Ferentz and freshmen: Play or not to play
Kirk Ferentz (left) and A.J. Edds celebrate Iowa's victory in the 2010 Orange Bowl.
A.J. Edds thinks he might have been the lab rat.
He might have been Iowa football’s case study for the benefits and costs of burning a redshirt, the pros of collecting immediate but potentially small dividends from a true freshman versus the cons of losing a fifth year of development inside a program that brands itself a developmental program.
Edds might have been the experiment that changed Kirk Ferentz’s thinking and caused the Iowa coach to take a more extensive look at the global advantage of using a true freshman rather than just the short-term payoff the Hawkeyes collect on the field.
Ferentz said at least four true freshmen — linebackers James Morris and Christian Kirksey, tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz and kicker Michael Meyer — will play for the ninth-ranked Hawkeyes this season, and there could be six other rookies who factor into Iowa’s 2010 plans at some point. But balancing the pros and cons and weighing the costs and gains won’t stop when the season begins Saturday against Eastern Illinois.
“Part of it is how the older guys are performing and how the competition is there,” Ferentz said. “Probably the one thing you try not to do is just waste someone’s year of eligibility. There’s no clear-cut answer. Did we waste A.J. Edds’ eligibility in 2006? I don’t think we did. I think he really benefited from it.”
Edds wasn’t the first rookie to play at Iowa under Ferentz, but his situation was unique. He arrived at Iowa in 2006 as a tight end. Buried on the depth chart behind future pros Scott Chandler, Brandon Myers and Tony Moeaki, Edds fully intended to redshirt.
Then the Hawkeyes went through a wave of preseason attrition at outside linebacker. During the first week of training camp, Ferentz asked Edds about a position change and immediate playing time.
“He said the ball is completely in your court,” Edds said. “He said if you go over to defense and don’t feel like you’re fitting in and you don’t feel like, it’s going to be a successful decision for you … we can move you back over to tight end and stick with redshirting.”
Ferentz advised Edds to take some time to think about the decision. Edds talked it over that night with his father, David, who played at Indiana. The next day there was a defensive jersey in his locker, but it wasn’t until the week of the first game that Edds learned he was in Iowa’s two-deep on special teams.
“I said, ‘If you want me to play, I’ll play, I’m all in,’” Edds said. “I told (Ferentz), ‘I don’t want to just play special teams. If you want me to play, I’d like to play within the defense.’ He said, ‘That’s understandable, that’s what we want you to want to do. We’re going to see how everything goes, and we’re going to work you more as things go along.’ That’s basically what happened.”
Edds played sparingly in the season opener and didn’t appear the next four games. Then an injury sidelined starter Mike Humpal and Edds started against Purdue. He played a part-time role the rest of the season and finished the year with nine tackles and a forced fumble.
“In my mind, at the time, as a freshman, I wasn’t real sure 100 percent if it was a great decision to play,” said Edds, who started his last three seasons at linebacker for the Hawkeyes. “But after my sophomore year, I realized how much it helped playing as a true freshman.”
Perhaps so, too, did Ferentz. Edds was one of 30 true freshmen Iowa used during Ferentz’s first eight seasons. The Hawkeyes have used 21 in the last three seasons.
“I think, to a certain degree, I was a little bit of a guinea pig, knowing I wouldn’t necessarily be a full-time player, but (they were) looking more down the road,” Edds said. “Playing as a true freshman sets you up to play so much better as a sophomore, I think.”
The Hawkeyes probably aren’t thinking long-term with Fiedorowicz. They have a need at tight end behind starter Allen Reisner and backup Brad Herman, and Fiedorowicz doesn’t look like the average 18-year-old at 6-foot-7 and 250 pounds.
Iowa has shown a willingness to integrate rookies at tight end in the past. Moeaki showed up as a ready-made option in 2005. Reisner finished his first camp in 2007 as an emergency option and he was on the field in the fourth game after Moeaki went down with a season-ending injury. Herman appeared in seven games as a true freshman in 2008, but did not catch a pass.
Fiedorowicz could be a key figure in an offense that leans on its tight ends. From a physical standpoint, he’s ready to help the Hawkeyes, but there were some technical adjustments he had to make during camp.
For one, Fiedorowicz primarily played in space last year at Johnsburg (Ill.) High School and wasn’t accustomed to blocking. A few of the Hawkeyes chuckled the first time Fiedorowicz dropped down into a three-point stance that Ferentz said looked like something out of the 1960s.
“He had a funky three-point stance,” Ferentz said. “It was pretty comical. He had a certain way to hold his off hand, which was interesting. But he really took to (blocking) very quickly and with adeptness.”
“You can see he could be a very good player in the future,” quarterback Ricky Stanzi said. “I have seen him do a lot of good things that are very comparable to the tight end play we’ve experienced in the past.”
Meyer, a walk-on from Dubuque, is set to handle the kickoffs for the Hawkeyes, which also might make him a player in an undecided place-kicking derby.
Morris and Kirksey might fall into the Edds category. The Hawkeyes are hoping they get a short-term boost on special teams while putting the freshmen on a faster track to full-time linebacker roles in future seasons.
Iowa was in a similar situation in 2001 when Ferentz approached a pair of freshmen linebackers about helping the Hawkeyes on special teams. Chad Greenway and Abdul Hodge wanted to redshirt. Iowa’s kicking game suffered that season, but Greenway and Hodge were three-year starters who ranked first and second in the Big Ten in tackles as fifth-year seniors.
“If a guy does play as a true freshman, it probably expedites his route to a starting position and hopefully you can interject some special teams play with it to help them get some game experience,” Ferentz said. “There’s not a black and white answer on it. It’s just kind of a little bit of a gut feel, a judgment call and also the players have (a say).”
But there’s no turning back once the redshirt is off.
“It’s kind of like getting your hair cut, you can’t put more back on,” Ferentz said. “If the guy goes out there, he’s out there. If we’re not sure, I think you have to be conservative. That would be my opinion because once you do it, it’s done.”
Reach Andy Hamilton at 339-7368 or ahamilton@press-citizen.com.
True freshmen who have played at Iowa under Kirk Ferentz:
1999: DT Colin Cole, LB Fred Barr.
2000: DB Bob Sanders, K Nate Kaeding, LB Kevin Worthy, DB Benny Sapp, FB Jonathan Babineaux, LB George Lewis, RB Fred Russell.
2001: LB Matt Roth.
2002: DB Jovon Johnson, WR Clinton Solomon.
2003: OL Mike Jones, WR Scott Chandler, QB Drew Tate, WR Eric McCollom, WR James Townsend, RB A.J. Johnson, FB Champ Davis.
2004: DB Adam Shada, DB Charles Godfrey, RB Damian Sims.
2005: OL Dace Richardson, DT Ryan Bain, DE Alex Kanellis, RB Shonn Greene, TE Tony Moeaki.
2006: WR Dominique Douglas, WR Anthony Bowman, LB A.J. Edds.
2007: DE Christian Ballard, DB Jordan Bernstine, OL Bryan Bulaga, LB Jacody Coleman, DB Cedric Everson, DT Cody Hundertmark, DB Diauntae Morrow, LB Dezman Moses, RB Jevon Pugh, TE Allen Reisner, WR Colin Sandeman.
2008: DB David Cato, RB Jewel Hampton, TE Brad Herman, DB William Lowe, K Trent Mossbrucker, WR DeMarco Paine, DB Shaun Prater.
2009: WR Keenan Davis, DB Micah Hyde, RB Brandon Wegher.
Category: Iowa Hawkeyes Football
