So I was wamboozled...Kedrick Rhodes has NOT committed to Iowa yet. From the sounds of things, Rhodes has pretty much made up his mind and he told some local press that he was going to commit to Iowa. But, he had not officially committed yet.

I left up my original story in case you want to check out some info on Rhodes in hope that he still will commit in the future.

After a very slow month on the recruiting trail, the Iowa Hawkeyes picked up its eleventh member of the class of 2010. Kedrick Rhodes gave his verbal commitment($) to Iowa becoming just the fourth offensive commit, first running back, and first from south of the Mason-Dixon line. The Ocala, Florida native is rated 1 star by Scout and 3 stars by Rivals.

High School:
Kedrick Rhodes attends Trinity Catholic High School in Ocala, Florida. Rhodes led the Celtics to an exceptional 12-2 record in 2008 taking the team all the way to the FHSAA Class 2B Championship game well the team ultimately fell to the Pahokee Blue Devils. In the championship game Rhodes rushed for 83 yards on 16 carries, had 2 catches for an additional 18 yards, and returned two kickoffs for 54 yards. In the path to the championship game, Rhodes rushed for 578 yards in 4 playoff games breaking a 29 year old record for most post-season rushing yards in Marion County Florida. On the season, he ran for 1,659 yards and 17 touchdowns. His accomplishments earned him a spot on the Class 2B All-State Second Team. He has been called by his coach as the team's "secret weapon" and has been praised for both his running and blocking ability.

YouTubin':

Sorry, no sound.
Rhodes looks pretty good in his junior highlight video. He is obviously very quick and pretty shifty. He makes his cuts quickly and is very effective at evading defenders (seriously he was juking kids out of their shoes in that video), then has the speed to out run them to the end zone. He probably does a little more dancing around than necessary and Iowa's zone-blocking scheme is really looking for a 1-cut back, but I think he could certainly fit that mold with some coaching. I also liked the fact that the video showed his ability to pick up blocks (something the Hawkeye coaches probably liked too).

Quick Glance:

RB Kedrick Rhodes - Ocala, Florida
Recruiting:
Rivals	3*
Scout	1*
Other Schools	FIU, Kansas State, Northwestern
Stats:
Size	5'10", 175 lbs
40 Time	4.53 sec

First of all, if you are not checking out Camp Central everyday on hawekeyesports.com, you should. They post practice pictures everyday, have stories highlighting different players, and even post some videos. Apparently audio and podcasts are coming soon as well. Anyway, today's article is an excellent look at defensive end Broderick Binns.

Hlas Twitter recruiting challenge
Mike Hlas of the CR Gazette has put of a challenge to see who can recruit the most followers for him. I'm not sure how he plans on tracking the source of his new recruits, but be sure to tell him FightForIowa sent you.

Cotton and Wegher field punts
Speaking of Twitter, today's football practice was open to the media to take pictures during the first 15 minutes. The 15 minutes was just enough time for HawkeyeNation to fire off this tweet:

Both Cotton and Wegher working on fielding punts.

Kirk Ferentz has mentioned numerous times that the return game is something he wants to be better this year and the return game is one area where it looks like incoming freshman could really have an impact. In 2008 Andy Brodell did an excellent job fielding punts, but he's since graduated...and kick off returns were not spectacular. There has already been a lot of talk about the possibility of Wegher returning kickoffs and I'm sure the idea of Wegher taking punts as well has some fans salivating.

Miller and Deace on Iowa Media Day
Take a listen to the "Iowa Media Day Discussion" podcast. It starts off kind of slow with a lot of stuff we've all heard before. And then they start talking about calves on o-linemen. But it finally get betters about 14:30 in when Jon starts talking about incoming freshman Davis, Wegher, and Cotton. Apparently Davis is the legit and possibly the best receiver on the team already. Wegher is also expected to factor in, especially on the return game (as mentioned above). Anyway, give it a listen.

Spievey on Jim Thorpe Award watch list
Amari Spievey has made it on the 2009 preseason Jim Thorpe Award watch list. The award goes out each year to the best collegiate defensive back in the nation. This is the first attention Spievey has received this summer. Rittenberg said Spievey was the best cover corner in the Big Ten and Norm Parker (actually back in the spring) said Spievey might be the best corner in the Kirk Ferentz era.

Holy crap - a Brandon Wegher video!
Hawkeyesports.com posted a very, very short video of Brandon Wegher running the ball during practice on Saturday. Considering this kids hype I'm surprised the internet hasn't blown up yet. Anyway, the video is really short and the players aren't in pads or going full speed so it's hard to say anything about Wegher yet.

PC - Media Day Photos

The Press-Citizen gets the award for the most awesomely terrible photos from media day. I won't comment on all of them, but there were a few that stood out.

• Pic #18 - Okay, I know Klug is supposed to be good and all, but in that picture he looks, well...not intimidating.
• Pic #27 - Klug, takes notes. This is how to look intimidating.
  
• Pic #34 - O-linemen bowling any one?
• Pic #37 - McNutt and Berstine display their "special" greeting
• Pic #52 - Look at how high up that camera guy is.
  

I've seen a couple of blogs break down their teams position by position for 2009 versus 2008. My title is less clever than Looking Back, Look Forward (Eleven Warriors) or Upgrade/Downgrade (The Daily Gopher), but the idea is the same. Today I'll start off doing the offense and I'll try to get around to the defense in a day or two.

Offensive Line:

Left Tackle - '08 Bulaga vs. '09 Bulaga
One of six returning starters on offense, it's easy to predict '09 Bulaga will be greater than '08 Bulaga. He'll have one more year of experience and all indications are that he has continued to hone his technique over the off season. Give this one to 2009.

Left Guard - '08 Vandervelde vs. '09 Richardson
This one is much more difficult. Vandervelde did very well in 2008 to earn the starting spot and was expected to start again at one of the guard position in 2009. However, with his recent injury he will be missing practice time and may also miss some games. Richardson looks to have the left guard spot locked down for now. It's a new position to Richardson who previously was a tackle before a crushing knee injury. He hasn't seen any significant playing time since midway through 2006, so we really don't know how he'll perform come game time. I'm going to have to say a slight downgrade, just because of the uncertainty.

Center - '08 Bruggeman vs. '09 Eubanks/Koeppel/Ferentz
Center is one of the biggest position battles on offense this year. It is unlikely, however, that anyone will be better than Bruggeman was in 2008. Eubanks' struggles have been well documented and neither Koeppel or Ferentz really have any experience. The edge here is clearly 2008.

Right Guard - '08 Olsen vs. '09 Doering/Kuempel/Vandervelde
Seth Olsen had a very good senior season, but he is not irreplaceable. In fact he missed two game last year and Kuempel filled in very nicely for him (watch some highlights from the Wisconsin game). Whoever ultimately wins this spot will bring experience and talent. I don't expect any drop off, so I'll call it even.

Right Tackle - '08 Calloway vs. '09 Calloway
It would be easy to give the edge to '09 with another returning starter, however, Calloway is facing a one game suspension for his adventurous moped incident. I don't think that will be a huge set back, but I'll call the 2 years even.

Score after offensive line: 2008 - 2, 2009 - 1, Push - 2

Receivers:

Tight End - '08 Myers vs. '09 Moeaki
Brandon Myers had a great year for the Hawkeyes in 2008 and I expect the same from Tony Moeaki this year. Moeaki has the potential to be even better than Myers if he remains healthy, which I think he will. I'm going to give this one to 2009.

Split End - '08 DJK vs. '09 McNutt/Sandeman/DJK
I think DJK will ultimately win his starting job back before the first game against UNI. And, if he's been listening to excellent receiver coach Erik Campbell, he should be even better. McNutt and Sandeman should add some needed depth at the position. 2009, another point for you.

Wide Receiver - '08 Brodell vs. '09 Stross/Chaney/Davis
Brodell was a very good possession receiver for Iowa last year, and he was good for a big play every game or two scoring 5 touchdowns. If Stross can remain healthy he could have a good year. Chaney has definitely shown potential and by potential I mean running right by defender only to not catch the ball. And, incoming freshman Keenan Davis definitely has a shot at making an impact. That said, I will still go with Brodell.

Score after receivers: 2008 - 3, 2009 - 3, Push - 2

Backfield:

Quarterback - '08 Christensen/Stanzi vs. '09 Stanzi
This one is pretty clear cut. There is no QB controversy on our hands in 2009 and Stanzi should be even better than he was in 2008. The QB situation is much better for '09.

Fullback - '08 Morse/Leppert vs. '09 Morse/Leppert
Both Morse and Leppert are very capable at fullback and both had good 2008 season. Like most returning players I expect them to be better than they were last year. So 2009 will get the point.

Running Back - '08 Greene vs. '09 Hampton/Brinson/O'Meara/Wegher
While I don't think the drop off will be huge, obviously nobody is going to be able to match Shonn Greene's spectacular 2008 season. However, as a whole I think this group will be pretty good. 2008 still wins this round though.

Final Standings: 2008 - 4, 2009 - 5, Push - 2

The 2009 preseason USA Today Coaches poll has the Iowa Hawkeyes ranked #21. Iowa finished in the final 2008 poll ranked #20, so there has not been much change. Kirk Ferentz said today at the Iowa Media Day that the preseason ranking has no impact on him. He only starts worrying about the polls in November and prefers to be ranked at the end of the season rather than the beginning.

There are a few things that jumped out at me on the ratings.

• LSU, who went 8-5 last year and finished unrated is up to #9
• Notre Dame came in at #23 despite finishing 7-6 last year
• 6 coaches actually did not vote Florida as number 1
• Michigan got a single vote
  
• 8 of Iowa's 11 FBS opponents received at least 1 vote.