To kick off the start of Iowa's spring practice, Ferentz held a press conference Wednesday afternoon. The content was mostly the usual stuff--injuries, position breakdowns, etc.--with the exception of a few (and hopefully final) words on rhadbo and a couple of shots at the media.

Spring Injuries:

• Marvin McNutt - shoulder/hand surgery, out for spring
• Steve Bigach - shoulder surgery, out for spring
• Tanner Miller - shoulder surgery, out for spring
• Shane DiBona - shoulder surgery, out for spring
• Austin Vier - back injury, out indefinitely
• Brad Rogers - heart problem, out indefinitely
• Tyler Nielsen - broken vertebrae, practicing with no contact
• The Rhabdo13 - will be eased in over first 4 practices

Rhabdo investigation findings to be announced today

President Sally Mason will be presenting the findings of the investigation into the cause of the 13 rhabdomyolysis cases today at the Iowa Board of Regents meeting. The meeting starts at 8:30 and continues until 5:00. The findings are the last item on the BOR meeting's docket and is noted that it "will be given before the closed" of the meeting. So my guess would be that we won't hear about the finding until around the end of the work day (which I think is good news, because the KF presser will then be less likely to be overrun by rhabdo questions). If you are really dying to follow along with the BOR meeting, their site offers a link to stream the audio. The agenda does note that there will be a closed session in the afternoon, but I don't think the findings will be part of it. So you should be able to listen in as Mason presents.

It is convenient timing for Iowa to have the findings come out the same day as the start of spring practice and the Ferentz presser. I don't believe that this was done purposefully. The BOR meeting has been schedule for a long time, and this investigation was ordered by the Regents. So it makes a lot of sense that Mason is presenting the findings today. It is convenient though, because I would assume most of the Iowa sports media will be in Iowa City today covering Ferentz, not in Ames covering the BOR meeting. So whatever the findings may be, the story could get slightly covered up by the enthusiasm for the start of spring ball.

Iowa Pro Day

Iowa held its first of two Pro Days yesterday with representatives of all 32 NFL teams in attendance. The session was closed to the media (as is everything with Iowa), but there has been some information leaking out of individual performances and hawkeyesports.com has a bunch of photos.

NFL.com has some stats from some of the Hawkeyes notable players and says that Stanzi and Clayborn both improved their draft stock. Here are the listed stats:

• Adrian Clayborn: vertical jump - 35.5", broad jump - 9'6", short shuttle - 7.08, 225 bench - 17 reps.
• Ricky Stanzi: 40-yard dash - 4.93, vertical jump - 34", broad jump - 9'7", short shuttle - 4.56, 3-cone drill - 7.23, 225 bench - 16 reps.
• Christian Ballard: 40-yard dash - 4.70, vertical jump - 34", broad jump - 9'7", short shuttle - 4.56, 3-cone drill - 7.23, 225 bench - 16 reps.
• Karl Klug: 40-yard dash - 4.81, vertical jump - 29.5", broad jump - 9'5", short shuttle - 4.60, 3-cone drill - 7.01, 225 bench - 21 reps.
• Julian Vandervelde: 40-yard dash - 5.09, vertical jump - 30", broad jump - 9'0", short shuttle - 4.44, 3-cone drill - 7.14, 225 bench - 25 reps.
• Tyler Sash: 40-yard dash - 4.61, vertical jump - 33", broad jump - 9'4", 225 bench - 14 reps.

Iowa is gearing up to start spring practice on Wednesday. While the 3 weeks of practice is as locked down as any other Iowa Football practice, it does mean that we'll get the Spring Prospectus (hundreds of pages for your reading pleasure), a Ferentz presser, a bunch of pictures on hawkeyesports.com, probably some coverage of a practice from the BTN, and of course the spring "game." It also aligns with Iowa's 2 Pro Days which are today and April 4.

Brad Banks to start for Barnstormers

It was announced yesterday that former Iowa quarterback and Heisman runner-up, Brad Banks, will be the starting quarterback for the Iowa Barnstormers as they open up their 2011 season against Pittsburgh on Saturday. Banks has been playing football in Canada since he led Iowa to a Big Ten Title and a trip to the Orange Bowl. His return to Iowa should help generate some buzz for the Barnstormers. This first game is in Pittsburgh, but they return home to Des Moines for a game with Spokane on March 25. I've always wanted to go to a Barnstormers game and now with Banks starting I think I might have to go.

Tickets to Iowa-Nebraska will be hard to find

This isn't exactly news. Nebraska is known for its huge fan-base that not only sells out Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, but will buy thousands and thousands of tickets for games on the road too. Add on to that with the fact that this is a border rivalry, the first year of Nebraska in the Big Ten, and that this game has some extra cachet now that it has been moved to Black Friday. So, it isn't surprising that tickets to the game will be hard to find. Iowa's share of the tickets will likely go to the large donors (and family members of players and coaches) and the rest of us will have to turn to the secondary markets. With Lincoln relatively a short drive for many Iowa fans (just under 4 hours away for me), I'd still expect a lot of fans trying to get tickets or maybe just showing up to tailgate.