After fighting leg injury, Iowa's Cole Croston ready to roll

TAMPA, Fla. — The injury that knocked offensive tackle Cole Croston out for the better part of six weeks was a stress reaction in his shin area.

It was a cruel injury, first showing up in Iowa's 14-7 victory over Rutgers in September.

'It was in the shin area and it was kind of an ache and it just progressed and progressed,' the senior said after Thursday's Outback Bowl practice. 'Against Minnesota, I looked terrible out there. I tweaked it in the first half ... I wasn't sure what was going on. We taped it up and I went back out there.'

After Rutgers, Croston struggled against Northwestern, allowing four sacks. He switched from left tackle to right going into Minnesota and held up well in a 14-7 victory.

Then, he sat out the Purdue game before giving it a shot against Wisconsin. There was risk the injury would progress and cost him more time and that's exactly what happened.

'Doctors told me at that point the smartest decision would be to sit out,' Croston said. 'Of course, I was like, 'Is there any possibility that I'll be able to play?' The hardest news was 'No.' They said (this will be) getting you hurt now and not being able to play later, which was what I did. I knew it could happen if I tried to do that and it ended up happening. That was my fault, my decision. Doctors may not be happy with me, but I wanted to be out there with my teammates.'

Croston missed the final four games of the season. There's a bright side, though. He said he feels better and stronger than before the injury. In practice this week, he's run with the first team at right tackle.

'Watching is terrible, watching sucks,' Croston said. 'Being out there and being able to move guys (in practice this week) is so fun. It's what linemen do.'

The fact that Austin Appleby played against Iowa

Florida quarterback Austin Appleby had a day against the Hawkeyes last season. He kept the Boilermakers in a 40-20 Iowa victory with 259 yards and a TD. He also faced the Hawkeyes in 2014 and 2013, but never as the starter. Even last season, Appleby entered the game only after starter David Blough was injured.

So clearly, Iowa has super-keen insights into what makes Appleby go.

'Not really,' Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said. 'He played pretty well against us last year quite frankly (completed 23 of 40 passes), so I'm not real enthusiastic about seeing him again. It's not like we've got a great memory from last year's game, unfortunately, so no.'

OK, so maybe not on the super-keen insight into Appleby.

'It's pretty cool. (I) just kind of take it all in and remember where it started and where I am and it's pretty cool to come full circle against the Hawkeyes,' Appleby said Wednesday. 'First (career) touchdown and hopefully I'll have a couple to end on.'

Tale of two graduate transfers

Appleby didn't like his status as a backup at Purdue, so he went shopping for a new school as a graduate transfer.

How did Florida head coach Jim McElwain find him?

'Kind of the way it worked out, some of the local guys know a guy that was our policeman, Pete the Cop, when I was at Louisville. His college roommate was Austin's dad,' McElwain said. 'Pete the Cop called and said, 'Hey, do you need a quarterback? There's a guy graduating.' I said, 'Yeah, come on.' So credit Pete the Cop.'

Iowa also has a graduate transfer who has played a significant role for the Hawkeyes this season. Punter Ron Coluzzi came to Iowa City last summer after graduating from Central Michigan. He finished fifth in the Big Ten with 41.3 yards a punt (highest B1G finish for an Iowa punter since Eric Guthrie was fourth in 2011). Coluzzi also led the Big Ten in touchback percentage at 64.5 percent.

'Ron Coluzzi has probably been one of our unsung heroes quite frankly, and if you go back to us playing well down the stretch, special teams are a big, big part of that, and the impact he had on field position was really big,' Ferentz said.