Ferentz on Jewel (football-related, actually)

The Jewel Hampton injury story is over, at least until Friday's  media day. Yes, he suffered an injury on July 3. It didn't look good for a while, but it's improved to the point where he was on the field during the end of summer conditioning and 7-on-7s. The question will be answered definitively when the pads go on Saturday or Sunday for the first time during fall camp.

Either he'll be good to go or it'll be a waiting game.

During the Big Ten media days, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz was asked about Hampton's prospects on the football field.

As a true freshman last season, Hampton backed up all-American Shonn Greene and rushed for 463 yards and seven TDs. He also was Iowa's best kick returner, averaging 23.3 yards a return, sixth in the Big Ten. He had Iowa's best season for a true freshman RB since Tony Stewart (1987-90).

(Don't discount the idea of Hampton returning kicks even if he's the starter. Ferentz called the unit "underwhelming" and seems intent on improvement. Hampton was exactly that last year when he finally won the job.)

"I thought he did a nice job early, but he really matured as the year went on," Ferentz said. "We put him in there at critical times last year, including blocking. He handled the off-the-field part as well as anyone and really made a nice transformation.

"We're counting on him to play well for us and be a big part of what we're doing, but we're not counting on him to be a 1,500-yard-plus type of guy. We'll try to diffuse his playing time a little bit, but we'll give him what we can handle."

Reality is that Iowa doesn't really do the two-back committee thing. It sort of did in 2002, when it was Fred Russell and Jermelle Lewis, but Lewis was an outstanding talent (with two healthy knees at that time). When Iowa's running game has hummed during the Ferentz era, it's been a one-man show (Ladell Betts, Russell, Albert Young and Shonn Greene).

Hampton's effectiveness as a pass blocker was one factor that pushed him ahead of freshman Jeff Brinson last fall.

"That was the first thing that impressed me about him," Ferentz said. "It's unusual to see a freshman step in there and block the way he blocked."

This is the time of year for the "how many carries" question. Nothing seems set in stone in that regard.

"Probably the biggest thing is going to be making sure we're smart about how much we play him and some of those cumulative things," Ferentz said. "We want to make sure he can handle the amount of playing time we give him. I'm not expecting any major problems there."

Style-wise, who does he compare to?

"He's not as big as Shonn but he's a very aggressive, tough, hard-nosed runner," Ferentz said. "He's got decent speed, adequate speed. He's not a burner, necessarily, but he's fast enough. He's a tough, hard-nosed guy. I really like the attitude he runs with, he really runs with an aggressive attitude."

I talked to Hampton during recruiting. He described himself as an "angry" runner. So far, I would agree with that. He threw around his 5-9, 210 pounds.

All things being equal, the depth chart looks something like this:

1. Jewel Hampton (soph)

2. Paki O'Meara (junior), Jeff Brinson (fr.)

3. Adam Robinson (fr.)/Jayme Murphy (sr.)

4. Brandon Wegher (true fr.)/Brad Rogers (true fr.)

I'll believe RBBC (running back by committee for non-fantasy FB folks) when I see it. What's the optimum number of carries for Hampton?

"That's how we try to handle the offense every year," Ferentz said. "As the season goes on and our players emerge, we try to direct it in a smart way and play to our strengths. Shonn just got on a roll last year and once he got in shape, it didn't seem like it was an issue, what he could handle.

"If Jewel lets us do that, that'd be great, but I don't want to put that kind of pressure on a young guy at this stage."

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