When I made my way into the stands at Kinnick and started watching the Hawkeyes practice, the first thing I noticed was Brad Roger's absence. Then Barkley Hill and Greg Garmon. Then B.J. Lowery. And as practice went on, I saw that more and more Hawkeyes were missing. Kids Day was Iowa's 11th practice in just 9 days, and the team looked it. They were beat up and not sharp. It was hard to get a good gauge for how the team will look when a sizable number of players on the depth chart were out with injuries.

My overall impression was that the defense was slightly ahead of the offense. Which makes sense with a brand new system on offense and just tweaks to the system on defense. The defense was definitely more aggressive than we've seen in the past and it looked capable. The offense looked pretty similar to the past with maybe a heavier emphasis on the passing game that features the tight ends.

Anyway, I laid out a few things that I was going to keep my eye on, and here's how they played out:

Running back

Well so much for that. With Garmon and Hill both out (and Brad Rogers), it was basically the Damon Bullock show. I thought he looked decent. He didn't break any long runs, but other than a time where Micah Hyde was blitzing, I think he always fell forward for a few yards. Where he provides the most value though, is his versatility. More than a couple times he split out wide as a receiver when Iowa went 5-wide. I really like this idea, especially if Iowa is going to up its offensive tempo a little bit. It allows them to stay with the same personnel, but show multiple looks. Bullock had a couple of catches, though I think those came on check downs after he released from the backfield.

Tomorrow is Kids at Kinnick Day and it'll be the first real opportunity to see the 2012 Iowa Hawkeyes in action. We got a little taste at the spring game, but that was without the incoming freshmen, and was still at a point where the players were adjusting to the new coordinators. Though Iowa is just one week into fall camp, they've been hammering away with two-a-days and the team we see tomorrow should be a closer representation of what we'll see come September 1 in Chicago.

Right now the weather forecast is looking pretty good for Iowa City tomorrow so I expect to see a lot of you there. I'll be there with my 4-year-old son, so what I'll be watching is probably a lot of him and a little football. But when I do have the opportunity to turn my attention to the field, there are a few things I'll be keeping my eye on.

Running back

Let's get the no brainers out of the way first. I think Damon Bullock is going to surprise some people this year and may hold on to that starter spot longer than people are expecting. But I do really want to see how the freshmen--Barkley Hill, Greg Garmon, and even Michael Malloy--are doing and what order they appear to be on the depth chart. The BTN was at practice on Wednesday morning and according to Dave Revsine, Garmon and Hill were splitting time with the twos.

The 2012 schedule of color coordinated home games has been revealed. I'm not sure how long this information has been out there, but the first I saw it was when Brendan Stiles tweeted it yesterday and I think it kind of got lost in all the other Iowa Media Day hoopla. So I figured it deserved its own post.

Be Bold, Wear Gold

Black & Gold Spirit Day

Blackout

Football is really here. It's been four months since spring football, but finally the Hawkeyes have started fall camp. And now there are real football things to talk abou, with even more to come out today at Iowa's Media Day.

The football program has done a great job engaging fans (and recruits, who are really probably the target of all this stuff) with lots of videos and pictures making there way to hawkeyesports.com and Twitter. It's nice to get a look in to practices that have in the past been hidden behind a locked door.

So over the past three days I've been rounding up all the best Tweets, pics, and vids on the Hawkeyes via Storify.

Kirk Ferentz isn't messing around. Just days ago he suspended De'Andre Johnson indefinitely after Johnson had two run-ins with the law over the course of three days. The second offense, was mind boggling dumb; He was going 60 in a 25, in University Heights of all places, and then tried to hide from the police once spotted.

That alone probably wouldn't have resulted in a dismissal, but added to the disorderly house from last week, and Ferentz had seen enough. So today it was announced that Johnson has been dismissed from the program.