Weymiller, Hill solidify new positions for UNI

CEDAR FALLS - While the current crop of running backs was showing itself to be the strength of the Northern Iowa football team during Friday's Spring Game, a few of the former running backs in new positions were standing out as well.

Six former running backs saw the field at different positions during the Purple and White showdown, and Coach Mark Farley got confirmation he and his staff made the right decision in shifting their talent around.

'I needed to find out what we were going to ask of each position,” Farley said of spring practice. 'Now that I've seen our offense for four weeks, I think I have a better handle on where to put people this summer so when we enter camp we can create a two-deep and can get lined up and stay in the same offense. A lot was for me to see what was asked of each position and now we'll get the guys in the right spots.”

Barkley Hill (linebacker), Marcus Weymiller (wide receiver), Rashadeem Gray (wide receiver), Duncan Ferch (linebacker), Xavier James (wide receiver) and Jamison Whiting (wide receiver) were all in action at their new positions, and each had highlight moments at times during the game.

Hill had three tackles, including a sack. Whiting had two catches for 65 yards. Ferch had a multi-tackle game, including a pair of quarterback hurries. James had a spectacular catch that set up a scoring drive.

Given the short amount of time each has had in their new spots, their contributions Friday were mostly (but certainly not all) about their athleticism and instincts. What's become natural for them from their days as running backs has helped tremendously, Farley said, in being versatile.

'Our recruiting philosophy is we're from Iowa, and a lot of times you'll find the best athletes on football teams at running back. We've got to take them and either move them or get them in the right spot,” Farley said. 'The other philosophy is if they've touched the football, if they've carried the football, they've got a kind of attitude. We need that attitude on our team, whether you're a former running back playing linebacker or corner, or quarterback for all I care. I want that toughness at every position.”

Among the former backs, perhaps the best performance overall came from former Waukon prep Weymiller, who had five catches for 98 yards and two touchdowns - one a 50-yarder from quarterback Eli Dunne in which Weymiller ran for 25 yards after the catch and carried a defender into the end zone.

Farley said Weymiller has solidified himself as a receiver because he 'knows what to do with the ball after he catches it, and is smart enough to know how to set up blocks as well because he was once a ball-carrier himself.”

Weymiller said it's taken some time to get into rhythm at receiver, but he's enjoying it now.

'Just learning some of the little techniques like coming off the line and you're getting jammed; some of the little stuff you don't really have to pay attention to when you're a running back because you're not catching the ball every play,” Weymiller said. 'It's just picking up the little things, writing everything down and learning from every coach and every older receiver.

'I might not look too flashy, but once I get the ball in my hands, I just go all-out. I get put in great positions by the coaches and the plays, and it's just the instinct of playing football. If that's my role, I'll go all at it.”

As for the former Iowa Hawkeye Hill, he too is confirmed in his switch to linebacker. Hill's tackles and pass rush abilities showed up during the game, but those skills were what Farley and defensive coordinator Jeremiah Johnson were paying most attention to.

It was Hill's pass coverage and ability to read the opposing offense that was the slowest going. But in just four weeks, Farley said he's happy with the progress Hill has made in coverage - as well as he and his staff's choices for their long list of (now-former) running backs.

'You don't just walk in there and play the position, but I think he's getting comfortable in there, and I think when we go back and redo this whole thing again he'll be much better through the second time,” Farley said. 'You've got to be able to read linemen, read play-action pass, and that takes savviness, and that's what I was looking for. If he can do that instinctively, then we can make him a linebacker. And that was the test. He's definitely passed the test. Each time we've corrected him, he learns fast, he's easy to coach and goes out and executes after you correct him.”

DUNNE SHINES WHILE KOLLMORGEN SITS

Red-shirt freshman quarterback Eli Dunne got a big chance to shine with first-team receivers and running backs in Friday's Spring Game, and he made the most of that chance.

Dunne looked sharp throughout the game, completing passes on a variety of routes. He finished 18 of 26 for 269 yards and four touchdowns. His big day came while senior quarterback Sawyer Kollmorgen was out for 'precautionary reasons,” having been sick all week, and junior college transfer Dalton Demos was still no-contact while recovering from a knee injury sustained last season at Hutchinson Community College.

The Grinnell grad Dunne impressed his coaches throughout the game, and both Farley and offensive coordinator Joe Davis have insisted repeatedly it's not just a two-man race for the starting quarterback position.

PANTHERS RELATIVELY UNSCATHED AFTER SPRING

When a football team gets back together for practice after a few months off for spring ball, one of the biggest concerns for coaching staffs is getting a player hurt and therefore greatly slowing potential progress that could be made over the summer.

UNI made it through spring ball relatively unscathed. The most notable injuries were to receiver Charles Brown and defensive lineman Zach Skibinski. Brown - who, along with Daurice Fountain, figures to lead the receiving corps this fall - broke a bone in his hand, but should get back to full workouts over the summer.

Skibinski suffered what appeared to be a serious leg injury during the Spring Game, needing a pair of trainers to help him off the field while he couldn't put any weight on his left leg.

'We're not for sure the extent,” Farley said after the Spring Game of Skibinski's injury. 'That's the one thing I didn't like about the whole spring was that one. We got all the way to the last two minutes. Didn't like that at all.”

Northern Iowa kicks its season off Sept. 5 at Iowa State.

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com