Patchwork linebackers piece it together

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The whole Iowa linebacker situation was a game-time decision.

But when the smoke cleared -- literally, because of pregame fireworks at Memorial Stadium -- the starters were true freshman James Morris in the middle, senior Jeremiha Hunter on the weakside and redshirt freshman Shane DiBona on the outside.

Coming out of Michigan State, junior Tyler Nielsen suffered a broken vertebrae in his neck and is out for the season, facing a 12-week recovery. So, the entire corps was sort of up for grabs.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said he really didn't know how it would shake out. Well, it turned out well.

Hunter, who missed last week with a knee injury, returned and had eight tackles and two pass breakups.

"We weren't sure until gametime," Hunter said. "We kind of wanted to see what they were going to do. Once we started moving around a little bit, coach (linebackers coach Darrell Wilson) figured out who was going to be in there and who wasn't."

Morris turned his second career start into a bid for Big Ten freshman of the week, with nine tackles, two pass breakups, a half tackle for loss and a QB hurry.

"Their linebackers were playing great," IU quarterback Ben Chappell said. "That mike, No. 44 [Morris], he was causing problems all day. He was switching to wherever he was dropping to the field and boundary, reading my eyes, doing a good job of that. He was playing good."

DiBona made three tackles in his second start. Senior Jeff Tarpinian, still nursing a neck stinger, played on passing downs. Ferentz said after the game his role should expand next week. Senior Lance Tillison was the fourth linebacker in 3-4 alignment.

"Getting Jeremiha back this week gave us some flexibility with some combinations," Ferentz said. "If we quit getting guys hurt, we'll keep fooling around with that stuff."