Weisman might not fit, but he works

CHICAGO — Mark Weisman has been through some football storms. A smashed foot, a torn pectoral, sprained elbow, torn groin, sprained ankle. The one injury that almost really got him happened on a train in Paris.

On spring break in March, Weisman traveled to Paris and London with his girlfriend. They hurried on a train that was headed back to London. His girlfriend jumped off the train at the last second. Let's allow the Iowa running back to take it from here.

'The door starts closing on me, I had to rip it open and jump out,' he said Tuesday from Big Ten media days. 'My leg got stuck in the door and I had to rip my leg out at the last second.'

Whoa. Anytime you include 'train' and 'stuck' and 'leg' in a sentence, it's a somewhat harrowing story.

Weisman chuckled.

'Almost taken out in Paris,' Weisman said. laughing. And, no, he hasn't told Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz that story.

There have been more than a few Weisman injury stories the last few seasons. Weisman's workload was quickly brought up by coaches this spring. Weisman had 53 percent of his carries in Iowa's first five games last season. Everyone now admits that was too much.

'The thing we can do to help him is be a little more guarded with how many carries he gets in a game,' Ferentz said. 'Having the ability to run a strong guy in there, there's real value to that, too. The key thing is he's got to be effective. Last year, it got to the point where he was just running up in there and getting tackled. That's not him. That's not fair to him.'

What is Weisman? It's an interesting question. Of course, you know he's Jewish. It became a topic last year when the Hawkeyes faced Iowa State at 5 p.m. on a Saturday night. That conflicted with Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year for Jewish people. The 25-hour period is observed with fasting, prayer and repentance. The kickoff conflicted, but Weisman decided to play.

Another bit of family info: At 5-11, Mark is the giant of the family. His dad, Larry, is 5-7. His mom, Ilene, is 5-3. He has a brother (who has a dog named 'Herky') who's 5-8.

'I'm the tallest on my dad's side of the family by a long shot,' he said. 'On my mom's side, my grandpa is 5-11 or 6-0. That must be where I got my 5-11 from.'

Where do those wonderfully powerful legs come from? When you look at Iowa's running backs, specifically the ones who've played a lot the last few years, it's Weisman's legs that set him apart. He has the quadriceps of justice. And, yes, some of that was genetic, but most of that came in Iowa's weightroom.

Former walk-on also is another part of what Weisman is. He had several of his Stevenson High School (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) call in recommendations to the Iowa staff to help secure his spot as a simple walk-on. You know the part of making the bed at the Air Force Academy and that supposedly being a reason why he decided to transfer. That was only a part of it.

'I was terrible at making the bed and when we had checks, I had someone make the bed for me,' he said. 'Basically, the reason why I had to leave there is I was too mentally messed up with trying to be perfect between military school and football. Trying to be perfect led to no sleeping and I had to get out of there.'

The final answer to 'what is Weisman' is, well, no one quite knows what to make of him. He's a big running back who looks fullbackish. He's had a stuntman amount of injuries, but he's also been extremely productive.

Weisman begins the season as Iowa's No. 14 career rusher with 1,790 yards and 16 TDs. If he has another season in that range — nearly 1,000 yards and eight TDs — he could leave as a top five running back in Iowa history.

He could pass Ronnie Harmon. He's already passed Nick Bell.

'His path to the running back position was unusual,' Ferentz said. 'He's semi-quietly done a lot of good things for us. I think what he does is pretty impressive. The good thing is, he was a better running back last year than he was two years ago and he has potential to be a better back this year.'

There have been injuries. There are knocks. Yes, Iowa does have a fullback body playing running back. And yes, Weisman has done a lot of his damage against Iowa's non-conference opponents (Michigan State 2012 was his best game, and don't discount two dominating performances against Minnesota).

There are perceptions and, perhaps, some stereotypes that Weisman can't shake. And he's OK with that.

'I could not care less,' Weisman said when asked about the stigmas attached to a Jewish fullback playing running back. 'It doesn't bother me at all. Being called a fullback isn't an insult. I could not care less. It doesn't really matter.'

If a sprained ankle, torn groin muscle, torn pectoral (didn't need surgery, could play 'right through that'), hyperextended elbow and smashed foot isn't enough, nothing ever will be.

'It's fun watching him carry four or five guys down the field,' offensive tackle Brandon Scherff said. 'It pumps us up. It makes us want to go that extra two seconds for him when he's running behind us. We absolutely love blocking for him.'

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