Tough to get around this Hawkeye corner

[caption id="attachment_2082" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="Iowa's Amari Spievey finishes a 57-yard interception return for a touchdown at Minnesota last year (Jonathan D. Woods/The Gazette)"][/caption]

IOWA CITY -- The words were a little startling, especially coming from a coach not given to hyperbole.

"I think he can be, since we've been here, the best corner we've ever had."

That was Iowa defensive coordinator Norm Parker last week on junior-to-be cornerback Amari Spievey.

Keep in mind Parker and his boss, head coach Kirk Ferentz, are entering their 11th season together at Iowa.

Keep in mind Iowa just lost cornerback Bradley Fletcher to graduation, and Fletcher's name will be called at next weekend's NFL draft.

Keep in mind a year ago, cornerback Charles Godfrey was drafted by the Carolina Panthers and went on to have a very nice rookie season.

Spievey, with one year of Big Ten ball under his belt, can be better?

"The first thing I think of," Spievey said after the Hawkeyes' final practice of the spring Saturday, "is he says 'could be.' Obviously, I'm not there yet, so obviously I want to get better and be the best I can be."

But just watching Spievey up close here Saturday in a scrimmage, you saw a player who was adamant about surrendering nothing.

He put a punishing lick to help stuff freshman running back Jeff Brinson on one play after Brinson had been very punishing off his own rushing against Iowa's No. 1 defense.

The number of times receivers got behind Spievey when it mattered Saturday was, uh, zero.

Practice matters to this guy. "I can't waste any day," he said. "Every day's important."

Those aren't just words. His redshirt freshman year at Iowa was a wash-out, academically. Off he went to Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge, learning to be a student. He left with a 3.0 GPA. His seven-interception season solidified his reputation as a major-college prospect.

Now, no negatives enter discussions about this player from Middletown, Conn. Last year he started all 13 games, intercepting four passes and ranking third on the team in tackles.

"A mountain of improvement," Ferentz described the Spievey of 2008 to the one who was in Iowa City in 2006.

Spievey's 57-yard interception return for a touchdown late in the first half helped turn a blizzard into an avalanche in the Hawkeyes' 55-0 win at Minnesota.

While Parker's comment last week was an ear-opener, listen to what Iowa linebacker Pat Angerer said about Spievey Saturday.

Angerer, mind you, is coming off a wonderful season. Saturday, Ferentz said "Pat played as well for us as anybody on our team last year."

Yet, here's what Angerer about Spievey:  "I wish I had half the talent he has.

"He's unbelievable. It's really been a pleasure watching him play this spring. Sometimes he'll just do plays and it's like 'Wow, I can't believe he did that.' He's really, really good.

"You'll think he's full-speed and think he's a little beat, and then he turns it on. He's making picks left and right. It's crazy. ... He's got the heart of a lion."

Approximately 99 of 100 top college players will publicly claim they don't think about playing in the NFL. At least 98 are fibbers.

Spievey, though just a junior-to-be, doesn't pretend. He has goals in football, large goals.

"I think about the NFL every day," he said. "Every day. It's what keeps me going. It's the reason why I play football."

Spievey was Connecticut's prep Player of the Year in 2005 because he rushed for 1,642 yards and 26 touchdowns for state-champion Xavier High. He said a big reason he chose Iowa was that they would move him away from where he was more comfortable.

Come again? Wisconsin and Rutgers recruited him to play on offense, which you would have thought Spievey would favor since he said "I played both ways in high school, but I really didn't take defense seriously because I was so concentrated on offense."

"But I chose to come here because I thought I had a better chance to make it to the NFL on defense."

I told Spievey he seemed like a very serious person.

"Football is serious to me," he said. "It's fun, but it's also serious. It's who I am."