Lots of Hawkeyes return to figure out the championship thing

PASADENA, Calif. — It's no consolation, but they made it here. The Hawkeyes now know what it takes to reach a Big Ten championship game and the Rose Bowl.

The returning Hawkeyes will have to work on figuring out what it will take to win those championship-level games. It's at least a start that a whole lot of the players who bathed in the joy of a 12-0 regular season and felt the burn of losses on the big stage return for 2016.

Iowa will return 15 starters next season (seven on offensive; eight on defense). Several of these players stood in the Rose Bowl lockerroom late Friday night and talked about how, at the very least, they might wring out some motivation from the 45-16 loss to Stanford.

'This is the biggest game you can play in, we'd like to come back and win it,' quarterback C.J. Beathard said. 'We have a lot of guys coming back, a lot of leadership coming back. We'll hit the ground running in the offseason and let this fuel us a little bit.'

It probably makes sense to start with Beathard. The perception outside the team on the 6-2, 210-pound senior from Nashville, Tenn., was that he was a bit of a gamble. He had obvious physical skills, but in the two seasons leading up to 2015, he sat behind two-year starter Jake Rudock.

In January, head coach Kirk Ferentz announced Beathard would start in 2015 and that was that. No leeway, no competition. Beathard took that and ran with it. He went from gamble to money over the course of the season.

Beathard was second-team all-Big Ten behind Michigan State's Connor Cook and finished with 2,809 passing yards head (fourth most in head coach Kirk Ferentz's 17 seasons), a 61.6 completion percentage, 139.52 pass efficiency, with 17 TDs and five interceptions.

In the context of the 2015 season, Iowa's offensive line had an uncharacteristic performance in the Rose Bowl, allowing seven sacks and generating just 48 rushing yards. For the majority of the season, the O-line was maybe the strength of the team, clearing the way for 2,544 yards (second most in Ferentz era) and 35 TDs (a Ferentz-era high).

Senior Cole Croston and juniors Ike Boettger, Boone Myers and Sean Welsh all logged starts as tackles. Twenty-one of Welsh's 23 career starts have come as a guard. The 6-3, 288-pounder probably will anchor the inside with sophomore James Daniels (6-4, 285) potentially moving in at center after making two starts at guard as a true freshman in 2015. These five probably are the 2016 offensive line.

Running backs were steps better in 2015. Iowa will lose Jordan Canzeri, but senior LeShun Daniels (145 carries for 646 yards and eight TDs) and juniors Akrum Wadley (83 carries for 496 and seven TDs) and Derrick Mitchell (303 yards and two TDs as a third-down back) should offer growth. Freshman Eric Graham is waiting in the wings.

The search for separation speed will continue at wide receiver. Senior Matt VandeBerg had a breakout 2015 with 65 catches for 703 yards and four TDs. Sophomores Jerminic Smith and Adrian Falconer and senior Riley McCarron will see their roles grow. Senior George Kittle will certainly build on his 20 catches, 290 yards and six TDs.

'There are still a lot of pieces to the puzzle,' VandeBerg said. 'We have to make sure we keep moving forward.'

Iowa's defense once again should be strong up the middle next year. Junior middle linebacker Josey Jewell and senior defensive tackle Jaleel Johnson were stars this season and will be next. Jewell was second-team all-Big Ten; Johnson was honorable mention.

'Obviously the middle linebacker's in charge, and you need somebody up the middle,' defensive coordinator Phil Parker said. 'You always need a guy as a defensive tackle, up the middle, or you need the mike (linebacker) or you need a safety. You've got to be good up the middle.

'What Josey brings is his toughness and effort, and he demonstrates that by what he does on the field, and it kind of creates a little bit of an attitude for our defense.'

Jewell already was talking leadership Friday night.

'It's going to be a good offseason with us realizing what did happen and what could've happened at the end of the year if we won a couple more games,' he said. 'We need to find some more leadership. We had great seniors this year. It's going to be a big step up and we need to make it.'

Junior outside linebacker Ben Niemann, who left the first quarter of the Rose Bowl with an ankle injury and later said he would be OK, became a fixture for Parker's defense.

Sophomore defensive end Parker Hesse will have a chance to build on a redshirt freshman season that saw him put up one of the plays of the year, a 4-yard interception return for a TD at Nebraska. Junior defensive tackle Nathan Bazata finished with five tackles for loss and three sacks in 2015. Senior cornerback Greg Mabin had two interceptions and eight pass breakups this season. Junior strong safety Miles Taylor had an interception and two tackles for loss.

You can't count senior cornerback Desmond King or senior defensive end Drew Ott as returning starters. Not yet, anyway. King has yet to announce a decision on a return for his senior year or an early entry into the NFL draft. Ott hasn't heard on his appeal for a medical hardship waiver and a fifth year of eligibility after elbow and knee injuries cut what would've been his senior season to six games.

'If he (King) came back, that would be huge,' Johnson said. 'He's his own guy and he's making his own decision.'

Those are two big 'ifs' and tantalizing 'we'll sees.' Still, a huge chunk of the players who'll be counted on in 2016 have been here and will be intent on doing this.

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