A Closer Look: Iowa QBs

THE DEPTH CHART

1. C.J. Beathard, junior, 6-2, 209; 2. Tyler Wiegers, redshirt fr., 6-4, 222; 3. Ryan Boyle, true freshman, 6-2, 215 OR Drew Cook, true freshman, 6-5, 220; 4. Ryan Schmidt, true freshman, 6-5, 220

ARM TALENT

You're attracted to the football buzzwords. You know you are, and that's OK. You want to know the lingo and sort of kind of feel like you know what's going on out there.

Today we bring you the term 'arm talent.” Arm strength is part of arm talent, which is a more encompassing term that also includes touch (the proper arc and velocity to get the football where it needs to be and when it needs to be).

Iowa QB C.J. Beathard has arm strength and his offensive coordinator believes he has arm talent.

'C.J. has excellent arm talent,” Davis said. 'That's kind of one of those catchphrase terms, but first of all, he has a really quick arm. He made a throw yesterday, no step at all, the pressure was about as close as y'all are and then - boom - the ball's out.”

You first saw the quick arm last fall against Pitt. There was a third down in the second half where Beathard faced a heavy rush and, without a step, zipped a pass to tight end Ray Hamilton for a first down. It was a key play that eventually led to a score in a game decided by four points.

'The fact that he has a quick arm allows him to throw the ball without stepping or stepping up in the pocket, he can get the ball out,” Davis said.

The arm strength is there, too.

'On top of that, he's got a strong arm,” Davis said. 'He has the ability to stretch the field both horizontally and vertically.”

That allows Iowa to . . .

'It just allows us to add a few things and be a little bit more open in what we're asking him to do,” Davis said.

You know all about Iowa's receiving corps at this point. Wide receiver Tevaun Smith led the Hawkeyes in receptions last season and might've led the Big Ten in pass interference penalties called against. Tight end Jake Duzey and his 58 career receptions are out of the lineup until probably the end of September. So, there are short resumes and hungry athletes who are dying to make their mark.

Basically, after Smith, there's not an Iowa receiver with enough of video to scare an opponent. Can Beathard elevate this group.

'I think a good quarterback makes everybody rise with him,” Davis said.

WIEGERS?

Beathard has said that he will do whatever he has to do to win games. If that's running the football, he's going to do that. Remember from the spring game (which, of course, didn't count)? That's when he made a shoulder tackle on the sidelines against safety Brandon Snyder after he threw a pick.

So, Beathard is going to play some kung fu quarterback. He pledges that he'll slide when he has to, but that's what he's saying now.

So, here's a little bit about the backup, redshirt freshman Tyler Wiegers:

- Rivals.com midwest recruiting analyst Josh Helmholdt said about Wiegers: 'We had him as a four-star early on because he's done some things in 7-on-7 camp settings that really I've seldom seen before. I covered a national 7-on-7 tournament the summer going into his junior year. It was a national championship tournament with tons of Division I prospects. He completed 21 straight passes in that setting. That's really phenomenal. He's one of the most accurate passers I've covered in the past couple of years. He throws such a beautiful ball.”

- Wiegers, a Detroit, Mich., native, committed to Rutgers early in the recruiting process before opening recruiting back up and selecting the Hawkeyes.

- He's big, at 6-4, 222. That size reminds you . . . of . . . should we go there? . . . Ricky Stanzi.

Well, let's not get crazy. Then again, Iowa coaches went all in on Beathard for basically the next two seasons when they decided in January that he was the guy. Wiegers is realistic. He has yet to throw a pass in college, you know.

'There are good days and bad days,” Wiegers said. 'Overall, I felt like I made steady improvement over spring. I came out with a higher comfort level with the offense and can handle it a lot better as far as getting in and out of the huddle, making reads quicker, stuff like that.”

Here are a couple of factlets to tell you about the intellect Wiegers brings to the table: He's a biomedical engineering major and, while at Detroit Country Day in high school, he was the silver medal and magna cum laude winner on National Latin exam.

'You can't learn this stuff sitting in a chair,” head coach Kirk Ferentz said. 'You have to go out and go through the ups and downs of practice and competition. He's learning from every experience. If he makes a mistake, it's rare that he makes the same one. This has been invaluable to him and he's a much better player than he was in the spring and he's better than he was 12 practices ago.”

THE NEW NEW GUYS

True freshman QBs Ryan Boyle and Drew Cook are likely looking at redshirt seasons. Yes, someone does have to be the No. 3 and it probably will be one of these two, but, right now, the hope is Iowa doesn't have to reach that far down the depth chart.

'That decision will be made later in camp or once the season gets started,” Davis said. 'Right now, their heads are swimming, the volume of things that have been thrown at them and the speed of the game. They're doing a good job and hanging in there. We'll see about the redshirt and see how that goes.”

Davis said if Iowa has a QB who could be considered a 'runner” on their depth chart, it's Boyle.

'He ran a bunch in high school (West Des Moines Dowling),” Davis said. 'Drew is more in line with a typical pocket guy.”

In Iowa's open scrimmage last weekend, Boyle was put in the game ahead of Cook, who threw a pair of interceptions. Ferentz was asked if there was anything to read into that order.

'It's too early to tell,” he said. 'They are both working at it and their heads are spinning right now and they would tell you that if we let you talk to them. That's what they would tell you, if they told the truth.”

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com