No. 10 — K Marshall Koehn

No. 10 . . .

Now that Marshall Koehn is on scholarship, the senior will take over the world. OK, we might be getting a bit ahead of ourselves.

After early struggles, Koehn finished 2014 as an A on Iowa's report card. He made 12 of 16 field goals (including 10 of his last 11). Koehn also became a weapon on kickoffs, notching 43 touchbacks, which finished second in the Big Ten. Koehn's 52-yard field goal at Pitt not only helped secure a 24-20 victory, it also was the longest field goal for the Hawkeyes since Nate Kaeding's 55-yarder against Minnesota in November 2003 and was just the third 50-yard field goal since Kyle Schlicher made one his junior season in 2005.

During the summer, Koehn was put on scholarship. So, he was able to 'retire' from his construction job and concentrate on shaping his game. This just happened to coincide with the fact that Koehn is neck-deep in the competition for the punting job.

So, it's not taking over the world, but the kicker/punter combo has been a rarity during Kirk Ferentz's 16 seasons as Iowa's head coach. Kaeding was an all-American, Lou Groza Award-winning kicker for the Hawkeyes. In 2001, he was tried at punter. The experiment was short lived, with Kaeding punting just six times before David Bradley solidified the spot.

In mid-July, Koehn said he was up for both jobs and, at the very least, wanted to provide some competition for senior punter Dillon Kidd.

'I'm trying to compete with Dillon for it,' Koehn said. 'Competition brings the best out of all of us, so I'm going to try to push him as best as I can.'

When Ferentz spoke during Iowa's media day, the Hawkeyes were three days into camp practices. Ferentz's punter update left no room for interpretation.

'Marshall is every bit as good as Dillon Kidd right now at punting the football, but we'll let the test of time determine that,' Ferentz said. 'I look at it as a good development because last year we really didn't have that luxury. Marshall has been in the race, he's competed well, and we'll let that play out.

'Obviously, we're needing our punting game to get better.'

So, what would Koehn the punter look like? . . .

Assistant coach Chris White has sort of made punter a mission. And not just punter, but punt coverage and all coverage units for that matter. But he has mentioned punter more than a few times this offseason.

On media day, he said in a perfect world, Kidd would win the punter job and the division of duties could remain intact. That makes sense. It would contain the focus and not chart new territory for this program with the dual-duty guy.

Let's say, though, that Koehn wins both jobs. (White has said it's 45- or 50-yarders and then a shank for him right now.) How would it work?

Here's my educated guess: No way Koehn isn't on FG duty. He's the incumbent and he's running unchallenged. In fact, Mick Ellis, sophomore and No. 2 on the depth chart, likely will redshirt this season. The question is do you allow Koehn to handle kickoffs and punts along with FGs? Does something have to give?

If it's a choice between punts and kickoffs that go for touchbacks nearly 60 percent of the time . . . that's a really tough choice. If you have a 45-plus punter, you let him punt. And then, you try to find a kicker who can sail it the 65 yards into the end zone. Or you hope Kidd shows the strong leg that helped him win the job last season and then develop the consistency that lost him the job late in the year. That's probably what you hope.

Outlook . . .

Just purely going off the history of how Ferentz has handled this, I don't think Koehn does both jobs. Do not understate his value as FG kicker. This is an offense with questions and points are going to be super, super valuable. Koehn is worth his weight in gold for that.

The division of labor here is nice and tidy. But . . . let's not shut the door. Simply by numbers, Iowa hasn't averaged 40 yards a punt since Eric Guthrie averaged 41.2 in 2011. That's a long, dry desert of meh punting.

If Koehn can elevate that, I don't think you hesitate.

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