Many happy (kick) returns

IOWA CITY - Kickoffs come with a certain amount of chaos. It's the only play during a football game where a defender builds speed over a 30- 40-yard sprint. So far this season, the Hawkeyes have controlled that chaos and have made something out of kick returns.

The Hawkeyes (6-2, 3-1 Big Ten) lead the Big Ten and are fifth nationally averaging 26.53 yards on 19 returns. It just so happens that Minnesota (6-2, 3-1) is No. 2 in this stat in the conference, so this is the showdown within the Big Ten West Division showdown.

Special teams coordinator Chris White has put together a unit that has a little bit of everything a high-level kick return needs.

'I think Chris has been really pleased with the guys the way they're working at it, especially the guys up front,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. 'That's one of the harder jobs in football is to block that front line on kick return.

'If we're doing a good job up there and the guys in the back are doing a pretty good job, then you've got a guy who can return the ball, it all kind of goes together. But you almost need all of that to have some success.”

Redshirt freshman Jonathan Parker has been a revelation here. The 5-8, 180-pounder from St. Louis, Mo., still doesn't have enough returns to rank among the Big Ten leaders, but if he did, he would be the Big Ten leader, averaging 32.4 yards on nine returns. In Iowa's last four games, Parker 47, 33, 46 and 54.

The 54-yarder came on the opening kick in Iowa's 48-7 rout of Northwestern last week. It set up an Iowa touchdown. Parker bobbled the ball near the right sideline, almost losing it out of bounds at the 3, but then recovered, looked up and saw a rather large opening to his left.

He ended up head first into a road case full of helmets on the Northwestern sideline. Parker returned to see some action, but did end up leaving with an undisclosed injury. He was listed on the depth chart Monday as kick returner.

Parker, who's averaged 19.45 yards on 22 overall touches this season, is an undeniable element.

'I'm just kind of seeing the defense and trying to figure out what I want to do, where I want to go,” Parker said after Purdue, which included 47-yard kick return and a 34-yard reception. 'It's all a quick motion. I really wouldn't even call it thinking, I would just call it a reaction.”

Kick return isn't all Parker. Let's start up front.

Iowa's first wave of blockers includes linebackers Travis Perry, Cole Fisher and Ben Niemann, tight end Jake Duzey (who filled in last week for tight end George Kittle, out with an ankle injury) and wide receiver Jacob Hillyer.

You read Ferentz's thought on this job. It's not easy and it shows you just how much they consider every job they hand out.

'We have a lot of hard workers on the front line,” Perry said. 'It all starts up front on kick return. Ask any coach and they'll probably say it's one of the hardest positions to play well in college football, front-line kick return. You're running back and you've got guys coming full speed at you. You have to plant and get ready to hit somebody, that's what it is. You've got to have the right mentality to do it.”

Of the kick return unit players polled, they awarded last week's helmet sticker to Duzey, who, during Parker's 54-yarder, locked up with a Northwestern player in the middle of the field and drove him to the Iowa sideline.

Freshman fullback John Kenny plays end on the next layer of blockers, on the right flank of what ends up being the wedge. His job usually is clean up from the front line.

'I just pick out someone and block,” Kenny said. 'From there, hopefully, JP [Parker] makes a play. We have assignments, but JP bobbled that one Saturday, so I just picked up someone and tried to make a play.”

It's not a unit you want to see a lot. If you do, the other team is scoring touchdowns. So, the mentality it takes is giving the offense a push in field position.

'We always talk about being the spark,” Kenny said. 'Hopefully, we get one to the house in the next couple of weeks. That's the big goal.”

Tight end Henry Krieger-Coble plays an important role. He plays the fullback and lines up at the head of diamond on the back end, flanked by Kenny and freshman linebacker Josey Jewell.

'I usually get one of their middle guys on the coverage unit,” Krieger-Coble said. 'We try to set a wedge to get JP going a little bit.”

Yes, rules have regulated what a kick return wedge can be, but it still is as physical as it sounds. 'There are some good collisions,” Krieger-Coble said.

Senior running back Mark Weisman lines up on the back line on the right of the returner, with sophomore wide receiver Riley McCarron on the left. He said the front line has done such a good job this year that his job is cleaning up and finding the safety coverage.

It's a tight group, made up of linebacker, running backs and wide receivers. That cohesiveness is essential and really kind of incredible given that it comes together on Wednesdays, with intensive special teams meetings, walk-throughs and six minutes of drilling.

And then Parker fumbled the kick last week and it still worked. Best-laid plans or whatever works, right?

'It seems like whenever JP muffs the ball back there he gets a 50-yard return,” Weisman said. 'Maybe he should muff it every time.”

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