The Iowa Hawkeyes held their first of fifteen spring practices this afternoon shortly after Coach Ferentz addressed the media. Here is the full transcript of the Ferentz presser (pdf). As you can imagine, Ferentz didn't talk about anything too earth shattering, but did provide some updates of injuries and incites into player development. Plus, it is just so exciting to finally have some real news to talk about.

Injuries:

Depth Chart: (via Marc Morehouse: On Iowa)
Offense
SE | Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, Colin Sandeman
LT | Riley Reiff, Kyle Haganman
LG | Julian Vandervelde, Drew Clark
C | Josh Koeppel/James Ferentz
RG | Adam Gettis, Cody Hundertmark
RT | Markus Zusevics, Nolan MacMillan
TE | Allen Reisner, Brad Herman
QB | Ricky Stanzi, James Vandenberg, John Wienke
WR | Marvin McNutt, Keenan Davis/Paul Chaney Jr.
RB | Adam Robinson, Brandon Wegher, Jewel Hampton
FB | Brett Morse, Wade Leppert

Defense
DE | Adrian Clayborn, Lebron Daniel
DT | Karl Klug, Steve Bigach
DT | Christian Ballard, Mike Daniels
DE | Broderick Binns, Dominic Alvis
OLB | Tyler Nielsen, Jeff Tarpinian
MLB | Troy Johnson, Bruce Davis
WLB | Jeremiha Hunter, Jeff Tarpinian
LC | Shaun Prater, Greg Castillo
SS | Tyler Sash, Tom Donatell
FS | Brett Greenwood, Nick Nielsen/Jack Swanson
RC | Micah Hyde, William Lowe/Jordan Bernstine

Special Teams
P | Ryan Donahue, Eric Guthrie
PK | Daniel Murray, Trent Mossbrucker
KR | Keenan Davis, Derrell Johnson-Koulianous
PR | Colin Sandeman, Tyler Sash

Though the depth chart at this point is just the first carving into what will become a palimpsest, there are a few interesting things that stuck out while reading through it.
  • Riley Reiff and Julian Vandervelde, the two linemen with the most experience, are both listed on the left side of the line. While Reiff at LT is no surprise, I thought that the coaches would split up the experience and put Vandervelde at RG.
  • I think it is telling that Josh Koeppel and James Ferentz are listed with a "/" instead of a ",". In basically every other position the more experienced player got the nod as the starter. But here, though Koeppel is a senior, Ferentz is tied with him. I think Ferentz is going to be the starter this year.
  • I was a little surprised to see Troy Johnson as the starting middle linebacker. I thought Jeff Tarpinian would be ahead of Johnson based on his special team performance. However, this is going to be one heck of a battle. Throw in Bruce Davis and Lance Tillison (who returned to the team after leaving a year ago) and this is going to be a heck of a battle. My guess is we'll see more of a rotation here versus last year when Edds, Angerer, and Hunter saw most of the snaps.

Quotes of Note:
On some O-line battles -
Hundertmark, we moved over in December and he really, I think it is going to be a great, great move and he seemed to learn very, very well, very quickly.
On Marvin McNutt's second year as a receiver-
Marvin played well last year, especially well at times, but he's still learning ans his best football should be in front of him. With a little bit of luck, he'll have this coming year like Clayborn did last year where he really starts to play consistently at a level we think he's capable of.
On Adrian Clayborn-
Assuming he keeps progressing and playing like he has, he'll be one of the best in the country and feedback I got, he would have been a first round pick this year, so maybe, you know, a year from now, he'll be even higher, which I think he will be.