The Quickest Slant

Today's 10 takeaways

1. Could the bye week have gone any worse?

— To recap, sophomore linebacker Reggie Spearman was arrested for an OWI on a moped with expired registration and no safety flag, He blew .087 on a PBT and is now suspended two games.

Sophomore running back LeShun Daniels suffered an ankle/foot injury in practice and is now lost for the regular season. (BTW, Kirk Ferentz did say the school would petition to get this season of eligibility back because Daniels has had a couple of injuries and, hey, the worst is the Big Ten will just say no.)

And then Monday, freshman wide receiver Derrick Willies told Ferentz that he will be transferring. His father, Derrick Willies Sr., lives in Arizona and is dealing with health issues. That's the Iowa side of it. From players and sources, Willies also was not happy with his playing time and his role in the offense.

Bye week from H-E-double hockey sticks.

2. Dad's health or Iowa's offense

— I don't want to blow Willies' transfer out of proportion. He's caught four career passes. That said, HE'S A 6-4 WR WITH WHEELS. You want as many of those as possible.

I think this is more about football.

3. Social media beat

— Yes, I saw that WR Tevaun Smith posted a Facebook status that read 'Wonder who's next?' He's since deleted that.

I think he was probably screwing with everyone. Just my guess there.

4. But . . .

— Why would QB C.J. Beathard stay?

Ferentz said Tuesday on the QB topic that both were healthy (Beathard suffered a hip pointer against Indiana) and 'we'll let them both go.'

Junior Jake Rudock is the starter, has been the starter and will likely remain the starter. Beathard is a redshirt sophomore. Rudock is a junior.

Beathard is a positive guy. He has given no indication that he's leaving and why would he, especially with five weeks left in the year with anything still possible. But QB is a touchy position and Iowa has its QB.

5. RB Jordan Canzeri health check

— He suffered an ankle injury in the second quarter against Maryland, but did re-enter the game.

'He's a little dicey,' Ferentz said. 'We'll see where he's at.'

6. Weisman carries

— That was a bona fide offseason theme with this team, limiting the carries for 240-pound workhorse running back Mark Weisman. They've kind of done that.

Weisman is still eighth in the league with 113 carries. He finished with 226 last season. The fresh Weisman thing is out the door with five games remaining.

'There is no pitch count for anybody, and that includes special teams,' Ferentz said. 'Whoever can help us win football games, that what we've really got to be focused on.'

7. The running game

— The offensive line is taking this to heart, as you would imagine.

Iowa hasn't produced a 100-yard rusher in 10 games. Iowa is 10th in the league in rushing (146.29 yards a game). Iowa's 3.79 yards a carry is 11th in the league.

'We're getting on defenders, but we're not sustaining or finishing blocks like we need to have a good running game,' OL Austin Blythe said.

8. Who's playing center?

— Since we're talking to Blythe, let's go there. The answer is we will find out Saturday.

Ferentz didn't tip that hand. Senior Tommy Gaul moved in at center against Indiana and has stuck there. Junior Jordan Walsh replaced freshman Sean Welsh after Welsh suffered a leg injury against Maryland.

I think you're probably looking at Gaul playing center with Bylthe and Walsh at guards.

9. Jewell in for Spearman

— Forgot that detail from above. Freshman Josey Jewell will replace Spearman at weakside linebacker.

Jewell suffered a broken hand before the first game and missed a couple of weeks. Ferentz called the competition between them a dead heat in camp.

Jewell had been splitting time with Spearman. It's all his the next two weeks.

10. Fun stuff

— OL Andrew Donnal shot a coyote in Iowa recently while hunting. I don't know, I thought that was pretty cool.

DE Drew Ott shaved his mullet. The mullet is dead. Long live the mullet. The beard is staying.

Blythe doesn't see himself wrestling for the Hawkeyes.

SS John Lowdermilk would probably win the top mustache on the team.

The earlier news on Willies

— As I reported last night, freshman WR Derrick Willies is leaving the University of Iowa. Iowa confirmed that today and threw out a reason.

'Derrick expressed his intentions to transfer from Iowa to be closer to his father, who is having some health related issues,' said Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz. 'We wish Derrick well should he decide to leave Iowa City.'

Monday night, wide receiver Derrick Willies announced on his Instagram account that he is leaving Iowa.

His message read, 'It's been real Iowa, things are just moving on to a different chapter in the story.' A separate source close to the story confirmed Willies' departure.

The 6-4, 210-pounder from Rock Island, Ill., missed the Indiana game with what Ferentz said was a 'muscle strain.' Then, he was in uniform for the Maryland game the following week, but didn't play.

Willies has four catches for 71 yards and a TD. He redshirted during the 2013 season. He signed with Iowa after after catching 56 receptions for 877 yards and 10 touchdowns as a senior at Rock Island High School.

For what it's worth, Willies' father, Derrick Willies Sr., lives in Arizona.

I've received a few tweets trying to interpret Ferentz's quote into something positive. On the other hand, you'll note nothing about his father in Willies' Instagram post. Then again, that could be something deeply personal that Willies doesn't want to let the world in on. I would just say take it for what it is. The semester ends in December. Anything can happen.

In July at Big Ten media days, Ferentz showed a lot of love for Willies. Here are the quotes.

Q on Derrick Willies and if he's needed to be reeled in after a glorious spring.

Actually, we really didn't have to. I don't want to violate the Buckley Amendment, but he carried over a 3.0 (GPA) for his first year. That doesn't happen on a high frequency for first-year kids. That's usually one of the indicators, what guys do academically. The first year, they usually drop. I know I did. When they start thinking they've arrived, sometimes those grades do that. He's really done a great job and he's worked hard. He's got a lot of older guys helping him out on that front. I've not seen any variance for him getting off the track.

We saw him twice in the spring and he looked great. How did he look in the other 13?

He showed off for you guys. Early on in particular, it was great catch, routine drop. That was the thing over the course of the spring. It wasn't like that at the end. He became really consistent. That's what I'm excited about. I like the big catches, too, but I like the consistency, the maturity. I've liked the way he's handled himself. He was a guy who was a little guarded when it came to coaching him last fall. He's really opened up now and is embracing things. That's fun to watch that process.

Q on Derrick Willies

It's a great story. When I heard his story, I had one visual image of him. You always put pictures together in your mind when you read the reports a little bit. And when I met him, he was just exactly opposite, basically. He was so respectful. He's a great young man. Nic and Cassie [Gieselman] have done a great job really looking after him. To watch him with their little baby, it was pretty revealing, too. We've seen him in several instances that way during the recruiting phase. Everyone at his high school said great things about him. The more we've had him, the more appreciative we are that he's here. He's a really nice young man. He's got his head on straight. I thought he'd come in and struggle a little bit academically, based on this school that school and this school. He's come in and done a really good job. That doesn't tell the whole story, but I think it's a pretty good indicator of where a guy's head is at, typically. We were talking about Jordan Lomax a while ago. This guys is too good to be true with what he does, the way he acts and all that kind of stuff. He did get a lot of praise back in the spring and rightfully so. He deserved it. It doesn't seem to have affected him at all. That's a good sign, too, that he's not one of those 'look around' guys and all that stuff. He's taken care of business. He's a delightful young guy.

And with him moving around, I haven't asked this but I sense it, I think appreciative of the fact that people look out for him. I go back to Nic and Cassie and the coaches at his high school. I think he's appreciative of the fact that he has a chance to get his degree, play in a good program, be around a lot of good teammates. I don't ask guys that stuff, but you can just tell by the way he acts, he gets it. This is a good deal for him and he's going to try to do something with his life. It's neat to see that with a guy that young.

LeShun Daniels done for regular season

. . . That was the other part of Iowa's release Tuesday. Running back LeShun Daniels is out for the rest of the Big Ten season.

The 6-0, 230-pound Daniels was injured during practice last week (foot/ankle). The Warren, Ohio, native played in four games this season, rushing 14 times for 42 yards and one touchdown and having one pass reception for 5 yards.

'It is unfortunate that LeShun will miss the remainder of the Big Ten season,' said Ferentz. 'We have full confidence that LeShun will work hard to return to full strength as soon as possible.'

I do not believe Daniels is eligible for a medical hardship waiver, which would scrap this year and allow him an extra year of eligibility.

In order to qualify for a medical hardship, the athlete must not have participated in more than three (3) athletic contests or 30% of the team's contests, whichever is greater. The participation had to be prior to the season's halfway point.

Daniels might've had that except that he had one carry against Maryland last week. That was week 7, beyond the halfway point unless the byes count for something, which I don't think they do. It also was Daniels' fourth game this season.

The generally runs through the conference. It doesn't sound as though Iowa is planning on petitioning this. Ferentz did say at the beginning of the year that there were thoughts of redshirting Daniels. Hindsight is 20/20. I would've played him, too.

KF on Big Ten tele . . . Here we go:

Open

— Coming off bye week. Good chance to recharge and hopefully improve. Big challenge with NW.

Nice having NW in IC every year

— Believes Iowa leads NW on trips to Minnesota. It hasn't affected them on the field.

NW offense, what's up?

— They're a dangerous team. Well coached. Good vet back and a young guy who's playing well, too. Tough, hard fought game. Close in terms of outcome.

November stretch, what would you like to see out of team?

— Hoping to see team play best team football. Don't think we've done that consistently. Historically, our good teams have played better late in the season. Our not-so-good teams haven't. If you're not improving, it's not a good thing.

West race

— If you look at it, no one is out of it. We have five weeks left. It's going to come down to last couple of weeks. Challenge is to be in that discussion.

Development of Drew Ott

— He and Tevaun Smith are third-year juniors. Both in 2012 played in late or mid October. Our thinking was it would help advance their careers faster. We felt to move them along quicker, it would be good. Got feet wet. Played well last year and improved. Drew has done a great job. He's developed physically. Played football less than 11 in high school. Requested to move to the left side to face Scherff.

Daniels' news, does Parker move up

— Anyone who's healthy has a shot now. Playing JP more. Akrum has made progess. Have four backs healthy that we'll have to call upon.

Fresh Weisman

— I think he's doing well compared to last year. Going to need all veteran players to play best the next five weeks.

More Ott

— I really think he's putting us all on and just laughing. There have been some outrageous wardrobe items. Same guy who rode a moped home. Extremely intelligent. My guess is he's laughing at all of us.

Moped accident

— We've dodged two bullets. There's great concern. We were glad he was able to walk away.

OK, more at about 3 or so.

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