IOWA FOOTBALL HOSTS SPRING GAME: THE MORNING AFTER

Iowa football’s spring practice opened on the most sour of notes with the team announcing a serious injury to Aaron Mends. After the practice, Kirk Ferentz made it sound like he’s out for the season.

The other big piece of news from the spring practice is a bit happier: IOWA IS PAINTING THE WATER.

Everything else that happened Friday night is inconsequential.

I kid. Sort of.

The open practice more or less turned into a game setting, with live punting (it wasn’t horrible!) kicking (Miguel Recinos is good y’all) and very few touchdowns, just like a real Iowa game.

I kid. Sort of.

The only touchdown on the day was scored by fourth-sting quarterback Ryan Schmidt to Dominque Dafney on the last play of the day.

Nate Stanley got the bulk of snaps Friday night, and he didn’t really look like last year’s self. He threw two interceptions — one to Amani Hooker and another to Jake Gervase off a tip from Hooker — and was off the money on many of his passes. He was without Noah Fant and Nick Easley, who were held out as a precautions, however. Unofficially, Stanley went 7-14 for 72 yards and 2 picks.

There were some promising things on the first team offense, however. The offensive line seemed to exceed my expectations, making good holes for Ivory Kelly-Martin and Toren Young, both of whom looked pretty good last night. Ihmir Smith-Marsette saw quite a bit of the field in what I hope becomes a regular occurrence. And sophomore wide receiver Max Cooper is your Nico Law Spring Hype Man of the Year. Cooper hauled in 8 catches for 82 yards and was the favorite target for Stanley Friday.

There were still drops. ISM had one. Brandon Smith had one. TJ Hockenson fumbled after a nice catch. We’ve seen this movie before.

The offensive line, as I said before, seemed fine, even with projected starters Levi Paulsen and Ross Reynolds out. Landan Paulsen, Levi Duwa and Dalton Ferguson shuffled around on the line, which was stout all night.

I am a little disappointed we didn’t get to see Kyle Groeneweg last night. He was listed as a starter at receiver on the spring two-deeps, despite no one knowing anything about him. He was held out as a precaution as well.

The other offenses weren’t so bad. Peyton Mansell went 7-8 on his passes and would have been 8-8 if he didn’t miss an open Nico Ragaini in the end zone. Mansell showed he has some wheels and made two nice scrambles, one that gave his offense a first down near the goal line. Kyshaun Bryan was the No. 3 RB last night, and he showed some ability to catch some passes and hit some holes. Also, I LOVE the No. 16 for a running back, so I hope he sticks on. Mansell also completed a pass to Drew Cook, so that was fun to see.

Spencer Petras looked like a true freshman, But Kirk Ferentz said some things after the spring practice that sort of tell me Petras could surpass Mansell sooner than later when compared side-by-side:

You know, [Mansell] really was struggling in August when we got going. I mean, like really struggling. And then what happened, and when he started struggling, it was really interesting and sometimes entertaining, except -- it was entertaining because he was like fourth team at that point. It wouldn’t be right now. But he’s progressed, too, so he’s a lot closer to being able to go in a game than he was. And Petras has kind of surprised us a little bit. He’s caught on things a little quicker than you might imagine, so we’ll see what happens there. But those guys have both done some good things.

The defensive side of the ball looked really great, but that could have been a function of the shaky offensive performance. Amani Jones was a bulldog at middle linebacker. Anthony Nelson disrupted some plays (Parker Hesse was held out of practice). Kristian Welch started on the weak side in place for Mends, while Nick Niemann was on the outside. Former defensive back Djimon Colbert got quite a bit of playing time alongside Welch, I have a feeling he could end up the starter there.

Jack Hockaday played some middle and outside and Barrington Wade moved around as well. The linebacker corps situation was always going to be fluid, and it is especially without Mends.

The defensive backfield is not an area of concern. Besides Hooker and Gervase picking off balls, Geno Stone was the other safety who found his nose on the ball more often than not. Brandon Snyder has his work cut out for him when he’s ready to get back on the field.

Matt Hankins is CB1. Michael Ojemudia and Manny Rugamba switched off at CB2, with Ojemudia gaining the edge there.

Overall, a typical spring practice for Iowa football in my book. If the offense had to play a game tomorrow, I’d be quite concerned. The defense, even with a completely new linebacking corps, will be just fine.