The fine art of separation or pushing off or whatever

IOWA CITY - We all have a picture in our heads of what 'separation” is for wide receivers against defensive backs. It goes something like wide receiver sprinting past defender, catching pass and striding out for a long TD.

Like popcorn in the microwave, that easy.

Of course, this is the ham-handed set up for the inevitable 'well, it's not that easy.” It is that easy for maybe 5 percent of the college football wide receiver population. And who knows, maybe that number is high. Maybe it's more like 1 percent.

That 1 or 5 percent usually doesn't end up at Iowa. So, yes, the concept of separation for Iowa wide receivers is something very, very different. It's steeped in technique and the whole thing is drenched in the following thought from Iowa wide receivers coach Bobby Kennedy:

'Yeah, you'd like guys that are just able to run by people every down, but that doesn't happen at this level,” Kennedy said.

So, hold that thought. You could take that a step farther and extrapolate it to the Hawkeyes' view of the college football world. Iowa is the defending Big Ten West Division champion.

The Big Ten West is where you're more likely to be able to recruit and develop an offensive lineman, running back or linebacker. Last season, the West Division placed two receivers on all-Big Ten teams, with Nebraska's Jordan Westerkamp and Wisconsin's Alex Erickson earning second team with a pair of the East on first and third. In 2014, the Big Ten named just first- and second-team all-conference. Of the eight spots only two were claimed by West Division WRs (Nebraska's Kenny Bell and Illinois' Mike Dudek).

In a land of outside-the-1-percent speed-burner type wide receivers, separation is hard earned. Inches count. And, most definitely yes, it helps to have a quarterback who can rocket a ball into a mailbox from a moving car.

'A lot of that has to do with technique, when you're talking about bump-n-run, when a corner is back 8 yards and you get free release,” Kennedy said. 'A lot of times you're not just going to flat out run by guys. What creates an advantage? When you're working your drills every day, you talk about going and playing tag with the DB, and then, right, you're working to get by him. But once you get by him, you stack him.

'Now, separation can only be a few inches. It's not always 2, 3, 4 yards, right? But you've gained separation where you've gained an advantage, where he has to come through you to make a play.”

One Hawkeye who we all can agree built this skill is senior wide receiver Matt VandeBerg. Remember, he started his career as a true freshman in 2012 weighing in at a robust 170-something pounds. Last season, VandeBerg finished fifth in the Big Ten with 65 receptions for 703 yards and four TDs.

His finesse in route running and ability to make space when there seemingly is none was on full display against Wisconsin in week 5 last season. VandeBerg caught six passes for 61 yards in a game where Iowa scored 10 points and had a grand total of 77 yards passing.

'It comes down to technique, being able to lean on a guy and be more physical,” VandeBerg said. 'I think that's something we've tried to do, even more in this offseason especially, trying to get more separation.

'Speed has something to do with it, but a lot of it also is agility. You've got to be willing to be physical in those situations. That's what creates separation.”

Kennedy breaks the specific technique in an extremely coach-speak way. (By 'coach-speak” here, it's more like you can hear him saying that way to his players during a practice.)

'The little things in terms of how to use your body, how to use your leverage to create separation, leaning on a guy, snapping away from them, we talk about that all the time in terms of sticking and snapping, sticking and snapping,” Kennedy said.

Sticking and snapping. It kind of sounds like boxing.

'When you create friction with a guy, you lean on him, you stick and you snap, OK, it's going to create half a yard to a yard separation,” Kennedy said. 'We're constantly talking about that.”

Are we talking about the fine art of the 'push off” here? That is the give-and-take with wide receivers and defensive backs. What's technique for one is a 15-yard flag for the other.

For what it's worth, here's a view from a defensive back.

'You put the pressure back on them. You have to continue to engage,” sophomore free safety Brandon Snyder said. 'They're probably going to try to push off, like you said. You try to put the pressure back on them, so when they do separate, you're leaning toward them and putting the pressure toward them.”

There's the sticking and the snapping and the, uh, pushing off (if a receiver or defensive back keeps their hands low, there's probably not going to be a flag), but there's also having the right quarterback.

These interviews kept coming back to Iowa quarterback C.J. Beathard. How many times last season did Beathard throw to the open shoulder of a wide receiver or tight end when the other shoulder had a linebacker or defensive back on it? He did that a lot and it's part of the reason Iowa finished fourth in the Big Ten in third down conversions (41.67 percent).

'Six inches is definitely more than enough for C.J. to find us, as good as he is,” said VandeBerg, who finished fourth in the Big Ten last season with 17 catches for third-down conversions. 'There are a lot of good things on tape we can look back on and see what separation can mean to us. If it's only 3 inches or 4 inches, we know C.J. is going to put it on the money.”

Even the defensive back agreed on that.

'C.J. is unbelievable,” Snyder said. 'C.J. is the real deal. He's such a good quarterback. Live arm. He makes our team so much better. We're so lucky to have him. His leadership, too. We're a little bit younger at receiver, and he's just taken those guys under his wing. He does a great job being our quarterback.”

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