Iowa's Aaron Mends has the tools, just needs the experience

IOWA CITY — Aaron Mends' experience is fleeting, but his impact with the Iowa football program is broad.

Mends enter the fall as a red-shirt sophomore and lists as the Hawkeyes' No. 1 weakside linebacker. He played in 13 games last year and registered just four tackles. But he came up big in a few crucial snaps at Iowa.

The Hawkeyes led Maryland 14-0 with 1 minute, 7 seconds left in the first half. With the Terrapins in punt formation, Mends burst through the middle and blocked Nicolas Pritchard's punt. The ball deflected to Iowa's 19, where the Hawkeyes took over. Five plays later Iowa scored a touchdown.

Afterward, Mends was calm and reserved when describing his performance.

'Coach said it's time for us to make a play, and we went out there and we executed,' said Mends in the aftermath of a 31-15 win. 'I just watched the ball real hard. As soon as the ball moved, I went upfield and made a play.'

Mends, who hails from Kansas City, played sparingly at linebacker, but late in the year he was inserted as a pass rusher in Iowa's Raider package. He recorded a sack in the Big Ten title game against Michigan State and added a hurry in the regular-season finale at Nebraska.

He flashed his athletic ability in making those plays. Mends stands 6-foot and has bulked up from 200 pounds two years ago to 220. He already holds Iowa's inside linebacker record for squatting 595 pounds. Now, he needs to marry his physical marvels with on-field performance in the midst of a competition with true sophomore Jack Hockaday.

'He's very athletic. He moves extremely well. He's very explosive. He's very powerful,' Iowa linebackers coach Seth Wallace said. 'What Aaron needs to do right now is he just needs to hone in on a position that's not easy to play. You just can't be slotted in there because you're athletic. There's a lot that goes into it based on what we do defensively from a mental standpoint.

'The reps he's getting right now — which are very significant — they're going to help him gain that experience. But for him right now, it's really getting his feet wet. He does have some competition behind him, I can assure you the two guys behind him are pushing him, which is nice. But what he needs to do right now is he needs to concentrate on that because we have seen what he can do special teams-wise.'

Defensive coordinator Phil Parker raved about Mends' physical gifts before the Rose Bowl and said consistency would determine Mends' improvement. Cole Fisher, Iowa's starting weakside linebacker last year, said Mends has 'the physical tools to be just crazy good, the amount of power and speed that he brings is nothing that I've seen since I've been here.'

That's high praise for a linebacker who barely has played.

'Right now to him it's slowing the game down,' Wallace said. 'The only way to slow the game down mentally and even physically, because you have to slow your feet down to slow it down mentally, is to get the experience.'

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