With the Alamo Bowl in the books, we bid goodbye to some of our favorite Hawkeyes. Graduating seniors include QB Drew Tate, K Kyle Schlicher, P Andy Fenstermaker, DBs Miguel Merrick and Marcus Paschal, QB Jason Manson, LB Ed Miles and Zach Gabelmann, RBs Champ Davis and Sam Brownlee, OLs Lee Gray, Marshall Yanda and Mike Jones, and TE Scott Chandler. Out of all of these I’d say Scott Chandler will be NFL draft pick and probably on the first day. I could see Schlicher and Jones getting picked in the late rounds or getting on with a team as a free agent.
My team MVP has to be LB Mike Klinkenborg if only for the performance against Iowa St after the loss of his father. That was the moment of the season. The surprise of the season is the performance of freshman Dominique Douglas at WR. Ferentz doesn’t play many freshmen, so it was nice to see Dominique made such an impact.
What will the Hawks be like next season? You can expect Jake Christensen to take over at QB and Tony Moeaki at TE. Moeaki has bigger shoes to fill, but Iowa always develops good TEs, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Tony is considered all Big Ten in 2007. Jake Christensen will have some growing pains, but I like that he gets a chance to work with a bunch of young receivers like Douglas, Brodell and Stross. One thing working against Christensen is the loss of several starters on the offensive line. Ferentz has a great history of having great O lines, and they will really need to develop quickly next season. If Jake spends half his snaps getting sacked it will make it a lot tougher to develop timing with his receivers. It will help that Albert Young will be back, but will it be the Young from 2005 or 2006?
On defense the front four of King, Iwebema, Kanellis, and Mattison will return and have another year’s experience. The Hawks will lose several at DB and LB. The loss at LB worries me less because of the play of Humphal and Klinkenborg. Someone like Pat Angerer will step up and earn a starting spot. The loss at DB worries me because our coverage has been a weakness for us all season. There are a lot of freshman DBs on the roster so we’ll have to see how they develop.
It will be strange to not have a kicker named Kaeding or Schlicher for the first time in what, eight years? Signor filled in for Kyle in one game (Montana?) and he looked sharp making 5 for 5 with a long of 41 yards.
The one thing in the Hawks favor is schedule. In 2007 there is no Michigan or Ohio St on the conference schedule. The big conference games will be Wisconsin and Penn St. The key to winning in 2007 is getting back to a team like the 2005 Hawks which were disciplined and didn’t hurt themselves with a lot of stupid mistakes. The 05 Hawks rarely made bad penalties, while the 06 Hawks seemed to hurt themselves every game with the penalties. Ferentz is a great coach and he has done it before.
I can’t see any reason why the Hawks won’t return to a bowl in 2007 or even having a better record than 2006, though it will be tough to challenge for the Big 10 title with such a young team.
