Josey Jewell peeked at the NFL, plans to return to the Hawkeyes

TAMPA, Fla. — Just focus on the end of this story. This moment, Josey Jewell's plan is to return to the Hawkeyes and play his senior season and third year as a starter at middle linebacker.

'As of right now, that is the plan,' Jewell said last week.

That's your gold-plated takeaway from all of this. The Big Ten's leader in tackles (114), a three-time academic all-Big Ten pick, a two-time second-team all-Big Ten pick and one of five finalists for the 2016 Butkus Award plans to return to Iowa City for his senior year.

That's a good thing.

Jewell had help arriving at this conclusion. Yes, he dipped his toe in exploring where he would go in the NFL Draft. He gave his name to the NFL College Advisory Committee.

'It went about how I expected,' Jewell said. 'I didn't expect anything too high. I was just going in and seeing what would happen. It was interesting for me to see where I would be, but I knew I was probably just going to come back.'

The committee, which includes personnel evaluators from NFL teams and directors from the league's two sanctioned scouting organizations (National Football Scouting and BLESTO), advises underclassmen on their draft prospects before they make a formal request to the league to join the Draft.

In 2014, the committee's rating system was revised. Before 2014, the committee would evaluate players in one of five categories: potential first-round pick, potential second-round pick, potential third-round pick, no potential for the first three rounds or no draft potential at all.

The new ratings go potential first round, potential second round or neither. 'Neither' really means 'stay in school.'

So, try to wrap your head around this: Someone who gets paid to watch football players and decides if they have the raw athleticism or whatever took a look at Jewell and said, 'Nah, stay in school, kid.'

We are talking about the best of the best, but Jewell making it to the final five for the Butkus Award, given to the nation's top linebacker, is just that, the best of the best.

Your rating was 'go back to school?' Jewell was asked.

'Something like that,' he said.

Was that hard to hear, as a competitor?

'That's fine with me,' Jewell said. 'That's just another thing to work for. If you want to hold yourself to a higher standard, if you want to play better, if you want to be a first or second rounder, you're going to have to play a lot better, especially in my case. This just pushes me forward to try to get better every day.'

• Ferentz's Iowa knows what it needs and wants to be

Senior cornerback Desmond King returned for his senior year because he wanted to finish his degree, which he did in December, graduating in 3 1/2 years. But, as the winner of the Thorpe Award, which goes to the nation's top defensive back, his NFL value was high, so he got an NFL evaluation. It came back 'neither.' One of the criticisms was speed, something that King wanted to improve on during his final year in Iowa City.

Jewell didn't get that in-depth in his evaluation, another sign that the Decorah native was in only test mode on this.

'I just got their note back, looked at it and said, 'That's fine' and put it away and focused on this,' Jewell said.

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz coached offensive line in the NFL for six seasons, so he has those ties. Ferentz also has an open-door policy for NFL scouts, who can be seen coming in and out of the Hansen Performance Center any given day, any time of the year. Ferentz can quickly get a read on any Hawkeye who wants to explore his draft possibilities.

He said it didn't get to that with Jewell.

'The results were kind of predictable, you know, and if he was really serious about it, what we would have done is talked to, like we've done to the other guys, reached out to six, seven people who are high up the chain, get their reports and get a good, accurate survey of where they would go,' Ferentz said.

'I don't think Josey was all that concerned about it. ... That extra year makes a really big difference for most players, unless you're just a freak-of-nature player and there are a couple of those walking around, but I don't think we've had too many come through our hallways. Most of our guys get better with every step along the way.'

• 5 Things: Iowa vs. Florida 

If Jewell is framing his 'stay in school' letter from the NFL committee, he's not letting on. In fact, he doesn't show any bitterness toward the process. In his mind, he's still a 2-star linebacker from Decorah High School trying to win his spot on the team.

'I just have to understand that I wasn't at the level yet and that's totally fine,' Jewell said. 'I just need to keep on working my butt off here and keep trying to be the best team player I can possibly be.'

Focus on the part where your middle linebacker is returning, with an even bigger chip on his shoulder, a year stronger and faster and smarter. And maybe send the NFL College Advisory Committee a Christmas ham. They just did your Hawkeyes a huge solid.

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com