Four Downs — The Defensive Backs (spring edition)

QUICK LOOK BACK: Big plays against always hurt, so you probably remember the big ones that cost Iowa in the season opener against Northern Illinois, the biggie that gave Ohio State breathing room and Jeremy Hill's 42-yard burst on the first play of the Outback Bowl.

For as much as those stung, Iowa was great against the big play last season and the secondary played a big role in that. Opponents clipped Iowa for 86 pass plays of 10-plus yards, which was No. 6 in the nation. This was a tremendous uptick. The three previous years, Iowa was No. 47, 51 and 82. (You can explain that off with "but Michigan and Nebraska weren't great," and they weren't, but they were still on the schedule and that's how it works.)

Cornerback B.J. Lowery had a Kirk Ferentz-era high 16 pass breakups (topping corner D.J. Johnson's 15 from 2002). The defense broke up/picked off a pass every 7.6 snaps. The high the last five years was 2009, which affected a pass every 4.45 snaps (65 PBUs, 21 INTs, the D-line broke up 16 passes that season).

Junior Jordan Lomax started the season at corner, but suffered a hamstring injury in the opener against NIU. He was replaced by Desmond King. King will never leave the Iowa lineup. He was the first true freshman to start at corner for Iowa since 2002. He was a first-team all-freshman Big Ten pick by the Big Ten Network. He was Iowa's first-ever winner of the Big Ten freshman of the week (12 tackles against Ohio State).

Safety John Lowdermilk finished fourth on the team with 78 tackles. He also had 4.5 tackles for loss, an interception and two pass breakups.

King and Lowdermilk are the returnees for defensive coordinator and secondary coach Phil Parker.

FOURTH DOWN - CRITICAL QUESTIONS: Who's the other corner?

Iowa has a few options here. The first might be Lomax (5-10, 200), who ended up missing four games because of the hamstring. He was the hands-down starter at corner before the injury and before the freshman bubble wrap came off King. Lomax did workout some at safety during bowl prep, but Parker didn't say anything was permanent there. So, until a depth chart comes out that says otherwise, let's leave Lomax, an economics major who was academic all-Big Ten, at corner.

Sean Draper (6-0, 190) had a pretty awful run as a nickel corner against Michigan State. He got beat for a long play and then just a few plays later, tried slapping a ball out of a receiver's arms rather than tackling. This happened on the same series and the Spartans scored a quick TD. It didn't lose the game for Iowa, but did dig a deeper hole that the Hawkeyes could find no way out of. You didn't see Draper much after that. He didn't play in four of Iowa's final seven games, but one positive sign that he might've earned trust was when he replaced Lowery late in the Nebraska game. Draper, a junior, is definitely in the race.

Sophomore Maurice Fleming (6-0, 200) also has to be considered a contender. He suffered a torn ACL his senior season at Curie High School in Chicago and redshirted in 2012. Last season, he saw some time in special teams. This year, he could punch through on defense.

Is Lowdermilk a free or strong safety?

The 6-2, 210-pound senior played strong safety last season. Iowa splits its safeties, so the big difference between free and strong is the free safety makes more calls and moves other defensive backs into place than the strong safety.

Asked during bowl preparation, Lowdermilk said he didn't know what would happen this year. He's played both safety spot, but really broke into the lineup last season at strong safety.

What is Nico Law at this point?

Well, he threw out on his Facebook page this winter that he could be seeing some linebacker. He could be the No. 1 strong safety. Or he could be a nickel safety if Anthony Gair (who'll be hampered the spring after wrist surgery this offseason) works out as a free safety. The linebacker thing could be a package, something out of the realm of the "Raider" passing down package from last year. We know this about Law: He's a 6-0, 210-pound senior who's lost some tight competitions and is probably extremely hungry to leave a mark.

How about all those freshmen corners?

Iowa signed Jalen Embry, Josh Jackson, Marcel Joly and Omar Truitt as potential corners. They won't all be corners.

Kirk Ferentz: "One thing I was intrigued about with most of them is they have two-way flexibility, if you will. We're planning on playing those guys on defense, but just to see guys with ball skills, I think immediately of Micah Hyde who was not a high recruited guy, but that's one thing about Micah, he had great ball skills."

So, you might see someone move to receiver. Who knows, maybe you'll see a return specialist evolve.

THIRD DOWN - ADDITIONS/SUBTRACTIONS: Lowery ran hot and cold his senior season. He gave up a couple big plays against Iowa State, but then redeemed himself with the one-handed pick that looked more like a center fielder robbing someone of a home run. He ranked second in the Big Ten and fifth nationally with 1.42 pass breakups a game. He had two interception returns for touchdown against Western Michigan.

I was surprised Lowery wasn't invited to the NFL combine. It might be a climb for him to make a roster, but he's a more-than-willing tackler and that might be enough.

Free safety Tanner Miller played his best football in the second half of last season. He finished his career with 222 tackles, 50th on Iowa's career list, and seven interceptions, including three last season (that one in the end zone against Missouri State might've saved Iowa from national embarrassment). He had blow-ups in his career (last season against Ohio State was notable). He also was a three-year starter. For being the final recruit of the 2010 class, that's a lot of good mileage.

Iowa adds Embry, Jackson, Joly, Truitt and safety Miles Taylor. If I had to rank potential moves to wide receiver, I'd go 1. Jackson, 2. Embry, 3. Truitt and 4. Joly.

Iowa recruiting coordinator Eric Johnson on Jackson, "He could be a corner, he could be a safety, he could flip over to wide receiver. Excellent athlete. He's one of those guys we'll get into camp and see where he fits in.”

Embry's coach at Detroit King High School, assistant Terel Patrick, on the possibilities: "They like him at corner, but they got a hold of some of his film this year and he's been exceptional at receiver for us this season. He's been a difference maker, really stretching the field as a receiver, so I'm not sure if cornerback is a done deal yet.”

Here's Johnson talking about possible help in the return game, "I think you look at him, Omar [Truitt], Josh Jackson, we have some guys who redshirted in this past class who I think you'll see be outstanding in the return game. I think we've helped ourselves on special teams in the last two years with the athletes we've brought in.”

SECOND DOWN - BATTLES BREWING: Iowa has two openings, one corner and a safety.

The names at safety could include Gair (6-2, 200), a sophomore who saw most of his playing time on special teams last season, Law and possibly Lomax. Is there another possibility? Probably not a serious one, but for the sake of throwing names out there, Solomon Warfield (6-0, 185) and Malik Rucker (6-0, 175) will be redshirt freshman who will want to play, and Greg Mabin (6-2, 195) might be ready for action after switching from wide receiver last season.

We've been over corner. Let's give it a ranking as far as potential starters, 1. Draper, 2. Lomax, 3. Fleming. This is too early to call and will probably seep into August.

Will a freshman breakthrough the way King did last season? Sure. If you go by how Iowa has used true freshman in the secondary, probably three of the five see the field in some capacity. Rank? Sure, let's give it a shot, 1. Embry, 2. Joly, 3. Taylor and Truitt, 4. Jackson.

FIRST DOWN - SPRING AND BEYOND: With five incoming freshmen, Iowa will have 15 defensive backs on scholarship this fall, which is about right for the second largest position group on the field. Iowa found itself a little short at corner last season and King bailed it out.

-- There is some cushion at corner now, but quality depth fades quickly. Bottom line, five defensive backs seemed as though it was a big investment, but it was personnel capital well spent, especially if the recruits can offer position flexibility and special teams contributions. (That said, Iowa really only has four offensive tackles -- Brandon Scherff, Andrew Donnal, Ryan Ward and Cole Croston, so fattening up on corners was a bit of a gamble in this class).

-- Think we see more nickel this year? That package saw maybe three percent of Iowa's defensive snaps last season. You could argue the Raider package replaced it. The Raider has three players on the line of scrimmage, usually it was Louis Trinca-Pasat and linebackers Quinton Alston and Reggie Spearman. Sometimes, there were four linebacker and sometimes five defensive backs.

The Raider principle has been around for awhile. It was new to Iowa last season and it seems to have enough flexibility built into it to make it a keeper.

-- Speaking of keepers, King is one. The 5-11, 190-pound sophomore took advantage of the opportunity, which can be fleeting for players. He started at a high level and only improved throughout the season. He should set a leader's pace in '14.

-- Parker was very creative last season. Last season, he called defenses, built packages, called blitzes and shaped the general feel of his defense to the personnel. It also was a disciplined group that bought into video room and the improvement that it offered (after the spring and into the summer, specifically). It'll be interesting to see Parker's next move.