Makeover in effect for Hawkeyes’ run game, backs

IOWA CITY - Iowa's running game is undergoing a makeover this spring, from the person who coordinates the game plan to the players who execute it.

Offensive line coach Brian Ferentz added a new title this off-season: run game coordinator. What does it entail? According to Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, all of the offensive coaches - including running backs coach Chris White - continue to have input into the game plan. Offensive coordinator Greg Davis still calls the plays.

So, not much.

'It'll give Brian a little bit more ... I don't know if authority is the right word, but a little bit more responsibility probably to just organize our run game, tweak it a little bit, and so it's probably more of a title than anything else,” Kirk Ferentz said Wednesday. 'I think the staff works really well together, but he'll kind of have some final say on some run game stuff, probably he can veto my bad ideas probably as much as anything.”

The running operation won't change, but the personnel certainly has for Iowa. Gone is workhorse running back Mark Weisman, who rushed for 812 yards and 16 touchdowns last year. Weisman finished his Iowa career ranked second in rushing touchdowns (32) and sixth in rushing yards (2,602). Running back Damon Bullock (1,074 career rushing yards) also exits the program.

The Hawkeyes counter their departures with three experienced running backs.

Running back Jordan Canzeri (5-foot-9, 192 pounds) has rushed for 1,089 career yards, including 494 last year. Canzeri, a senior, and junior LeShun Daniels (6-0, 225) are listed as co-starters at the position. Canzeri has quickness, speed and burst. Daniels fits a power-back description.

In Iowa's 45-28 TaxSlayer Bowl loss to Tennessee, Canzeri rushed for 120 yards on 12 carries. Last year he missed two games but averaged 4.8 yards per carry. Daniels scored the season's first touchdown against Northern Iowa but was limited after foot surgery midway through the season. He played in five games and rushed 49 yards.

'They're two different style of runners,” Kirk Ferentz said. 'Kind of the same in that both of them were injured last year for a majority of the year. So we got Jordan do some good things the bowl game certainly, and he had a pretty good month, which was really, I think, helpful for him. But outside of that, he never was really right during the year for any prolonged period of time, and then obviously LeShun had surgery, I think, coming out of that second bye week.”

Canzeri missed the 2012 season with a torn ACL suffered in spring practice. In 2013, Canzeri ran for 481 yards in a limited role. Canzeri missed a home game against Northwestern, which opened the door for sophomore Akrum Wadley (5-11, 185). Wadley played in eight games and rushed 33 times for 186 yards. Against Northwestern, Wadley ran for 106 yards and a score.

Wadley led the Hawkeyes in rushing in consecutive weeks - Northwestern and Minnesota - but he also lost fumbles in both games.

'(Wadley has) got some real assets, some things that he does well, but there's also a growth process he's got to go through both physically and then just in terms of responsibility, taking better care of the football,” Ferentz said. 'It's going it be a big thing for him, but that's not something uncommon to young players, especially at the backfield position. They can be a little reckless with that football, and it's something he'll learn and will learn, but I'm not worried about it.”

Iowa also shifted around three different players. Sophomore Jonathan Parker (5-8, 185), who played running back last year, moved to wide receiver. Sophomore Derrick Mitchell (6-1, 212) shifted from wide receiver to running back. Red-shirt freshman Marcel Joly came to Iowa as a defensive back but since has grown three inches (5-11) and gained five pounds (185). Red-shirt freshman C.J. Hilliard (5-10, 195) also will compete for time.

Ferentz said Joly wanted to change positions, while the staff asked Mitchell if he'd switch roles.

'I can't remember what game it was, (Mitchell) was on the look team and we needed him to imitate - one week it was the quarterback and he also did some running back stuff - and he showed some good things back there,” Ferentz said. 'When we were going through our roster and going through the evaluation process back in January, it was one of the discussions we had, and we presented it to him, and he was really enthusiastic about it.

'It's an area that we're an open book right now. Just real eager to see what he does back there.”

That phrase could go for the entire backfield. Iowa finished seventh among Big Ten teams in rushing at 163.1 yards per game but was 52.4 yards behind sixth-ranked Minnesota.

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