Fine tuning C.J. Beathard's long ball

IOWA CITY — C.J. Beathard was pretty good on deep passes last season. Of course, there's always room for improvement, and Greg Davis is pushing for exactly that from his senior quarterback.

Last season, Beathard hit 18 of 49 targets of 20-plus yards (13.5 percent). He threw seven touchdowns with just one interception for a pass efficiency of 148 in 20-plus throws.

Iowa's offensive coordinator wants to see that tighten up. Yes, coaches want stuff and their job is to be demanding, even when the returning starting QB was second-team all-Big Ten and, oh yeah, led his school to its first 12-0 regular season.

Hear Davis out on this. This point is maximizing opportunities.

'Every day, he works on accuracy, and this summer, a big part is going to be deep ball accuracy,' Davis said during a Wednesday news conference alongside defensive coordinator Phil Parker. 'All of the intermediate things, he's doing a pretty good job of, but if you get a chance for the home run, you don't want to miss it. I mean, you don't just want a long foul ball, as Phil would say. You'd like for it to be a home run.'

For Iowa to keep momentum in 2016, it will have to take advantage of those opportunities. Davis thought some money was left on the table.

'There were too many opportunities where we had at least one-on-one where a better ball would have given us a chance,' Davis said.

This line of questioning started with the qualifier that, yes, Beathard was second-team all-conference last year, but what does he have to do better? In fairness, here are some hidden numbers that if they even just stayed close to the same still would be pretty great:

— Beathard led the Big Ten with on throws of third-and-10 yards or more with a 63 percent completion rate (17 of 27).

— In his first season as starter, Beathard was second in the Big Ten in fourth quarter completion percentage, 69.8 percent (44 of 63).

— In situations where Iowa held leads of seven points or less. Beathard was third in the league with 62.7 percent (69 of 110).

One theme that's been hammered home this spring is the lack of experience in Iowa's wide receivers and tight ends groups. Asked about playmaking threats in development this spring. Davis offered four names and two of those were a tight end and a running back (wide receivers Matt VandeBerg and Jerminic Smith, tight end George Kittle and running back Akrum Wadley).

Davis is pushing Beathard to improve his game and he trusts him to have a hand in elevating the receivers.

'I think that's part about being quarterback,' Davis said. 'Oftentimes when we're watching film, I'll say, 'Take this down. This is something that y'all have to really work on this summer, whether or not it's throwing a particular route against press coverage or exactly how you want this double move done, what you're looking for.''

While Beathard is the topic, Davis said he still isn't 100 percent after offseason sports hernia surgery. Davis added that Beathard hasn't missed any practices, but 'I wouldn't say he's 100 percent.'

'Talking to Russ (Iowa football head athletic trainer Russ Haynes), the trigger point of the surgery is smaller and smaller and smaller,' Davis said. 'We haven't done a bunch of quarterback draws with him this spring and we haven't done a bunch of movement throws with him, so I would say he's probably still a little bit hampered.

'I've almost forgot what he looks like healthy because he was hampered the entire year last year, but he'll be fine and we'll do some things with him that he can do.'

While we're on the quarterback position, Davis said sophomore Tyler Wiegers is the unquestioned backup to Beathard. As for redshirt freshmen backups Ryan Boyle and Drew Cook, Davis said the third-team offense kind of falls apart in practice, so it's hard to call a race for No. 3. He did have an interesting answer when asked how much running Boyle does at QB (Boyle earned his scholarship as a two-time state champion zone-read QB at Dowling Catholic).

'Ryan is a heck of an athlete,' Davis said. 'We actually worked him some on special teams in, I'm guessing starting in about practice eight or nine, because as Coach (Kirk Ferentz) always does, we're trying to find a way to get our best athletes on the field.'

Davis didn't say if it was the holder spot on field goals. We'll probably find out Saturday, when the Hawkeyes close out spring practice with a scrimmage at Kinnick Stadium (1 p.m.).

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