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Our good friend Marc Morehouse sent out a fun Tweet yesterday to generate a little discussion and thinking about next year's football team and, frankly, I'm not afraid to blatantly copy it, either. So here it is:
OK, need a little help (try to keep stay with me, but I know there'll be some snark). Iowa's MVP, emerging star and top newcomer. Go!
— marcmorehouse (@marcmorehouse) April 29, 2015
(Thanks, Marc!)
A few ground rules for our version:
* You can define Most Valuable Player however you like: most outstanding player, most important player, etc.
* Emerging Star should be someone that's been around for at least a little bit and done something to make us think that he could have a breakout season this fall.
* Top Newcomer should be a true freshman, redshirt freshman, or JUCO transfer; it's someone we haven't really seen do anything in an Iowa uniform (aside from practice outings).
My own picks?
MVP: CJ
Emerging Star: Akrum Wadley
Top Newcomer: Matt Nelson
I'm going with CJ as MVP because I think the season will go as he goes -- and he's going to have to be one hell of a goer for Iowa to have the season we'd like to see them have, given all the uncertainty along the offensive line and at receiver. I also give CJ some extra value points because the drop-off from him to his replacement (Wiegers) looks like a bigger chasm than anywhere else on the depth chart right now.
I'm buying Wadley stock, too. I liked what I saw from him last fall (minus the fumbles, of course) and he had some intriguing showings this spring. He might need a Daniels or Canzeri injury to really get an extended look at RB and while I hope neither guy gets injured, they don't exactly have clean health records (especially Canzeri). Admittedly, buying Wadley stock here also means buying that the OL will shore up and be able to generate push in the run game and open holes... which is a big question mark right now.
And I'm grabbing Nelson as my Top Newcomer because I'm buying the spring hype here. He's got the size and skills to make an impact on defense right away. Iowa's going to need some rotation help at defensive end and they're also going to need to generate a pass rush -- Nelson seems like he could help immediately in both areas.
What about you? What are your picks for these categories? Hit up the comments with your picks.