No. 20 — SS Miles Taylor

No. 20 ...

Strong safety Miles Taylor (6-0, 195) played as a true freshman last season. He didn't see a lot of action, collecting just eight tackles. It wasn't a lot of playing time, but it was enough to put Taylor in place to start on Iowa's defense in 2015.

The strong safety spot seems to be one of the more hotly contested positions on the Iowa roster. It's Taylor, a Rivals three-star recruit, vs. redshirt freshman walk-on Brandon Snyder.

It looked as if Taylor finished spring practice with a slight edge. He started with the first-team defense in Iowa's final spring game. Defensive coordinator Phil Parker, who also coaches Iowa's safeties, didn't close the door on anyone.

Neither did head coach Kirk Ferentz.

'The safety position right now still is kind of wide open,' Ferentz said. 'Miles has gotten the most work with the first group. We have let both Snyder and (junior Anthony) Gair flip-flop. What we are going to try and do is figure out 1-4 and have our bases covered, so whoever the third guy is can back up both spots. Again, the second half of spring is when you kind of see some things from guys who haven't played. I think all three guys who haven't played have shown some signs of improvement. We will go through the month of August before we put something in ink there.'

One element of the secondary's performance that was impressive this spring was finishing off tackles. You saw/heard several big shots when Iowa RBs were held up beyond the line of scrimmage. Taylor was in on that.

'That's just the Iowa way,' he said. 'We're physical as a team, and that's how we play, physical and tough. You've seen in the past our defense is really physical. We like to hit.'

The eyes have it ...

I admit, sometimes but probably not often enough, I get football-y. I like to know what I'm seeing, from coverages to blitzes to drills (chest-on-chest tackles, roll hips). Iowa coaches don't like to get into that so much, because, you know, their business is their business. That's cool. Some coaches really get neck deep into it. You probably roll your eyes at that wonkishness, too.

Anyway, where I'm going with this is the topic of eye discipline. I asked Parker about that concept this spring.

'To me it's preparation,' Parker said. 'And you would sit down and watch them on film and see where their eyes are at sometimes. If maybe a guy pulls one, he doesn't see it, how come he didn't see it?

'To me with the secondaries and safeties, I have three layers of looking at them. Look at the offensive line, back field action, quarterbacks, and see if they're seeing the same thing I'm seeing. You can tell. What's the offensive line doing, what's the running back doing, what's the quarterback doing, are you picking up your reads fast enough? You can tell if they don't react. And it's all film study and re-watching the film. If you're slow on your read, how can you not see that, and why? Are you doing enough studying of the film? Are you paying attention in practice?'

Clearly, this is something that has Taylor's attention.

'I'd say my eye discipline,' Taylor said when asked what he thought he improved on during spring. 'Your eyes get in the right spots. I have better eye discipline than last year.'

Outlook ...

This is a three-way race. You have Miles, who Iowa won in a recruiting battle with Georgia Tech. You have Snyder, a bigger safety at 210 and a walk-on. You have Gair, who started a game last season but didn't see a huge amount of playing time thereafter.

One starts, the other is the backup and the other/other is the third safety and, maybe, a nickel option.

Parker will want the smartest, toughest, best-prepared player. I thought the discussion on eye discipline was interesting. Do you put the time in studying video? Are you prepared? Are you listening? It's easy to sort that out. Parker said he knows. You can see it on fhe field, too. A step late on a play is a bad thing for a defense that relies on leverage and help.

Taylor seems plugged into this concept. He'll have to show it for 25 consecutive practices in August.

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