Wadley keeps it simple

The smile on his face said that, yes, Akrum Wadley enjoyed his success last weekend.

The sophomore running back relieved injured senior Jordan Canzeri and rushed a career-high 26 times for a career-high 204 yards and a school record-tying four touchdowns in the No. 13 Hawkeyes' 40-10 victory at Northwestern.

On Monday, Wadley was named the Big Ten's offensive player of the week, the fifth Hawkeye to earn the conference weekly award this season. Iowa has now had three players win the offensive player of the week this year (quarterback C.J. Beathard and Canzeri), which is the most since 2002, when QB Brad Banks was recognized three times and tight end Dallas Clark was honored once.

This is the good stuff and Wadley's smile was bright enough for stadium lighting during the postgame.

'I gained a lot of confidence,” Wadley said. 'It was a great experience out there. I had a lot of fun out there. I'm just trying to keep it up.”

You can't really talk to Wadley without him bringing up past mistakes, the kinds of things that keep a running back with star potential grounded.

Wadley brings up fumbles and stabilizing his weight, which fluctuated 7 to 10 pounds at times going into August camp. Those are the two things that have kept him out of regular carries this season (or really any carries). That's also why you saw Canzeri carry a school record 43 times at Illinois.

'I'm focused on getting my weight up and ball security, high and tight,” said Wadley, who weighs in around 190. 'Beginning of the season, my weight was going up and down. And then the fumble at Illinois State, that just put me down.”

Yes, that fumble. Wadley fumbled three times in 33 carries during a freshman season that saw him punch in with a 100-yard performance in a victory over Northwestern. Three carries into 2015, Wadley fumbled again. He didn't see another carry until the five he had in a 62-16 blowout over North Texas. Then, it was another two games with no carries.

Then last weekend, Canzeri suffered an ankle sprain in the first quarter. Ready or not, it was time to trust Wadley.

'It's all about trust,” Wadley said. '(Running backs coach Chris) White preaches that day in and day out. I've been grinding at holding the ball tight. I didn't fumble today and I haven't fumbled lately, so it's a trust thing. Gained some trust today, that's one in the bank.”

With Canzeri's 256 rushing yards in the Oct. 10 win over Illinois, the Hawkeye now have had two players pass 200 rushing yards in consecutive weeks. Iowa is the only FBS team since 1996 to do that.

Along with sophomore RB Derrick Mitchell's 79 yards on 10 carries, the Hawkeyes finished with a season-high 294 rushing yards against Northwestern, which hadn't allowed a 100-yard rusher before last weekend.

'Akrum has done some really good things,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said. 'He did a good job in this ballgame last year. The biggest thing, it's little detail things. We get to see a lot more than the public or the media. It's the little things, earning the trust of your teammates and staff. I think he's worked hard at that. He knew what the issues and concerns were. I know he took a big step today in getting everyone's confidence in him.

'. . . What Akrum did today was a really positive sign and we're really happy for him and really proud of what he did.”

There's a physical component to Wadley 'making weight.” There's also a responsibility measure. It was a challenge he needed to show the staff that he could manage.

'If they don't hit their target weights, that's telling us about what they're doing off the field,” White said this summer. 'Are they sleeping right? Are they eating right? The whole thing is nutrition and sleep. Some of these guys haven't figured that out yet. Some of the older guys, you don't have to worry about.

' . . . Akrum can't fluctuate so much. That's a big part of the trust thing.”

Wadley is on it. It's really a lot of what he talks about.

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