Meier, Hawkeye D-Line face size disadvantage

IOWA CITY - Wisconsin is having one of those seasons - OK, another one of those seasons - where fans want to snap pictures of the offensive line. Sure, a gigantic portion of it is the momentous season that has unfolded, with running back Melvin Gordon riding this tide of red-and-white humanity to huge heights.

And, let's face it, some of the curiosity is because they're so damn big. As we've already discussed this week, it is Wisconsin and world-sized O-lineman has been its formula since former Badgers coach and now athletics director Barry Alvarez arrived in Madison.

This is a lead up to a 'tale of the tape” that can only happen on a football field and probably only happen between these two programs. No. 15 Wisconsin (8-2, 5-1 Big Ten) has plenty of bigness laying around. And you know Iowa (7-3, 4-2) leads the nation in cussedness.

And so in this corner you have Badgers right tackle Rob Havenstein, a 6-8, 330-pounder with a reach that takes a half-hour to run around. And in Iowa's corner, the 'Road House” wrangler, the violent mullet, defensive end Nate Meier, listed in your program at 6-2, 244 pounds and that's your program and not reality (more like 6-foot).

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz has been locked into the 1,000-yard stare this week. When news surfaced that freshman wide receiver Derrick Willies wants to rejoin the Hawkeyes after he left the team in late October, Ferentz said he wouldn't be giving that a thought for 11 days, which happens to cover the last two weeks of this season. Iowa has a chance to have a say in the Big Ten West Division race and Ferentz, as you would imagine, is in the football submarine.

He did, however, elicit a few laughs Tuesday when asked how Meier vs. Havenstein might work.

'My recommendation is you stay real low,” Ferentz said. 'Consistently ... if you're not a big guy then you better learn how to play with leverage, and certainly this would be a good week to make sure you're on top of your game.”

Alvarez's massive O-line concept carried on through former Badgers coach Bret Bielema's run and remains intact under Gary Andersen. In a land of fine meats and cheeses, bigness is Wisconsin's thing.

'There are a lot of ways to be effective and good at what you do, and they certainly have a formula that really has worked well,” said Ferentz, who's engineered offensive lines at Iowa that have done it more with athleticism and technical proficiency. 'That's been a constant with their program, at least during my association.”

But it's not just being big. You have to know how to block and know how to use your body.

'It doesn't matter what your size is,” Ferentz said. 'It's like Nate Meier in reverse. You are what you are physically, but there's a lot that goes into being a good blocker. And some people do it better than others.”

In a lot of ways, right tackle Havenstein is the embodiment of all that is Wisconsin (even though he's actually from Maryland). The senior has made 37 consecutive starts and has grown his game while soaking in the habits of former UW O-linemen Josh Oglesby, who played right tackle at UW from 2008-'11; Gabe Carimi, who played left tackle from 2007-'10; and Kevin Zeitler, who played right guard from 2008-'11.

Havenstein is taking his final season at Wisconsin to heart. Andersen gave an example from a late October practice.

'Yesterday, when we have our rookies at the end of scrimmage play, sometimes scrimmage, sometimes thud, sometimes a tag-off drill, teaching them in practice, teaching them the concepts and the schemes,” Andersen said, 'Rob would stand on the sidelines and watch. Rob is right there in the middle of the huddle coaching those young guys as if he's a coach and a mentor to them, which is great to see an old guy do that with the young guys.”

Meier is a junior who's still building his resume. He has started every game this season. He's been among Iowa's leaders in tackles in a few. He has 4.0 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. He's fifth on the team with 49 tackles.

Still, Meier, who does sport a mullet, is undersized in normal football circumstances. Against Wisconsin, you just wonder how it might work.

The common descriptor when coaches and teammates talk Meier is 'violent.”

'He's just going to have to come off and rock,” fellow defensive end and pal Drew Ott said. 'He's going to have to come off with some violence.”

And 'violence” means exactly? Defensive coordinator Phil Parker said it's one of the hardest things to scout in recruiting. He defined it as a reckless disregard for the bodies, players who are first to a tackle and who aren't afraid to leave their feet to make plays. In the end, however, 'Some guys have a natural ability to be a violent football player, because it's a violent game.”

'One thing about Nate, he's a tough character,” Parker said. 'He's one of those guys that you want on your side. I think he's a guy who goes hard every time with little disregard for his body.

'He's a really, really, really tough guy. I think this whole game is about being tough and being violent. He's a violent football player. He's relentless about it.”

Stay low, Consistently. Don't get eaten.

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