Defensive ends Adrian Clayborn and Broderick Binns leave practice Saturday
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. ----- Kirk Ferentz’s idea of what would be a disastrous start to the Orange Bowl Tuesday might not make sense at first.
He dreads the possibility of the Hawkeyes receiving the ball and returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown.
“I’ll share some trivia with you. My kid has been in this stadium (Land Shark Stadium, where the Orange Bowl is played) three times, one of my sons,” Ferentz said after Iowa wrapped up practice this afternoon. “He’s been at three games, sat in the stadium, saw three opening kickoffs get run back for touchdowns.
“All three teams lost.”
Ferentz has come up with a way to prevent becoming part of an 0-for-4 statistic.
“If we do break it, we’re going to instruct our guy to put it down at the one-inch line, take a knee,” said Ferentz.All joking aside, Ferentz didn’t say much that hasn’t been said before. But between my travels from Pompano Beach, to Fort Lauderdale, to Davie, back to Pompano, to Miami and back to Pompano yet again today, I found plenty pieces of useful and/or entertaining information for you Hawks fans to chew on as you await the big game.
AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE
One of the biggest things coming up in Florida right now is the future of three current Hawkeyes. Cornerback Amari Spievey has remained quiet about whether or not he will forgo his senior season to enter the NFL, and, as noted earlier today in this blog, offensive lineman Bulaga has started dropping hints but won’t give an answer until after the game Tuesday.
The future of Dace Richardson, however, was talked about not only by Richardson himself, but his coach and teammates.
But that doesn’t ensure he’s coming back, even if the NCAA grants that request. Like Bulaga, Richardson talked about Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford’s decision to return to school despite being a projected top three pick in the NFL draft last offseason.
Richardson said that he was on the fence about whether to come back for a sixth year. He won’t have to worry about making the decision quickly, however. His coach said that the Jan. 15 application for the NFL draft doesn’t apply to Richardson, and, with some scorn, noted that the NCAA won’t tell Richardson whether he can come back until mid May.THE NEXT LEVEL
Both Moeaki and center Raphael Eubanks spoke candidly about what they want after their final game on Tuesday.
“I’ve been an under-sized guy my whole football career, and looking at the next level it’s going to be the same thing,” said Eubanks. “But I’m going to give it a shot. I don’t want to be two, three years out wishing I gave it a shot when I didn’t. That way I’ll at least find out if I’m not good enough or if I’m too small.”
Because of his small stature for his position, expectations for the next level aren’t so high for Eubanks. To his credit, he recognizes and accepts that fact.
“I’m most likely going to be a free agent type of player,” said Eubanks. “That’s fine with me. The biggest thing is you get an opportunity and you’ve just got to go with it. Hopefully I get lucky and catch on with somebody.”
“It’d be nice to come back,” said Moeaki. “It’s fun to be a part of this team, but they’re probably sick of me so I’ll get out of here.”
RICHARDSON IS IN
Everyone that you would expect to play will be playing Tuesday. The only player who has been questionable for some time is Richardson on the offensive line, but both he and his coach confirmed that he will play Tuesday.
“I’ve been practicing for a while, I’ve been slowly getting the rust off,” said Richardson. “But when I first came out and first started practicing I was leaning, I was rusty, I wasn’t moving the way I wanted to. But slowly, the past three weeks, I’ve been getting the rust off and working, and I feel that when it comes game time, I should be ready to go.
“This past week I’ve been feeling really good,” said Richardson. ”I’m starting to feel like my normal self again.”
The return of a second-team All Big Ten lineman should serve as a boost for the Hawkeyes against a strong front four of the Yellow Jackets, at least according to one of Richardson’s line-mates.
“Any time you get a guy back that’s really struggled with injuries, and seeing him fight back to even get back to dress, like he has, and now he has an opportunity to play … I think that’s got to fire up everybody,” said Bulaga. “It shows how bad he wants to be here and how bad he wants to be a part of this game.”
CELEB SIGHTINGS
The Hawkeyes have been bombarded with celebrity encounters in their time in Miami. Although he hasn’t seen any of them personally – he’s been resting and trying to catch up on sleep – Hawkeyes quarterback Ricky Stanzi named Robert Pattinson, Beyonce, Jay-Z and Spike Lee as some of the celebs the team has seen. He forgot Dennis Rodman and one or two others.
Wide receiver Marvin McNutt was being sought out by Spike Lee.“My teammates told me he was looking for me, and I was like, ‘why is he looking for me?’” said McNutt.
Lee didn’t know McNutt by appearance but by name. McNutt said he broke the ice by walking up to Lee and asking to be in a movie, starting off a conversation.
So, why McNutt? Bulaga had a two-part explanation.
“Marvin’s a big name,” he said. “Come on now, nobody wants to see an offensive lineman. Especially with his shirt off by the pool.”
BIG TEN OVERRATED?
The Big Ten has been heavily scrutinized in recent years for bowl game letdowns, but Ferentz doesn’t think that judgment is fair and was glad to see Wisconsin, Ohio State and Penn State all defeat Top-15 opponents in their bowls.
“I think perception really gets blown out of proportion,” said Ferentz. “Maybe just to get people to relax a little bit this is a good thing. But we’ve had good teams throughout the years. Bowl games, you know…sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Everybody is pretty good at bowl games.”
A CRAZED FAN
After telling the assembled media about his plans to prevent a kickoff return touchdown to start the Orange Bowl, Ferentz went into a story of what he and his son encountered at the third one of the losses he witness – the Chicago Bears Super Bowl loss to Indianapolis in 2005.
“We were sitting up there, next to last row in the endzone,” said Ferentz. “It rained like crazy, and there was this woman from Indianapolis that screamed the entire 60 minutes to some Bear guy sitting right in front of us. I thought for sure she’d wear out at halftime … she went the full 60. I hope our team has her endurance.”
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE FUNNY
Plenty of humorous – intentionally or not – incidents occurred today.
The day started off with a reporter asking Georgia Tech defensive tackle Logan Walls what side of the ball he played on. During a defensive press conference. With Wall’s name and position right in front of the reporter’s face on a placard sitting right on the table in front of them.
Ken O’Keefe made a comment to open his press conference in the morning that had the room rolling.
“I also hear that our media from Iowa is holding up their end of the bargain as far as the hospitality room here,” said O’Keefe. “We’re well represented and taking care of business there.”I haven’t been to that hospitality room yet, and I’m apparently one of the few. I feel like I'm letting Iowa down.
Finally, Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson took a nice jab at me – and apparently all Iowans – when I met him today.
After identifying myself as “Brian Heinemann, with the Clinton Herald up in Iowa,” Johnson laughed and commented that he “never would have guessed,” saying that he assumed I was from a Tallahassee or Alabama newspaper. That got all in the vicinity – I was the only member of the Iowa media there; it was all Tech people – laughing, as Johnson was clearly making fun of what he perceived to be my “Iowa accent.”
As all of us Iowans know, we talk normal. Johnson just clearly doesn’t know that.
PHOTO GALLERY - Click on the photo for a larger version.
Where I'm staying
My rental car
The press conference room
The interview room
Nice reporting so far !
ReplyDeleteHey--you haven't made it to the hospitality room yet? Please, someone has to check out that room soon ...
ReplyDeleteI have loved the blogs so far! Can't wait to read your article on the game. Go Hawks!
ReplyDelete