Factoids about Iowa Hawkeyes spring football, and discussion questions

This week is about the returning Iowa football players. They're the known quantities for the 2011 season, for the most part. Most of them will show their wares Saturday in Kinnick Stadium as spring practice winds up.

So, here are some statistics about the returnees:

1. Quarterback James Vandenberg's career quarterback rating is 54.49.

Vandenberg has completed 47 of 95 passes for 515 yards, with three touchdowns and five interceptions. Not eye-popping. But does that QB rating mean anything? Not really, when you consider all but eight of those passes were thrown as a freshman and he was suddenly pressed into service after Ricky Stanzi's ankle injury and his first start was at Ohio State.

Stanzi's QB rating last year, by the way, was 157.6. It was the 12th-best in FBS.

Discussion question: Where will Vandenberg rank nationally in passing efficiency in 2011?

2.  Iowa has plenty of tackling experience, but precious little at punting or punt-returning.

Three of the Hawkeyes' top five tacklers of 2010 are back. They are defensive backs Micah Hyde (2nd overall, and 1st in solo stops) and Shaun Prater (5th) and linebacker James Morris (4th).

Returning defensive tackle Mike Daniels was second on the team in sacks and tackles for losses.

But returning Hawkeyes have just one career punt (Eric Guthrie, for 32 yards last year) and one punt-return (Keenan Davis, for zero yards in a 2009 game).

Davis was born in Cedar Rapids. Guthrie was born in El Salvador (but grew up in Nevada, Iowa).

Discussion question: Who do you think should be Iowa's primary punt-returner this year? Davis would seem to be the leading candidate for kickoff returns, given he had nine in 2010.

3. Marvin McNutt had as many touchdowns last season as the rest of the returning Hawkeyes combined.

McNutt had eight TD catches for the second-straight year.  Five other non-seniors reached the end zone for a total of eight scores. They were Marcus Coker (3), Hyde (2), Davis (1), Prater (1) and defensive end Broderick Binns (1).

That's four for the defense if you're keeping score at home.

Discussion questions: How many TDs for McNutt this year?

Also, do you think the converted quarterback will complete a pass in 2011? He threw once in each of the last two seasons, both times for incompletions.