Quick news conference notes (Ferentz video)

-- If you follow me on Twitter, you know that offensive tackle Bryan Bulaga was cleared to return to practice Sunday after a thyroid condition sidelined him since Sept. 8. Ferentz said there are no further problems and the 6-6, 315-pounder won't have to take medication the rest of his life. This started to show during camp when Bulaga had trouble keeping his weight up.

Bulaga missed three games after being hospitalized on Sept. 8 because of a shortness of breath, Ferentz said. It was two-thirds into that practice when this occurred.

Ferentz said the illness has passed. It could've been more extensive and that brought on a series of checks before he could be cleared to play. At the beginning with this illness, lifelong medication was a possibility.

"It's kind of a rare deal, random," Ferentz said. "They always start with worst-case scenarios and work backwards. It's unfortunate it's taken this long. It's unfortunate that it happened during the season, especially for Bryan.

"But the good news is the wait's been worth it. He's going to be fine."

Bulaga did some workouts last week, including some one-on-ones in blocking.

"We're practicing on the defensive field one day and off in the corner on the next field, you can see he's doing one-on-ones with a guy," Ferentz said. "I'm like, 'Aw, crap. It'd be nice to have him on this field.'  At least he was doing some work, with a (heart) monitor on."

Team trainers and doctors will watch him this week, but after the stress test they put him through Monday, it sounds as though Bulaga will be dressed for the first time since the season opener on Sept. 5.

"They basically tried to kill him on his stress test yesterday and they couldn't do it," Ferentz said. "I don't think we can simulate what they (team doctors) did to him. I told him he better hope (strenght and conditioning coach Chris) Doyle doesn't get a hold of that test. He might use it on all of our players.

"I shouldn't use 'kill him,' but that's what they tried to do. They would've stopped, I know that."

How has the Bulaga saga played with the team?

"I sat down and talked to Bryan about a week after the Iowa State game and he finally told me what he was going through," defensive tackle Christian Ballard said. "I thought, 'Hey, come back when you can, don't push it. We're going to need you throughout. We've got eight games left. There's nothing to rush.'

"He practiced a little bit before the Penn State game and he looked pretty good. They just didn't want to push him too much. This guy, he's got a good future ahead of him, not just in college football but in the professional league."

There's no definitive news on tight end Tony Moeaki (ankle). He dressed for the Penn State warmup, but was told by Ferentz on Friday that he wouldn't play. He's improving, Ferentz said, but the idea is to be prudent and smart.

Moeaki hasn't played since Iowa's victory over Iowa State on Sept. 12, sitting out the last two games.

"We've already given up a couple weeks of his season," Ferentz said. "We're just going to be prudent, in fairness to him, most importantly. He's a senior player who's a very good player. To me, it doesn't do him justice to put him out there at risk or to put him out there where he's not going 100 percent.

"We'll see what this week brings. I'll make a decision at the end of the week. He's improving pretty rapidly."

-- Iowa DT Karl Klug is from a small-town in Minnesota, so, yes, he's an avid hunter. He hunts pheasants, deer and squirrels. Yes, squirrels. He said they taste good with cream of mushroom soup.

He said he'd love to take his fellow D-linemen hunting with him to Caledonia, but it hasn't happened yet. He invited LB Jeremiha Hunter home to go camping with him this summer. Hunter respectfully declined, saying he was afraid of bears. Bears are a rarity in southern Minnesota and northern Iowa.

-- This week is the quintessential "trap" game for the Hawkeyes. Post-PSU, pre-Michigan, that's just the way it sets up.

Ferentz very much believes in the notion.

"I believe in that stuff. I think that's very real," he said.

QB Ricky Stanzi doesn't believe in it.

"You can call it whatever you want," Stanzi said. "You could come up with a name for each game. We're not really worried about a trap game. It's a football game."

Ferentz one more time on the subject, "Let's hope we win the Kinnick Stadium championship this Saturday, I'll be happy with that, and then we'll go on to the next game after that."

-- Stanzi and a few teammates have been regular visitors to Jenna Waters in the UIHC. She's a 4-year-old from Ainsworth who's being treated for cancer.

Jenna is a relation of former football manager Dan Wolfe. He asked Stanzi and roommates A.J. Edds, Brett Morse, Jeff Tarpinian and Tony Moeaki if they'd be interested in visiting Jenna.

Of course, they were.

"We were just so moved by her story," Stanzi said. "How young her parents are. They've got two other young kids. She's a twin. They're taking care of Katelyn and Bryce and they have Jenna and she just got diagnosed with cancer. It's such a compelling story, we wanted to help anyway we could."

Last winter, they exchanged phone numbers and became Facebook friends. Whenever Jenna is in town, Stanzi and his 'mates try to find the time to meet.

They met in a park in Iowa City on Tuesday morning.

"She just went to Disney, so we were talking about that," said Stanzi, who wears a pink plastic "Pray for Princess Jenna" band on his right wrist to show support.

"Every week, you're getting ready for a game and then you look at Christina and Jared (Jenna's parents), they fight they have to go through everyday with raising their kids and taking care of Jenna," "Stanzi said. "You have so much respect for them that it makes your job look easy. We play a sport. They'll text after games and say how happy they are to watch the game. It just makes you happy that you can be there for someone when all you really have to do is play a sport. I think it just puts things into perspective."

Stanzi has younger brothers, Vinnie (17) and Joey (11), so this hits home for him.

"To see Jenna and her family, that's tough," he said.

Here's a link to a tender and beautiful photo essay on the Waters family by the Press-Citizen's Matt Holst.

-- This isn't a news conference note, but I wanted to get it out there:

Pat Angerer is the Nagurski national defensive player of the week.

Here's the release:

DALLAS (FWAA) – Iowa linebacker Pat Angerer has been named the FWAA/Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week for games of the weekend of Sept. 26.

Angerer, a 6-1, 235-pound senior from Bettendorf, Iowa., registered a game-high 14 tackles and produced two key turnovers in Iowa's 21-10 upset victory at Penn State last Saturday night. His 38-yard interception return set up an Iowa touchdown that gave the Hawkeyes an 18-10 advantage in the second half. He also forced a Penn State fumble in the fourth quarter that stalled a Nittany Lions' drive at Iowa's 18-yard line.

Angerer will be added to the 2009 Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch List. The Bronko Nagurski Trophy will be presented to the best defensive player in college football on Dec. 7 by the FWAA and the Charlotte Touchdown Club at the Westin Hotel in Charlotte, N.C. Five finalists for the Nagurski Trophy will be announced on Nov. 18 or 19.

Each week during the 2009 season the FWAA All-America Committee will select a national defensive player of the week from nominations made by the 11 Division I Bowl Subdivision Conferences and major independents.

Last season, Texas end Brian Orakpo won the coveted Bronko Nagurski Trophy during the 14th season the FWAA has named a national defensive player of the year.

The Charlotte Touchdown Club is a non-profit organization founded in 1990 for the purpose of promoting high school, collegiate, and professional football in the Charlotte, N.C., region. The club's activities and services focus community attention on the outstanding citizenship, scholarship, sportsmanship, and leadership of area athletes and coaches. For more information, contact John Rocco (704-347-2918 or jrocco@touchdownclub.com). The official website of the Charlotte Touchdown Club is www.touchdownclub.com.

The Football Writers Association of America, a non-profit organization founded in 1941, consists of more than 1,100 men and women who cover college football for a living. The membership includes journalists, broadcasters and publicists, as well as key executives in all the areas that involve the game. The FWAA works to govern areas that include gameday operations, major awards and its annual All-America team. For more information about the FWAA and its award programs, contact Steve Richardson at tigerfwaa@aol.com or 972-713-6198.

2009 Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Players of the Week

• Sept. 5: B.W. Webb, William & Mary

• Sept. 12: Nate Triplett, Minnesota

• Sept. 19: Donald Butler, Washington

• Sept. 26: Pat Angerer, Iowa

Coach Ferentz - 9 29 09