It's not just another spring thing for the Hawkeyes

IOWA CITY — You probably won't see C.J. Beathard do any of his own stunts Saturday. You might not see a heck of a lot of running backs LeShun Daniels and Akrum Wadley. They'll be jumping into real high-speed collisions soon enough.

You likely won't see Iowa officials counting every body in the Kinnick Stadium bleachers so they can breathlessly blare a gaudy attendance number on the social media.

You will see the Iowa Hawkeyes play a spring game. The scoring isn't like a real football game, but you will see a gamelike competition in the Hawkeyes' 15th and final spring practice of 2016.

OK, here's Iowa's scoring system for tomorrow's spring game. The other one was blank and I know you guys have jokes. April 22, 2016

OK, here's Iowa's scoring system for tomorrow's spring game. The other one was blank and I know you guys have jokes. pic.twitter.com/3RrJKoABgF

— marcmorehouse (@marcmorehouse)

It is just a spring game. It's essentially practice No. 15 and another evaluation point for the Iowa coaching staff. The college football hordes have started throwing around ideas on what could make spring more interesting (FBS schools floating a little cash to FCS schools for a few practices or games), but we're not there yet and so this is evaluation for coaches and that's that.

Still, every player who steps foot on the field at Kinnick on Saturday will do so with his own goals. And, yes, individual goals sew into the big fabric of team goals, so it's not a demolition derby of freelance out there, but every player will have something they want to feel good about as college football goes into stasis until late July and August.

Here are a few of those players and here are some of their goals.

Jaleel Johnson is a fifth-year senior defensive tackle. He earned honorable mention all-Big Ten last season with 3.5 sacks and 5.5 tackles for loss. He said this week the idea of jumping into the NFL did cross his mind in the offseason, but he's back and ready to lead he charge up front.

He'll show off a little bit of a new chassis Saturday. He played last season at 305 pounds and has trimmed down to a svelte 300.

'Playing lighter would be good, but they gave us an optimum weight to play at,' said Johnson, who put up a personal best in the hang clean this winter. 'I'm trying to stay at that goal weight.'

Sophomore defensive end Matt Nelson will play just a few yards apart from Johnson. Where they stand in the grand scheme is a little farther apart. Nelson is poised for a big jump, taking over at one defensive end spot for Nate Meier, who led Iowa in sacks and tackles for loss last season.

Defensive end has been a topic during the offseason. Iowa helped defensive end Drew Ott appeal to the Big Ten and NCAA for a medical hardship waiver. It was denied and now the light shines even brighter on a position of need and, by extension, Nelson.

'First meeting at the beginning of spring, (defensive line) coach (Reese) Morgan sat us down and said, 'We're going to play with the guys in this room, whether Drew is with us or not,'' Nelson said. 'He's harped on the ends to really step it up. When it was officially a no (the Ott decision), it definitely lit a fire under me. I was one of the next guys in.'

You won't miss Nelson Saturday. He's the one who's a head taller than everyone else, standing 6-8 and 280 pounds. It's OK to ask Nelson about playing low, because, you know, he's tall. Morgan praised him on pad level this spring. It was something Nelson has worked on since walking in the door. The key? Flexibility.

Nelson said he moves better now than he did when he was an all-Mississippi Valley Conference tight end at Cedar Rapids Xavier.

'I definitely feel like I'm moving better,' Nelson said. 'My body just feels more fluid. It's kind of like I'm growing into my body, in a sense. I'm getting coordination that I haven't really tapped into before.'

You'll see junior Bo Bower at outside linebacker Saturday, just like the old days of 2014, when he started every game that season. Last year, junior Ben Niemann rose up and won the spot. Bower earned time on special teams and made appearances as a rush end in third-down packages. With Niemann out after offseason surgery, Bower is starting again.

He knows it's not a permanent thing, at least probably not at outside linebacker. So, his spring story is winning a starting job. Somewhere, anywhere.

'I'll play wherever coaches need me to play,' Bower said. 'I'm always here to earn a spot. It's not like I'm taking a back seat at all. It gives me more drive, if anything.'

Niemann will be the outside linebacker when he's healthy. With Josey Jewell owning middle linebacker, that will send Bower's focus to weakside linebacker, where sophomore Aaron Mends holds a tenuous edge. Defensive coordinator Phil Parker said this week the weakside spot still is taking applications, and between Mends, Bower and sophomore Jack Hockaday, someone will forge ahead eventually.

Bower isn't picky, though. He said he'd try defensive end if coaches thought he could help there. He said, no, coaches probably don't want him at fullback.

Sophomore quarterback Tyler Wiegers knows the season in front of him is likely caddying for Beathard. But, as you know, Beathard does his own stunts and had offseason sports hernia surgery to prove it. So, Wiegers' job is signal in plays, but be ready to play.

One thing that offensive coordinator Greg Davis has mentioned with QBs this spring has been ball placement. It's a simple concept — putting the ball where the receiver can do the most damage with it — but a lot goes into it. Here's some of what Wiegers will be looking to show in that regard.

'That's the difference between maybe a touchdown or a turnover,' Wiegers said. 'The margin is so small.'

Sometimes placement is touch, sometimes it's arm strength. It's always the nuance of playing the QB position.

'You kind of get a feel for it,' Wiegers said. 'Coach Davis does a great job teaching us how coverages work and where the ball should be coming down. It's feeling things out, knowing how the defense works and knowing the spot you want to hit.'

Offensive tackle Ike Boettger missed seven games last season after suffering an ankle injury against Illinois. He returned for the Rose Bowl, when the Hawkeyes found little offensive momentum while allowing seven sacks.

So, Boettger's spring has been a little bit about getting reacclimated, but mostly the concentration has been pass protection, echoing the statements offensive line coach Brian Ferentz made earlier this month.

'I don't think it was just that game (the Rose Bowl), either,' Boettger said. 'There were some games where we were just giving up way too much pressure. Some of it was mental, some of it was physical. You are going to get beat every once in a while, but it can't be a mental mistake, like a lot of those were.'

Iowa's running game produced more than 2,500 yards and 35 TDs last season. And yet, Iowa O-linemen have spent much of the spring talking about what they believe they didn't do well. The 32 sacks Iowa allowed was 13th in the Big Ten.

'Even among ourselves, you don't hear anyone saying, 'Hey, we had such a great running game last year,'' Boettger said. 'Even among us, it's 'hey, we've got to work on our pass protection, we have to protect C.J.' He was banged up and we just can't let him get touched really. For us, that's been the main focus.'

So, yes, the spring game is just another evaluation point for coaches. It also happens to be full of a lot of goals and hopes and dreams, if you know where to look.

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