Iowa’s Canzeri avoids frustration, keeps positive attitude

IOWA CITY - If anyone has a right to question the fairness of injuries, it's Iowa senior Jordan Canzeri.

The 5-foot-9 running back's career arc has more starts and stops than gridlock at rush hour. After a slug of injuries, Canzeri worked his way into Iowa's lineup as a true freshman and started the Insight Bowl. Then he tore his ACL and missed the next season, which became a red-shirt.

Last year nagging injuries cost him two games and parts of others. It's become a frustrating trend for Canzeri, but one that he says serves as motivation, not desperation.

'Injuries make you stronger if you have that mentality,” he said Thursday. 'I definitely feel like I've had that positive attitude. So I'm excited. An injury is something where you just don't know when it can happen. But I just feel blessed in the way that God gave me the positive motivation to become better after my injuries and not just sulk on them or let them affect me mentally or physically.”

Statistically, Canzeri has a decent resume. He's rushed for 1,089 yards on 207 carries - a 5.3 yard-per-carry clip. He also has caught 19 passes for 212 yards (11.2 yards a reception) and returned 14 kicks for 258 yards (18.4 per return). He's scored four touchdowns, including one in overtime loss to Nebraska in last year's regular-season finale.

But the 192-pound Canzeri wants more, and justifiably so. To earn a start so early in his career and then to fight through the quagmire of injuries the next three seasons has made him hungry. He was named to the Doak Walker Award's watch list, something he accepts modestly.

'I've expected to do more,” said Canzeri, who said he is healthy. 'My injuries have held me back a way, but I'm ready to go for the season that I'm excited for.

'I'm just trying to help my team. If I have to sacrifice personal rewards and such to get wins for my team, just focusing on that. That's fine for me because that's all the matters.”

Canzeri, who hails from Troy, N.Y., tries to avoid negativity, and that's been his focus this offseason. Iowa dropped four of its final five games last year - all of which involved trophies - including a 45-28 TaxSlayer Bowl loss to Tennessee. The Hawkeyes trailed 42-7 in the second half, which was met with both vitriol and indifference by fans this offseason.

The players shield themselves from outside opinions, and Canzeri is no different. The losses have provided motivation, from the 51-14 spanking at Minnesota to the 37-34 overtime home giveaway against Nebraska.

'I would say (Coach Kirk) Ferentz, he did a great job of telling us to let those things go,” Canzeri said. 'To not focus on them so it keeps you down but use that as focus for just motivation. Again, it's not the way we wanted to play, losing the games that we did at the end of the season. That's just not what we - going into the season - were looking forward to. That's not something you think of, ‘Oh, we've got to work out now so we don't end the season weak.' But right from the start we're trying to win.

'The fact we ended the way we did, it's something that we put in the past. But we're just telling ourselves we're not going to allow that to happen again. So that's why we're pushing ourselves even more in this whole winter, spring, summer, all aspects.

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