pieper, Jeremy Chaplin, Leighton
Jones and Trevor Lauck.
The big topic everyone wants to complain about, the quarterback, will look better once Cade McNamarareturns. He is still on track for a full recovery by June from his torn ACL, and Ferentz said his throwing has been very good. The transfer portal should see some new entries soon as teams wrap up their spring practices across the country, and Iowa will be looking for immediate QB help.
Observations about the Iowa defense
Two key regulars were out, including defensive tackle Yahya Black and No. 1 cornerback Jermari Harris. Outside linebacker Kyler Fisher was also out. Additionally, the reps were minimal for inside linebackers Jay Higgins and Nick
Jackson, who don’t really need reps. That meant Karson Sharar and Ja
den Harrellmanned the inside linebacker spots in Iowa’s 4-2-5 defense, and Sharar flashed right away with an interception of Hill in 11-on-11 action. Both players should be in line for starting jobs in 2025 but in the meantime, they need to stay sharp now.
The top four defensive ends for Iowa are Deontae Craig, Ethan Hurkett, Max
Llewellyn and Brian Allen. On the first play after Hill connected with Brown for a nice long gainer, Craig came untouched around Richman at left tackle for a touch sack of Hill.
Maybe the biggest spring battle has been to see who will replace Cooper De
Jean, who was on the sidelines watching Saturday, at cornerback. DeJean, who is likely to be a first-round NFL Draft pick on Thursday, watched John Nestor and TJ Hall run with the No. 1 unit, with
Deshaun Lee mostly running with the second group. Nestor has also been playing at the cash spot this spring, and it seems like he’s got the inside track to supplant DeJean even though Lee has more game experience.
Nestor also was Iowa’s top punt gunner Saturday, a role that DeJean mastered.
“We feel better about all three of them after 15 practices,” Ferentz said, and that’s a good thing, especially with Harris’ durability concerns.
Observations about special teams
You’re going to like punter Rhys Da
kin. He does wear No. 9 like fellow Melbourne, Australia, native Tory Taylor did. But Dakin is four inches and 30 pounds smaller, so he’ll look different. His punts, though, look gorgeous. He launched one missile from his own goal line that landed at the opposite 20-yard line. He downed two straight punts inside the 5 and near the sideline like he was dropping in a 7-iron for a birdie putt on No. 12 at Augusta National.
Dakin’s punts looked less booming with a punt rush … but that comfort level should grow over time. Remember, this is his first exposure to competitive American football.
We didn’t get to see the return game on Saturday, but special-teams coordinator LeVar Woods on Thursday listed several names at kick returner. One of them was Johnson, who had the longest return of the 2023 season. Washington, Moulton and Zach Lutmer are also in the mix. Wetjen, the fastest player on the team, is the likely punt returner.
On his final field-goal attempt of the day, Drew Stevens rocketed home a 56yarder through the South end zone uprights. That was a strong way to end a cold Saturday at Kinnick.