The real competition

Forget running back. Nothing to see there.

Iowa will close spring practice today with all three of its viable No. 1 running backs in some sort of recovery mode. Adam Robinson is still coming back from offseason shoulder surgery. Jewel Hampton practiced but stayed away from contact in his journey from ACL repair. And Brandon Wegher was "dinged" and caution took over.

So, forget running back. For now, at least. That'll be front and center in August.

The Iowa Hawkeyes will have plenty of position battles on display in today's scrimmage at Kinnick Stadium.

And no, jobs won't be won or lost today. Spring practice is the beginning of the building of a players' resume. Coach Kirk Ferentz and his coaches are marking off their circle of trust. Jobs aren't won or lost, but the job interviews are ongoing.

Senior Jeff Tarpinian must be a killer in an interview setting.

The 6-foot-3, 238-pounder was listed as the No. 2 outside linebacker when the first depth chart for the 2010 Hawkeyes was released March 24.

"Bad depth chart," defensive coordinator Norm Parker said. Apparently, yes.

Iowa released a depth chart Tuesday for the scrimmage. Tarpinian is now listed as the No. 1 middle linebacker. Tyler Nielsen is No. 1 outside linebacker and Jeremiha Hunter remains the starter at weakside, which would be his third year at that position.

"I see Tarp right in the middle of the whole thing," Parker said. "Nothing has been written in stone yet, but I see Tarp as a major factor in the whole picture. He could be middle, he could be outside, but Tarp will be a major factor in the whole thing.

"He's played very well in the last 10 days."

That leaves senior Troy Johnson as the odd man out for now. He started spring practice listed as the No. 1 middle linebacker. He's now behind Hunter.

Nothing is written in stone, though. Parker said he expected decisions to be made on these spots before fall camp begins the first week of August.

The defense is pretty well locked down except for right cornerback. Right now, sophomore Micah Hyde holds the job with junior Jordan Bernstine still working his way back from a broken ankle suffered last August.

"I think Micah Hyde has done a good job in there," Parker said. "Bernstine is coming off that ankle. He still seems to have some good days, some bad days. Sometimes there seems like of hope there and then sometimes you wonder if that ankle is really 100 percent, yet."

On offense -- after running back, of course -- most eyes will be on the offensive line.

Two positions remain battlegrounds. Senior Josh Koeppel and James Ferentz are in a dead heat at center. Junior Adam Gettis is holding down right guard, but junior Cody Hundertmark, who switched from defensive end last fall, is making a charge.

Koeppel has two pounds and two years more experience than Ferentz. Other than that, it remains up in the air.

"It's kind of a dead heat right now between Josh Koeppel and James Ferentz," coach Ferentz said Tuesday.

Gettis has a career start under his belt, last season against Northern Iowa. The 6-4, 280-pounder does have a bit of a resume.

"Adam played some significant (minutes)," coach Ferentz said. "In fact, I lost sight until we went back and did our cutups. Even in the Arizona game, he played an awful lot of football, because Julian was coming off a pec[toral] tear. He really played pretty well last year."

Ferentz said the sixth man right now is Hundertmark.

"He's doing a lot of good things, he just hasn't been able to tie the whole picture together," Ferentz said. "He does a lot of things really well individually, but when it comes to fitting into the whole scheme, that's where he's trying to make up some ground right now."

Junior Woody Orne and freshman Nolan MacMillan could factor. Orne is No. 2 left guard right now. MacMillan has been slowed by a sports hernia.

The last spot where there seems to be real competition is kicker.

Last season, Daniel Murray put up solid numbers but was unsteady in the second half of the year.

Murray made 19 of 26 field goals last season. His 19 field goals tied for the Big Ten lead and his 73.1 percentage was fourth. Sophomore Trent Mossbrucker will resume his career after taking a redshirt in ‘09. As a true freshman, Mossbrucker made 13 of 15 field goals.

“We can do better at that position,” Ferentz said earlier this spring when asked about kicker.

“We have a unique situation. We have two guys that have played a lot at that position,” Ferentz said. “It's going to be straight-up competition. It was last year, too. It just worked out that Daniel won the job and afforded us the opportunity to redshirt Trent. I think that's a straight-up competition right now.”

So, forget running back, at least until August. But as far as competition goes, there's plenty out there today.

Here the Iowa coach talks CB Jordan Bernstine, who missed all last season with a broken ankle, managing expectations and the kicker position. "We can do better," Ferentz said about kicker.