5 questions for Iowa football ahead of 2024 spring open practice

IOWA CITY — Iowa football will be in the public eye again as the Hawkeyes host their annual spring open practice Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.

Any talk about Saturday’s practice comes with an asterisk. What media and fans alike see on represents an overall small sample size. It is one of 15 spring practices, with many more to come during fall camp.

It is a sample that takes place while quarterback Cade McNamara continues to recovery from knee surgery. (He has done some individual drills, but Deacon Hill has taken the bulk of QB1 reps during 11-on-11 drills.)

That being said, here are five questions that Saturday (and what happens in the subsequent days) could help answer:

What does the Tim Lester offense look like?

There has been a lot of talk about what the Tim Lester offense has looked like in practices behind closed doors (or more like closed outdoor practice gates). Run-pass options. Presnap motions. “Confusion” or “consternation” for the defense, depending on who you ask.

Saturday will be the first extended look for the public at the Lester-led offense.

There might be more to glean from scheme rather than execution. Between various spring injuries and possibly future transfer portal movement, the personnel running Lester’s offense in April likely will vary from what fans see on a Saturday in September.

Lester said this week he has been calling offensive plays “as if Cade was in there.” That does not necessarily mean the results will be Cade-esque when Deacon Hill or Marco Lainez is running the offense.

“We have to get all 11 players ready to go, so I am calling plays that we're going to call in the fall,” Lester said. “Deac and Marco, whether they're ready for those plays or not, that's what practice is for.”

Which second and third-teamers on defense stand out?

With 10 players returning who have started three or more games in a Hawkeye uniform (and eight with 10-plus starts), Iowa’s defense returns a plethora of experience. All but two of those 10 players are seniors or graduate students, so Iowa’s second and third teams could give a glimpse of what the defense could look like in 2025 and beyond.

The defensive line could be especially of interest, considering how much depth the position group regularly uses. In 2022, for example, Iowa had nine players with at least 100 snaps, per Pro Football Focus. In 2023, there were eight players with 100-plus snaps.

Looking ahead to 2024, Iowa has two starters returning (Yahya Black and Deontae Craig) and four returning players took 100-plus snaps last year (Ethan Hurkett, Aaron Graves, Max Llewellyn and Jeremiah Pittman).

The spring could go a long way in helping the Hawkeyes further develop and identify this year’s seventh, eighth and ninth guys in the defensive line rotation.

“There's some guys over there that's taking some strides,” defensive coordinator Phil Parker said this week.

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How does Rhys Dakin punt in his first opportunity in front of fans?

Iowa’s next Australian punter will perform in front of Hawkeye fans for the first time on Saturday.

It might not be fair to have the same expectations for Rhys Dakin as there was for his predecessor Tory Taylor. Dakin and Taylor, Iowa special teams coordinator LeVar Woods said, are “very different.”

“A lot of similarities are going to try to be put on them because they're both from Australia,” Woods said this week. “They're both from Melbourne. They both came from the same coach. They're very different. … What we've seen so far with (Dakin) is he's a very talented young man, but he's also young and green.”

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Who is healthy (and stays healthy)?

Saturday’s open practice also will offer a glimpse of the health of the 2024 Hawkeyes.

Offensive linemen Logan Jones and Gennings Dunker and defensive back Jermari Harris highlight the list of players already known to be missing spring practices.

Last year’s Kids’ Day open practice also serves as a reminder of the importance of getting through Saturday without any additional injuries. That was when McNamara suffered his quad injury, which lingered into the start of his injury-shortened 2023 season.

At the same time, any key absences are not necessarily reasons for panic. Any injured players still have another four-plus months until the 2024 season begins.

What happens next?

What happens after Saturday’s open practice could be even more interesting (and more consequential) than what happens during the practice.

The transfer portal is open. Wide receiver Jacob Bostick caught some people on Evashevski Drive by surprise when he entered the portal on Tuesday. It may be advantageous for others to wait until spring practices are over — more practices mean more film to show — to join him in the portal.

At the same time, Iowa could potentially be shoppers in the transfer portal, particularly for a quarterback or wide receiver, if the right opportunity presents itself.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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