The Iowa football team will hold its 15th and final spring practice on Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.
Practice will start at 1 p.m. and is open to the public at no cost. There also will be a scrimmage for fans who want to get one last look at the team before it heads to the offseason.
Here are eight things I plan to look at closely: Why eight you ask? Because that’s probably the fewest number of games that Iowa has to win next season in order to please the fans.
Life after Brandon Scherff: Iowa’s ability to reload rather than rebuild is being severely tested at offensive tackle, where both starters have to be replaced, including 2014 Outland Trophy winner Brandon Scherff.
Sophomore Boone Myers, a former walk-on, has the daunting task of replacing Scherff at left tackle, while fellow sophomore Ike Boettger is the front-runner to replace Andrew Donnal at right tackle. Myers and Boettger both look the part, with each weighing 300 pounds, but looks sometimes can be deceiving.
It’ll be interesting to see how Myers and Boettger perform when matched against Iowa’s two starting defensive ends, Drew Ott and Nate Meier, both of whom are battled tested at the Big Ten level. The offense can’t afford for Myers and Boettger to struggle next season because their positions are so important to the overall scheme.
Horizontal versus vertical: I hadn’t heard of a horizontal pass before Greg Davis became the Iowa offensive coordinator in 2012. Let’s hope we don’t see any more on Saturday unless it’s a well-designed screen pass to a running back that leads to a big gain.
C.J. Beathard’s touch and accuracy: Hey, did you hear that C.J. Beathard has a strong arm? I ask that jokingly because Beathard’s arm strength already has reached legendary status, thanks largely to us in the media raving about it.
What I’m more curious to see Saturday is if Beathard consistently hits receivers in stride and if he shows some touch on shorter passes. Beathard was hurt by a number of dropped passes in his only start at Purdue last season. But in fairness to the receivers, a few of the drops might have been caused by the ball being thrown too hard.
A new and healthy LeShun Daniels: The junior running back has recovered from a foot injury that caused him to miss six games last season and is 10 pounds lighter. Jordan Canzeri is listed as Iowa’s starting running back, but he can’t do it alone next season.
It’s time for Daniels to show that he can be a major contributor. He still has good size at 225 pounds, but is now quicker thanks to shedding 10 pounds. That quickness was only display recently when Daniels set a school record in the shuttle-run drill. Now the question is; will it be on display Saturday?
Beathard’s backup: Redshirt freshman quarterback Tyler Wiegers seemed overwhelmed at times during the open practice in West Des Moines. Many of his passes missed their target and he struggled to throw a consistent spiral.
Wiegers will have had two weeks to improve, so I’m curious to see if he performs better on Saturday. Fans should hope so, considering Wiegers is just a Beathard injury from being Iowa’s starting quarterback.
Depth at receiver: Fans already know what Iowa has at receiver with seniors Tevaun Smith and Jacob Hillyer and junior Matt VandeBerg. It’s the players behind them who bear watching on Saturday because somebody other than the three proven veterans has to contribute next season.
Competition at strong safety: Sophomore Miles Taylor and redshirt freshman Brandon Snyder both made their presence known at the open practice on April 11 in West Des Moines. They probably stood out more than any other players on the team, mostly because of how aggressive they were. Taylor made a few bone-jarring hits that were reminiscent of the great Bob Sanders, while Snyder played with the poise of a veteran.
Taylor is listed first on the depth chart, but this battle will carry over to fall practice and beyond. Whoever performs better on Saturday would have momentum heading into the offseason.
Attendance: Combine the chance for adverse weather with the product on the field and not having a traditional spring game and Saturday’s open practice could be a tough sell for fans, even with no cost for admission.
Saturday’s turnout could provide a glimpse of how fans feel nearly four months after the debacle against Tennessee in the TaxSlayer Bowl. Interest already is on the decline based on ticket sales, so you wonder if that will have an impact on Saturday’s turnout.
Playing a traditional spring game likely would attract more fans, but Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz prefers having an open practice that includes a scrimmage.
I thought about listing the punters, but the stage on Saturday will be nothing like the real thing. A good practice punter doesn’t automatically mean a good game punter.