There is plenty to talk about today, but I'll start off with a quick post breaking down some of the bigger news to come out of Iowa Media Day today. Kirk Ferentz had a press conference and the assistant coaches and some players were open to the media after the first practice on fall.

Kirk Ferentz presser notes: (watch presser here)

• Incoming freshman receiver Stephane N'goumou was ruled ineligible and will instead go the JuCo route.
  
• Injuries - Chad Geary will not be ready to go to start the seasonand Julian Vandervelde will probably miss the first couple of weeks (nothing new here)
• Leaders - Angerer and Stanzi have stepped up leadership (an echo from spring)
• The topic of moving Clayborn or Ballard inside came up again. Also, Binns was mentioned (a lot) as a very improved player and mentioned that Iowa o-line hasn't been able to consistently block him in practice.
• Bernstine has the nod right now across from Spievey but there's a good competition that includes Prater, Castillo, and Lowe.
• Bulaga will have the NFL decision at the end of the year (not news). Ferentz says that he should red-shirt and then come back for 2011.
• Gettis and Zusevics were singled out as guys that will be playing on the offensive line in the future.
• DJK and McNutt both have looked good

Other Notes:

• Stanzi says McNutt "can catch anything"
• Hampton says he's feeling 90-95% on his knee
• DJK is ready to start competing for BCS and Big Ten Championships
• Clayborn says the defense can be better than last year
• Center spot is still up for grabs, but Eubanks is in the lead
• The media reports the FieldTurf look terrific

One last thing for now...check out the photo gallery on hawkeyesport.com. There are some good pictures. Pic #16 - Bulaga is a beast. Pic #18 - DJK, looking happy about something. Pic #25 Moeaki and Richardson holding hands? Pic #29 - Loving Clayborn's beard and dreads. Pic #35 - Cool tat Pat. Pic #36 - There is no way any team in the country has two goofier looking quarterbacks?

Football is finally here! The 2009 football season officially starts today for the Hawkeyes. The team will hold its first real practice since spring and following will be media extravaganza. The official site does a good job covering the event posting quotes, pictures, audio and video. You can watch Kirk Ferentz live for free through the Hawkeye All-Access video player this afternoon at 1:30 as he hold his first official press conference. Hopefully the media will also put out some good stories and some better pictures than last year. Anyway, if I can watch the Ferentz presser at work I'll try to at least Twitter about it. And, either way check back here tonight for more coverage.

Iowa's offensive line has been heavily praised in the preseason. The o-line has been rated the fourth best line by Athlon, CFN ranks it the best in the Big Ten, and left tackle Bryan Bulaga has been getting a ton of preseason recognition. I do think the offensive line will be good this year, especially later in the season. However, with practice starting in just a couple of days, there are still a few questions that I have.

Who will start at center?
The most experienced center on the roster is clearly Rafael Eubanks who started 9 games at center as a red-shirt freshman, all 12 games as a sophomore, and 4 games at left guard as a junior. His performance in 2007 somewhat lacked (though he was name Honorable Mention All-Big Ten that year), but to be fair he had lots of injuries around him and the all important "gel" factor never really set in. At this point, I'll give him the nod as the starter simply based on his experience.

Another possibility is junior Josh Koeppel. Koeppel has seen some action, but it's predominantly been in cleanup time (Maine, FIU, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Minnesota games last year). He is currently listed as the second team center, but Kirk Ferentz said at the Big Ten Media Days that "Josh has elevated his play quietly." Generally it’s a good thing when Ferentz mentions your name.

The most intriguing prospect is James Ferentz. He definitely put himself at a disadvantage this year, however, with his second alcohol related incident that got him suspended from the second half of spring practice and the first game of the year. It would be thoroughly impressive if he can ascend the depth chart to win the starting job after missing all that time, but not overly surprising.

One player no longer in the mix at center is Julian Vandervelde. In the spring, the Hawkeyes toyed around with Vandervelde snapping the ball trying to get the best 5 guys on the field. At this point though, his recent injury has thwarted that idea.

What happens when Vandervelde is back?
During the summer, Julian Vandervelde sustained a bicep injury that required surgery. He will not be ready for the beginning of practice and it is likely he won't be ready for the first game of the year, though it hasn't been ruled out yet. Vandervelde was expected to be the starter at one of the 3 interior line spots after starting the final 9 games of the 2008 season at left guard. Currently, he is listed as the first team right guard in the 2009 Media Guide with Dan Doering and Adam Gettis right behind.

I’m going to guess that while Vandervelde is out, Doering wins the starting spot based on his experience; Gettis and Andy Kuemple have a shot as well. When Vandervelde is healthy again, however, I'm not sure what's going to happen. If Doering is playing well, then will the coaches try to fix something that's not broken? I'm guessing no. That's exactly what happened to Doering last year, who was expected to be the starter at left guard before being injured. Once he was healthy again the line was already in a groove and he never got the spot back.

The other possibility is that Vandervelde could take over at left guard, the position he played in 2008. Right now, Dace Richardson is listed as the starter. Richardson has had terrible injuries and has seen very little playing time since midway through the 2006 season and did not play at all last year. Guard is also a new position to Richardson, who previously was a left tackle. Reports from spring were that Richardson was a little rusty, but that he's making progress. He is definitely a player to watch this fall.

When will the line gel?
The previous two questions, really point to this gel question. I am quite confident in the players Iowa has competing for offensive line spots. The tackles are excellent (especially Bulaga) and there is a copious amount of experienced guys vying for a starting spot on in interior. If you look at last year, the offensive line did excellent plugging in players when necessary (the whole next man in philosophy), so that gives me hope. However, in 2007 things did not go so well and the line never did come together despite having some good players.

Julian Vandevelde's injury could also impede gelling and depending on how the center situation comes together, it is conceivable that we may see as many as 3 different starting centers in 2009 (maybe in the first 3 weeks). Another factor is Kyle Calloway's 1 game suspension for his moped OWI which shouldn't have a large impact, but could has some as he won't have a tune up game before Iowa State. Look at the all possibility Marc Morehouse came up with along the o-line in just the first 3 weeks. My hope is by week 4 (at Penn State), the coaches have settled on the starting 5 and the offensive line lives up to its expectations and potential.

How many returning starters will there be for 2010?
This last one if just for fun. I know 2010 is a long ways out, but in thinking about all the possible combination on the line, 2 extreme scenarios jumped out at me.

1. There are no returning starters on the o-line for 2010 -
2009 Starters: Bulaga - Richardson - Eubanks - Doering - Calloway
What happens: Bulaga decides to skip his senior year and turns pro, Richardson does not get granted another year, Eubanks is a senior, Doering is a senior, and Calloway is a senior.

2. There are 4 returning starter on the o-line for 2010 -
2009 Starters: Bulaga - Richardson - Koeppel (or Ferentz) - Vandervelde - Calloway
What happens: Bulaga decides to stay, Richardson is granted another year of eligibility, Koeppel is a junior and Ferentz is a RS freshman so they come back, Vandervelde is a junior so comes back, and Calloway is the only 1 who leaves.

Anyway, it'll probably be somewhere in the middle and I'm pretty confident we'll have a good set of linemen for 2010. Plus, like I said, it's way in the future, so let's not worry about it too much yet.

Decision Not Imminent on Painting Water Tower
Breaking News: Iowa officials have discussed painting the water tower but haven't made any plans. Okay, so maybe that isn't the breaking news the CR Gazette says it is. But the story does note that official in the university's athletic department are aware of the online petition. The petition has already gotten around 3,800 e-signatures in its short existence. The story goes on to suggest that the biggest hurdle right now is justifying the cost. The water tower was just repainted its bland white in 2006 for a price tag of $370,000. I'm assuming throwing a Tigerhawk on there or the block "I" (as beautifully depicted in the picture above by reader keosahawkeye) wouldn't cost the full price. So the question now is, how do we raise the money? I've seen some ideas for collecting pledges or selling t-shirts, but we're still waiting on something to take flight. If you have any good idea, let me know!

Bryan Bulaga #30 best player
Rivals.com has rated Iowa's left tackle Bryan Bulaga the number 30 on the countdown of the best players in nation. Rivals cites Bulaga's "road-grading run-blocking ability" as a reason for his inclusion on the list. Bulaga has gotten some other preseason love rated the #5 player in the Big Ten by Adam Rittenberg and preseason 1st Team All-Big Ten, 2nd Team All-American by Phil Steele.

Donahue on Ray Guy watch list
The Hawkeye's junior punter Ryan Donahue has been named as one of the 9 punter to make the Ray Guy watch list. The Ray Guy Award is given out annually to the best collegiate punter. Donahue had a decent average punt of 41.6 yards in 2008, but more impressively, he had 19 out of 50 punts downed inside the 20. He also had a punt of over 50 yards in 9 different games last year. One other Big Ten player made the list, Zoltan Mesko from Michigan.

There is a new gadget for your iGoogle page available: the Iowa Hawkeyes Football Roster. It is very similar to the roster gadget on the sidebar of this site with tabs for each position, except it looks a little bit nicer and is actually up to date (I'll update the one on this site eventually!). As with the Iowa Hawkeyes Football Schedule gadget
there is an "Add to iGoogle" link below the roster on the right.

Here is the link to add the roster to iGoogle: Iowa Hawkeyes Football Roster Gadget

In addition to the roster there are a couple other Fight For Iowa gadgets you should check out-

Schedule: Iowa Hawkeyes Football Schedule Gadget
KOK Bot: KOK Bot - Iowa Play Calling Gadget
Fight For Iowa: Fight For Iowa RSS Feed Gadget