2007 National Champions! An Iowa Story about What Could Have Been

Last night I tweeted, "What if in-state players like Harrison Barnes, Kiah Stokes and Christian French stayed in Iowa, would they be program changers?"  It got me thinking about other "what if's" and the impact they would have had on Iowa Athletics.  Here is one of them:

What if Chris Leak had come to Iowa instead of Florida?

The Iowa Hawkeyes are the 2007 National Champions!  It's amazing to say those words together. It was great that it was on such a national spotlight.  It was awesome to see the black and gold of the Hawkeye faithful in the stadium.  Vendors and restaurants said it was the biggest following they had ever seen.  Hawkeye Nation was out in full force this past week. The game to be honest wasn't really that great.  Iowa was down to start, but soon got the ball rolling and pulled away.  The moment of realizing Iowa was National Champions was almost surreal. After letting it all settle in I realized who was responsible for the all of the feelings I had.  All of the memories from the past year and plays that were made all led me to one person. The person that stuck out to me most, was Iowa quarterback Chris Leak.

Leak has definitely had an up and down road in his Iowa career.  Starting even back when he was recruited by Iowa.  Leak would set off the largest domino effect maybe in recruiting history.  Leak, North Carolina's most prolific high school QB ever was torn between Iowa and Florida.  Most people assumed he would head to Florida but on signing day 2003 Leak chose the Hawkeyes. 

Iowa, had given an offer and expected to get Texas High School phenom Drew Tate.  Tate instead left to play football at the University of Hawaii.  Tate had a decent career at Hawaii leading them to 2 bowl games, including a miraculous victory in the 2005 Hawaii Bowl on a last second Hail Mary. Tate originally had verbally committed to Texas A&M as a junior but de-committed once a coaching change was made.  Reggie McNeal took the helm for Texas A&M and we all saw how that went.  Ouch.

Also at the time University of Colorado quarterback Colt Brennan who had troubles at Colorado involving a sexual assault case, ended up in Florida with the Gators.  Coach Ron Zook definitely won a lottery there.

But back to Leak, who since signing with the Hawkeyes made them a national powerhouse.  It was slow starting as a freshman but Leak quickly saw playing time and started 3 games into the season.  Leak had a 6-3 record as a starter, and was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team and the All-America Freshman team.  Iowa ended up demolishing Florida 37-17 in the Outback Bowl.

As a sophomore Leak continued to flourish as a Hawkeye, including passing many Iowa season records.  Iowa beat LSU 27-10 in the Capital One Bowl that year. Unfortunately as we all know,  after his sophomore season Leak was involved in an  on-campus altercation with a fraternity.  Leak was rattled by the altercation and was considering transferring from the U of I.  Leak did decide to stay at Iowa after a large talk with Coach Ferentz and his family. 

The largest surprise was in the spring of 2005 when Iowa fired offensive coordinator Ken O'Keefe due to much public scrutiny.  Iowa hired Offensive Coordinator Dan Mullen and under Mullen's spread offense Leak took off.  Leak was touted as a Heisman candidate and the Hawkeyes had a successful year.  Iowa won the 2006 Outback Bowl against the Florida Gators in a rematch from 2 years ago.  It was a close game to the wire.  Florida made a great comeback and tried an onside kick with less than a minute left in the game.  Florida initially recovered the kick but a Florida special teams player was called offsides on the kick and Iowa won the football game.

This past year unexpectedly Leak received a lot of early criticism as fans wanted to see back-up quarterback and talented freshman Terrelle Pryor.  Pryor, from Pennsylvania,  decided on the Hawkeyes late in his recruiting process, similar to Leak. Pryor had been deciding between Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State, Iowa and Oregon. Pryor is considered by many to be the next great Hawkeye.  We will have to wait and see.

Iowa, playing the hardest schedule in the country this year won the Big Ten Championship.  The best was the September 30th game against No.1 Ohio State.  Leak led Iowa to victory, throwing for 4 TD's in the 38-17 Iowa rout.  To end the year Iowa won both games against Wisconisn and Minnesota to claim the Big Ten championship and end the year ranked #1 in the country. A few weeks later Leak was named the MVP of the BCS National Championship game after Iowa defeated USC 41-14 in a rematch of the 2003 Orange Bowl.

Currently it is unknown what Leak's draft potential will be.  Hopefully he works out well and gets a shot.  All I know is that all of Hawkeye Nation will forever be grateful to him. 

Obviously, this story is not a factual story, it is simply a what if.  I think we ask ourselves that a lot, especially in sports.  What if Chris Leak had chosen Iowa.  It was a very real possibility.  What if Drew Tate went to Hawaii as reported, or Texas Tech.  Where would Graham Harrell have ended up?  Who would have been the starting QB at Florida?  Does Tebow still go there or to LSU or Alabama?

Terrelle Pryor was never actually an Iowa recruit but would he have been if Iowa had won the 2006 National Championship?

Further, I think it is important to point out the impact of 1 person towards a program.  Iowa under Kirk Ferentz has been a 9-3, 8-4 type football team year in and year out. Until Iowa gets high profile recruits and playmakers it will forever be that way.  Some years 10-2 will happen, but so will 6-6. 

Think about Florida without Tebow.  Are they as good?  Auburn without Cam Newton, Ohio State without Terrell Pryor, Michigan without Denard Robinson, or Washington without Jake Locker.  Players that are playmakers, game changers are what you need to win.  This is what Iowa needs.

Under the current structure of college football it has been difficult for Iowa to get over the hump. But now even more than before the new divisions of the Big Ten give Iowa an opportunity to become the "sexy" pick of the Big Ten.  Consistently winning Big Ten titles will do that.  Playing in BCS Bowls will do that.  Recruiting talent will do that.

And actually now that I think of it, I forgot to ask the biggest "What if?".....  Bob Stoops anyone?