2011 Commit: Ray Hamilton

According to coach and recruiting coordinator Eric Johnson (@HawkeyeCoachEJ on Twitter) the Hawkeyes landed 3 new commits today (stories on the other 2 to come later). Shortly after Johnson's first tweet both recruiting sites, Scout and Rivals($), reported that the first commit of the day was Ray Hamilton, a tight end out of Ohio. He is the second tight end to commit for 2011 and the 6th offensive player (here is the full list of Iowa's 2011 commits). Hamilton is rated 3-stars by both Scout and Rivals. He wanted to be sure to go to a school that "definitely knows how to use the tight end" and he was fully aware of Iowa's reputation for putting tight ends in the NFL.

Hamilton in High School

Hamilton attends Strongsville High School in Strongsville, Ohio-a suburb of Cleveland. (Side note: Being an Ohio native he did like OSU, but the Buckeyes didn't offer. When asked about playing OSU in the future he said, "It’s going to be fun, that’s all I have to say...love it or leave it.") The Mustangs were not very good in 2009 winning just 3 games. But they were without Hamilton's services for half of the year as he player only just 6 games before suffering a minor knee injury. In 2008, though, the Mustangs were a lot better finishing 11-2 as the Northeast Ohio Conference Champions.

Stats:

• 2009 - 22 catches, 300 yards, 5 TDs
• 2008 - 20 catches, 318 yards, 5 TDs

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Iowa Football's Expenses are 3rd Highest

A very interesting article came out today listing each BCS school's football expenses for the 2008-2009 season. Ohio State topped the list spending $32.3 million. Auburn was a close second at $28.8 million. Then, to my surprise, Iowa is listed 3rd with $26.9 million in expenses. The amount is not outrageous considering the program brought in $38.9 million in revenue during that same year. But to be the 3rd highest spending program in the nation...well that's a lot of money.
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Links For Iowa Returns

Links For Iowa has been on a long hiatus and I'm still not sure that it's going to be a regular feature. But today I have some links to share, so that's that. If it goes well, who knows, maybe I'll keep it up. Last summer it was pretty much a staple because there's not much else to write about. Anyway, here we go...

Player's Highlighted

Evaluating the Mechanics of Big Ten Quarterbacks: Ricky Stanzi
The Rivalry Esq provides an excellent breakdown of Ricky Stanzi's mechanics, which is something I am completely unqualified to do but enjoy reading. SPOILER ALERT: he gets a B+ overall, but it's really his ability to survey the field that's bringing him down. I can't really argue with that considering the amount of interceptions.
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ESPN's Q&A with Chris Doyle

Break The Rock

This is kind of a lazy post today, which is semi-ironic because it's about Iowa's Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Chris Doyle, who is probably the epitome of non-laziness when it comes to Iowa Football. Coach Doyle works year round with the players and gets them to do amazing things. He is one of the main reasons for Iowa's reputation for great player development.
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2011 Commit: Austin Vincent

A day after landing a verbal commitment from Henry Krieger-Coble, the Hawkeyes pick up the 5th member of the 2011 class. Austin Vincent became the 3rd receiver (and second Austin) to commit. He is currently not rated by Scout or Rivals.
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2011 Commit: Henry Krieger-Coble

Iowa picked up 3 commits early in the spring (Marcus Grant, JaCorey Shepherd, and Austin Blythe), but it has been relatively quiet on the recruiting front since then. Yesterday, the silence was broken as the Hawkeyes picked up the 4th commit for the 2011 class. Henry Krieger-Coble is a tight end from Mount Pleasant High School. From Iowa, he grew up a Hawkeyes fan...plus it doesn't hurt that his cousin is Iowa Basketball great Jess Settles (who is actually on Mount Pleasant's coaching staff). Krieger-Coble gets 3-stars from Rivals but is not ranked by Scout.
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Award Watch Lists and Shows

The watch lists for all the end of season awards have been trickling out for a while now. Yesterday, two more were released and 3 Hawkeyes made the cut. Not surprisingly, Adrian Clayborn and Tyler Sash are on the Bronko Nagurski watch list. The Bronko Nagurski Award is given annually to the best defensive player in the nation.

Perhaps somewhat more surprising is that Karl Klug is on the Outland Trophy watch list. The Outland Trophy is given to the best interior lineman, which is tackles (offensive or defensive), guards, and centers.
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Iowa: Most Underrated BCS Team

Hawkeye fans often gripe about how Iowa gets no respect, especially in the polls. Take last year for example...Iowa rolls into Happy Valley and beats Penn State only to end up ranked 4 spots bellow the Nittany Lions in the Coaches Poll. By the end of the year after a dominating Orange Bowl victory, the voters got it right (as they usually do in the final poll) and placed Iowa where they deserved to be.
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Touchdowns for Kids

"To help children (and their families) who are facing significant medical issues, to provide funds for the University of Iowa Children's Hospital for care of children, and to engage Iowa Hawkeye fans to have a common cause in 2010 which will have a significant impact on the lives of children, and to have some fun with this endeavor." - Touchdown for Kids Mission Statement

I stayed with my wife and son at the University of Iowa Children's Hospital when my son had surgery last fall. The staff at the hospital was excellent and the facility was nice. We were there just a couple of days in recovery, but it really was as good of an experience as you can have when your kid is having surgery.
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Delany's Division Decision

Presumably, with the recent addition of Nebraska to the Big Ten the conference will be split into two six-team divisions. Aligning the division is no easy task. If my math is correct, there are 924 unique ways to divvy up the schools. Really though, there are only a handful of ways that make sense, and with the 3 constraints Delany has set forth (1. Competitive Balance, 2. Rivalries, 3. Geography) there are even less.
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One Word Wednesday: Bullying

Bullying

Hawkeyes and Huskers Have a History

"While I've been at Iowa, this is far and away the greatest victory." - Iowa Football Head Coach Hayden Fry after beating Nebraska 10-7 in 1981.

Though Nebraska doesn't join the Big Ten until next year, they already have a long history with Iowa. Iowa has played Nebraska 41 times, which is tied for 10th with Michigan State on the list of teams Iowa has played the most and is behind only Iowa State for non-conference teams. From Nebraska's perspective, the 41 games against Iowa is the second for the most games against Big Ten teams (Nebraska has played Minnesota 51 times). Iowa's record against Nebraska is 12-26-3.
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Ferentz on Nebraska

In reaction to the announcement that Nebraska would be joining the Big Ten Kirk Ferentz said:

The addition of the University of Nebraska to the Big Ten appears to be a very positive and an exciting development – much like when Penn State joined the conference years ago. I would anticipate the reaction to this development by players and fans to be extremely enthusiastic. From my vantage point, Nebraska is a natural and positive fit in all regards and this announcement is a real credit to all of those involved in providing leadership in the Big Ten.

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Nebraska, Welcome to the Big Ten

After one of the craziest weeks I can remember, it is finally official; Nebraska has applied and been accepted as a new member of the Big Ten. The official word broke around 1:30 midway through Nebraska's Board of Regents meeting that Nebraska would be applying...it was a unanimous decision. A few hours later, the Big Ten chimed in accepting Nebraska's application...also unanimous. None of this was very surprising though. We have "known" for days that this was coming. That's not to say though, that it wasn't exciting news (because I am very excited for Iowa to play Nebraska). And, there was actually some new information to come out today.
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2010 Big Ten Strength of Schedule

Phil Steele released is ranking of 2010's toughest schedules on his blog the other day. He uses his power rankings and looks at the number of home and away games each team is playing. Iowa comes in with the 35th toughest schedules, which seems about right to me. They have a number of quality opponents, but get them all at home. The thing that really jumped out at me though, was that Steele ranks Iowa State's schedule as the toughest in the nation. They do have a tough schedule this year...Iowa and Utah in non-conference games, plus they play at Texas and at Oklahoma.
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Iowa-Nebraska Rivalry Trophy

I am not that good at photo editing (actually I'm quite bad), but here's my attempt at a rivalry trophy for the Iowa vs. Nebraska game. I present the Corn-Hawk Trophy.

I'm sure there are some readers out there that can do better. If you have any good ones, post them in the comments (you'll just have to upload your picture somewhere else first then just post the link and the image will be attached).

An Early Look at Iowa vs. Eastern Illinois

And so it begins...With only 87 days left until the Iowa Football season begins, it's time to start dissecting the year ahead. First up is the Eastern Illinois Panthers.

The Game

Opponent: Eastern Illinois
Location: Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City, IA
Kickoff: 11:05 - September 4, 2010
TV: Big Ten Network

The Basics

Location: Charleston, IL
Head Coach: Bob Spoo
Mascot: Panther
Conference: Ohio Valley Conference (I've never heard of it either)
2009 Record: 8-4 (6-2)
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In Case You Missed It

You have probably seen both of these before as they have been floating around the internet. But, they are just too awesome to not post. First of all, if you haven't visited the recently revamped gohawks.com, do so now. There's some good content on there, but the real prizewinner is the intro video. Here it is on YouTube:

The second is fantastic in a completely different way. A little bit of schadenfreude and a lot of hilarity...the boys at Wide Right and Natty Light offer up an amazing Craigslist ad for Iowa State. Wanted: New Athletic Conference. Unfortunately the original was flagged and removed from Craigslist, but if you visit their blog you can see a screenshot.

Would Iowa Stop Playing Iowa State?

The Big XII seems more and more likely to dissolve each day now. The latest popular scenario has the Pac-10 absorbing 6 teams (Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and either Baylor or Colorado) and the Big Ten taking 2 (Nebraska and Missouri). That would leave Iowa State outside a BCS Conference and left scrambling.
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Jewel Hampton and Jordan Bernstine Arrested

I was hoping my first post back from vacation would be good news about Iowa Football, but unfortunately the biggest story right now is on a couple of arrest. Shockingly, the arrests are alcohol related. Now a year after the news broke that both of these players with miss the 2009 season with injuries, it's likely that they'll miss a couple of games in 2010.
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