Raise your hand if you thought Mabin would start at corner in 2014

FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. - A couple of years ago, Greg Mabin set up a meeting with Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz in his office. He was a freshman wide receiver and wore the No. 88.

This was the pivotal meeting where Mabin told Ferentz . . . he wanted to change jersey numbers.

'I wasn't really feeling it, so I asked for a different number,” Mabin said. 'During the meeting, he asked how I would feel about changing my position to become a defensive back.”

That happened. Then, the 2014 season happened. And then on Saturday at Fernandina Beach High School, Mabin conducted interviews in his home state before his 13th start at cornerback for the Hawkeyes (7-5), who face Tennessee (6-6) on Jan. 2 in the TaxSlayer Bowl.

The 6-2, 195-pounder from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., went from second-team possibility in the spring to lockdown starter before Iowa's season opener against Northern Iowa. The sophomore's playing experience before that game? Nothing. Not a snap. Not even a special teams snap. At this time last season, Mabin was in his home state preparing for the Outback Bowl. There were no interviews. He was fairly anonymous.

When he walked into that meeting with Ferentz, all Mabin wanted was to shed the No. 88. He's No. 13 now and one of the most interesting stories on Iowa's defense in 2014.

'We recruited him as a receiver, he played defense in high school,” defensive coordinator and secondary coach Phil Parker said Saturday. 'For what he has in his ability and his length and all of that, he just has to understand the game a little more on the defensive side. He's learning and improving, it takes time. It's hard just to throw a guy out there and expect him to understand all the different coverages that you run besides just playing a guy man-to-man.”

Given his family background, Mabin couldn't have been terribly surprised when Ferentz tossed this idea out after the 2012 season.

His dad, Dr. Wesley Mabin, played cornerback at Nebraska from 1968-71 and played on two national championship teams under legendary coach Bob Devaney. Greg's cousin, Jordan Mabin, was a four-year starter at cornerback for Northwestern (2008-11) and is now an Atlanta Falcon. It would've been too neat and tidy if Mabin's other NFL cousin, Dorin Dickerson, also was a corner, but he plays tight end for the Tennessee Titans.

The family connection syncs up in the fact that he plays the same left cornerback position for Iowa that his dad played for the Huskers.

'He always tries to tell me a few things when I go back home,” said Mabin, who finished eighth on the team with 52 tackles with five passes broken up and one interception. 'I appreciate it.”

Mabin said his strength is in coverage, which happened to line up with the fact that Iowa played a lot more cover 1 defense this season than usual. This allowed the Hawkeyes to play tighter coverage in third-and-short situations and be able to play eight defenders near the line of scrimmage. This meant a lot of one-on-one coverage for corners Mabin and Desmond King.

This is where Mabin's size helps. There aren't a lot of 6-2 corners.

'He has freakishly long arms,” King said. 'That's a good feature. He's a Florida native, so he has good speed. His man coverage skills are strong. He's becoming a complete corner.”

It wasn't all, 'hey, look at my name on top of the depth chart” for Mabin, who had scholarship offers from Iowa, Tulane and, coincidentally, Jacksonville State coming out of Calvary Christian Academy in 2012. There was a point in 2013 (remember, he didn't play a down last year) when he thought about going back to wide receiver.

'I wasn't exactly satisfied with where I was on the depth chart,” said Mabin, whose highlight performance of 2014 came at Pittsburgh when he had back-to-back pass breakups late in the fourth quarter. 'I figured, hey, if I go back to wide receiver, I might have a better chance [to see the field]. but coach Ferentz saw the bigger picture and he saw that this was the better fit for me.”

So, what clicked for Mabin last spring and into August camp? What vaulted him from guy who was thinking of switching back to wide receiver to No. 1 left corner?

'I've been trying to figure that out myself,” Mabin said. 'I don't even know. I guess coach Parker's coaching finally started to stick on me. It was definitely a great feeling, something I dreamed about my whole life. To suddenly see it become a reality, it was truly a blessing.”

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