No. 29 — No. 3 OT

No. 29 . . .

Iowa's offensive line depth was tested a little bit last season. Between injuries guards Jordan Walsh and Sean Welsh suffered midway through the year, fifth-year senior walk-on Tommy Gaul found himself as the starting center seven games of the year, with Austin Blythe moving over to guard.

Gaul played well, held his own. But how did a fifth-year senior walk-on jump into the starting lineup? Where is the depth? There are a couple of answers and those answers hook into this post about possible candidates for the No. 3 offensive tackle.

You are familiar with the 2013 and 2014 recruiting classes. In '13, Iowa signed five wide receivers. In '14, Iowa invested in defensive backs. Perhaps the idea was to raise team speed, but the investment was paid for in offensive line prospects.

So, you fast forward to the 2015 class, you see that Iowa signed five offensive linemen, trying to refill the ranks. So, the O-line lacked the usual amount of bodies to work with.

That's not to say Iowa didn't have OL bodies on the depth chart. It's just that coaches believed a fifth-year senior walk-on was the best player for the job. Obviously, Gaul passed some scholarship players.

Here's O-line coach Brian Ferentz on the optimum number of scholarship offensive linemen: 'That's a good question, and I think it's fluid. I think whatever is best for the football team at that period in time, and that's changed year to year, and based on where we have needs, where we don't have needs, how much we've gotten out of a certain class, how much we haven't gotten out of a certain class, team-wide. Right now we took five last year, and I think we all agreed we needed to take five, and that's why we did it. We had a really good class in state. There were a lot of really good players in state across the board, and there were certainly a lot of good offensive linemen in the state, too.'

So, with five true freshmen, Iowa's O-line depth chart is young, which means its depth is young and untested. The rings true at tackle, where sophomores Ike Boettger and Boone Myers have earned the starting spots stats, seeing the first significant action of their careers.

The candidates . . .

This spring junior walk-on Cole Croston (6-5, 295) was the No. 2 left tackle and redshirt freshman Dalton Ferguson (6-4, 307) was the No. 2 right tackle.

Croston has been a constant No. 2 for the last year and a half or so. There might be a chance for him to break into the starting lineup (and, maybe, earn a scholarship), but, for now, he's probably Iowa's most experienced backup tackle.

Or maybe not. If you want experience maybe junior Ryan Ward (6-5, 290) has the edge. He played 10 games last season. OK, little if any of that time was spent on the offensive line. Ward wore No. 40 and played No. 3 TE in three-tight end goal-line sets. He also was a four-star recruit coming out of suburban Chicago and is probably running hot about seeing some real playing time. But he also missed Iowa's spring game with an undisclosed injury.

Croston and Ward are probably the main candidates for first tackle off the bench. Ferguson? He's a big body walk-on from Solon. This will be his first August camp with a spot on the depth chart at stake.

Anyone else? Redshirt freshman Keegen Render (6-4, 305) was listed as a No. 2 RT going into spring. He played backup left guard in the spring game. Redshirt freshman Ross Reynolds might've seen some tackle time this spring, but the 6-4, 300-pounder missed spring with an undisclosed injury (maybe shoulder?).

Any chance a true freshman sees time as a backup tackle? Yes, but it would more likely go listed on the depth chart, doesn't play and keeps redshirt. Maybe Brett Waechter or Levi or Landan Paulsen end up listed, but not playing (Waechter might be a stretch here, he battled a shoulder injury throughout spring).

The outlook . . .

Did Boettger and Myers score clear victories when they were named starting tackles in January? It feels like it. They were installed and, at least in the two spring practices that were open to the public, Boettger and Myers were the starters and saw every rep with the first unit.

It feels as though Boettger and Myers are solid No. 1s. Croston was the only other name that came up in spring conversation from the coaching staff.

'All you can do is evaluate your players versus the guys that you have seen play in your program and I think the two guys that are starting right now and Cole Croston have the right attributes, but now it's just a matter of them continuing to grow and understanding it's a hard road,' head coach Kirk Ferentz said.

So, Croston's probably the No. 3 OT, but, with so many bodies and so much unknown about each players' development, this is one of those position battles that will last through camp.

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