Officially a good year for Iowa special teams — Depth Chart Monday

IOWA CITY — With Riley McCarron earning Big Ten special teams co-player of the week on Monday, this officially has been a good year for Iowa's special teams.

McCarron's 55-yard punt return for a touchdown near the end of the first half set the course for Iowa's 28-0 victory over Illinois last weekend. For the second consecutive week, Iowa punched in for a few Big Ten weekly honors.

McCarron earned the co-special teams award, and running back LeShun Daniels was named co-offensive player of the week. Daniels matched a career high with 26 carries for season-high 159 rushing yards. He scored on runs of 1 and 50 yards for his sixth career multi-touchdown game.

Daniels is Iowa's first B1G player of the week on offense in more than a year. Running back Akrum Wadley earned the honor on Oct. 19, 2015 after 204 yards and four TDs against Northwestern.

No such gap for Iowa's special teams.

Just last week, true freshman kicker Keith Duncan earned B1G special teams player of the week after his 33-yard field goal beat No. 3 Michigan, 14-13 at Kinnick Stadium. After Iowa's 14-7 victory at Rutgers, punter Ron Coluzzi earned the B1G honor, averaging 42.0 yards on seven punts with four of those pinning Rutgers inside of its 20-yard line.

'We knew that when they were going to punt with the wind, we were going to have an opportunity to return it,' McCarron said. 'Credit to our punt return unit. They did a great job blocking. I didn't get a finger laid on me. Credit is all to them. They did an outstanding job. I had the easy part.'

Fact of the matter is, Iowa's punt return team has been solid all season.

Iowa assistant coach LeVar Woods has headed the punt return unit in each of the last two seasons. Going into week 12, the Hawkeyes likely will finish second in the league in punt return average for the second consecutive season. In 2015, Iowa averaged 13.9 yards per return. This year, it's 11.9 per return.

This also has coincided with cornerback Desmond King assuming punt (and kick) return roles. Iowa also shifted from a 'fair catch' first mentality to letting an athlete do his thing.

King rushed for nearly 2,400 yards and 33 TDs during his senior year at East English Village Prep in Detroit. His ball skills and return instincts were apparent. This all has tied together with well-coached schemes that have popped for big returns.

'Go back and watch some of his returns and interceptions,' Woods said, 'and you'll see why we like him as a returner.'

Last weekend, Iowa anticipated that the 40 mph wind gusts might provide one of those 'outkicked the coverage' situations. That happened. A middle return was called and McCarron booked up the middle untouched for the TD. Twice, Iowa put two returners on the field.

'It felt good to get the momentum going and get the guys going a little bit,' McCarron said. 'Special teams played a huge role in the game today.'

Injury report

In last weekend's postgame, Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said tight end George Kittle had the best shot to return to the lineup among Iowa's injured players. On offensive tackle Ike Boettger, Ferentz said, 'If at all possible, he'll be out there, but he's got to show us he can play, too.'

Safety Mile Taylor dressed and made the trip to Illinois, but senior Anthony Gair started. Taylor is available this week.

Let's check some Pro Football Focus grades

Go to Pro Football Focus and totally dig into that site. Learn about football. Get smarter. Win arguments. That's the whole point of what they do and what I try to do (sometimes not as great as others).

Iowa's run blockers ranked by PFF (starting O-line, fullbacks and TE)

1. TE Peter Pekar

2. C James Daniels

3. G Keegan Render

4. TE Nate Wieting

5. G Levi Paulsen

I think Pekar and Wieting have combined for two targets this season (both Wieting and one was a throwaway). Pekar might've had one target, but George Kittle also was in the area (it was at Rutgers), so probably a Kittle target? Anyway, Pekar and Wieting the last two weeks have been outstanding in their roles as blockers.

The TEs combined for 89 snaps vs. Illinois and posted run blocking grades of +2.8 and +1.9. Yes, Iowa TE is incomplete without Kittle, but these two have made the type of contributions those who don't just follow the ball can appreciate.

James Daniels remains on a tear. For the third straight week, the sophomore center is a positive grade and one of Iowa's best. Quite a turnaround for sophomore Keegan Render, who's now started six games. Render was one of the minus grades last week. This week, he clocked in with +2.1.

In his first career start, redshirt freshman Levi Paulsen notched a positive 1.2 grade.

PFF's top pass blocker this week

No one finished with a positive grade, but Render was the closest with a neutral .06. Again, quite a turnaround from Michigan, but this is how players improve. It's not going to be Michigan every week.

Overall, Iowa kept QB C.J. Beathard's uniform fairly clean, allowing just two hits and two hurries.

Best PFF overall grades for the offense this week

1. RB LeShun Daniels

2. C James Daniels

3. TE Peter Pekar

4. TE Nate Wieting

5. G Keegan Render

With Levi Paulsen being the new face in the lineup and with Iowa winning (they're always more willing to talk when they win, that's being human), I decided to have a little fun with LeShun and asked him how much he hangs out with Levi.

'No,' he said laughing. 'I can't say that I do. With him being in there, I thought he did pretty well today, first time getting some real action.'

I think asked LeShun if he hangs out with Keegan Render much.

'Nope,' he said, again laughing.

And then the truth came out.

'The only offensive lineman that I really hang out with is my brother and Boone (Myers, offensive tackle),' Daniels said. 'They're both my roommates, too.'

So, he can't escape them.

You know, Kittle is one of Iowa's better blockers. Maybe this is one of those cases where younger players watch the veteran and learn that it's all important.

Offensive factlets

— With last week's 40 mph wind gusts, it was like Iowa's passing game was under double-secret probation and instead of throwing a toga party it didn't throw anything at all.

— Beathard's NFL passer rating for the game was 41.5. Enough said.

— 70 of Daniels' 159 yards came after contact. He also forced two missed tackles, as many as Wadley forced.

— Before Illinois, Coluzzi had more carries than fullbacks Drake Kulick and Brady Ross. They each logged one for a combined 3 yards, and so now that scratch has been itched.

— WR Jerminic Smith caught two of his three targets and looked smooth doing it. He would've scored a positive grade, but dropped a pass.

— 36 of Wadley's 82 yards came after contact.

— Iowa's running lanes were all positive except behind left guard (minus-1.1) and fullback (minus-3.4). Tight end was the big winner at +4.7 (11 carries for 66 yards).

Iowa's run defenders ranked by PFF (starting D-line and linebackers)

1. DE Anthony Nelson

2. DE Matt Nelson

3. DT Jaleel Johnson

4. LB Josey Jewell

5. DE Parker Hesse

Iowa's defensive ends are partying it up. If you're not excited for the future at that position, well, you're probably thinking about potential problems at defensive tackle (BTW, Brady Reiff was a No. 2 and played some DT last week). Right now, I don't think Jewell elects to leave early for the NFL. I know you were thinking about that. No definitive answer, but that is my educated speculation.

PFF's best against the pass

It was King with a +1.9. King was targeted four times with just one completion for 13 yards. He also picked off his second pass of the season. Weakside linebacker Bo Bower had one of his better games, posting a +1.4 grade (seven targets, five completions but only 32 yards).

Best PFF overall grades for the defense this week

1. OLB Ben Niemann

2. DT Jaleel Johnson

3. DT Faith Ekakitie

4. DE Anthony Nelson

5. (tie) DE Parker Hesse and WLB Bo Bower

Remember earlier this season when Niemann would leave for a series in the fourth quarter? The junior has seemed to find his legs. He's playing his best football right now, maybe the best of his career (three solo tackles, a QB hurry and one completion allowed in three targets for just 3 yards).

Johnson is playing himself into the ___ round of the NFL draft? I say third.

Ekakitie is making the most of his senior year. With Nathan Bazata hampered with an ankle injury, the senior is logging big snap counts (39 last week) and remains a top contributor (four QB hurries vs. Illinois).

Bower's solid week included two solo tackles and plus grades overall and vs. the pass.

Defensive factlets

— True freshman Manny Rugamba is all the way in. He played 63 snaps vs. Illinois and earned a +2.0 on special teams with a strip and fumble recovery.

— True freshman DT Cedrick Lattimore played 11 snaps and logged his first career sack.

— Illinois had nine offensive players post negative grades. The lone positive was guard Nick Allegretti.

— QB Wes Lunt's NFL passer rating was 44.5.

— Tight end, left tackle and left guard were all negative rushing lanes for Illinois.

— FYI, David Reisner was the punter who gave up McCarron's TD return. He had two punts and his max hang time is listed as 4.05 seconds. OK, that's not very good. That's the kind of hang time that sets up punt returns.

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