Bullock makes his move

IOWA CITY -- The great depth chart caper at No. 2 running back appeared to clear up last week.

True freshman Damon Bullock carried once for 4 yards, nearly scoring. In fact, if it's up to Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, Bullock has his first college TD.

Ferentz's opinion of the spot on that third-quarter carry in the comeback against Pittsburgh is beside the point. The real news here is that Ferentz admitted running back Marcus Coker missed "significant time" in camp with an injury and that he's still not quite 100 percent. Coker indicated earlier this season that it was a shoulder injury.

"I think he's getting close," Ferentz said. "Time will tell. I can't put a barometer on it. He looked a lot closer the other day than he did two weeks ago."

Back to No. 2 running back.

Ferentz said Bullock, a 6-0, 195-pounder from Mansfield, Texas, won the spot in practice ahead of junior walk-on Jason White.

"[Bullock] has elevated himself above the other guys, but Jason White is right there in the equation too," Ferentz said.

Bullock was one of the final scholarships offered in the 2011 class. Bullock had a productive senior season for Mansfield, rushing for 1,606 yards and 22 TDs. He suffered a broke collarbone as a junior and that stunted his recruiting.

Iowa was his only offer with Tulsa and North Texas showing interest.

“I think it hurt a lot,” Bullock said. “Every Division I school I have talked to, like Tulsa, North Texas and Texas Tech, they all wonder why I haven't had any Division I offers. It's because of my junior year.”

Ferentz also wondered why no offers.

"He had been injured in his junior year, but, that doesn't explain it to me," Ferentz said. "The University of Texas was done recruiting. They are usually done a year ahead.

"Quite frankly, he has surprised us too. In the first game we had him out there as a slot receiver. As I mentioned earlier, our receiver position was a concern three or four weeks ago. That's why we had him out there. We didn't put him out there because he was a bad running back. We were just looking for somebody to give us some juice out there."