Rumors! Well, it wouldn't be Hawkeye bowl week without them. No, Drew Tate didn't break his leg but a member of the team may have been sent home. The best source when shit hits the fan news breaks is of course Marc Morehouse. Mas Casa is in Phoenix and has this post with quotes from Ferentz on the latest rumor mill rumblings.
Ferentz's response on a player being sent home,
It's possible, it's possible," Ferentz said. "It's possible.
Ferentz responding to the question of Shaun Prater being sent to the emergency room,
"Today?" Ferentz asked. At some point since you've been here? "It's possible," he said. "He's fine, he practiced today. He's fine."
Later Morehouse tweeted,
Ferentz said this about McCall's Facebook post,
"He said that?" Ferentz asked. "That may be out there. If someone leaves our program, I'll have comments on it."
And about Riley Reiff heading to the NFL,
"I don't think it's prominent in his thoughts or mine. We'll address that afterwards and see what he thinks."
And finally, Ferentz added this,
"Did you guys catch that one?" Ferentz joked. "I'll see if I can muster one up for you right now."
The joke, by Ferentz, was that he farted on the practice field. I'm serious.
Bob Stoops isn't making fart jokes but he too, isn't talking player deflections. Oklahoma, like Iowa, has had their share of players leaving the program and missing the Insight Bowl due to injury.
Without a statement from Iowa, anything about someone sent home is pure speculation. Here's an interesting conversation though. Read into it what you will.
What about McCall and his mysterious Facebook post? Randy Peterson, of the Des Moines Register, actually called McCall's cell phone to find out. Here's what Mika'il had to say to Peterson,
I (Peterson) just talked to maybe former Iowa running back Mika'il McCall on the phone.
Sort of.
So Mika'il, you wrote on Facebook Sunday night that you were finished at Iowa. What happened?
McCall: I'm not doing any interviews.
Why were you suspended from the team?
McCall: Not talking.
Did someone tell you not to talk?
McCall: Not answering
Will you return to the Iowa football team?
McCall: Click.
Weird, and for the record, you can ask Peterson about this today during his live chat.
About the rumors, I think that covers all of them, from yesterday.
The biggest question this week has to be, "what will the Iowa offense look like in the Insight.com Bowl?" Coker carried the load. His 281 carries for 1384 yards are gone. That's 80% of Iowa's rushing offense. Offensive coordinator Ken O'Keefe isn't worried. He says, "it doesn't even enter your mind."
The weapons are available still at wide receiver. Marvin McNutt, Iowa's all-time leading everything at that position is still there. So is a healthy Keenan Davis. Davis injured his ankle late in the game against Indiana. Missed the game in Minnesota and saw his numbers drop following the injury. There's the recent emergence of tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz, so why not try the no-huddle again?
Other links of interest:
- Sooners two-deeps for the Insight
- OU's Trey Franks gets the start at WR
- Football recruiting notes from Hawkeye Report
- Monday video: Toots
- Aaron White, Big Ten freshman of the week
- The Devyn Marble question
- ESPN's Big Ten bloggers predict Iowa to lose
- History won't help Sooners
- So you think Iowa's offense is predictable under coordinator Ken O'Keefe?
- Sooners expect a challenge
- Ferentz and Stoops, BFFs
- Sooners try to replace missing players