Diverse defensive line fuels Hawkeyes' strong start

adria

You have a squirrel hunter. You have the anointed leader. You have the 6-foot-1 guy with 6-foot-8 arms. And you have the freak athlete.

This is Iowa's defensive line. Don't ask, just enjoy.

Since the Iowa State game - a downer and a wake-up call, according to this group - Iowa's defensive line has been the fuel in the No. 13 Hawkeyes' tank.

In Iowa's last two games, victories over Arizona and Penn State, the D-line has produced four sacks, eight tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, two pass breakups, one fumble recovery and four quarterback hurries.

That's just regular D-line duty.

In Iowa's 21-10 upset at Penn State, the anointed leader pulled off a fabulous individual effort, blocking a punt in “punt safe” mode, fielding it and sprinting 53 yards for the points that pushed the Hawkeyes (4-0) over the top and into today's matchup with Arkansas State (1-2) with a world of possibilities in front of them.

This run started with a meeting, with their position coach and with themselves.

“We're really talented players as individuals, but we weren't playing as a group,” the freak athlete said. “We were just trying to make plays out there, trying to do too much. Now, we're working as a group and trying to play the defense.”

The Sunday after Iowa State - a 35-3 Iowa victory, by the way - D-line coach Rick Kaczenski opened fire in the group meeting. In week 1, Northern Iowa's offense executed like a Toyota. The next week, Iowa State rushed for 190 yards, the most against an Iowa defense since 2007.

“After Iowa State, coach wasn't too happy and, after watching the tape, none of the D-line was, either,” the squirrel hunter said. “We were embarrassed how we played. We all took that to heart and came out the following weeks and started practicing a little better and it translated to the field.”

Astute Hawkeyes followers probably already have this figured out, but let's recap who everyone is here:

The Anointed Leader

On college football's biggest stage, Adrian Clayborn came up mega-super hero.

The 6-foot-3, 283-pound defensive end broke through and blocked Jeremy Boone's punt, scooped it up like Derek Jeter and ran 53 yards untouched into the Penn State end zone for an 11-10 Iowa lead in the fourth quarter last week at Beaver Stadium.

The scene was surreal. The crowd of nearly 110,000 stood stone silent. Iowa's sideline exploded.

This is why Clayborn is the “anointed leader.”

“He's our undisputed leader right now,” the freak athlete said. “We all rally around him. He's the general for the D-line. We look for him to pick us up. We look for him to get us up when we're down in the dumps. This guy, he's a great player and a good friend, too.”

Clayborn might've had a bad case of “camp legs.” He started the season slowly, something that wasn't missed by coaches.

“He was maybe a step slow the first week, week-and-a-half, whatever it may be,” Coach Kirk Ferentz said. “That happens in football, that happens to all of us. We're not always our sharpest. He's really responded and the last two weeks, I think we've seen the Adrian Clayborn that we're all used to seeing.”

“I'm just so excited to have him on our football team. He's a great role model, gives great effort and plays with good toughness out there. Guys feed off that. If you're going to pull off something like this tonight, your best guys have to lead the way.

“That's a classic example right there. What a huge play by an excellent football player.”

The Freak Athlete

Linebacker Pat Angerer first described Christian Ballard as a “freak athlete” during fall camp.

Ballard was in the first steps of his transition from D-end inside to tackle. Instead of worrying about contain, the 6-5, 285-pounder now has O-linemen barreling in from both sides. He's done fine so far, with 13 tackles, a sack and two QB hurries.

“He can play any position,” Angerer said. “He could probably play linebacker better than I can.”

The 6-8 arms guy

This is sophomore end Broderick Binns.

No, he doesn't know what his wingspan is. Just know that it's somewhere between California condor and pterodactyl. Credit Ferentz for the “6-8 guy” description.

“He's not your classic defensive end,” Ferentz said after Binns' 1.5 sacks, 2.5 tackles for loss, forced fumble, safety and pass batted down against PSU. “He's 6-1 with the arms of a 6-8 guy, tough matchup, actually, kind of a different guy.”

The Squirrel Hunter

Junior defensive tackle Karl Klug grew up in Caledonia, Minn., about 12 miles north of the Iowa border. Caledonia bills itself as the “turkey capital of Minnesota.” Klug is an avid hunter, but, ironically enough, he doesn't hunt turkeys. His preferred game is deer, rabbit and squirrel.

And, yes, he eats the squirrel.

“Put cream of mushroom with it, it's pretty good,” said the 6-4, 260-pounder, one of the smallest D-tackles in the Big Ten. He hasn't offered it up to teammates. No place for squirrel hunting in Iowa City and Klug doesn't have his shotguns with him.

Squirrel Surprise or not, don't expect Iowa's D-line to lose its appetite.

Don't ask, just enjoy.