Catching up: Coe lands in Council Bluffs

The news last week that running back Rodney Coe wouldn't qualify for entrance at Iowa was not a shock.

This started to trickle out after a Kansas City I-Club meeting. Then, during the Big Ten meetings in Chicago, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz acknowledged that Coe needed work on the academic side to gain entrance at the UI.

"It's still early in the game,” Ferentz said. “We'll know more on that stuff later on.”

Coe will enroll at play football at Iowa Western Community College, IWCC coach Scott Strohmeier told The Gazette on Monday (yes, way behind, vacation last week, totally acknowledge that).

Strohmeier got a couple calls from UI coaches that Coe might not qualify. The plan is for Coe to attend IWCC for two seasons and then enroll at Iowa, Strohmeier said.

"When they gave me the word that he wasn't going to make it, then I got in contact with his [Coe's] high school coach and it just kind of went from there," Strohmeier said.

Coe rushed for 2,515 yards and 32 TDs for Edwardsville (Ill.) High School. Coe had at least 19 scholarship offers from all the big-time programs, including Auburn, Alabama and USC.

Iowa has built a relationship with Strohmeier and Iowa Western. Iowa has sent academic casualties there in the past. Wide receiver Shane Prater and quarterback David Blackwell attended IWCC, but never made it back to Iowa City.

Last spring, the Hawkeyes signed IWCC offensive lineman Dan Heiar. Last year, IWCC sent nine players to FCS programs.

"Iowa is going to recruit the best junior college kid, if they need one, from the state of Iowa," Strohmeier said. "It's not like it's a pipeline with us and them, but I do think they understand what type of program we're running here and the things we're doing for them."

At 6-3, 255, Coe is an interesting football animal. He's got some of the moves a running back needs, but he's also got the size and power to make things happen on defense.

“You know, if he can hold at that area, 250, 255, maybe - but if he outgrows it that won't be a bad thing, but our intentions are to play him at running back and we have shared that with him and we are excited about that,” Ferentz said on signing day. ”We think he's a good running back.”

Iowa tight ends coach Eric Johnson recruited Coe.

“A different type of player,” Johnson said. “He's 6-3 and about 250 to 255 pounds. Unbelievable hands. He's a guy you can play in the slot and do a number of things with. He has good speed and good enough feet to make you miss.”

Coe did play linebacker in the Army all-star game.

“We recruited him as a running back,” Johnson said. “That's what we thought from day one. That's what we're going to start him out as, at running back.”

What did he think about playing linebacker in that game?

“He wasn't excited about it, but then he bought into the concept and I think he had a really good time in that all-star game and during that week,” Johnson said.

Strohmeier said Coe will start on offense and then see where it goes.

"He's big, he's athletic, he can play multiple spots," Strohmeier said. "We'll start him off on offense somewhere, running back or flexed out as an H-back. He's not opposed to defense. If we feel we need him at defensive end, he'll move to defense."