AH TV: Iowa players look back at bye week and ahead to Northwestern
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Iowa linebacker Josey Jewell spent part of the bye week visiting with family and friends in his hometown of Decorah.
He also watched some college football games, including Northwestern;'s 37-21 victory at Maryland this past Saturday.
Jewell didn't watch the Northwestern game for fun, but rather as a way to scout the Wildcats, who will play host to Iowa on Saturday in Evanston, Ill.
Junior center James Daniels, on the other hand, spent most of the bye week catching up on his sleep and didn't watch any football games.
The bye week gives players a chance to exhale, to heal and to get away from football for a while.
Jewell would prefer to keep playing games, but he appreciates that the bye week gave him a chance to recover physically.
"It was a good mental and physical break, I think, for a lot of people," Jewell said Tuesday. "So being able to come on the field and being able to be fully energized and feel 100 percent again is awesome."
The Big Ten's leading tackler was banged up after compiling 70 tackles in the first six games. Some of Jewell's teammates, including senior offensive lineman Boone Myers, also have been battling injuries.
So the break came at a good time.
Iowa will enter the Northwestern game with records of 4-2 overall and 1-2 in the Big Ten, while Northwestern is 3-3 and and 1-2.
Iowa had won three consecutive games in the series before dropping a 38-31 decision last season at Kinnick Stadium. The Hawkeyes pounded Northwestern 40-10 in their last game in Evanston despite having a depleted offensive line.
Akrum Wadley rushed for a career-high 204 yards and scored four touchdowns against Northwestern as a sophomore in 2015. Wadley became Iowa's featured running back against Northwestern two years ago after senior Jordan Canzeri injured his ankle in the first quarter and didn't return.
Wadley shared with the media a conversation he had with former Iowa running backs coach Chris White after Canzeri was injured. LeShun Daniels also was injured at the time, so Wadley was Iowa's only option at running back against Northwestern in 2015.
"I remember Jordan going down and I remember coach White told me this is it, if you don;'t do good this game you might not ever play here again,' Wadley said. "That put the pressure on and I played a good game."
Northwestern running back Justin Jackson then shredded Iowa for 171 rushing yards in last year's game at Kinnick Stadium.
"Missed tackles and our perimeter wasn't too good a couple times, the pursuit angles" Jewell said when asked what he remembers about the loss to Northwestern last seeason. "So you can shore up that quite a bit."
Here are multiple player video interviews from Tuesday's press conference.
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