Wegher officially gone

Brandon Wegher left the second day of practice this season and never returned to the Iowa football program.

The 5-foot-11, 200-pound sophomore, who sat out the 2010 season for personal reasons, requested his scholarship release and Iowa granted it, UI associate athletics director Fred Mims told The Gazette's Scott Dochterman during Friday's Iowa-ISU basketball game.

Mims said the stipulations include Wegher not attend a Big Ten school on a scholarship. It's unclear whether that includes Nebraska, which is moving from the Big 12 to the Big Ten next fall.

As a true freshman in 2009, he scored a freshman-record eight touchdowns and rushed for 641 yards. In Iowa's Orange Bowl win over Georgia Tech, Wegher carried 16 times for 113 yards and a TD. He was one of three contenders for Iowa's running back position when he left the team last August. All three -- Wegher, Adam Robinson and Jewel Hampton -- finished the season injured or not on the roster, leaving true freshman Marcus Coker as the only healthy running back in Iowa's finale against Minnesota.

Wegher, a sophomore, attended Sioux City Heelan, but his family lives in Dakota Dunes, S.D. In November, Wegher and his girlfriend had a child. They live in an Iowa City home titled to Wegher Construction Company. Rick Wegher, Brandon's father, is the president and founder of the North Sioux City, S.D., company, which builds homes in the Siouxland area.

Before the Minnesota game, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said he hadn't talked to Wegher since August and that a return was up to Wegher.

“That's up to him [whether he returns or not],” Ferentz said Nov. 23. “I've been kind of busy for the last however many weeks. We conversed in August or whenever I told you our last conversation was, that's when it was. My thoughts have been on trying to coach the guys who are here working every day. That's where it's at. If he joins our team in January, I don't know. To do so, you have to be academically eligible and all those things. I'm really not thinking about that right now. I'm worried about making sure Marcus [Coker] is able to go Saturday.”

Ferentz has said Robinson, who missed two games with a concussion (including Minnesota), should be able to return for Iowa's Insight Bowl matchup against Missouri (10-2). Hampton had his second season ended because of a torn ACL, the opposite knee than the one that cut short his '09 season. He is on schedule for a return next fall, Ferentz has said.

Coker has rushed for 403 yards and a TD in six games this season.

This is from media day. Wegher went to one more practice. The topic here was rumors about his eligibility.