Lunch Links Go To Rio

The Hawkeyes are sending four athletes to the Olympics

The most notable being former wrestler Daniel Dennis, who was a two-time All American while wrestling for the Hawks from 2005-10. You might remember he had to beat Tony Ramos at the Olympic Trials back in April to earn the ticket to Brazil.

Dennis is the only Hawk who’s competing for the U.S.

Others to make the trip include:

-Houry Gebeshian, Gymnasitcs, Republic of Armenia

-Troy Doris, Track & Field (triple jump), Republic of Guyana

-Diane Nukiri, Track & Field (10,000 M), Burundi

We wish them all the best of luck at the games.

Checking in on D.J. Hernandez

Last week, SI writer Michael Rosenberg published a long profile of former Iowa graduate assistant D.J. Hernandez on how he was coping with his brother serving a lifetime sentence for murder.

The whole piece is excellent not just for the unprecedented depth it gives to the Aaron Hernandez situation from the view of his brother—who it seems he was very close with—but also offers a snapshot into his life when he was living on a wage of $18,000 as a GA in Iowa City:

D.J. goes back to Iowa, eats at a restaurant called Formosa and it all happens again: A group of young men spot him through a window, point and make bullet sounds. There is no fight this time, but D.J. realizes that even in Iowa City he has been the victim of identity theft. He is no longer a promising college football coach. He is the look-alike brother of an accused murderer.

Hernandez now owns a roofing business in Dallas and has a baby on the way with a woman he met in Iowa. He still carries around a leather-bound Iowa Hawkeyes folder to keep his business records in order, but as his brother stood trial thousands of miles away, D.J. couldn’t find happiness in coaching football anymore.

Other interesting anecdotes include Hernandez getting chewed out by Brian Ferentz, and his taking a trip back for a game at Kinnick last year to see if he still missed football. The whole piece is excellent and worth your time.

Other Iowa musings of note:

-In case you haven’t heard, the Hawkeyes are ranked No. 15 in the preseason coaches poll.

-Pro Football Focus ranked Marshall Yanda the 13th-best player in the NFL, and the third-best offensive lineman. Mike Daniels was the only other Hawkeye to make the list, checking in at No. 47.

-After 13 years as a Track & Field coach at Iowa, Layne Anderson is leaving to take a position at Tennessee.

-Here’s a nice little story about Nate Kaeding’s impact on the business community in Iowa City. I have a few shirts from his Tailgate store, and they are all awesome.

-In case you feel like running through a brick wall:

-Looks like some high schoolers have had reason to check the mail the last few days as well:

-And last but not least, Iowa Football held their first fall practice yesterday evening.

-Kirk Ferentz also holds a press conference tomorrow at 2 p.m.. You can stream it live here tomorrow, if you’re into that sort of thing.

29 days until football, ladies and gents. Get excited.