How Iowa's offensive line got here

IOWA CITY — Set aside last week's result for a moment and put yourself in Alaric Jackson's shoes. OK, the redshirt freshman is 6-7, so put maybe your Volkswagen in one of his shoes and a canoe in the other.

The 6-7, 320-pound left offensive tackle is from Detroit, Mich. He had 40 friends and family attend the Hawkeyes' road trip to Michigan State last weekend. That was a good thing, a proud moment.

They saw their man play, but they didn't see the Hawkeyes do a whole lot on offense during a 17-10 loss.

Jackson is emblematic for where the Hawkeyes' offensive line is. He's a work in progress, and that right now is Iowa's O-line, which has the attention of every Iowa fan and not the good, fun kind of attention that makes being a college football player a very cool thing.

Jackson arrived in Iowa City last August weighing in at 340 pounds. With Iowa's strength and conditioning staff as a guide, Jackson went right to work on that. He lost around 40 pounds and remade his body.

'Coach Chris Doyle does a great job with strength and conditioning,' Jackson said. 'They put muscle on me. I'm faster and stronger now.'

He's also in rare air as a redshirt freshman. Since 2009, you're talking about very few redshirt freshmen earning starting spots on Iowa's O-line. Senior tackle Sean Welsh started a handful of games as a freshman in 2014. Junior center James Daniels started a few games as a true freshman in 2015.

After those two, it's Austin Blythe, a three-year starter at center (2013-15) and all the way back to 2009 it was Riley Reiff. So yeah, Jackson is ahead of schedule.

'The progress he's made from being a 342-pound kid when he walked in here who was overweight to cutting down to 315, 317,' Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said. 'We saw him go through that transformation and that was an indicator this guy thinks right. He's not your average bear. This guy's thinking right and it really means something to him. We're seeing that on the field, too.'

Ferentz also slipped this in there: 'He's a little bit representative of our football team. He's had some ups and downs, but he's worked hard, he's done a pretty good job overall. Lot of things that he can still get better at and clean up, and that's what you expect.'

Iowa's offensive line is a work in progress. Because of injuries, it's been a WIP all season and probably will be through at least the bye week.

Jackson might not be in the starting lineup if senior Boone Myers doesn't suffer a high-ankle sprain in fall camp.

Myers is splitting time with junior Ross Reynolds, who turned a huge corner last December and is now seeing his first playing time. Myers' ankle still isn't right, by the way.

'It depends on the day, how it's feeling,' said Meyers, who started at left tackle for most of the last two seasons. 'You just go in and get it cranked on a little bit and then it feels good.'

Then, of course, senior right tackle Ike Boettger was lost for the season with a ruptured Achilles in Week 2 at Iowa State. That pushed Welsh out to right tackle. So, an all-Big Ten guard in 2016 is at right tackle, not a new position for Welsh, but is it the best position for Welsh to be in for the Hawkeyes?

Well, there doesn't seem to be a choice.

'When we have good teams, we know who we are,' Welsh said. 'Coaches made that point — know who we are, know what we need to do to get it done. We're not a big rah-rah outfit and I think that's by design.

'We want to be consistent in our approach every week. If we have a big loss, we can't be rah-rah that weekend, play great that next week and then fall into an inconsistent pattern. We want to be consistent in our preparation. It's not the most flashy thing, but it's part of how we are.'

So, of the five players who helped the Hawkeyes win the Joe Moore Award last season (given to the nation's top O-line), only Daniels and junior guard Keegan Render are in their same spots, and Daniels missed the opener with an injury. Welsh replaced Boettger at tackle. Myers is splitting time at guard because of the ankle.

The fact of the matter is it's not the same offensive line.

'We're not as deep as we thought we'd be or hoped to be,' Ferentz said. 'Obviously Ike is not coming back this year, so that's a loss. Cole Croston (a senior last year who made the Patriots' roster as an undrafted free agent) is gone.

'Boone is not at 100 percent or he'd be playing every snap, and we lost James for a little bit, too. We're going through a little bit of a shuffle, if you will. But we'll keep pushing. We've got enough there and we've got the right guys and all that type of thing, so it's just a matter of pushing forward, and we're open to anything right now to help the team in any phase. We're looking at every possibility.'

That 'anything' could be new faces. It could be sophomore Levi Paulsen, who's battled injury all season. It could be true freshman Tristan Wirfs seeing time.

The Iowa O-line ethos still is there.

Jackson reshaped his body in a year. Welsh won't yield an inch to excuse. Myers is having his ankle 'cranked on' (it's not really that, but it sounds more dramatic that way).

The Iowa O-line ethos still is there. This is real life and works in progress just don't neatly fall into place.

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