The Walk Through

This is going to be a QB CJ Beathard health watch thing.

Tuesday, Beathard and Kirk Ferentz left it at 'positive” and 'counting” on Beathard playing.

Give KF credit, he doesn't play games with injuries. He also doesn't offer full disclosure, so I guess that's a game in and of itself.

Frankly, I prefer how Northwestern does it.

Here's what the school sent on Friday:

WR Austin Carr - OUT

OL Adam DePietro - OUT

DB Matthew Harris - OUT

WR Flynn Nagel - OUT

DB Kyle Queiro – OUT

LB Tommy Vitale – OUT (Out for season, will not be listed moving forward)

But this is Iowa and so I can offer you this.

9:04 a.m. - CJB is out on the field. He's wearing sweats. Other QBs on the field: Wiegers, Boyle and Cook. All QB formation.

9:06 - CJB is moving like the Neil Young song 'Old Man.”

Good news! WR Tevaun Smith cleared to play. Not sure how much. He was ruled out this week, but must've had a break through

9:06 - But I will say this, the QBs don't exactly do gymnastics during this drill. He's moving around just like the other dudes.

BTW, Iowa has been bringing the two true freshman QBs on road trips. They were at Wisconsin and ISU.

9:11 - Well, if we're going to get nutty, let's go all the way. CJB is throwing his warmup toss to TE Henry Krieger Coble. Tyler Wiegers, the No. 2, is throwing to backup Peter Pekar. So, you know, if you want to read into things.

Tevaun Smith is out there moving gingerly, but he's moving. Maybe he plays.

- I think LeShun Daniels is here. I swear I see him out there warming up. Maybe I'm seeing things. I did see Wadley and Canzeri out there. I didn't notice Mitchell.

- WR here: Tevaun, Jerminic Smith, MVB, Hillyer, Falconer, McCarron and I think that's Jay Scheel.

Tune in for more. Hawkeyes into the lockerroom for now.

- I've been asked if they other QBs were wearing sweats. They weren't.

- All other changes that you would expect in the Iowa lineup are confirmed:

James Daniels is the right tackle today. Cole Croston at left tackle. Parker Hesse is in for Drew Ott.

- NW radio guy on now. Calls QB Clayton Thorson a dual threat. I haven't seen a lot of that. He does have 161 rush yards and a 42-yard TD run against Stanford.

One number that you may or may not bite into is the yards per attempt, basically it's the number that tells you if it's worth it for your team to pass the ball.

Thorson has a 5.8, which is 12th in the B1G. CJB is 7.6, which is fifth. Tyler Wiegers doesn't have one.

Thorson can erase that with efficiency. Forget pass efficiency, it's making timely plays and staying out of pressure third down situations.

- NW radio guy (Dave Eanet, I think, he's good) calls this one of NU's best-ever defenses. Anthony Walker = Pat Fitzgerald, he said. Said he doesn't expect a dropoff between Matthew Harris and Keith Watkins, who was the nickel corner. Harris suffered facial fractures last week and will miss today's game.

- From a cacaphony of sources, I don't believe CJB practiced all week. Wiegers practice with the No. 1s, The true freshmen split up the No. 2s.

So, at least this, worst case scenario, Wiegers will at least see the train coming, unlike James Vandenberg in 2009 against Northwestern, when he was thrust into the game after an ankle injury. That week, Vandenberg had seen a small percentage of reps as the No. 2 QB.

This won't be that, at least in theory, worst case scenario and all.

- Tevaun Smith is looking OK. I missed two other WRs here: Jonathan Parker and Andrew Stone.

- KF on radio: Tevaun might play a couple of snaps. Improved, but missed a lot. TE Jake Duzey not full speed. He'll be better after bye week. Not full strength

- Iowa traveled six TEs - HKC, Duzey, Kittle, Wisnieski, Pekar and Outsey.

- LeShun Daniels is in uniform and going through warmups.

- LB Jack Hockaday is here and in uniform and I think he plays.

- Iowa radio: Tevaun is cleared. LeShun is cleared, probably won't play. Myers, Boettger aren't here.

- CJB has done everything so far. That doesn't include bootlegs, but he looks OK.

- CJB taking first team reps.

- OK, the big news: Sean Welsh is the RT right now. James Daniels is LG with Cole Croston at LT.

- Sean Welsh did some tackle a few years ago, either in spring or fall. If spring, obviously a few years ago. He didn't practice this spring.

- Daniels takes a handoff from CJB with the first team.

- Daniels is second-team RT.

- From @Hawkeyegamefilm on the Welsh move: makes more sense to me, Welsh is the more experienced player & 78 has looked very good at OG,gives'm 4 very good run blockers

- OK, we're moving on to the game.

CJB looks like a go.

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