Depth Chart Monday

Iowa released its depth chart Monday with no major changes from last weekend's victory over Maryland.

In a season that has become a chase for good health, this is good news and bad news. Let's start with the good going into Saturday's matchup at Indiana (4-4, 0-4 Big Ten).

Senior defensive end Nate Meier left in the fourth quarter with what looked like a shoulder injury. He ran over to the sidelines after diving and getting his left arm caught underneath. He conducted postgame interviews with his left arm in a sling.

'I just landed on my shoulder,” said Meier, who is sixth in the Big Ten with 6.5 sacks. 'I'll be all right.”

Two more 'I'll be all rights,” and that was that. Of course, Iowa needs Meier. As it stands at defensive end, the No. 11 Hawkeyes (8-0, 4-0) are starting redshirt freshman Parker Hesse in place of senior Drew Ott, who was lost for the season after suffering an ACL tear on Oct. 10.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz hasn't directly addressed Meier's health, but he's listed No. 1 on Monday's depth chart. When Meier left the game, he was replaced for one series by redshirt freshman Matt Nelson.

You saw left tackle Boone Myers, running back LeShun Daniels and wide receiver Tevaun Smith return last weekend. They all made it through the game and are on the depth chart.

Myers played every snap after leaving with a neck/shoulder stinger in the first quarter of the Sept. 26 victory over North Texas.

'I've been wanting to come back for a long time,” Myers said. 'They (medical staff) kept saying, no, you need to get back to 100 percent. It's been tough, but today I went back out and I just wanted to prove to everyone that I'm ready and I'm ready to step back out there and dominate.”

Daniels rushed 13 times for 60 yards in his first action since a brief appearance in the Wisconsin game. Daniels had been hampered by a high-ankle sprain since the Iowa State game on Sept. 12.

'A lot of good things that happened today, a lot of high points, and certainly one of the best things I saw, it looked like LeShun was back to being LeShun Daniels again,” Ferentz said. 'We haven't seen that in a while, so that was really refreshing.”

OK, the bad news now. It's really not that bad, but running back Jordan Canzeri and right tackle Ike Boettger weren't listed. On the school's official website, Ferentz said this about them on Sunday night: 'With a little luck, maybe we'll get Jordan Canzeri back. Maybe not this week, but we're getting closer. From what I saw today, it looks like he's making some significant progress. I could say the same about Ike Boettger. Those are two guys we're hoping to get back soon.”

Quarterback C.J. Beathard? He continues to hang with hip/groin issues. Ferentz said he's not pinning hopes on major improvements in his quarterback's status, which he gauged before Northwestern at 50 percent and then in practice up to the Maryland game, according to the ABC crew, 'barely walk-through level reps.”

'He's certainly better off than he was after the last game, but he's not going to be full speed or totally healthy the rest of the season, but that's probably true of all of our guys,” Ferentz said.

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