How football culture can work

IOWA CITY - It's easy to pass off as cliche the wisdom ol' linebackers coach Jim Reid passes on to his players.

Reid will be 64 in December. So, he has to have wisdom, right? And like Odin or Superman's dad or Winston Churchill his pronouncements are to be taken to heart by his young charges.

He sayeth, so go tackleth.

If you look a little more closely and if you ask, Reid will tell you how it's worked with sophomore linebacker Reggie Spearman. Yes, some wisdom is being passed down, but it's a two-way street, with stories from both flowing in and out of the conversation.

Reid tells Spearman, who's expected to be Iowa's weakside linebacker this fall, stories of players he's coached. Reid asks Spearman about players the 6-3, 230-pound played with at Simeon High School in Chicago. Reid tells Spearman what it was like growing up in the ‘60s; Spearman lets Reid in on what it was like growing up in Chicago (Spearman, who earned all-Chicago Public League as a senior, helped Simeon to three straight city championship and a Chicago Prep Bowl championship at Soldier Field).

It's Reids' hard Boston accent and Spearman's young, excitable, quick-to-smile demeanor together digging into life and linebacker.

'He's doing two things right now: He's going to school and conducting himself in a marvelous way and he's trying to become the best football player he can be,” Reid said (and, yes, 'marvelous” came out 'mahhvelous”). 'Sometimes, being a great football player for a young guy isn't just looking at film. It's talking about stories, his story.”

Spearman was a recruit Iowa badly wanted and, quite frankly, needed. He came in with the 2013 class and he was a linebacker. Iowa's recruiting in the Chicago area had slowed. Outside linebackers coach LeVar Woods connected with Spearman. The night before the national signing period started Feb. 6, 2013, Spearman gathered with 11 of his Simeon High School teammates for commitment announcements.

Then, he pulled out a Syracuse baseball cap.

'Naw, I'm going to Iowa,” said Spearman, who had previously committed to Illinois in August ‘12. 'It definitely was the people at Iowa, the players. I know a lot of players on the team. Everything just seemed to fit for me at Iowa.”

Age has to be part of Spearman's story. It doesn't mean much to him, and by the end of Iowa's media day, Spearman had more than enough of it. The fact is, though, he was young for his age and then he skipped the third grade. He walked into Iowa's camp last fall as a 16-year-old true freshman.

'In camp last year I found out it's going to be his birthday,” Woods said. 'I'm like, ‘Oh, man, great, You're going to turn 18.' He said, ‘I'm going to turn 17.' I was like, ‘What? You're going to turn 17?' I said, ‘Reggie, stop messing around.' Then I talked to his dad [William], texted his dad. He said, ‘Yeah, he's only going to be 17.'”

The age thing wasn't a big deal, Spearman said.

'Nobody really asks me about it. It's not really a big deal. I don't look at it that way, either,” said Spearman, who had 10 tackles last season. 'Didn't faze me at all. I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to come out here and show the coaches all that I have. That's what I did. The side stuff didn't matter. I knew I could play football. They recruited me and gave me an offer to come out here and play football.”

Iowa coaches liked what they saw out of Spearman and got him on the field last year in third-down blitz packages. He was a stand-up defensive end on the line of scrimmage in the 'Raider” package. The experience was invaluable. Spearman really didn't know what it would be like to play in front of 70,000 fans at Kinnick Stadium.

It was great. It was awesome. I got all that nervousness out,” Spearman said. 'I went from playing in front of 2,000 people to playing in front of 70,000. That's a big difference.

'I was a little nervous and a little scared when I touched the field. I didn't know what to expect. I didn't' want the fans to boo me, of course. I just went out there, went my hardest and did my best. I was grateful that coach [defensive coordinator Phil] Parker installed the third down package and they saw me as a part of that. I did the best I could. I managed to get a few plays and get all of that nervousness out of my system.”

This season, the expectations have changed. Last year, Spearman didn't have to know what really was going on. His job was to try to create mayhem. This year, it's graduate work and he knows it. Spearman hasn't strayed much from Reid.

'He's in my office all the time,” Reid said. 'In fact they call him ‘Reggie Reid.'”

This made Spearman laugh.

'It's just getting to know football,” Spearman said. 'He's been around the game for many years. I love football, so hearing his stories, it's one of a kind. He's been around the game. I want to get into coaching after I get done, so it's just the stories he tells about players he coached with the Dolphins and at Syracuse. It's just funny stories.”

The idea of culture and its value and how it can be passed on drills deep in the Iowa program. For example, when roommates are picked for road games and at The Hotel at Kirkwood Center for home games, the pairings make sense.

Defensive tackles Carl Davis and Louis Trinca-Pasat are roomies. They talk about defensive tackle stuff. Last year, offensive tackle Brandon Scherff roomed with redshirt freshman Ike Boettger, who's on the fast track to a tackle spot after moving from tight end last year.

Last season, Spearmam, the weakside linebacker-to-be, roomed with Anthony Hitchens, the outgoing weakside linebacker.

'He was always grabbing me and we watched a lot of film together,” Spearman said. 'He was a huge mentor for me. I can't wait to see how he does with the Cowboys [a fourth-round pick], because I know how hard he works. He was like an older brother to me. I'm grateful he has a chance to play in the NFL.”

One of the major steps Hitchens and Iowa's defense took in 2013 was reading an offense's intentions. The linebackers were coached to pick up on presnap keys like . . .

'When I was in the film room with Anthony, he'd say how this guard was leaning when it was a power play,” Spearman said. 'I said, yeah, I see that, too. In the game on the sideline when I saw it again, I thought, ‘man, it's about to be a power.' Hitch read it right away. Having him there as my big brother and mentor, I was thankful. He showed me a lot. Now, I can bring it down to the other people.”

The passing on of wisdom is happening all the time. It's more than the wizened, salty coach telling the nervous freshman what to watch in game film. It's a comfort level, an exchange, an openness.

'Sometimes when you just talk about stuff, you pick it up. It's a culture,” Reid said. ' Now, we throw in a film, we talk a little bit about football. Reggie loves football and he wants to be the greatest player he can be. What we're here to do is to try to help him fulfill that dream, same for everybody. It's fun being around Reggie, I'd be lying to you if I said anything, differently.”

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