From rhabdo to . . . oh yeah, football

IOWA CITY -- On the field for the University of Iowa, rhabdomyolysis is becoming less of a story for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz announced Wednesday the 13 players who were stricken with rhabdo, the breakdown of muscle fibers resulting in the release of muscle fiber contents (myoglobin) into the bloodstream and affecting the kidney, have been cleared medically for spring practice, which began Wednesday afternoon.

"They've been working up to," Ferentz said at Wednesday's news conference. ". . . They haven't been on the same level of the guys that weren't affected, certainly. They've all been cleared to go now. I'm not going to name names, but I will name one name because it was out there. ShaneDiBona, he's not going to go because he's had a shoulder repair. There are examples of that, but basically they'll all be out there."

The rhabdo players won't go full bore the first four of the 15 spring practices. Dr. Kyle Smoot, a UI team physician, will continue to monitor their health through this semester. Ferentz said he didn't know if that would continue into the summer.

DiBona, a sophomore linebacker, is one of seven known rhabdo cases. The others are defensive backs Shaun Prater, Jordan Bernstine, Willie Lowe and Tom Donatell. Linebacker Jim Poggi also was stricken. UI e-mails indicated that defensive tackle Thomas Nardo also was affected.

The Iowa Board of Regents issued a report on the root cause analysis Wednesday in Ames. 

"The most positive thing out of the report is that five smart people [the committee that issued the report] are convinced that nobody was negligent here," Ferentz said. "We have to learn from what happens. We can't discard what happens. We don't have a traceable link to it, so we move forward."

And so let's move forward with some on-the-field football news.

-- The last time you saw Micah Hyde he returned an interception 72 yards for touchdown to win the Insight Bowl and earn defensive MVP. The next time you see him he might be a safety, switching from the cornerback spot where he started last season and intercepted four passes.

"Yeah, we might fool around with that," Ferentz said. "Just like the line, we'll look at different combinations. We'll fool around with him in there. We'll fool around with Jordan [Bernstine] in there. We're looking for the best combinations."

-- There are other injuries beyond the rhabdo cases. DiBona did get the double dose, though, with rhabdo and a shoulder surgery that will keep him out this spring.

The two most serious absences are sophomore fullback Brad Rogers and redshirt freshman tight end Austin Vier. Rogers failed a cardio test prior to the Insight Bowl and will remain out of action while his heart is being monitored. Vier has develop serious back problems and Ferentz doesn't anticipate him working out this spring.

Rogers is listed as the No. 1 fullback, but that will probably go to junior Jonathan Gimm, who moved from tight end in December.

Senior wide receiver Marvin McNutt (thumb, shoulder), junior defensive tackle Steve Bigach (upper body) and safety Tanner Miller (shoulder) also are out this spring.

Senior outside linebacker Tyler Nielsen, whose 2010 season ended suffered a broken vertebrea, has returned but won't go through contact drills this spring.

-- Ferentz on wayward running back Adam Robinson, who's attending Iowa and remains on scholarship this semester but isn't on the team: "My goal is for him to get his degree." He left it at that.

-- Ferentz was asked about a position change for redshirt A.J. Derby, the 6-4, 232-pound quarterback all of Hawkdom sees as something else.

"We've had conversations," Ferentz said. "We recruited him under the premise that he would be a quarterback. Part of it was, too, we wanted to see him on the field, see how he'd progress and improve. He's done a nice job.

"We've had that conversation. He fully wants to compete for the job. We're on board with that. He's got, I think, a lot of upside. Probably, the question down the road is if he's not the first-team quarterback, will he play on special teams? That's a conversation we'll have to have, but I think he can help us, could've helped us last year. I don't think it would've been wise to burn his [freshman] year last year to put him out there as much as he probably or maybe could've helped us. Speculating a little bit." 

-- Your depth chart surprise is . . . strong safety Collin Sleeper. The 6-2, 200-pound walk-on junior from Solon is listed No. 1. He hasn't played in his two seasons of eligibility.

Of course, if the Hyde-to-safety thing sticks, that probably pushes Miller, who was No. 2 free safety as a true freshman last season, to strong, with Prater holding one corner and Greg Castillo and B.J. Lowery fighting it out for the other.

Sleeper is one of four walk-ons who showed up on the depth chart for the defense, with Nardo [No. 1 defensive tackle], Donatell and defensive end Joe Forgy joining him.

Then again, this is the spring depth chart. This Jello has hardly congealed.