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It's Not Plagiarism If You Link To It: Enter The Black

So, where were we?

By PlannedSickDays
Matthew Holst

ENTER THE BLACK. That's the motto on the door to Iowa's shiny new football facilities. It's also a good motto for this period we entered called May, June and July. Hawkeye news comes at a snail's pace these months. We'll try to stretch what we can. Oh, and make something out of pretty much nothing. Ready? Okay.

NFL ROOKIE CAMP IS UNDER WAY. Iowa had a pretty boring draft. Its worst in over a decade, actually. The same can be said for the Big Ten. A handful of Hawkeyes did get camp invites are and currently competing for a roster spot. James Vandenberg and Joe Gaglione are in Minnesota. Keenan Davis is in Cleveland and James Ferentz reunited with Ken O'Keefe in Miami.

WHAT ABOUT NEXT YEAR? Iowa will potentially have a better draft class in 2014. C.J. Fiedorwicz leads the class and could go as early as the first round. The 2013 NFL Draft saw a few TEs go off the board early. C.J. is currently the #2 rated TE on CBS Sports.com. Some fellow Hawkeyes on the CBS list: James Morris #14 ILB and Anthony Hitchens #11 OLB. Others not listed but with a good chance at getting drafted: Christen Kirksey, Brett Van Sloten and B.J. Lowery. Brandon Scherff is an underclassmen but could be an early draft pick if he has a stellar season.

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? Robert Gallery, Bob Sanders and now Nate Kaeding are all retired from the NFL. They paid their dues, each leaving the league with nicks and dings.

WE'RE #11!! WE'RE #11!! ESPN's Big Ten blog released their post-spring power rankings. Iowa comes in at #11 just ahead of Illinois and one spot behind Purdue. Fucking awesome!

HERE'S WHAT THEY LEARNED CHECKING OUT IOWA. It's going to be a run heavy offense, according to Brian Bennett. He also notes the same observations about everyone had from Iowa's spring game: Carl Davis looks good, Canzeri too. Finally, where's the pass rush.

OBVIOUSLY, ESPN HAS NO KNOWLEDGE OF THE NEW FANCY OFFENSE. That will probably be the same as the old offense. That doesn't mean Hawkeye Sports won't try to sell us on the no-huddle. It's here and hopefully to stay.

WITH THE NEW NINE GAME CONFERENCE SCHEDULE. Iowa still plans to play Northern Iowa in football. Barry Alvarez had mentioned a couple months ago that Big Ten ADs were looking at not playing FCS schools. Iowa has UNI on the schedule in 2014 and 2018. Barta says those games are good, for now.

HOW BOUT THE ANNUAL GAME WITH THE CLONES? The Iowa-Iowa State rivalry game will stay on the schedule too. Iowa's concern with a nine game conference slate would be the year with five road games in the Big Ten. If Iowa and ISU can schedule the annual game at Kinnick those seasons giving Iowa a home game when they play five B1G road games, it will still work. So far, it appears everything will work out.

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