Stanzi ready to roll in bowl

By Brian Heinemann
For The Herald

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. ----- We won’t know until after the Orange Bowl whether or not Ricky Stanzi’s return is a blessing or a curse for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Stanzi’s inconsistency has been well documented this year, during a season in which the quarterback threw 15 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in just over nine games. But for better or worse, the Hawkeyes have their quarterback and leader back for their meeting with Georgia Tech.

“As a cornerback, you look at the mistakes that he made, and if he continues to make those mistakes, you try to make him pay for it,” said Georgia Tech cornerback Mario Butler. ”But at the same time, he’s the kind of quarterback that will make a mistake and come right back and throw a touchdown. That’s the kind of mentality he has. He’s so poised.”

That’s the thing about Stanzi. Mistakes will happen with the amount of deep shots the Hawkeyes offense takes, and he knows it. He has been praised all season by teammates, coaches and opponents alike for his leadership and his ability to bounce back from a bad play and maintain his composure.

“You never want to make mistakes in the first place and have to be resilient,” said Stanzi. “But when you get in those positions you have to do what you have to do to help your team out. That’s really what matters. I know that every other player on the team is the same way.”

Those attributes far outweigh the bad, and not only from his own teams’ perspective. The Yellow Jackets have talked Stanzi up all week and are expecting big things out of Iowa’s signal caller.

The Hawkeyes are 9-0 this season in games Stanzi has played in their entirety, and that fact isn’t lost on Georgia Tech.

“All I know is that when Ricky Stanzi’s been in there, they’ve won football games,” Dave Wommack, the Yellow Jackets’ defensive coordinator, said.

The caliber of defenses Stanzi has faced isn’t lost on Wommack either.

“I think he can make most of the throws and everything,” he said. “You know, he’s gone against some pretty darn good defenses throughout the year. He looks like a pretty good football player.”

The wild card in the game could be the fact that Stanzi hasn’t played more than a quarter of a football game since Oct. 26. Stanzi started several games slowly this year, but he likely won’t have the luxury of easing back into action against a Yellow Jackets team that boasts a prolific, ball-controlling offense.

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz and offensive coordinator Ken O’Keefe both said that Stanzi has been full speed since before the team even travelled to Miami, and Stanzi himself said he’s “pretty much at 100 percent.”

“I hope to just be able to go out there and have it be like riding a bike, and nothing has changed,” said Stanzi. “That would be great. I mean, if things are a little rusty, then they are. I’ll just have to shake it off and get on the next play.”