Wegher and other notes

-- Iowa running back Brandon Wegher won't have surgery on the shoulder injury he suffered late during spring practice. He will rehab and be ready for fall camp.

Not a huge, detailed update, but just trying to dot some i's and cross some t's from spring.

-- About halfway down the St. Paul Pioneer-Press Charley Walters' column, "Shooter" writes that Cretin-Derham Hall football and hockey star Mark Alt will sign Tuesday with the Gophers to play hockey. Alt, son of former Iowa OL all-American John Alt, had a grayshirt offer to play quarterback for the Iowa Hawkeyes. His signing with the Gophers would close that door. Ask Ben Brust. (OK, officially the hockey Gophers are in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and not the Big Ten, so who knows.)

-- Iowa football tickets are disappearing, something I've been saying on various radio shows for the last few weeks.

This from Iowa sports info:

SEASON TICKETS FOR IOWA FOOTBALL APPROACHING SELLOUT STATUS

Deadline for 2009 customers to renew is Friday

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Interest in the 2010 football season at the University of Iowa is pushing sales of season tickets to near sellout status as the deadline for fans of the Hawkeyes who purchased general public or UI faculty/staff season tickets a year ago to renew their season ticket order for the coming season draws near.

Fans of Kirk Ferentz's nationally ranked squad and defending champions of the FedEx Orange Bowl who purchased season tickets a year ago have until Friday (April 30) to renew their season ticket order. The UI sold just less than 37,000 season tickets to the general public and UI faculty and staff, and more than 10,000 UI student season tickets a year ago.

The UI Athletics Ticket Office has received orders from new customers for more than 4,000 general public and UI faculty/staff season tickets to date and department staff expect that number to grow and, perhaps, reach a point where additional requests for seven-game season ticket can't be filled.

“If fans who purchased season tickets a year ago renew at the rate that we anticipate, we are very close to the point where we will begin offering a ‘partial season ticket' option,” said Pam Finke, the UI's director of ticket operations.

The UI also anticipates 100 percent participation in the premium seating options inside the Paul W. Brechler Press Box for 2010. A limited number of indoor club seats and private suites were available a year ago on a game-by-game basis. That was not the case, however, in the 1,200-seat outdoor club area where the UI has had a waiting list since opening that space.

Lastly, sales of season tickets to UI students continues at a pace comparable to last year when the UI sold out the student section inside historic Kinnick Stadium. Current UI students are being encouraged to make their season ticket purchases in football and men's basketball prior to the end of the 2010 spring semester. By doing so, they will guarantee themselves a seven-game season ticket in the sport of football and receive a free “MAD-Pack” as a men's basketball season ticket customer.

-- ESPN draft whatchamacallits Mel Kiper and Todd McShay have Iowa DE Adrian Clayborn listed as No. 5 and 3, respectively, in the 2011 NFL draft.

I'm putting the over/under on the number of Clayborn sacks in 2010 at nine. I know, that's fewer sacks than '09, but I believe he'll draw quite a bit more attention next season. I'm going out on a limb.

But then, that leaves some one-on-one opportunities for Karl Klug, Christian Ballard and Broderick Binns. It's kind of a football Catch 22. Mr. Offensive Coordinator knows he needs to help with Clayborn, but he also knows he takes away something helping with the other three.

-- Remember what Kirk Ferentz said about Twitter? I'll refresh your memories in a minute.

If you're on Twitter and you're a Hawkeye football fan, you might be interested in following @HawkeyeFootball, a general account that pours miles and miles of links about Iowa football. It's been pretty active in a short amount of time.

Tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator Eric Johnson is on Twitter. His account is @HawkeyeCoachEJ. Eric runs a fairly active Twitter account with everything from a recruiting stop in Minnesota (no names given, Mr. NCAA, so move along) to the result of the annual seniors vs. coaches softball game (seniors in sixth innings).

I believe that gives every Big Ten football program a Twitter presence, from @IndianaFootball (no tweets) to NU coach Pat Fitzgerald (@coachFitz51) to UW coach Bret Bielema (@BretBielema).

This from an interview with coach Ferentz last summer: 

"You never say never, but if you see me with a Twitter account, just hit me with a baseball bat. Go ahead, take a whack at me. I don't think anyone cares if I have Wheaties or Honey Nut Cheerios. I don't think anyone cares what I had for breakfast, what I chose this morning."

Ferentz doesn't have anything to do with the football Twitter account, so put down your baseball bat, Tim Brewster.

-- Story on grayshirt punter Jonny Mullings coming this week. Still tracking WR recruits Marcus Grant and JaCorey Shepherd. You know they're Hawkeyes, but I'd still like to interview them. Will keep efforting.

-- I know Hlas posted this last week, but very cool honor for Iowa receivers coach Erik Campbell.

This from UI sports info:

ERIK CAMPBELL HONORED IN HOMETOWN

IOWA CITY, Iowa - - University of Iowa wide receiver Coach Erik Campbell will be recognized in his hometown of Gary, IN Saturday, April 24, as the Gary chapter of the NAACP holds its 45th annual Lifetime Membership banquet.

Campbell, a standout athlete during his prep career at Roosevelt HS in Gary, will be honored with the Benjamin Hooks Award. Benjamin Hooks, who just recently passed away, was executive director and CEO emeritus of the NAACP national organization. He served that organization as executive director from 1977-92.

The Gary chapter of the NAACP recognizes one local figure and one national figure at its annual banquet. The keynote speaker and recipient of the Roy Wilkins Award is Herman Boone, the former high school football coach profiled in the 2000 movie “Remember the Titans.”

Campbell was an all-state selection in football and gained all-American honors in track after leading his team to back-to-back state championships. He is a member of both the Indiana High School Track and Field Hall of Fame and the Indiana High School Football Hall of Fame.

Campbell is heading into his third season as Iowa's wide receiver coach. He joined the Iowa staff after serving as an assistant coach at Michigan for 13 seasons.

-- I was out of town late last week when the official word of Iowa's night game with Penn State came through the e-mail.

From ESPN:

• No. 8 Iowa will host No. 19 Penn State in a showdown Saturday, Oct. 2, at 8 p.m. on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2 between two teams that each finished with an 11-2 record last season. Both concluded the season with a bowl victory: Iowa with a 24-14 win over Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl and Penn State with a 19-17 victory over LSU in the Capital One Bowl. Iowa has won seven of its last eight games against Penn State.

For those who didn't want to wait for official word, I had that a couple weeks ago. Iowa at Arizona also will be a night game. Some confusion on time and channel, but I think it'll be 9:30 Iowa time on ESPN. The other channel would be Fox Sports Net, which might cause a stir depending on how you receive your television.

The rankings are from College Football Live's preseason rankings.

I believe that will be it for night games for the 2010 Hawkeyes.

-- I was sent this Chicago Trib story on Bulaga, Iowa O-linemen and the NFL draft. I'm sure a lot of you have read it.

-- And here's this: