Weekly Round Up: Hopefully this doesn't happen, but...

Less than a week ago, Iowa twitter began its mini-freakout over the health of quarterback C.J. Beathard. Here at the Pants, we even gauged our lord and savior’s health with this handy Beathcon Alert Meter.

Now that we’re sitting at a healthy level, there’s no reason to freak out. But what if we find ourselves at Beathcon 1 at some point this season? Well, that would suck. A lot.

But that’s not what the lead note in this handy article that will be on this website every week (more on that later) is for — no, I’m here to briefly touch on Iowa’s depth at the most important position in the sporting world. Y’know, just in case that matters in 2016.

With sophomore Tyler Wiegers and his whopping four career passing attempts leading the way for Hawkeye quarterbacks not having budding country music stars for brothers, things don’t look great, at least on the surface. However, last Saturday’s Kids Day gave us a glimpse into what we’ll see 12.5 months from now at Kinnick as Beathard prepares to live up to his first-round draft pick status as the heir to Phil Rivers’ throne.

Wiegers, the oldest of the group (and that reason is pretty much all we have to go off of here), figures to be the clear backup to Beathard. However, Saturday gave us the preface to next spring and fall’s quarterback decision, as true freshman Nate Stanley received the Semi-Annual Derrick Willies Camp Sensation Award.

Let’s pump the breaks for a minute. Given that Wiegers has experience and Drew Cook has a redshirt year under his belt, it’d be nothing short of astonishing to see Stanley in any game action this season. By the way, Cook is definitely a quarterback, and that tight end talk is gone.

Next year could be a different story. I have a hard time seeing anyone but Wiegers taking the first snap of the 2017 season against Wyoming given his experience, but, there’s not much of a point in going any further, seeing as this is simply speculation.

Let’s table this until we need to, which is, hopefully, next spring.

We’ll hear more than our fair share of that conversation when the time comes.

If you’re like me, you’re waiting on pins and needles to see which true freshmen will play this year (it won’t be Nate Stanley). Could it be defensive tackle Cedrick Lattimore? Wideout Amani Jones? Running back Toks Akin-haveafunnametosay-ribade?

My money’s on the first two seeing the field because depth, and the latter sitting at ‘only if we have a repeat of 2012 attrition’ status.

On second thought, given the injury history of LeShun Daniels Jr., et al., we’re definitely seeing Akinribade, and probably (please) Desmond King in the backfield this year.

Jim Harbaugh stormed off when a reporter asked a follow-up question regarding player discipline Monday. Which Michigan Man working in the Michigan media writes a column on how un-Michigan Man that was of him?

DJK’s Twitter is my favorite thing on the planet. When there’s not a whole hell of a lot going on in the world of Iowa sports (less than 20 days until kickoff, and 11 days until the field hockey opener), we’re going to check in on our favorite ex-Hawkeye.

The thought of DJK flipping through the pages of the book that is a Cheesecake Factory menu gives me about half the joy I would feel if this actually happened:

Ball’s in your court, Greg.

I’ll snap a photo next time I go by one, but for now, take my word for it. There are one or two Wintrust Bank billboards with Olympians smiling and being generally happy scattered on Chicago’s expressways.

Featured prominently: Tony Ramos.

Next week: A 15,000 word thesis on while I won’t give in to that “It looks like AdBlocker may be prohibiting you from experiencing our whole experience” window that pops up on EVERY SINGLE PAGE on the new (didn’t we just redesign this?) hawkeyesports.com.

If you’re wondering who I am, I’ll briefly introduce myself. I’m Danny Payne, a recent journalism and entrepreneurial management grad of Iowa now living and working a non-journalism job in Chicago.

If some of you recognize my name, it’s probably because (I hope so, at least) I covered a smattering of Iowa sports for The Daily Iowan during my four years in Iowa City, with my biggest claim to fame being the one to break the news of Desmond King’s return to the Black and Gold this year.

Anyways, I’m really excited to get started here at BHGP, and am super thankful to Ben (who actually hired me at the DI, so all of my faults are on him) and Max for this opportunity. Expect a wrap-up type deal like this weekly, along with other writings to make your day go by faster. Feedback is always welcomed and encouraged. Looking forward to this season and beyond.