Adam Cox to walk on

Last week, when it was reported that Gavin Smith is joining the Hawkeyes, I kind of breezed over a new name: Adam Cox. I had seen his name tied to the program in a couple of places, so I went ahead and included it in the list of current walk-ons. HawkeyeReport has since reported that Adam Cox is indeed walking on and will play fullback.

Cox was the fullback in a flexbone triple-option attack in high school. A fullback in a flexbone offense is not really the same as a fullback that Iowa typically uses. The flexbone fullback gets a lot of carries and is usually the best runner on the team. If you're familiar with Georgia Tech's offense from a few years ago when Iowa played them in the Orange Bowl, this was the "A back" position.

So Cox hasn't really had a ton of experience being a lead blocker, but can run the ball. As a senior he amassed 1782 yards and 34 touchdowns on 215 carries.

Iowa opened its doors to the media yesterday and let them interview some of the veteran players prior to the Hawkeyes' 5th spring practice. It was the first time that players were available post-Rhabdogate. Shaun Prater, one of the Rhabdo13, openly talked about his bout with rhabdo. The best news is that he has fully recovered, he's healthy, he's back practicing hard (the first four practices were just half-reps but Wednesday's was a full go), and has put the whole thing behind him.

He did provide some additional insight into the potential cause of the rhabdo outbreak. What it boils down to in Prater's mind is over-competitiveness after a 3-week break. The players were all trying to best eachothers' times and trying to set a record for the 100-squat workout (the previous record was 8 minutes). Prater personal goal was to beat that 8-minute mark. Here are some quotes on the possible root cause:

• "Honestly I think the 3-week layoff"
• "Possibly we all took it too far"
• "It's a drill where players are trying to be competitive and break that mark"

Secondary shakeup

Spring practice is always a time when the depth chart is malleable. The coaches are throwing in different bodies and seeing what sticks. The big shakeup right now is happening in the defensive backfield with Micah Hyde. Hyde was one of the starting corners last year, but is now being tried at free safety. Ferentz mentioned this as a possibility when he addressed the media to start spring practice.

The move makes sense. Both safety spots were wide open at the start of spring with Tyler Sash leaving early for the NFL and Brett Greenwood who graduated. Hyde is built a little bit more like a safety than at corner and is likely the position he will be looked at if he makes it to the NFL. His move also frees up a corner spot, where there is a little bit more depth at than safety. The man stepping up to take that spot right now is B.J. Lowery who played some last year as a true freshman. Greg Castillo may also be in the mix.

JUCO Gavin Smith to walk on

Iowa picked up its sixth known walk-on with CB Gavin Smith. Smith is originally from Iowa City and life-long Hawkeye fan. He has played for Iowa Central Community College the past two years. He finished his sophomore season (which is just 7 games) with 32 tackles and 4 INTs (1 returned for a TD). He wasn't really recruited by the Iowa coaches, who don't usually look too hard at JUCO guys, but Smith sent them his tape from college and they were impressed enough to offer him a spot as a walk-on.

The other walk-ons:

• S - Brandon Boerm
• FB - Adam Cox
• K - Marshall Koehn
• LB - Travis Perry
• FB - Mark Weisman

More 3-4?

I will play a base 4-3 this year, just like every other year under Ferentz and Parker. However, we may start seeing a little more 3-4 thrown in there largely to combat the ever expanding presence of ultra-quick slot receivers that scurry around the field in so many spread offenses.

Iowa has long used linebackers to cover receivers and it has, for the most part, worked. However, there have been plenty of occasions where it didn't work and those occasions were becoming more common last year. Iowa's linebackers really struggled in coverage against the more experienced quarterbacks running a spread offense. And never was it as apparent as against Missouri in the first half of the Insight Bowl.

Against the pass, expect Iowa to work in some 3-4 on passing downs, especially if that passer is Gabbert’s caliber. Iowa will continue to rush four or more (but mostly four) probably 90 percent of the time, so we’re not talking wholesale philosophy change, just a tweak that would put more speed on the field.