IOWA CITY, Iowa – Football is a violent sport for anybody who plays it, but the level of violence varies from position to position.

Receivers are at risk of taking vicious hits, but not on every play. There are times when a receiver barely gets touched. Receivers also get to bask in the spotlight by catching passes, running reverses and scoring touchdowns.

Fullbacks, on the other hand, are different specimens all together. They don’t necessarily enjoy pain, but fullbacks learn to embrace it because it goes with the territory.

Iowa receiver Tevaun Smith said Tuesday that he couldn’t even imagine being a fullback because of what the job entails. He sees the pounding that Iowa fullbacks Macon Plewa and Adam Cox absorb on a daily basis and wonders sometimes how they can take it.

“Those guys do all that dirty work and they do like it,” Smith said Tuesday. “It’s kind of crazy. I couldn’t imagine hitting somebody head-to-head almost every single play.
“They do like that stuff and I give credit to them. They work hard and you kind of have to have a mindset for that position.”

Smith freely admits that he doesn’t have that mindset. It takes a rare breed to play fullback at any level, but especially for a team like Iowa, which relies on its fullback to pave the wave.

“I don’t know, it’s kind of weird; they just like getting their heads smacked,” Smith said. “They could smack their head against the wall for all I care. Whatever they like to do.”

There should be plenty of head-smacking on Saturday when the 12-0 Hawkeyes face Michigan State (11-1) in the Big Ten championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Both teams take pride in being physical at the point of attack.

“This is going to be a hard-hitting game for sure,” Plewa said. “It’s the Big Ten championship. As a fullback, you’ve got to love that. That’s right on a fullback’s resume right there. Anytime we can provide a spark to our offense or move that defense back and set the tone, it’s a positive for us. And we look to do that on Saturday.”

There is no place for a coward on a football field. Everybody who wears a uniform puts their body at risk, even kickers and punters because you never know how a play might unfold.

But fullbacks take the toughness factor to a whole new level, and they do so mostly in obscurity at Iowa.

The Iowa running backs also take a pounding, but they get rewarded by making long runs and scoring touchdowns. Fullbacks get rewarded for making bone-jarring blocks by getting a pat on the back or a handshake from a coach.

“It takes a different kind of guy to be a fullback,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said Tuesday. “They always say linemen are a job for special people that don’t need any recognition. I mean, fullbacks, tell me what good they have, other than self-satisfaction, the pride of doing their job really well? And their teammates, they all recognize that.

“We never give the ball to those guys. We throw one pass a year to them. Basically, they’re going to line up and run into somebody and block them, and it’s a tough job. It’s not as easy as it may look or appear to be.”

Ferentz wasn’t being entirely true, considering Plewa has one rushing attempt for three yards this season and two catches for seven yards.

For the most part, though, playing fullback at Iowa is a thankless job that takes discipline, humility, courage, toughness and according to Smith, being a little weird.

“It takes a real special kind of guy, a total team guy,” Ferentz said. “And that’s exactly what we have. That’s exactly what you see with those guys.”

The popularity of the spread offense has led to the fullback’s demise at some schools, but not at Iowa where playing fullback is almost considered a badge of honor.

“They don’t get any attention or praise other than from the coaches and players,” said Iowa quarterback C.J. Beathard. “We know what they do and they’re not looking for the spotlight or anything.”

It’s probably no coincidence that with two healthy fullbacks Iowa is averaging 203.7 rushing yards per game this season, which is second only to Ohio State in the Big Ten.

Iowa’s fullbacks weren’t healthy last season, and as a result, the Hawkeyes only averaged 163.1 rushing yards per game and finished a disappointing 7-6. Cox missed the entire 2014 season with a knee injury, while Plewa missed five games because of injuries.

“That’s part of the story last year, and not only having good fullbacks or healthy fullbacks but good fullbacks, and we’ve got two outstanding ones,” Ferentz said. “I think both tight ends have really played well this year. And fullbacks are even more off the radar than tight ends are. But for what we do, it’s really important.”

To say that Iowa senior running back Jordan Canzeri admires his two fullbacks would be putting it mildly.

“I’ve told people, and I’m biased, but I don’t care, that I believe they’re the best fullbacks in the country because they’re just very capable of getting the job done,” Canzeri said of Plewa and Cox. “We run plays where they go against a down linemen because they’re capable of doing it.

“As a running back, just to be able to run behind guys like that is great. It’s relaxing and makes my job that much easier.”

Competing for playing time hasn’t kept Plewa and Cox from becoming close friends off the field. They both have a lot in common besides the ability to withstand pain. They both came to Iowa as a walk-on linebackers with something to prove.

“They both moved to fullback at the same time a couple springs ago,” Ferentz said. “They really impressed us, not necessarily the way they were playing right off the bat, but with their attitude and the way they were working at it. And to me, they’re really representative of a lot of guys on our team. They have improved so much since the spring of 2013, every step along the way. And they’re both playing at just a really high level and great young guys. It’s neat.

“And then the friendship part and all the stuff that happens down the road, that’s what makes all of this so much fun.”

Some of the fun comes at the expense of Plewa and Cox.

“We joke around with them that they’re so physical and they hit people so hard that 30 years down the road they might only remember run plays,” Canzeri said. “And that’s the only things that will come out of their mouths just from how many times they get hit in the head.”

The jokes end on game day, though, because playing fullback for Iowa isn’t a laughing matter. It’s a challenge that only a few tough-minded players can handle.