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A new foe has appeared!
Well folks, it’s been a week for Hawkeye football. A tough (but predictable) loss at Ohio State, marred with more inconsistent quarterback play, followed by the departures of Kaleb Brown and Leshon Williams to the transfer portal has the fandom a bit on edge.
Fear not, Hawkeyes, for Kirk Ferentz is here to quell our nerves* in his weekly press conference!
*Your mileage may vary
Let’s get into it, shall we? Check out the full transcript here and my recap below.
Let’s start with injury news:
KIRK FERENTZ: Injury-wise, Addison is probably going to be out this week. I don’t see anything that’s realistic to think he’ll make it back. A lot of guys with injuries coming out of that game. Physical game, both sides. But I think based on what I saw today, I think we have a chance to have everybody ready Saturday outside of Ostrenga.
Well, that’s not great! It seems like, despite having Luke Lachey on the roster, Ostrenga has been the primary tight end target this year. Thankfully it doesn’t seem too serious, but it’s not great when one of your primary receivers is out for any game, but in particular a game that could define your season.
Let’s jump right in on the departures:
Q. The two guys playing the most snaps for you at wide receiver just got here in June, this summer. It didn’t work for Kaleb Brown. What does it take to get on the field at Iowa at wide receiver, and why didn’t it work for Kaleb?
KIRK FERENTZ: Well, I don’t want to talk about players that aren’t here, but I can talk about Jacob Gill, a guy who did get here in June. He’s come in and worked hard. He was not a household name at his last school. He’s tremendously attentive, very detailed in his work, his preparation, and he practices every day and practices hard.
So there’s a lot of value in that, and that’s true at every position. Just being reliable, dependable so the quarterback can really count on you to be there, and I flash back to a couple weeks ago, that Minnesota game, the one touchdown to the left that Kaleb broke out, Gill is in there blocking, knocks over two guys. The little dirty stuff like that or the dirty work that maybe some players don’t want to do, he’s willing to do it.
He’s done a nice job.
Then Reece is a different discussion because he’s a kid who just got out of high school basically five months ago, four months ago, and unfortunately for him, he had some injury issues in the summer. He’s limited on what he could do.
But once we got going in camp, same thing, he’s just very attentive, very detailed, works hard. You’ve seen him compete for the ball out there.
He has tremendous upside. He has a great attitude. I’m not saying somebody else didn’t. I’m just talking about those two individuals that were really focused on the details.
If you’re a receiver and Brandon can tell you as a tight end, too, quarterbacks like to know what you’re going to do and when you’re going to do it, those types of things. Both these guys, the guys that are playing most of the reps right now have been really good in that regard.
A classic Kirk dodge here, but an interesting look at how he views these two receivers. Gill and Vander Zee have certainly performed well so far this year, Gill in particular. The key here is the key for everything in the Kirk Ferentz program: success in practice leads to playing time. Apparently Kaleb wasn’t practicing well enough.
Q. Along those lines, the two departures, how did those situations unfold, and what are your thoughts in general on guys transferring at this point in the year when you still have most of the season left to play?
KIRK FERENTZ: I think that’s a reflection of the times. It’s certainly not unique to us right now.
It’s kind of like Jim Ryun when he broke the barrier on the mile. All of a sudden within a year there were a bunch of guys that broke that barrier.
Once one person jumps in the water, then it’s easier for somebody else to do it maybe. I’m not saying that’s the case here. I don’t know how long the players have been thinking about it. I really wasn’t part of the discussion.
I applaud both guys because what you don’t want is somebody in the program that doesn’t have both feet in the circle and totally committed to the team, doing well. At this level, it takes everybody. It takes everybody on the team. I applaud them, wish them the best, and appreciate what they have done.
In Leshon’s case he’s a little different because he really hasn’t been healthy since April, and I know he’s very frustrated about that, and then he’s seeing some other guys do a good job, so he wants to get healthy and then use his COVID year. Wish him the best. We’ll do all we can to help him.
Every circumstance is a little bit different, but we’re going to see more and more of that as we move forward probably in all sports.
I’m really going to miss Leshon Williams. That kid is a Hawkeye through and through. I hope he’s able to find somewhere he can use his final year. I agree with Kirk here that you definitely don’t want guys in the locker room who don’t want to be there. But you know Kirk is pissed about this and how the whole landscape of the sport is changing. I’d say he should just retire, but I’ll give him credit, he’s taking the punches of a quickly changing landscape better than I’d expected.
Let’s dig deeper on that:
Q. With the two in-season decisions to move on, I know you’ve been around the game for a long time at the college level. You’ve seen a lot of changes, too. Is this frustrating? I’m curious as to your thoughts on the situation generally.
KIRK FERENTZ: I think I used this line before a while ago, you can’t lose what you didn’t have. If somebody really hasn’t been playing, it’s not like you’re losing a lot of contribution, if that makes any sense. I don’t know what the stats are on either player we’re talking about this season. If Leshon had left last November, that would have been impactful because he was right in the thick of it and he was our best option and was playing very well, too. I want to compliment him.
It’s really not the case now, and I talked about the injuries. That’s affected him greatly, really since April. I feel bad anytime a player can’t do what they want to do that way.
But the bottom line is it’s, not to be callous, but if a player is really not playing, it’s not like you lose anything that way.
Then the other part of it, to fall back on a line from Mike Tomlin, you don’t want hostages on your team. Again, it doesn’t do anybody any good, especially the individuals, to be in an environment where they’re not enthused to be there. It’s just not good for anybody. I wish the guys well, and I hope they find happiness wherever they do go. I mean that. I want all of our guys to be successful.
Right now our focus is on the guys that we’re coaching every day and trying to give them their best chance to be successful moving forward here.
Woof. I know Kirk talked about Leshon in the last question so this quote isn’t as bad as it might seem, but it’s certainly not a great endorsement for Brown by any means. Just another case of what could have been for Iowa, and I’m curious what his next stop looks like. But sheesh Kirk. “Not to be callous…” Not to be callous, but shit like this that you’ve said in press conferences has directly correlated to student-athletes transferring. He knows what he’s doing saying things like this.
LET’S TALK QUARTERBACK.
Q. I ask this out of genuine understanding. I don’t want it to sound condescending, but what is it about the quarterback position that maybe just makes you a little bit more reluctant to at least experiment, even going back to last season?
KIRK FERENTZ: Really it’s pretty much the same every position that we have out there on the football field. We assess it daily and then weekly, and then you learn more as the season goes on and the game goes on.
But ultimately it’s about putting players on the field in situations where you think it gives you your best chance to win at that given point.
When those times come where you’re going to make a change or sub somebody out, then you do it. Again, we discuss that pretty much on a daily basis. I think the only day we don’t meet as a staff would be Saturdays. We do it on Friday afternoons. If it’s a night game we do it Saturday morning. But we’re talking constantly about the update of our team, where we’re at, what do we need to be thinking about. We just take it a day at a time, try to give ourselves the best chance to be successful.
This could be a line-for-line repeat of what Kirk said last year about Deacon Hill. I just can’t anymore when it comes to Kirk and quarterbacks. We’ve had this conversation for so long now. At what point do you realize you’re the problem?
Q. We know that Cade has gone through a lot of injuries throughout his career, but from a production standpoint the last touchdown he’s thrown against a power conference team was against Iowa back in 2021.
KIRK FERENTZ: He was hurt for two of those years, I think, so that’s probably part of the void.
Thanks, that’s helpful.
Q. Absolutely. But what do you see from him day by day and what we don’t see that gives you confidence that he can go out there and produce for you guys on Saturday?
KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, a couple things. We see him every day, and we assess all the quarterbacks, as you might imagine, like we do at every position. Then the things that were obvious that didn’t go well Saturday, my sister probably could tell you. Turning the ball over, and then certainly the pick. That was just a bad mental play on his part. That was the most disappointing play in my mind.
He’d love to have it back, too, but sometimes you don’t get that choice. You have to factor in the level of competition. You have to factor in the way the game is going at that given point.
There’s a lot of things that influence how you assess things.
He has done a lot of good things, too, and I would venture to say he played a pretty good half in the first half. He was efficient, and I made that comment I think after the Minnesota game that he seemed more comfortable, more decisive in his play. Keep in mind, too, we’ve got a new offense, so there’s a lot of new things going on.
There’s a multitude of things that we’re looking at, and the most important thing is I don’t think his confidence has been shaken, and you worry about that coming out of a game like that Saturday where you play a good opponent and things start going south on you.
First and foremost about this answer, “My sister could have told you the things that went wrong on Saturday.” Seriously Kirk? Be better than that. Maybe I’m missing some well-known fact that Julia Conway is an outspoken hater of the sport of football, but otherwise, Kirk is implying here that women don’t know the game of football and I don’t think there’s a place for that. You know who else could tell what wasn’t going well over the weekend? Your female boss.
Secondly, this is just blatantly Kirk talking himself into giving Cade the longest leash possible. We all know it. The media knows it too, but they need to ask, and they did a good job here of asking follow-up questions. “He played a pretty good half in the first half” yeah, but he played terribly in the second half and was pretty much one of the biggest reasons that the game snowballed. And he HAS looked better! But we’re 5 games into the season now. If things don’t start looking much better soon, it’s time to move on.
Q. Two-parter. Washington comes in averaging 300 yards a game passing. They lost a ton, but obviously they’re still throwing it a lot. Your thoughts on that, and also related, Jaylen Watson made the trip, got in the game, true freshman. I don’t think he traveled to Minnesota. What have you seen from him to elevate him to that level?
KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, he’s showing up in practice. It was more so on special teams. He got in there a little bit. He had a leg injury earlier in camp which probably impeded his progress, but he’s a hardworking guy. He has a good spirit to him.
Jaylen first surfaced in the special teams drills, which is as you know defensively especially we see a lot of traits in those things where it might be worth really working with this guy trying to develop him. We’ll see how it goes. His role may increase as we go, we’ll see. Perhaps on special teams. We’ll take it week by week. But he’s done a lot of good things. He’s got a good future here based on what we’ve seen so far.
Their pass game, it’s similar to last week, quite frankly. They’ve got a good receiver corps, and they, too, and I think one of Ohio State’s secrets, not that I coach there, but as you guys saw, they make you play the run. They ran the ball extremely well, have good players, and they’re not one-dimensional, and I’d say the same thing about Washington. The back is a really good player, and they’ve got a couple guys behind him that are good, but he’s a really good player.
It’s how you call the plays. You can’t just sit back and play pass defense. You’ve got to honor the run. The guys up front do a good job, and the quarterback is really dangerous around the football. They’re truly balanced.
There are those magic words again: showing up in practice. Watson is going to be a really good player. He’s going to need to keep elevating in a game like this where Washington is pass-happy and when teams know that corner is your weakest defensive position.
Let’s end with this:
Q. In speaking to the players earlier today, they said essentially, we haven’t quite played a four-quarter game in all three phases. You mentioned earlier first half was pretty solid against Ohio State, kind of lost some things in the second half. Is the lack of all four quarters, is that starting to concern you, or is that something that is just going to happen throughout the season?
KIRK FERENTZ: It’s a race we’ll run the whole season. There’s ebb and flow in everything you do, but when we do play complementary football and when we do that, we’ve been pretty good, and we did that in the second half the time before Ohio State.
To get the consistency, and sometimes it’s your opponent, sometimes it’s you, whatever it may be, but that’s what you’re striving for.
That’s where we’re trying to get. That’s the objective. We’re hitting the midway point, and this is Game 6 for us. You hope you’re showing improvement. That’s one thing I think that’s really fundamental for everybody to understand — I say everybody on our team and everybody involved.
It’s all about improvement and growth, and if you’re doing things right, you should be improving and growing as you go along. Obviously injuries can factor into that, but that has to be the goal, regardless of what the wins and losses are showing. That’s where we’re trying to keep emphasizing that, and our best teams have done that.
HAS this team shown improvement in playing four complete quarters of football since the first game? I’m honestly not sure they have. They’ve improved, yes, but being able to play well in two halves of a football game would be great to see this week. The fact that Kirk leads off by saying ‘it’s a race we’ll run all season’ doesn’t give me a lot of encouragement. Having this kind of problem consistently is what can cause you to lose games you should win.
Well, this weekend is going to be interesting. I really do think it will define the narrative for the rest of the season. Let’s hope it defines it positively.
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