Hlas column: Blockers look like 2011 Hawkeyes' top building blocks

IOWA CITY - At the end of spring football practice the mood is usually as optimistic as a spring day.

Well, not the kind of spring day Kinnick Stadium saw on Saturday, which was more like a practice situation for the potential Lincoln weather at the Nov. 25 Iowa-Nebraska game.

If Hawkeye football had been a stock last year, the price would have shot through the roof in January and gotten only higher all the way to autumn. This year? Some buyers might be leery, wanting to see more from the quarterback or defensive line or special teams before investing.

But optimism is valid now, nonetheless. It starts with the offensive line. If you have one, you can compete. Iowa has one.

Had the Hawkeyes played an actual spring game Saturday in the raw conditions, the No. 1 offense probably would have had produced pounding scoring drives. Unlike some spring practice finales of the not-so-distant past, the offensive line was ahead of the defensive line. Colleague Scott Dochterman noted the only sack to see was a plastic one blowing skyward in the afternoon's ridiculously strong wind.

Iowa's O-line has ability, aggressiveness and experience. Riley Reiff is a proven commodity, a legitimate All-America possibility. Marcus Zusevics started every game last year. They could form one of Iowa's best tackle tandems in memory.

Center James Ferentz was quietly very good last season for a first-year starter at his position and seems to have attitude to rival his technical skills. Fifth-year senior guard Adam Gettis pushed defenders forward far more Saturday than he got pushed back.

“Those guys are very tough,” said Iowa senior-to-be defensive tackle Mike Daniels. “Some of them are very experienced. It's just a tough group of guys. A very tough group of guys.

“I don't know how many times I can say the word ‘tough,' but they're just tough.”

Daniels is pretty tough himself, so he seems like a credible source.

New starting quarterback James Vandenberg could be merely adequate and Iowa can still be an offensive force with that line in front of a punishing running back in Marcus Coker. If Vandenberg skips ahead to good or better with receivers Marvin McNutt and Keenan Davis, and typical receiving production from Iowa's tight ends, all the better.

It would be grossly unfair to compare Coker to Shonn Greene when Greene was a junior in 2008. Coker's 211-yard star-turn in last December's Insight Bowl doesn't put him in Greenland just yet. But Iowa's 2011 offense could bear some sort of resemblance to its ‘08 unit that got 1,850 rushing yards from Greene and another 463 from Jewel Hampton.

But is Iowa's defensive line anything special? Not yet, obviously, since it's sending three players to the NFL who could all stay there quite a while.

Last year, though, the defensive line parts might have been greater than their sum. Who's to say the reverse won't be true this season, especially if there are more players who provide useful relief?

This year you have seniors Daniels and Broderick Binns as anchors, then you fill in the other spots among senior Lebron Daniel, sophomore Dominic Alvis, junior Steve Bigach (held out of spring practice with an injury), 310-pound freshman Carl Davis, and other possibilities.

“It'll probably be more of a committee type of thing,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. “We'll play six or eight guys, hopefully.”

Davis played like a freshman on Saturday, but Binns had a lot of good things to say about the kid, closing with “I think he has a chance.”

Give this D-line a month of August practice against the O-line, and improvement can't help but come.

“We always say the toughest guys we face are our own,” Daniels said, “and they (Iowa's offensive linemen) will say the same thing. We'll come out here and try to kill each other, and then we'll be joking about it in the locker room.”

Last year in practice, Iowa's blockers got a good education battling Christian Ballard, Adrian Clayborn and Karl Klug. This year, the defensive linemen will get some summer schooling.

If they can apply it in August and everything after, the Hawkeyes can surpass last year's disappointing regular-season.