Hawkeyes answers still in camp

Quarterback, new running back, defensive tackle and, oh man, those wide receivers.

Let's leave the Hawkeyes' media day storylines sit for a moment. There's another month until we know any answers on the serious football topics.

Iowa media day is Saturday afternoon. It's promise season and everyone wants to see the best. The Hawkeyes will have more than a week of fall practice in the books, so maybe Kirk Ferentz will have an answer on quarterback.

Maybe. We can hope, anyway.

We don't know any of the answers to the questions, at least the questions that we know, so let's go here.

Bovada.com has released a few over/unders for individual players. Let's look at those through the Iowa goggles.

(These over/unders do tie nicely with Iowa's media day storylines as it turns out.)

1. Bovada set Ohio State QB J.T. Barrett's touchdown pass total at 29.5

As a freshman, Barrett led the Buckeyes to a national title with 34 TD passes. The 29.5 would be an Iowa season record. Chuck Long holds Iowa's record with 27 TD passes in 1985.

Going into camp, Ferentz said the competition between sophomore Nathan Stanley and junior Tyler Wiegers remained close. Maybe it's changed after a week of practice, but let's assume Stanley snags this (he beat out Wiegers last fall and burned a redshirt, let's not forget that). What's a good TD total for Iowa QB in 2017?

Let's go 14.5. There's a little bit of a limb in that the last time Iowa changed offensive coordinator, Greg Davis in 2012, James Vandenberg went from a QB who threw 25 TD passes to throwing just seven.

It's got to be better than that, right? Still, the passing game stumbled badly in 2016 and remains a question mark.

C.J. Beathard threw 17 TD passes in 2015. Paul Burmeister threw 10 in 1993. Jake Christensen threw 17 in 2007. That's just for range purposes. In his three-year run as starter, Drew Tate threw 20, 22 and 18 TD passes.

The 14.5 feels right for QB to be named by the end of the month who's probably going to be Nathan Stanley.

/ The Gazette

2. Bovada has set Penn State RB Saquon Barkley's rushing yard over/under at 1200.5

Barkley had 1,495 rushing yards last season. OK on an Iowa scale, that would've been the third-best season total in school history.

In the spring, Iowa running back Akrum Wadley spoke rather plainly about a goal of 1,400 rushing yards this year.

'I just feel like it's a step up from 1,000,' he said (Wadley rushed for 1,081 yards last season). 'I want to take another step in the positive direction, I don't want to go negative.'

That was the total in the spring. Maybe it still is, but it seems Iowa has found its No. 1b running back. Senior James Butler is here and going through drills. He graduated from Nevada with more than 3,000 yards and 30 TDs in three seasons.

So, let's recalibrate Wadley's 1,400 and make it ... 900. Last year, Iowa produced a pair of 1,000-yard rushers for the first time in school history. Might be a stretch to predict that again, but Wadley touches have worked for the Hawkeyes. You've seen them work. No, we don't know how the blend will work this year, but we've seen Wadley work for this offense.

/ The Gazette

3. Bovada has the over/under for Alabama WR Calvin Ridley's total yards at 800.5

Ridley is the best wide receiver on what should be one of the best teams in the country.

Where would 800 yards land on Iowa's season list? It would tie former Iowa WR Clinton Solomon at No. 15. Iowa hasn't had an 800-yard receiver since 2011, when Marvin McNutt set the record with 1,315 yards.

That's probably not a realistic number this year.

Senior Matt VandeBerg has been close. When he caught 65 passes in 2015, he ended up with 703 yards. He had nearly 300 yards in four games last year before suffering a season-ending broken foot.

There are a bunch of receivers who might be capable of taking a run at 800 yards, but that'd be just throwing names out there. Let's not do that.

Let's just set an over/under for Iowa's leading receiver, whomever that might be, and make that 525.5 yards. Why that number? Twice in the last four seasons, Iowa's receiving yards leader finished with more than 500 yards. VandeBerg went off in 2015 for the 703 yards. In 2013, a year in which Iowa had a new QB (Jake Ruddock), Kevonte Martin-Manley led Iowa with 388 yards.

Staff / The Gazette

Let's mark the totals: 14.5 TD passes for Stanley, 900 rushing yards for Wadley and 525.5 yards for Iowa's leading receiver.

There's some discussion as the promise season draws to a close. Answers are in camp and on the way.

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