All Adam, all the time

IOWA CITY -- C'mon, it's not like they're asking Adam Robinson to climb Mount Everest.

All the Iowa sophomore has to do is carry the ball 20 to 25, give or take, during a Big Ten football game. It's not Mount Everest. It'll be a physical pounding week in and week out, but there will be plenty of oxygen and, probably, no snowstorms.

"It's not like we're asking him to climb Everest," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said Tuesday. "All we're asking him to do is carry the ball. A lot of backs nationally do it. They do it in the pros, too. I don't think we're asking for anything that's out of the ordinary."

Before Tuesday, the last anyone saw of Robinson was the Penn State postgame. Robinson had just come off a career-high 28 carries and wasn't afraid at admitting a little soreness.

Tuesday, after a bye week that was a Godsend for him, Robinson was refreshed, on task and ready for whatever amount of carries comes his way Saturday when the No. 15 Hawkeyes (4-1, 1-0 Big Ten) travel to Michigan (5-1, 1-1).

"That break was much needed, I was really banged up after that Penn State game," said Robinson, who goes into the weekend fifth in the Big Ten with 96.0 rushing yards a game. "The bye week was much needed. . . . I was really sore. I took some shots. That's part of the game. I was able to repair during the bye week."

Now, Iowa coaches measure every practice repetition Robinson takes. His hydration and diet are watched closer than they ever have. When Robinson weighs in, he's expected to be within two pounds of 200.

Basically, Iowa knows what it has in Robinson and is acutely aware that he's precious cargo. This is such a 180 flip from August when Robinson, Jewel Hampton (ACL, out for season) and Brandon Wegher (not currently with the team), but it's reality and Robinson welcomes it.

He's gone from fighting for every carry to solo act.

"Back in the summer, when Brandon, Jewel and I were the contenders or whatever, the mindset was we're going to have three guys capable of carrying the ball," Robinson said. "It would be selfish of any one of us to say, forget the other two and let me have all the carries.

"But now, we're in a position where we don't have three and it's just me. At this point, it's been thrust on me. The circumstance now is I can embrace it and accept it."

Kind of a long way of saying Robinson is comfortable in a 20-plus carry role.

If the 20-plus keeps up, Robinson will be in uncharted territory in about five games. While splitting with Wegher last season, he carried 181 times. He's carried 98 so far this season, fourth in the Big Ten behind Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson (119), Wisconsin running back John Clay (115) and Illinois running back Mikel Leshoure (104).

"If Adam can go, he'll go, and if we have to rest him during the week, we'll do that," Ferentz said. "We'll do whatever it takes. But it's not unusual or abnormal to just feature one guy back there."

Iowa spent its bye week trying to fine tune freshmen Marcus Coker and Brad Rogers, who remains an option at running back while being listed as No. 2 fullback.

"If we could've, we would've had two-a-days all week, but the school went ahead and scheduled classes," Ferentz joked. "Plus, everyone else would've walked off the team."

Gains were made, Ferentz said, but probably not enough to warrant a planned amount of carries.

Remember, Coker missed two weeks of fall camp and some five weeks of practice overall with a broken collarbone. Rogers has spent fall learning fullback. Another freshman, Anthony Hitchens, played safety until moving over during Ball State week on Sept. 25.

Thus, it's the Adam Robinson show.

"They're better than they were a week ago. I don't know if they're good enough, but they're better," Ferentz said. "That's the important thing, and that's all we were hoping for. They're going to be fine, but a year from now I'll be feeling a lot better about them."

The initial plan with Coker, a highly regarded 6-f00t, 230-pounder out of DeMatha High School in Maryland, was to play him this season as the No. 3 running back, Ferentz said. The idea was the nurse him along behind Robinson and Hampton.

Hampton's knee and Coker's shoulder threw the plan out of the window.

Now, it's the little things for Coker. Protections, pass routes, the playbook, those little details.

"It's not just take a ball and go. There are a lot of things runners do just like any other position," Ferentz said. "It's pretty involved. But at least that is a position, historically, where younger players seem like they can play a little bit."

It's not climbing Everest, but it's not color-by-numbers, either.