No. 38 — RB Derrick Mitchell

No. 38 . . .

Let's face it, some stuff leaks out at Iowa and some stuff doesn't. Kirk Ferentz contract stuff? That remains pretty well locked up between Ferentz, athletics director Gary Barta and agent. Position changes are kind of the same. That communication usually goes between the coach or coaches and the player and maybe the player's family.

It might remain quiet until a roster reveal. There are two big reveals — spring and the media guide in August.

This spring gave us this: Wide receiver Derrick Mitchell — WHATEVER TERM FOR MAGIC INTERNET READERS PREFER, PRESTO? MAYBE? — RB Derrick Mitchell.

Why did this happen? Well, the long story, which isn't happening in this post, is Iowa once again finds itself reshaping the wide receiver roster. Coming out of Vashon High School (St. Louis, Mo.), Mitchell was a QB/RB/WR/DB and mostly a ball carrier. Wide receiver technique was going to come with a learning curve. Why spin the wheels there when Mitchell isn't terribly far removed from using and practicing ball skills and is in the RB size range (6-1, 212)? So, that combined with new WR bodies and a need for RB depth (when writing Iowa RB depth I feel like I should be listening to 'Man of Constant Sorrow') made this move affordable for the WR position and make sense for RB.

Here's what head coach Kirk Ferentz said about the move this spring, 'We got back from the bowl and we went through our entire roster and one thing you always talk about is do we have this player in the right position? The defensive coaches were really impressed with him in the fall. We played a bus-full of good running backs last year and near the end of the year he imitated a couple of the running backs in November and the defensive guys said he really looked good running the football [Melvin Gordon was one of the scout team characters Mitchell played]. We talked to him about it and he's a big guy at 215 pounds. So, to have a guy that can run the football and have good ball skills and then the question was could he do it full time in the offensive structure and so far so good. He has really responded well and I am real excited about where this has a chance to take him.'

On that Melvin Gordon thing, here's what RB coach Chris White said, 'We're getting ready to play Wisconsin last year, and we needed some scout team guys to replicate Melvin Gordon, which is kind of hard to do. We put him over — we nicknamed him DMX, and he came in there and we got off the practice field and all the defensive coaches are just raving about how they couldn't tackle this kid.

'So, we felt that this spring is a great opportunity to do those things. He's made the transition, and he is a talented player. He had an outstanding day Saturday in live tackle football. We put him in some situations there to see how he'd respond, and he broke off a few long runs. He's got some ability; he's going to push for some playing time, too.'

Hey, how did he do in the spring? . . .

Mitchell saw some first-team reps and split a lot of second-team reps with sophomore Akrum Wadley. In the spring game at Kinnick Stadium, Mitchell rushed seven times for 53 yards. He did most of his work behind the second-team offensive line and against the second- and third-team defense.

So, really, don't read anything into spring. It's already forgotten.

Ferentz had good things to say, 'I have really been impressed with Derrick Mitchell. He transferred in there and I really didn't know what to expect and he has done a lot of good things. He has improved with each week of practice and looks more confident than I thought he would and he ran pretty well today. He's not there yet, but he's on the right track.'

Outlook . . .

Iowa will have six scholarship running backs this fall. How many will matter? Let's guess three — two for running the ball and one for the third-down role. Mitchell has zero resume right now as a runner, so can you paste him in there? Realistically, no. He came in as a pass catcher, so something in the third-down role makes more sense (as things stand now, of course, but keep an open mind to Mitchell coming in and proving himself as a runner in August).

In mostly a third-down role last season, Damon Bullock ended up catching 32 passes, so the third down back is more of a thing than you might think.

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