Spring Review: Defensive Line
One of the positions with the most question marks is the Iowa defensive line.
One of the positions that had the most injuries this spring was the Iowa defensive line. In fact, half of the players listed in the two deeps didn't take a snap this spring.
SPRING DEPTH CHART
LE: John Waggoner (JR), Joe Evans (JR)
LT: Noah Shannon (JR), Logan Jones (rFR)
RT: Yahya Black (rFR), Logan Lee (SO)
RE: Zach VanValkenbeg (SR), Chris Reames (SO)
WHAT WE SAW THIS SPRING
Perhaps the biggest story of the spring was who we didn’t see in uniform and not who we did.
That’s the feeling for most due to the fact that players like Yahya Black, Logan Jones, Logan Lee, and Chris Reames, players who are in the two deep, were sidelined due to injury. Nearly all of them look like they are going to be ready for fall camp, but there’s certainly some concern about Jones being ready given the brace he was wearing on his leg.
Missing some of those players makes a status report for a position with the most question marks very challenging. However, it looked like John Waggoner and Noah Shannon are ready to step forward into a bigger role. Waggoner showed good rush off the edge and Shannon looked like he could be a Nathan Bazata type player in the middle of the line.
Iowa knew what they had in Zach VanValkenberg and he’s the one player where questions were limited. He and Waggoner are going to be pretty solid ends. Depth will be a question mark. Joe Evans is a specialist as a rush end more than a three down player. Two players to watch will be Ethan Hurkett and Deonte Craig. It feels like there’s a good chance Hurkett is in the two deeps behind VanValkenberg.
At tackle, beyond Shannon, it’s a lot of question marks. Black was held out and that will hurt his development, but he has a chance to be good. The Logan’s, Lee and Jones, were out with injuries. Logan Lee should be back in August, but Jones situation could be more concerning. Two players that made the most of their opportunity this spring were Lukas Van Ness and Louie Stec.
OTHER OBSERVATIONS
If there was an iron man award this spring it might have gone to Stec, who answered the bell just about every day, according to Kirk Ferentz. Will he find a role this fall? Probably not, but he was really important this spring.
Lukas Van Ness is an interesting player at defensive tackle. He has some wiggle and quickness there, but he’s going to need to continue to add body mass to hold up for longer periods of time.
Jake Karchinski decided to leave the program during spring ball and entered the transfer portal.
DEPTH CHART FOR FALL
LE: John Waggoner (JR), Joe Evans (JR)
LT: Noah Shannon (JR), Louie Stec (SO)
RT: Yahya Black (rFR), Logan Lee (SO)
RE: Zach VanValkenbeg (SR), Ethan Hurkett (rFR)
Let me say this, I don’t have any hard information on Logan Jones and what looks like some sort of leg injury. So leaving him off is just a guess and not an informed opinion. If he’s healthy to start camp, he’s in the two deeps. It felt like Hurkett is going to in the mix for the two deeps this fall.