Q: Can you talk about some of the freshmen who have stood out in fall camp?
FERENTZ: I think the head coach will probably hit on some of the guys who will play or won’t play, and who stood out. I will say this, we have been pleasantly surprised by some of the freshmen who have shown maturity. Obviously there are going to be growing pains when you have guys who have only been on campus for a few months. It’s camp and guys get an opportunity and some guys have really evaluated themselves with those chances. I know the head coach will hit on those guys when he visits with you.
Q: How do you juggle that with the freshmen and the four game rule?
FERENTZ: I think you don’t want to try and juggle that four game rule too much. I do think it helps you with depth. Normal football practice, if you are out there for three weeks, opportunities are going to come up. Guys are going to be dinged and not be able to practice or this guy needs rest or some time off and it gives a young guy an opportunity to step in there. Then you get an opportunity to evaluate what they can do. You get a chance to project maybe what they can do further down the road. I think there are some guys that you look at and say maybe he can help us week one. Then there’s another classification of young guys where you say they might not be able to help us in week one, but certainly in week six or seven when we get deeper into the season, there’s a little more time for skill development and leaning concepts on offense, so they could probably help us. You try to find out who those guys are so you can accelerate them as best you can. The four game rule gives you a buffer with that second category.
Q: Do you have an idea of what you want to do at running back yet?
FERENTZ: Yeah, we want to run the ball. (laugh) I think we want to play all those guys, but certainly right now if you look at where we are at, I think Mekhi and Toren have separated themselves, which is not unexpected. It’s what we talked about going into camp and they have solidified that and done a nice job. I think both guys bring a real individual unique skill set in their own way. Toren Young is running the ball as good as he ever has as a tempo setter. Mekhi is a jack of all trades and a bit of a utility knife. What we have to do is do a good job of being a balancing act there. They are certainly two of our best players, so let’s keep them involved with what we are doing offensively. We may need to look at some personnel groups where we are utilizing both of those guys at the same time.
Q: Has offensive line worked out the way you hoped?
FERENTZ: Yeah. We know we are probably going to play more than five guys this season. I think right now we are not ready to make the determination of who those seven, eight, or maybe nine guys are right now, but we feel good about some of the depth and competition. I think we feel better about it than we did three weeks ago.
Q: Who is in the mix at guard?
FERENTZ: So you have the guys that have played there. You have Banwart, Levi and Landan Paulsen, who have had a nice camp. Then you have Mark Kallenberger, who has had a good camp, Cody Ince is another guy who is coming along. That gives you a good mix there. There’s not a clear separation there, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing either.
Q: How about tight end?
FERENTZ: It’s about what we expected. Nate Wieting has done a nice job. I think Shaun Beyer has had a nice camp. I think Drew Cook continues to do some good things. Then after that we are going to have to find out where the rest of the depth comes from. I think we have a better feel for that then we did a couple of weeks ago. I don’t think you will see in two weeks that we will go out there and try and feature three tight ends in the game at a time. We have talked that since December. I don’t recall how many two tight end sets we played in the bowl game, but I think it was zero. Things change very quickly and you try to stay on top of that the best you can. The difference between nine months ago in December is we knew where we were headed, so we made plans and build accordingly.
Q: Do you see any true freshmen playing beyond the four games? FERENTZ: Yeah, I think we do. I will leave that to head coach.
Q: Have you settled on a backup quarterback?
FERENTZ: We have not, but I think we are close. That’s another thing that I will leave to the head coach. (laugh) Everyone has a boss.
Q: You are leaving a lot to the head coach today…
FERENTZ: I am not the head coach. (laugh) I think it’s his place to disclose those things as he sees fit. We don’t have a lot of secrets, but I would rather have him do it than me.
Q: What about wide receiver?
FERENTZ: It’s about what we thought. Young guys moving forward and a little bit of depth there, but there’s also some uncertainty because we are waiting on an eligibility ruling. We are not too concerned about it, but it would change how you would proceed and that’s just one piece of the puzzle.
Q: Is it fair to say you need a more consistent running game than last year?
FERENTZ: I think if you are going to win football games, you need a consistent running game, period. We are trying to win more than nine games, so it’s been an area of focus since 1999 and I don’t think anyone would tell you that we didn’t fall short of that the last two years. We need to get that established out of the gate. Like we talked about in the spring, there’s a lot that goes into the running game than just pointing to one position group or one guy. It also comes down to the play caller too. Are we building the offense and giving ourselves a clean situation to run the football all the time. I think we are making strides, but we will know a lot more in 11 days or whatever it is.
Q: That would obviously help with play action and Stanley seems to be better in those situations.
FERENTZ: I think play action is good for anybody. As long as you have protection, it allows you to go down the field where hopefully you can get some isolations going on. You would love to do that stuff.
Q: You haven’t talked about Stanley. How has he been in camp and has he been the senior leader that you would expect at quarterback?
FERENTZ: I think he has done a nice job. He has progressed the way we would want him to progress. He has taken some strides forward. I think the whole key is starting the season and see where we are at. This is the best time of the year because we are getting out of the prediction period and we are going find out and we are excited about that. I know this, we have 12 games scheduled. We kickoff at a bunch of different times and we will make sure to have a football team there to kick it off and play.
Q: You aren’t ready to name a backup quarterback, but are you feeling better about that group than you did a few weeks ago at media day? FERENTZ: You have two more weeks of evaluation since media day. The picture becomes clearer and you learn more about everyone’s capabilities. I think it would help you establish a plan of what you want to be moving forward if you didn’t have Nate. You have more knowledge now going into the season and you can plan accordingly if things happen.
Q: At the slot position is it 50/50 between Nico and Tyrone or different than that?
FERENTZ: We feel pretty good about all our receivers. It’s kind of like the tight ends, I hate to pigeon hole guys as inside guys or outside guys. I think we have a capable receiving group and if we are going to win football games, we have to move those guys around to create matchups. I feel really good about our top four and then after that there’s some uncertainty. I feel good about our top five and maybe six or seven.
Q: What are you doing as far as reps with Oliver Martin?
FERENTZ: There are plenty of reps to go around. There are plenty of opportunities. He’s not taking reps from someone else. You have to operate under the premise that he’s going to play and you have to get him ready. Then whatever happens is out of our control. The only thing we control is are we ready to play and is he ready to help us. I think right now we are working towards that and whatever happens, we will abide by that.
Q: If he gets the green light, what can he do for you this year?
FERENTZ: He can catch the ball and get open. He is a guy who is a versatile guy. You don’t want to pigeon hole him. He can play inside or outside. He’s a good short area quickness guy. He does a nice job on vertical routes and tracking the ball down. When you look at our core, I think Brandon Smith is the only guy if you are looking at it traditionally, you want him outside. If you put him inside, he becomes more of a tight end. Not that he doesn’t have good short area speed, but it’s a little different when you are 6-2 and 215 pounds. I think the rest of the guys, including Smith-Marsette, have a pretty versatile skill set and that’s good because it creates some depth. I think in some ways it’s better than the tight end position because not everyone there is going to be a jack of all trades type guy.
Q: Has Linderbaum continued to progress like you hoped?
FERENTZ: Yeah. I would just say that the fact that we aren’t here talking about him is a real positive. Based on my coaching history with first year centers, the fact that it’s not a big storyline is a positive. He has continued to grow, but he is a first year player and things happen every day. He is learning and growing. There is only one way to grow and that’s through some hard knocks and adversity and not getting everything right. That is just part of the process.
Q: What is the best tackle combo at Iowa since 1999?
FERENTZ: I don’t know. We were pretty good in 02. Those guys weren’t name brand type guys. Robert was. We were pretty good in 14. Boy, we were great in 15 because every time we met with you guys there was no way we were going to win a game with the two tackles that we lost. I would have to sit down and think about it. What I do know is we have two good players coming back there. It’s kind of like everything else, and I mean this with respect, I am interested in what guys do on Saturday’s, not what we are writing about or who is a freak. I want to know who lines up and plays football on Saturdays. We need to stop talking about what we are going to do and do it.
Q: They seem to be that way too. They down play all that stuff.
FERENTZ: Good. Let me know if they don’t. It’s really hard because we want to be respectful of what you guys need to do and you guys all have bosses too and deadlines and editors. It’s tough and we are respectful of that. But, anything we talk about isn’t going to help us win. It’s a bunch of noise. If you want to be great player you have to control your attitude, your effort, and through that, your performance. I have seen it out of those two guys, but they are still young guys. They can’t lose sight of that. I really think the hardest thing about being an athlete, especially as you move up in a higher profile position, with that comes expectations, pressure, or whatever you want to call it. The more noise and hype isn’t going to help you perform. You could be a first round draft pick and we all know that’s not always the story. When you are a competitor, you are also a human being and when somebody writes something nice about you, then they don’t write something nice and he’s an idiot. I have made some really smart play calls and a week later, I am the same guy and I got real dumb, real fast. That’s human nature, right, you gravitate towards nice things said about us. We try to keep guys humble and they have done a nice job of handling everything so far.
Q: Tyler Goodson comes in with a lot recruiting hype. How has he looked and will he play this year?
FERENTZ: I will let the head coach handle that. I will say this about the whole freshman class, we are very pleased with them. It’s not so much about performance with the first year players, it’s about how well they can acclimate and adjust to college football lifestyle. That’s how we do things. When I look at the class, there are going to be some good players, but we will find out. Ask me in five years. All returns right now are that we recruited the right people and that’s a good start. The results usually follow. If you don’t check that box, the results are iffy. I’m sorry, but the head coach will have more to say. I’m not trying to Bill Belichick you guys. (laugh)
Q: With regards to Nate Stanley, you wanted to see him process faster. Has he done that?
FERENTZ: Yes. It’s pleasing. With him it’s running the offense and getting us in and out of things. Simple as that. There is a lot of information being processed on his end and a lot of it is open ended. We have seen that speed up and that’s a good thing. I will just reiterate that I will be able to answer that question much better in 11 days. Everything we have done so far is practice and not to sound like Allen Iverson. I am looking forward to seeing those things show up.
Q: You have talked about Smith-Marsette and his improvement. What has you seen?
FERENTZ: He has been as impressive as any guy on our roster right now. When you talk about growth and maturity, skill set is not an issue. Attitude, not an issue. Good guy and good teammate. Developing that attitude and building on the next play and taking care of the football and making smart plays, I couldn’t be more pleased with what he has shown. He has also taken on a leadership role with some of our younger players and that is really encouraging to see.
