Kirk Ferentz said recently that the Iowa Hawkeyes don't "reload" and explaining that Iowa is just "not one of those schools." That may be true. Iowa doesn't have the ability to recruit a slew of 5-star players every year. What the Hawkeyes do, though, is develop players who seemingly come out of nowhere to have great success. Whether it's a walk-on earning a scholarship and excelling in his senior year, or a 3-star redshirt freshman earning a starting spot over 5-star seniors...Iowa has breakout performances every season. Now, with spring practice right around the corner, there's no better time to start making prediction for the 2010 season. So here's my prediction for the breakout performers this year.

Spring is here (almost) after a long, long winter. In Des Moines, the high is 61 today! Around the Big Ten, Michigan and Wisconsin already started spring practice. The rest of the teams start within a week or so. Which means there is finally some football content worth writing about. Spring practice should at least bring some news of how players are progressing, new weights, possible position changes, injuries, etc... Plus, with the Kinnick FieldTurf installation completed, there will actually be a spring "game" this year, so we'll get a chance to look at the team.

I usually stick to football, because frankly basketball hasn't been at all worth my time since I started this blog. But today I feel compelled to post, because 1) a head coach has been fired, 2) I love filling out my bracket, and 3) the Iowa women have being playing really well and actually made the tournament.

I thought it would make sense to do a little research on the team that the Hawkeyes will be honoring with throwback jerseys against Ball State this year (by research I mean Google it, and it still took me all week to write this post). I didn't know a whole lot about the 1958 team because, well, it was before my time. What I did know: Rose Bowl Champs, National Champions (by the FWAA), 8-1-1... After doing a little research though, it's pretty clear that this was one of the best, if not the best, team in Iowa history and an obvious choice to honor.