Ferentz on Derby

A.J. Derby was a pretty good basketball player for Iowa City High, but instead of hoops, the 6-4, 220-pounder graduated early and decided to enroll at Iowa.

This impresses me on two fronts: No way in blue skies was I ready to graduate early in high school (I know it's his hometown with minimal adjustment, but this tells me he's a good student). And it shows he's serious about this quarterback thing. He now has a playbook (or maybe probably) and will participate in spring drills.

Links -- How did ESPN Big Ten blogger Adam Rittenberg know that there's some doubt if Derby stays a QB at Iowa? Oh yeah, Adam's really smart and does his homework. . . . I remember the Press-Citizen's Andy Hamilton telling me during football season about the stats Derby put up in junior high. He kept the numbers and here's the story. Good stuff. . . . Here's the story I wrote on signing day.

Bio -- From UI sports info: Hawk-Item -- enrolled at Iowa for spring semester and will participate in spring practice.

High school honors - - Participated in Army All-American Bowl and Hawaii vs. Mainland All-Star game . . . earned first team all-state honors as a junior and senior, being named captain of Class 4A all-state team as a senior . . . named first team all-conference and Player of the Year as junior and senior . . . Career - - completed 99-187 passes for 1,820 yards and 23 touchdowns in leading team to state title as a senior . . . also rushed 142 times for 752 yards, averaged 40.8 yards on 29 punts and collected two interceptions on defense . . . as a junior completed 77-136 passes for 1,197 yards and 11 touchdowns, while rushing for 1,064 yards and 13 touchdowns on 168 attempts . . . averaged 36 yards on 28 punts and had 14 KO returns for 287 yards aond a touchdown . . . as a sophomore receiver had 18 receptions for 358 yards and four touchdowns, while averaging 18.1 yards on nine punt returns and 28.3 yards on four KO returns . . . had one punt return touchdown and three interceptions on defense . . . holds school record for career touchdown passes (34) and longest punt (70 yards) . . . led prep team to 24-1 record in final two seasons and three straight post-season appearances . . . first two-year captain at Iowa City HS . . . also lettered in basketball and baseball . . . member of prep basketball team that won state championship his sophomore year . . . three-year starter in baseball.

Personal - - Born 9/20/91 . . . open major . . . parents are Kelly and John Derby . . . his father was a first team all-Big Ten linebacker at Iowa in 1991, along with being a team captain and MVP . . . high school coach was Dan Sabers.

Ferentz on -- The Iowa coach talking about Derby and D-end Louis Trinca-Pasat entering school early: "We have two guys that chose to enter school this past January. It was their choice strictly. A.J. Derby obviously and Louis Trinca-Pasat.

"And with A.J.'s deal, he lives in town here. He's got a pretty good familiarity with the program, the campus and the university. You could tell he was a little bit itchy, and I think ready and eager to make the next move. And I think it's going to work out beautifully. I think Louis is probably going through a little bit of a transition. He's away from home, growing up in Chicago.

"But it was strictly their ideas, both cases, and I think it will help them get a jump on things and get their feet on the ground. They're already training with Chris Doyle and his staff. And they'll be involved in spring ball. So that's a good thing. I'll also go on record, I'm still a firm believer, I really think, in football, I don't think players should be allowed to start school until fall term.

"I know that's kind of a foreign concept to throw out there. But I'm just not convinced there's a great reason. Again, if it's a player's idea, that's great. But so many programs right now are making it mandatory for players to go in the summer. I just don't think that's necessarily a good thing for college football or good thing for young people.

"So, I'm in the minority there. And we'll run that up the flagpole maybe this spring and have it get shot down. But anyway, a little commentary."

On what Derby showed Iowa coaches at QB during a stop in summer camp: "A year ago at this time I would have probably told you there's no question in our minds he was a tremendous football player, tremendous athlete, kind of a Tim Tebow discussion, if you will.

"And that's really how we envisioned him. And then I was actually at -- this was in the summertime. He came over to a camp, one of our camps, I believe it was on a Tuesday morning. Came over just for one session.

"And he really impressed us with the progress and improvement that he had made. He clearly had been working on his footwork, throwing the football, that type of thing.

"And it was whatever that Tuesday would have been of our camp. We were just all tremendously impressed. And after that, you know, we thought, boy, this guy, he's got a lot of upside at quarterback. I think we're getting a tremendous football player, a tremendous person.

"He's a winner. And on top of that, you know, we think he's got a lot of upside at the quarterback position. If that doesn't work down the road, there's probably a lot of things he could do. Kind of like we talked about James Morris or Greenway, although Greenway was a lousy quarterback but a pretty good linebacker. That's our intent is for him to play quarterback. We're eager to see how he can progress and improve.

"And if things change in our style a little bit, that's fine. Down the road we think that's he's a guy that can win and lead the football team. So, we're really impressed with what he did this past year."

Projection is fun -- Two interesting things from Ferentz's thoughts, 1) Iowa would be willing to change its offense to suit Derby at quarterback. We're not talking wholesale changes, I'm sure, but it's something Iowa has done in the past (Drew Tate '04) with success. Think of all the QBs Iowa has won with under Ferentz/Ken O'Keefe. Every shape and size. And 2) the door isn't shut on exploring options on a position change.

But that's down the road. Immediately, I believe Derby redshirts and enters competition with James Vandenberg in 2011. Unless Ricky Stanzi gets hurt. That might open the door next season, but let's not put Stanzi in a cast. He just got out of one.