Wednesday Scrambler: Kinnick, hey there, good lookin

We’ve been hearing of an upgrade to Kinnick Stadium’s north endzone for a few years now. Tuesday, we discovered two things.

It’s really, really good looking, and really, really expensive. We’re talking somewhere in the range of $90 million. Thank you, Big Ten TV money.

Ben touched on it this morning in his recap of Kirk’s presser, so we won’t talk about it in too much detail here — we have other things to get to, like the seemingly weekly “can Desmond play offense” question — but it is worth expanding on at least a little bit.

For as much flack Iowa gets for being stuck in the past and not innovating on the field, this is going to do a ton for the image of the program, just as the new building has. While I always enjoy Kinnick (and this totally could be a “grass is greener” thing), I found myself at other stadiums around the Big Ten wishing Kinnick had some of their features.

The common theme? Some sort of club level seating. Well, it will be here, and it will be beautiful. This still has to be approved by the Board of Regents (it’s on the agenda for next week), but I’ll eat my own shoe if Bruce Rastetter and his crew deny this project.

That first photo facing the renovation straight-on just looks so big-time. I love it.

Okay, on to Desmond playing offense. which will be the last time I write about this until Kirk says he’s going to play offense or until he trots out in the slot and scores on a beautiful tunnel screen. I’m dreaming again.

But unfortunately, dreams are not reality. Sometimes. In this case they’re not.

The anti-King on offense argument is that he’ll be overworked and he would literally never leave the field if he played consistent snaps. While that point is valid and there’s always the increased injury risk, I have a hard time seeing Desmond turning down the chance to catch passes from C.J. Beathard or run that end-around sweep that only happens when Jonathan Parker is in the game.

But, this is the world we live in, and while it would be super exciting and give a reason to watch this team that, frankly, needs to give people a better reason to watch, the logical choice is to keep him on defense and special teams.

/Ends Desmond King talk/

Peter Jok was named to the preseason All-Big Ten team, comprised of 10 players voted on by the league’s media. You can see the full preseason All-Conference team here.

It’s a list of the usual suspects, with Wisconsin’s Nigel Hayes being the only unanimous selection and the preseason Player of the Year.

There aren’t any Michigan State players on the list, which means they’ll probably win the conference and get a No. 1 seed in March.

Did anyone ever used to watch ‘Storm Chasers’ on Discovery Channel? If not, just ignore this.

Kind of a resemblance? No? I’m stretching? Alright. Great show though.

Purdue had a sinkhole problem, but that — apparently — is no longer the case.

Looks good to me. Also, the Purdue Sports Turf Twitter account is one of the most fantastic things I’ve ever seen. Scroll through their timeline if you’re into nice lawns like I am.

And finally, on a serious note, Sheriff Ron Stewart passed away Sunday at the age of 76. He was the head of Iowa’s football security for 32 years.

We suggest you read Mike Hlas’ wonderful obit column on the man who kept Kirk Ferentz and Hayden Fry safe for so many seasons, as it’s a fantastic tribute to a man who flew under the radar but performed a very important service to Hawkeye football and who has witnessed so much history.