Herbie on DJK: 'Just being an athlete'

CHICAGO -- Five years ago, ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit came to the Big Ten media days and predicted big things for Derrell Johnson-Koulianos.

At the time, Johnson-Koulianos was redshirting as a freshman from Cardinal Mooney High School in Campbell, Ohio. DJK also was a quarterback who signed to play receiver at the University of Iowa. As you can imagine, this piqued the interest of Iowa fans.

Basically, an internet legend was born.

Fast forward five years, turns out Herbstreit knew what he was talking about.

Johnson-Koulianos is poised to become the Hawkeyes career leader in receptions and receiving yards. 

DJK should become Iowa's career leader in receiving yardage and receptions. Johnson-Koulianos now has 127 receptions for 1,871 yards and seven TDs in his career.

He needs 31 receptions to pass Kevin Kasper as Iowa's all-time receptions leader. Kasper had 157 from 1997-2000. He needs 401 yards to pass Tim Dwight's career yardage record of 2,271, set between 1994-97.

"Ohio plays really good high school football and he was a quarterback in Ohio," Herbstreit said. "I saw what he could do in high school against some really good competition. Just being an athlete."

DJK caught Herbstreit's attention in the Big 33 game, an all-star game between Ohio and Pennsylvania preps.

Playing QB and wide receiver. DJK racked nearly 300 combined yards and was named MVP of the Ohio team. He connected on a 78 yard touchdown pass and ran 41 yards for another score. He also caught a 39-yard TD pass.

"I watched him in the Big 33 and thought, this kid's dynamic,'" Herbstreit said. "I knew when he went to Iowa, I knew it was just a matter of he and Kirk getting on the same page and if that ever happened, huge things could happen for him. I think that's kind of where they are right now."

Herbstreit is one of ESPN's featured college football voices. He sees the Hawkeyes as Big Ten contenders, "first or second." He gave a few other Iowa opinions during Thursday's media day.

On running back, "I very interested about Jewel (Hampton) and where his health is and if he's 100 percent," he said. "If you throw (Brandon) Wegher and (Adam) Robinson and Hampton back there, and to run that style of offense, which is still an old school kind of offense where they need those backs to be healthy. I don't think in this day and age, you need one guy to have the hot hand and you need to keep feeding it to him. I think they proved that last year. They seem to be unselfish kids."

On quarterback Ricky Stanzi, also a fellow Ohioan, "My thing with him is, he is now almost the face of the program on the national level," he said. "I think it's up to him to take that bowl victory and all of the attention he's seemed to receive, not just for the quote, but for coming back after some good and some bad . . . can he go to the next level. And for Iowa to go to the next level, they need his leadership to carry the day. Physically, he needs to avoid the mistakes."

On the 2010 Hawkeyes' chances to challenge Ohio State, which has won five straight conference crowns:

"I think Iowa without a doubt is capable of making a run," Herstreit said. "The last time Iowa had this kind of hype was '05 and '06, and they really struggled to live up to the expectations. Hopefully they can learn from those expectations, where they failed. They didn't even finish those years ranked if I remember right. They got to be able to get back to relax with those high expectations and that praise. And if they do, they've got a great game to keep them focused at Arizona early, which is a top 25 team. If they win that game, then Iowa's definitely a team to look out for."