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From learning a new system to inexperience and injuries, make no mistake about it: Iowa’s offense is a work in progress. If there’s any reason to be optimistic, the Hawkeyes ran the ball pretty well against one of the best defenses in the country. They got it done on the ground against their own defense in Iowa’s final spring practice.
The head of the bunch, Leshon Williams, was injured. But reserves Kamari Moulton and Max White both scored touchdowns in 11-on-11. Kaleb Johnson, now in his junior season, had some impressive touches as well.
“It can only go up from here,” Williams said. “I feel like all the running backs are going to keep elevating the more we practice the plays and keep learning.”
“For a lot of the guys, that was an easier transition maybe than the passing game,” Mason Richman said. “We’ll get there. We’ve gotten a lot better all spring, trust me. But I think the running game has taken off just because it carries over a little bit easier. There’s only a couple of wrinkles really with a lot of stuff we do, and once we get the hang of that then it’s really going to go, so it’s been really good.”
“There’s a process to it,” head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “I think we have seen the biggest thing is week to week, practice to practice we’ve seen improvement. Certainly, by the time we get closer to August a lot sharper.”
Quarterback Cade McNamara is still limping around the field in a knee brace, so Deacon Hill and Marco Lainez took most of the snaps. Many are now wondering if the Hawkeyes go to the portal for answers at quarterback. Ferentz was non-committal.
“We’ll do anything we can do to help our team,” Ferentz said. “If there’s an opportunity that presents itself that makes sense, we’ll consider it. If there’s something that make us a better football team, yes.”
The Hawks get to put the pads away for a couple of months. The biggest storyline going into the summer is if this team will add a quarterback or a weapon in the transfer portal. They did both last year. We shall see this time.