If you’re familiar with the Iowa Hawkeyes, you know the phrase “next man in” all too well.

Whether it’s because of injuries or losing seniors to graduation, Kirk Ferentz and his staff are always expecting the second and third-stringers to be ready when their names are called.

Last season, several players seized the opportunity to “break out” after spots opened up on the depth chart and others simply put together fantastic seasons. Players such as RBs Adam Robinson, Brandon Wegher, Marvin McNutt and Tyler Sash come to mind.

Everybody knows the Hawkeyes lost some key athletes to graduation and the NFL Draft. Now it’s time for others to step up to the plate swinging for the fences. Who will it be this year? Here’s a list of who I believe could surprise with great seasons.

1. Jeff Tarpinian LB, Senior, 6-foot-3 238 pounds

It can be hard waiting for a chance to show what you’ve got, especially when the wait finally ends your senior year.

That’s the situation Jeff Tarpinian faces as he assumes the middle linebacker position for the Hawkeyes. But Tarpinian has already given us glimpses of what he can do on special teams the past few years.

Tarpinian was a force to reckoned with on special teams last year for Iowa–just ask Michigan’s Darryl Stronum.

Watch the video below. At about 1:53, you’ll see what I mean.

Big Ten opponents will be seeing No. 33 in their sleep for years to come if Tarpinian has anymore hits like that in him.

2. Keenan Davis WR, Sophomore, 6-foot-3 215 pounds

I’ll admit I expected more out of Davis last season. Whether something didn’t click or there was too much talent ahead of the Cedar Rapids, Iowa native on the depth chart, I was disappointed.

Last season, Davis caught only four balls for 55 yards, but did have a touchdown. His average of 13.8 yards per carry isn’t at all bad, though the fact that he only had four catches has to be considered when looking at that stat.

With a year under his belt, however, my expectations remain high. At 6-foot-3, 215 pounds, Davis is too great a physical specimen to be held back.

The final depth chart coming out of spring practice shows Davis as a second-team receiver. Perhaps where Davis might have a better chance at finding success this season is at the kick returner position. He’s listed as a starter there along with Derrell Johnson-Koulianos–who could be a big reason Davis’ true break out season comes next year.

3. Allen Reisner TE, Senior, 6-foot-3 248 pounds

Reisner, like Tarpinian, is another senior who has given us glimpses of what he can do but was held back only because of the talent ahead of him.

Well, he’s the next man in at tight end for the Hawkeyes.

Two years ago, Reisner hauled in 11 catches for 200 yards and one touchdown but had to compete with Brandon Myers and Tony Moeaki for playing time. Last season, Reisner upped his catch total to 14 for 143 yards and one touchdown but again had to play behind Moeaki–who put toghther a first-team all-Big Ten year.

Now Reisner finds himself all alone at the top of the depth chart. Don’t expect the Marion native to disappoint.

4. Colin Sandeman WR, Senior, 6-foot-1 200 pounds

In a way, Colin Sandeman had a mini-break out year last season. He posted career highs of 14 catches and 136 yards. He also tried his hand at punt returns and was probably one of the most successful at it until injuries forced him out of the role.

Another senior, Sandeman insn’t flashy but he’s got sure hands and is a bit of an underdog.

The spring depth chart lists him as first-team punt returner and second team receiver.

Who did I miss? Let me know by leaving a comment or reply @iowahawkeyeblog on Twitter.

Don’t forget Jacob Rudock!

In all the news about Ray Hamilton and  John Raymon voicing their commitments to the program, Jacob Rudock, a quarterback out of St. Thomas Aquinas H.S. in Fort Lauderdale, Florida who also signed on June 30 was left out of the news. Rudock was also holding offers from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Memphis, Illinois and Colorado.

That seems a little foolish as Ricky Stanzi is about to enter his senior year. Who knows, we may be looking at James Vandenberg’s replacement, or maybe someone who will get some action a little sooner than expected.

Rudock is a 6-foot-3, 190 pound “pro-style” quarterback. Here’s what Scout.com posted:

“Rudock is a more of a pro style QB that has the athleticism to move around in the pocket and pick up some yards with his feet. He is very cerebral, consistently making excellent reads, and can deliver the ball accurately and in rhythm to all levels of the field. He has the height at 6’3, now he needs to start filling out his frame. He possesses great touch when throwing down the field.”

-Geoff Vogt, Florida Recruiting Analyst

Scout has Rudock listed as a two-star quarterback. Rivals, on the other hand, bumps that ranking up to three. According to Rivals’ stats, Rudock completed 128 of 197 pass attempts for 1,945 yards, 34 TDs and 5 interceptions last season on the way to leading his team to the Class 5A state semifinals.

Rivals also records Rudock’s 40 time at 4.8.

What’s could be more telling of this young man is the 4.3 GPA reported by Rivals. Don’t get me started about grade inflation, but hey, it’s still impressive.

Many times, good grades point the way to a leader. We can hope this is the case here. Scout claims one of Rudock’s strengths to be his leadership, as well as decision making and intelligence. The site also says Rudock has room for improvement in his size.

Unless he’s not your typical high school athlete and just has a knack for staying scrawny, he’ll pack on some muscle when he makes the next step. He might also get a move on that during his senior year of high school.

Jacob Rudock in action:

Visit the YouTube page for more Jacob Rudock videos.

Wednesday has been a busy day for the Iowa Hawkeyes, as they added two new commitments to their 2011 recruiting class.

Ray Hamilton, a TE out of  Strongsville H.S. in Ohio, and John Raymon, a DE/TE from Council Rock H.S. North (Newtown, PA), pledged their allegiances to the black and gold this afternoon.

Hamilton is ranked a three-star recruit by both Scout and Rivals. He is a big kid at 6-foot-5, 230 pounds but can move, claiming a 4.70 40-yard dash. What’s most impressive is the list of schools Hamilton turned down to become a Hawkeye. That list includes Boston College, California, Cincinnati, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Stanford, West Virginia and Wisconsin–among others.

Scoutingohio.com has some good video footage of Hamilton in action. Looks like your typical Iowa tight end–and that’s saying something.

Raymon is listed primarily as a DE. He’s only a couple of pounds bigger than Hamilton at 235 and is 6-foot-5, as well. Neither Rivals or Scout hasRaymon ranked but he attracted offers from Illinois, Maryland, North Carolina State, Purdue, Temple and West Virginia.

Iowa Recruiting Review

Not including Raymon, as his main position is presumably DE, five of the Hawkeyes’ seven commitments are either TEs or WRs. Raymon is the first defensive recruit. This will even itself out but I’d like to see the Hawkeyes make a splash with some higher-ranked defensive recruits, mainly defensive linemen (like Raymon) and linebackers. Looking at the latest depth chart from Rivals, a lot of seniors pop up at those two positions–first and second string.

In another note, it’s always good to see home-grown kids on the list. The Hawkeyes have welcomed two Iowa natives to the team, OL Austin Blythe (Williamsburg) and TE Henry Kreiger-Coble (Mt. Pleasant).

Rivals has Blythe listed as Iowa’s only four-star recruit so far. Scout ranks Blythe three-stars.

According to Rivals, Iowa has recruited fairly well with Blythe (four stars) and JaCorey Shepherd (WR), Ray Hamilton (RB), and Marcus Grant (RB) all ranked at three stars. With Blythe ranked only three stars and Grant dropped to two on Scout, the Hawkeyes look as though they’ve done an average job recruiting this offseason–but it’s hard to tell and there’s still a long way to go.

Here are links to the sites’ Iowa recruit lists:

Scout

Rivals

Meanwhile, the Hawkeyes will once again find themselves playing “catch-up” with Ohio State in terms of recruiting. The Buckeyes have already claimed two five-star and seven four-star players, according the Scout.

Hope that didn’t ruin your evening.

Iowa Sports Connection (Click link for full story and rosters) — Safety Tanner Miller (Mid-Prairie) and running back James Morris (Solon) will compete in the 2010 Iowa Shrine Bowl Saturday July 24 at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames.

The Shrine Bowl features pre-college all stars pitted against each other on a North and South team. Both Miller and Morris will compete for the South.

All profits raised by the game are donated to Shriners Hospitals for Children.

For more information on the Iowa Shrine Bowl, visit their website: http://www.zagazigshrine.org/shrinebowl.htm.

Cliches are sometimes unavoidable in sports and the Iowa Hawkeyes are no different, as they will be dealing with the old “too many guys for one spot” problem at the running back position come fall.

While head coach Kirk Ferentz knows how quickly the running back lineup can be decimated and holds that there are never too many good athletes available, jostling this group could be a challenge.

In all reality, predictions at this point can’t hope to be completely accurate. When you’re trying to guess the order of the Hawkeyes’ running backs, the challenge gets significantly more daunting. No matter how it all shakes out in the end, though, Iowa’s got talent at this position—Big Ten defenses beware!

With the transfer of the highly-touted Jeff Brinson, who suffered from a nagging foot injury last season and would have been one of four sophomores on the Hawkeyes’ running back depth chart this year, Iowa’s backs have a little more ability to move up the ladder.

Incoming freshmen Marcus Coker and DeAndre Johnson will likely redshirt this season. Coker has striking similarities with former Hawkeye bruiser Shonn Greene and DeAndre Johnson has already impressed head coach Kirk Ferentz. Johnson also suffered an ACL tear in his senior season at Monsignor Pace High School (Miami, Florida) so there won’t be any rush to get him on the field.

Then there’s always spunky Paki O’Meara. Though he’ll be a senior next season, O’Meara is going to find some difficulty breaking through to the top of the depth chart. He’ll get some grunt work carries, no doubt, but he’ll see most of his playing time on special teams.

Iowa’s running backs are in no way devoid of stars, though. Returning starters Adam Robinson and Brandon Wegher are poised to carry the load once again. Robinson will be a redshirt sophomore and Wegher a true sophomore this season.

Though they were inexperienced, the young guns showed they’ve got the talent needed last season, even if at times it was a struggle.

Iowa’s rushing attack was tenth in the Big Ten averaging only 114 yards per game but they got the job done.

Robinson topped the 100-yard mark twice last year but was slowed as the season progressed due to injury.

When Robinson couldn’t go, Wegher filled his shoes. The speedster recorded three 100-yard plus games, including 113 yards in the Hawkeyes’ surprisingly dominant win over Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl.

Many people have heard the rumors that Wegher could be in for a position change, but don’t look for it to happen. He’s already established himself as a more than capable back who has the flexibility to line up in the slot position if needed. Ferentz and offensive coordinator Ken O’Keefe could get creative with Wegher, but don’t expect a position change.

As far as the running game goes, many might say Hawkeye fans’ enthusiasm for this season is uncalled for, as the statistics tell a different story about Robinson and Wegher’s successes last year.

That’s where redshirt sophomore Jewel Hampton comes into play.

People may or may not have forgotten but a couple years ago, when Shonn Greene was tearing up the Big Ten, the Hawkeyes had an outstanding backup in Hampton. He was fast and featured some nifty moves that Greene, for the most part, chose to go without.

Just when defenders thought they had a chance to lick the bruises left by Greene, Hampton would come in and leave his unsuspecting opponents in the dust.

This prediction may be a little premature but don’t be surprised if Hampton returns to practice healthy and puts a serious challenge in the ring for a No. 1 spot on the depth chart. I wouldn’t be surprised if he comes out on top.

When it comes to Robinson and Wegher, I think it’s neck and neck. Both backs have great upside they’re better when their counterpart is healthy.

I’ve always been more intrigued by Wegher, but I think that’s just his big play potential shining through. He’ll definitely see some kick return action and he’ll carry the ball plenty of times, too, but for now I like Robinson behind Hampton.

See this article on Bleacherreport.com.

Remember when mumblings, grumblings and rumors circulated that Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz needed to be fired? It’s understandable if in the team’s recent success you’ve forgotten but here’s a Pat Forde article that I dug up from a less black-and-golden time for the Hawkeyes:

ESPN — The quick trigger is turning college football into the NFL

Kirk Ferentz appears at No. 16 on this list of coaches, teams and players in trouble. His Hawkeyes had gone 23-21 since 2005. It didn’t keep the Hawkeye family happy.

Though the Hawkeyes were indeed struggling back then, Kirk Ferentz remained coach for the Hawks. He had the university and the majority of fans and media backing him.

So, why didn’t Lickliter received the same treatment? Iowa gave Ferentz a chance to turn things around and look what happend! We’re all celebrating an historical 2010 team.

Who’s to say Lickliter wouldn’t have used 2010′s surprisingly good recruits to build the foundation for a future Big Ten contending team? Speculation over whether or not this group — and the current roster — will stick with their commitments to the Hawkeyes are now abound. Did Lick’s firing doom Iowa to more years of rebuilding?

Yet some would argue that Lickliter should have already been able to rebuild in his three years at Iowa. Is that expectation fair? Was the firing too hasty?

In my opinion, this was an OK decision. Lickliter did have enough time to show improvement and his third year was his worst — also a school-record worst on top of that. That’s not the kind of improvement the Hawkeyes should be seeing.

Many people will claim  that because of player transfers, Lickliter was always rebuilding. But if these players didn’t see the team going anywhere and perhaps didn’t like Lickliter’s vision for the team, maybe it was time for the university to adjust its sights, too.

Yet Lickliter may have deserved another year. Iowa hit rock bottom, as far as fans and media are concerned. Next year, the only way for Lickliter to have kept his job would have been some detectable improvement.

We’ll never get to see whether or not his team really was improving this whole time.

I want to know what you think. Take one second to vote in the poll and express your opinion by leaving a comment.

Scout.com shows the Iowa Hawkeyes have thrown their name into the ring for three five-star recruits for 2011. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on whether these high school studs drop the Hawkeyes from their list of possible colleges or stick with them for the long haul.

Below is a list of the three athletes and a brief reason why they would fit in at Iowa.

Cyrus Kouandjio OT (6-6, 291) Dematha Catholic H.S. (Hyattsville, MD)

Kouandjio is from the same school as incoming freshman RB, Marcus Coker. Who wouldn’t love to block for a former teammate at the next level?

Braxton Miller QB (6-3.5, 199) Wayne H.S. (Huber Heights, OH)

Because everybody else goes to Ohio State. It’s time for somebody to step up to the plate and be a true trailblazer.

Jameel Poteat RB (5-11, 200) Bishop McDevitt H.S. (Harrisburg, PA)

After Robinson, Hampton, Wegher and Coker get done tearing up Big Ten defenses, it’ll be Poteat’s turn.

Extra Info:

The Hawkeyes are also interested in 11 four-start recruits.

Austin Blythe of Williamsburg is the first possible Hawkeye-state recruit listed at three stars.

Tanner Miller’s recruitment ride started out slow.

The 6-foot-2, 200-pound basketball, track and football athlete out of Mid Prairie High School (Wellman, Iowa) was holding on to preferred walk-on offers from Iowa State and Nebraska, an 80-percent scholarship offer from Northern Iowa and full ride offers from South Dakota and South Dakota State.

He also received attention from smaller basketball programs and an offer to continue his track success at Missouri.

Miller, who grew up in a Hawkeye black and gold community, had accepted the football offer from Northern Iowa.

But then a phone call came on the bus ride home from a basketball game on Feb. 1. Iowa Hawkeyes’ head coach Kirk Ferentz was on the other end with a full-ride scholarship offer.

Miller pounced on the offer. His basketball teammates celebrated.

The Hawkeyes rounded out their 2010 recruiting class with Miller’s commitment. Miller will take a shot at safety for the Hawkeyes this season.

In the past, the last guy on board for the Hawkeyes has been prone to success.

Some notables who have been final additions include NFL tight end Brandon Myers and next year’s starter at tight end, Allen Reisner.

Miller Could Follow Suit

He’s got the head to succeed at Iowa, no need to worry there. Miller was a member of the prep honor roll with a 3.56 GPA. Also, kids coming out of small Iowa communities tend to have that motivation and work ethic Ferentz wants out of his athletes prepackaged.

As a multi-sport standout, he’s got the versatility and athleticism to succeed at the U of I. Miller earned four letters in track as a hurdler and sprinter. He won the 400-meter hurdles state title as a junior. His time of 53 seconds was one of the Top 25 times in the nation.

Miller, however, excelled in football. In his senior season, Miller racked up 68 tackles as a free safety and totaled 1,846 yards and 23 touchdowns as a running back. Miller was also a punter, averaging 38 yards per boot.

Miller holds multiple school records including career points (513), single season points (266), touchdowns in a game (6), touchdowns in a season (32 his junior year), career rushing yards (4,004) and rushing yards in a single season (2,034).

But what stands out the most is Miller’s resemblance to current Iowa safety Tyler Sash.

Miller vs. Sash

Miller’s size is similar to Sash (6-foot-1, 210 pounds) and they were both known for their excellent running abilities in high school—perhaps more so in Miller’s case. Both played defensive back and running back.

Both were two-time first team all-state selections. While Sash’s sophomore season was a bit more impressive with a third team all-state selection, Miller didn’t lag far in comparison with his first team all-district selection in his sophomore year.

As far as recruiting goes, well, nobody can honestly say they saw Sash’s success coming. He held offers from just Iowa and Iowa State, while Kansas and Northern Iowa also took notice.

Miller’s recruiting experience was similar, if not just a bit more under the radar. I’ll bet not too many people will be able to say they saw him coming if he succeeds at Iowa.

I guess we’ll see what happens. It’s probably unlikely Miller will see much playing time at safety with Sash and second team all-Big Ten media selection Brett Greenwood. With the transfer of David Cato, however, Miller may have an opportunity to move up on the depth chart.

Miller might also be the next big-play guy on special teams for the Hawkeyes. He might also need a year or two to develop.

Only time will tell, but I’d set your sights on Miller as a player to watch come fall.

Another year, another batch of the latest green recruits for Kirk Ferentz and his staff to cultivate into model Iowa Hawkeyes football players.

Iowa City Press-Citizen: Ferentz ‘thrilled’ with recruiting class

If he’s happy, so are we.

Iowa City Press-Citizen: Iowa hitting a groove with recruits

The Hawkeye coaching staff will try to find high-level recruits with character this time around–because that’s what counts! No more trouble makers, please.

The Gazette: Derby wins his first QB derby at Iowa

A.J. Derby has upside at quarterback. He could be an All-American (Iowan) hero.

Iowa Prep Sports: Hawkeyes offer Kennedy’s French a scholarship

Christian French is a 6-foot-6 safety. The Hawkeyes want him at TE or DE–good idea.

Hawkmania (Quad City Times): No recruiting drama for Hawkeyes

Iowa recruits men of their word. We don’t like surprises anyway.

——————–

It’s been a fun ride providing my opinion and analysis. Thanks to everyone who has commented and linked to my site this fall and winter.

The good news is I’m not going anywhere! Nope, we’ve already got new faces showing up in Iowa City, looking to become Hawkeyes. What’s even more exciting is that if the Hawkeyes can put in another successful season, it could mean big success and big signings for 2011!

It’s never too early to look ahead–when it comes to recruiting.

Well…maybe Lane Kiffin and USC looked a little further ahead than most feel comfortable. Yeah, I think they did.

13-year-old David Sills is just that: a thirteen-year-old boy. Let the kid grow up and, yes, he is still a kid. He’s not even in high school yet.

Hopefully the NCAA steps in and stops things like this from happening in the future. USC has gone too far on this one.

I know he’s probably stoked, as he has a right to be, but the parents need to protect their child.

All he can hope to do now is live up to the expectations. For his sake, I sincerely hope he does.

That’s too much pressure on a teenager.