Kirk Ferentz addresses a number of topics, including his Twitter ban
RIVERSIDE, Iowa – Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz will have a warning for his players when he meets with them on Wednesday afternoon.
Ferentz wants his players to learn from what happened during the NFL Draft last week when offensive lineman Laremy Tunsil’s Twitter account apparently got hacked. A photo surfaced on Twitter during the draft that showed Tunsil wearing a gas mask and smoking from a bong.
“That’s a point I’m actually going to make to our team when I meet with them tomorrow afternoon, just the power of the video, guys don’t think about things,” Ferentz said before Tuesday’s I-Club event at the Riverside Casino and Golf Resort. “You can’t take it back once it’s out there. They do a lot of damage.”
Tunsil was considered one of the top players in the 2016 NFL Draft in terms of talent. There was speculation he might be the first player picked overall. However, the former Ole Miss standout saw his stock fall because of the video and was taken 13th overall by the Miami Dolphins.
“Fortunately, for the player we’re talking about, it’s one of the few professions where you can do that and still keep your job,” Ferentz said. “Most jobs, that wouldn’t work that way.”
Ferentz prohibits his players from being on Twitter from the moment they step on campus. Asked Tuesday if he feels even stronger about his Twitter ban in the wake of the Tunsil fiasco, Ferentz said:
“Absolutely.”
Ferentz said there are two cases in which he stopped recruiting a prospect after seeing something the prospect had posted on social media.
“I can think of one case, not real recently, but fairly recently, something was posted on a young guy’s site that when I saw it, I said we’re done,” Ferentz said. “I can think of two of them in the last five years where I said we’re moving on.”
Ferentz also brought up the case of former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, who was seen on video knocking his wife unconscious.
Rice was one of the NFL’s most productive running backs before the video surfaced. He is now out of the league.
“I heard on the radio somebody referenced Ray Rice and just the power of that video,” Ferentz said. “There are other players in the league that have probably done things maybe as bad that are still employed and Ray Rice is not.”
ROSTER CHANGES: Ferentz said Tuesday that receiver Andre Harris and defensive back Omar Truitt both have left the team.
Neither player cracked the depth chart during their time at Iowa. Truitt also was charged with drunken driving in February.
Harris is a St. Louis native and would have been a fourth-year junior this coming season. Truitt is a native of Fort Washington, Md., and would have been a third-year sophomore next season.
Ferentz said he believes Truitt already has dropped out of school and left Iowa, while Harris plans to transfer to a different school after the spring semester.
A FAMILY AFFAIR: Ferentz now has two sons and a son-in-law affiliated with Iowa football program with the hiring of Tyler Barnes as Iowa’s new Director of Recruiting.
Barnes, who is married to Ferentz’s daughter, Joann, had spent the previous three seasons working for the football staff at Vanderbilt.
“He did a great job at Vanderbilt and we’re excited about getting him back,” Ferentz said of Barnes, who used to be a graduate assistant for Iowa. “Tyler has worked in our program and I think he understands what we’re all about and what we’re looking for. And I think that’s really important.”
As part of Iowa’s nepotism policy, Barnes will report to a senior member of the UI athletic staff instead of Ferentz.
“I know he went through all the nepotism stuff, which I appreciate that,” Ferentz said. “But what we do is really competitive. It really would be counter-intuitive to hire people that aren’t going to try and benefit and enhance our program. That would not smart on any of our part to do that. So anytime we hire a coach or personnel we’re trying to get the guy that is best qualified to work at our place.
“Tyler could have been at Penn State the last couple years. He turned down that opportunity and that showed me a lot about him professionally. I think that showed some about him professionally. And that’s something I really admired.”
Barnes already was working for the Iowa staff when he started dating Ferentz’s daughter. The fact they even started dating was a bit of a surprise.
“The irony is my daughter told her mom that she was always going to stay away from football people,” Ferentz said. “She didn’t want any part of this life. So life’s ironies are funny.”
Ferentz’s oldest son, Brian Ferentz, is Iowa’s offensive line coach and running game coordinator, while his youngest son, Steve Ferentz, is a backup center on the current team.
NFL DRAFT UPDATE: Ferentz said he was surprised that only one of his players was selected in the NFL Draft last week.
Center Austin Blythe was taken by the Indianapolis Colts in the seventh round.
“Not shocked, but surprised a little bit,” Ferentz said. “I thought it might be a couple or three. But the NFL is always an interesting process and the draft is interesting how that works out.
“I was surprised that Austin went in the seventh round, I thought he’d go higher. Maybe the game has passed me by a little bit, too. But I’d be real surprised if he doesn’t play a lot of real good football for the Colts or forever he is with. He’s a real good football player.”
Iowa has had at least nine players sign as free agents since the conclusion of the draft last Saturday.
Blythe was the 59th player from Iowa to be selected in the NFL Draft since Ferentz started coaching the Hawkeyes in 1999.
Ferentz appreciates Iowa’s NFL pipeline, but he is more concerned about winning games. The Hawkeyes set a school record by winning 12 games this past season.
“To me, that’s what it is all about,” Ferentz said. “And that is the challenge. We’re not here to produce NFL players. That’s a by-product of things working right. But what’s important is guys doing their jobs here and really maximizing what they can as players at Iowa.”
SATELLITE CAMPS ARE BACK: The NCAA’s decision to lift its ban on satellite camps after just a few weeks makes little sense to Ferentz.
“It’s hard to understand how things can go back and forth in a month’s time,” Ferentz said. “That’s a pretty big topic. I guess from my vantage point, if we were going to reverse it, why pass it the first time? Those are things I don’t understand. Maybe after twenty years I’ll understand it better.”
DREW OTT UPDATE: The future of former Iowa defensive end Drew Ott still is uncertain.
He hasn’t signed a free agent contract, but Ferentz thinks Ott will have a bright future in the NFL once he gets healthy.
Ott is recovering from a knee injury that caused him to miss the final six games last season. He appealed for a fifth season of eligibility, but his medical harship waiver was denied by the NCAA in April.
“It’s all about him getting healthy right now,” Ferentz said of Ott. “The good news is he’s not fighting any size issues or things like that. It’s just a matter of getting healthy. And once he’s healthy I think he’s going to have a great opportunity.”
Ferentz compared Ott to former Iowa defensive end Aaron Kampman, who enjoyed a long career in the NFL.
“Maybe the game has passed me by, but I think Drew is one heck of a football player,” Ferentz said. “I’m not saying he’s Aaron Kampman. But he’s like Aaron Kampman. Aaron was under-apprecaited NFL-wise when he came out and he proved to have a realy nice career. And I think there are a lot of parallels between the two.”