The season is now 1/4 over. What are your surprises and disappointments as far as what you thought you knew going into the season?
Surprises
1. Interior DL. No one so far has been able to gash us up the middle. And that is a huge improvement from past years. Lima and Trent have been great. Tongamoa is playing more and more. If they get Johnson 100% after the bye week, that's a very solid rotation. Best I can remember in a long time...maybe not the top line starters of 2000 or 2005, but better depth than either of those years. Actually, I thought that Waggoner and Bailey had their best games at ISU last week too after being pretty quiet in the first two. Lensing and Benton are showing up too. Add in all those kids redshirting for next year and this will be DL depth like we've never had.
2. OL protection. They've kept Park clean every game, which is absolutely necessary. If he's getting hit a lot, we are not going to win.
3. LB play. I'm not going to say they've been great, but I did not have high expectations. Harvey has picked up where he left off last year. Spears has been really good for a RS Soph that hasn't played much and Lanning continues to improve. They'll miss some plays, but overall they've been solid.
4. Montgomery. Without him bouncing plays outside and making guys miss, ISU could be 0-3 right now. Best RB talent I've seen at ISU since DD. If the OL could actually make some holes for him, he'd be averaging 200 a game.
Disappointments
1. DBs. This is by far the biggest disappointment on the team. Seems like they can't cover anyone. Peavy is still playing OK and KCM does well when he's not hurt, but Payne at CB has been a problem. Is Azunna still hurt? Ruth is really, really bad. Daniels isn't much better. Then they burn two RS's. It's scramble mode back there. I do think that Wilkerson played a decent game on Saturday. I'd like to see Jones, Bowens or Azunna grab hold of that CB spot and move Payne back to Star, where he seemed more natural. This group needs to get their shit together or we are going to get torched in the B12.
2. OL run blocking. We have yet to see the OL actually open up holes in the run game. Hopefully they get better. I would expect to see some shuffling during the bye week. Maybe Oge comes back? I'd be interested to hear what some guys that actually study the OL have to say. But I would think about trying Meeker inside and replacing Knipfel.
3. WR drops. Lazard drops too many and he's hurting his pro chances. Last year at the end of the season, he was on fire. We need that Lazard back. Deshaunte Jones has been a disappointment too. Seems like he's kind of going through the motions and I can see why he hasn't displaced Ryen now. If he doesn't pick things up, you can bet that Milton or Lang will be starting in his spot next year. I do think that our WRs have been pretty good overall though.
Surprises
1. Interior DL. No one so far has been able to gash us up the middle. And that is a huge improvement from past years. Lima and Trent have been great. Tongamoa is playing more and more. If they get Johnson 100% after the bye week, that's a very solid rotation. Best I can remember in a long time...maybe not the top line starters of 2000 or 2005, but better depth than either of those years. Actually, I thought that Waggoner and Bailey had their best games at ISU last week too after being pretty quiet in the first two. Lensing and Benton are showing up too. Add in all those kids redshirting for next year and this will be DL depth like we've never had.
2. OL protection. They've kept Park clean every game, which is absolutely necessary. If he's getting hit a lot, we are not going to win.
3. LB play. I'm not going to say they've been great, but I did not have high expectations. Harvey has picked up where he left off last year. Spears has been really good for a RS Soph that hasn't played much and Lanning continues to improve. They'll miss some plays, but overall they've been solid.
4. Montgomery. Without him bouncing plays outside and making guys miss, ISU could be 0-3 right now. Best RB talent I've seen at ISU since DD. If the OL could actually make some holes for him, he'd be averaging 200 a game.
Disappointments
1. DBs. This is by far the biggest disappointment on the team. Seems like they can't cover anyone. Peavy is still playing OK and KCM does well when he's not hurt, but Payne at CB has been a problem. Is Azunna still hurt? Ruth is really, really bad. Daniels isn't much better. Then they burn two RS's. It's scramble mode back there. I do think that Wilkerson played a decent game on Saturday. I'd like to see Jones, Bowens or Azunna grab hold of that CB spot and move Payne back to Star, where he seemed more natural. This group needs to get their shit together or we are going to get torched in the B12.
2. OL run blocking. We have yet to see the OL actually open up holes in the run game. Hopefully they get better. I would expect to see some shuffling during the bye week. Maybe Oge comes back? I'd be interested to hear what some guys that actually study the OL have to say. But I would think about trying Meeker inside and replacing Knipfel.
3. WR drops. Lazard drops too many and he's hurting his pro chances. Last year at the end of the season, he was on fire. We need that Lazard back. Deshaunte Jones has been a disappointment too. Seems like he's kind of going through the motions and I can see why he hasn't displaced Ryen now. If he doesn't pick things up, you can bet that Milton or Lang will be starting in his spot next year. I do think that our WRs have been pretty good overall though.
