By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Pinstripe Bowl will mark the first time this season that somebody besides redshirt freshman Alaric Jackson will start for Iowa at left tackle.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz met with the media on Wednesday to discuss the Dec. 27th matchup against Boston College in the Pinstripe Bowl and to update the status of his players.

There was some disappointing and some sad news in that regard as Ferentz said Jackson would not play in the Pinstripe Bowl after violating an unspecified team policy.

“Alaric Jackson will travel with the team, but will not be playing in the bowl game due to violation of team policy,” Ferentz said without being specific. “He's done a good job in the interim. He's worked hard so far to meet the goals we've put in front of him.

“As long as he continues to do that, he'll be with the team, but not dressed for the ballgame.”

Ferentz said true freshman Tristan Wirfs would switch from right tackle, where he has started seven games this season, to left tackle for the bowl game, and that sophomore Levi Paulsen would replace Wirfs at right tackle.

Ferentz also said that junior defensive back Brandon Snyder would not travel with the team to the bowl game and has been suspended from all team activities. Snyder was arrested earlier this month for drunken driving.

He is recovering from a second injury to the same knee and would not have played in the bowl game.

“Bottom line is it's not acceptable behavior for anybody, certainly not someone on our football team, certainly not for a team leader,” Ferentz said of Snyder, who only appeared in one game this season after starting all 13 games at free safety in 2016. “We've had conversations. As you might imagine, Brandon is very understandably apologetic. He's remorseful. He will not be with us.

“When he comes back from the spring term, we'll try to move forward here and have some things set in place for him, some requirements to reach as he gets back into good standing with our football team.”

Senior strong safety Miles also will miss the bowl game because of an injury, according to Ferentz, as will sophomore running back Toks Akrinibade because of an undisclosed health reason.

Ferentz said he was prohibited from revealing Akrinibade’s medical situation.

“Due to federal healthcare privacy laws, we cannot share information about the details of the procedure,” Ferent said. “We don't have the consent of his parents or the athlete. I hope everybody can respect that.

“The family has really explicitly asked everybody to appreciate their privacy. Certainly the staff, the entire football team, wish Toks all the best in his recovery. He'll be with us the rest of the week, then he's going to head back to Indiana on the weekend here.”

Akrinibade hasn’t appeared in a game this season. The Brownsburg, Ind., native was among 10 true freshmen to see action in 2016, rushing 16 times for 33 yards.

Upon further review: The Iowa coaches hadn’t recruited much in talent-rich Atlanta until recently.

But the results have been discouraging so Ferentz is questioning whether spending the time and resources to recruit in Atlanta is worth it anymore.

“It makes perfect sense except it doesn't make sense,” Ferentz said of recruiting in Atlanta. “Everybody goes in there, too. That's the other thing. I don't mean to say they're over-recruited, but everybody goes there. It's hard, unless you get a young man who maybe his parents are Big Ten'ers, to get your message to resonate.”

Iowa didn't sign any players from Georgia on Wednesday and only had one Georgia native in the 2017 recruiting class, Cartersville native Trey Creamer, who is being redshirted this season as a defensive back  

An assist from Jovon Johnson: Former Hawkeye defensive back Jovon Johnson played a key role in getting fellow Erie, Pa., native Terry Roberts noticed by Iowa defensive coordinator Phil Parker.

“Just so happens that Jovon has done a lot of things back there, Jovon Johnson goes in the community, goes back every off-season,” Ferentz said. “He goes back out of season, goes back with Terry. He told Phil about him. Terry showed up to camp. We really liked him.

“He killed it statistically this year on both sides of the ball. He really did a good job. We saw him out in camp and really liked what we saw. His dad was here with him. That familiarity, Jovon knew the young man pretty well, too. If you get those things going, that sure helps.”

Johnson played cornerback for Iowa from 2002-05 and is ranked third in school history with 17 interceptions. He has since spent the past decade playing professionally in Canada.

Roberts played both receiver and defensive back for Cathedral Prep High School in Erie, but is expected to follow in Johnson’s footsteps by playing defensive back for Iowa.

Roberts intercepted five passes as a senior and recorded 42 catches for 1,237 yards and 16 touchdowns on offense, earning first-team all-state accolades.

He attends the same high school from which Iowa star safety Bob Sanders and standout receiver Ed Hinkel graduated.