'Good line school' rep pays off

Thanks to a surge in line play the last two seasons, Iowa is riding a "good line school" reputation.

Led by end Adrian Clayborn, Iowa's defensive line was the dominant group in the Hawkeyes' 24-14 Orange Bowl victory. Iowa's offensive line wasn't far behind. In the last two seasons, Iowa will have put four offensive linemen in the NFL -- Seth Olsen and Rob Bruggeman from 2008 and Bryan Bulaga and Kyle Calloway from '09.

When it comes to recruiting, it's obviously good to be a "good line school."

It's what helped Iowa pry offensive tackle Andrew Donnal out of Whitehouse, Ohio. Donnal, 6-7, 280 pounds, earned notice at Anthony Wayne High School. He was named to the U.S. Army All-American Bowl and selected to play for the USA Junior National team in a game against an international team last weekend in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

He also was named lineman of the year in Ohio's Division I District. He had 14 scholarship offers including Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois.

"Good line school" is Donnal's line. Well, actually his line was "outstanding."

"Really, it was the great relationships with the coaches," Donnal said. "They were there all the way. I really like all those coaches and Iowa is an outstanding line school. That was something that really drew me to Iowa."

The question was what pulled Donnal out of Ohio and into Iowa City? Ohio State recruited but didn't offer Donnal. His recruitment spawned a sane six-page post on BuckeyePlanet.com. For the record, Donnal was an Ohio State fan. Everyone is where he lives, he said.

"As soon as I knew I was going to Iowa, it was weird," Donnal said. "As soon as you have a connection with a school and you know you're going there, for the guys I was playing with, it was a total turnaround. Everyone is really supportive, though."

At the All-American Bowl, played in San Antonio, Texas, and broadcast on NBC, Donnal played on the East team with Iowa City High quarterback A.J. Derby and Johnsburg (Ill.) tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz. All three will sign with the Hawkeyes today.

"It was fun to be able to play with A.J. and C.J.," Donnal said. "I already knew them from visits, but getting to play football with them, that was a great experience."

He also went up against a lot of top talent in the All-American Bowl -- including monster Florida defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd -- and came away believing he belonged.

"I thought it gave me a lot of confidence going there, being able to hold my own with the best in the country," Donnal said. "It was a confidence booster."

Carl Davis visited Iowa when the Hawkeyes hosted Michigan this year. He saw terrorize Michigan quarterback

 Tate Forcier and pick up 2.5 tackles for loss in a 30-28 victory.

Davis, whose uncle is former Iowa assistant basketball coach Rich Walker, committed before he left Iowa City.

 He's intent on keeping up this tradition, which really has been a staple of Norm Parker defenses at Iowa. If the defensive line stops the run and pressures the quarterback, Iowa is probably having a good season.

"I've Facebook'd Clayborn and have talked to him a few times," Davis said. "I was down there for a whole weekend. Got to see the whole routine. I'm looking forward to it.

"I feel like I'll fit in and keep up the tradition of good D-linemen. I hope I can keep it that way."

Davis will take a little different path than a lot of Iowa defensive tackles. Iowa has had a recent string of former high school linebackers build themselves into DTs -- from Tyler Luebke and Jonathan Babineaux in '04 to Mitch King and Matt Kroul in '08 to Karl Klug in '09.

Davis is coming in 6-5, 300 pounds.

"Yes sir, I'm actually 6-5, 300 pounds," Davis said with a laugh. "Not 280 or 290 and not 320."

Davis called himself a "late bloomer" in football. He only started getting serious about the game two years ago. Last year for Adlai Stevenson (Sterling Heights, Mich.) High School, he played defensive and offensive tackle while helping Stevenson to the Division I state finals where it fell to Detroit Catholic Central, 31-21. He had 58 tackles and seven sacks.

He also had 11 scholarship offers including Wisconsin, Michigan State and Illinois.

"I believe I play low and am quick on my feet as far as pass rushing," Davis said. "When it comes to run blocking, I have advantages and disadvantages, but when it comes to pass rushing, I play well. Usually, I was quicker than my opponents. Or my arm length was too much for them. I could push, pull and throw them away anyway I want to."

He's only been serious for two years, but Davis seems to have an eye on his technique. Smaller players challenged him to get low last season.

"If I'm going against smaller guys, I have to stay lower than them, like on goal-line situations," Davis said. "I pretty much have to bear crawl, because these guys are so small. When I went against bigger guys, I usually had an advantage."

Even though they're big, Donnal and Davis are possible redshirt candidates.

Iowa has three openings on the offensive line, so Donnal has an outside shot at playing time, but he's also OK with a redshirt. He wants to get in the weightroom and work on strength.

A fully sized DT, Davis needs less building, but, outside of maybe the third tackle, Iowa's D-line isn't taking applications this season.