Let's recap this nutty Tuesday

Jewel Hampton's Facebook angst this morning played out about how you probably thought -- ACL surgery, out for the year, redshirting.

I asked coach Kirk Ferentz if everyone involved was hoping this wouldn't be the outcome, considering the amount of time that passed from when the injury originally ocurred (late June) to full-go practice for nearly a week of camp to a tweak and now to Tuesday's announcment.

"When he got injured (the first time), the prognosis was like for anybody. Anybody has a chance to be re-injured. Everybody felt like he had a legitimate chance to make it back; not a 100 percent chance, but a legitimate chance. Otherwise, we wouldn't have gone that route. They would have done surgery right away.

"Ultimately, it was Jewel's decision. He decided to give it a shot and he was doing very well up until the episode right prior to the first scrimmage. Again, the interesting part about it is that what he did was not dramatic at that point either. It just went on him. That's how knees are. We thought we were ramping right back up. He actually did some work this weekend. But that's the way it goes. If there was any good news, it wasn't the fifth game. That's the only positive spin I can put on it."

Hampton didn't go through a practice this weekend, but did running and cutting drills with assistant coaches. The knee must not have responded well.

Let's go over the running back-by-committee approach that's now in full effect in Iowa City:

Paki O'Meara, jr., 5-11, 211

Yeah, he's a former walk-on. I know that's a deal-breaker for a few folks out there, but, no, that doesn't mean he's Sam Brownlee. On the other hand, he has 21 career carries, so scholarship or walk-on, he's inexperienced.

What do we know? O'Meara's moment last season was catching a pass on a third down at Pittsburgh and stumbling short of what looked to be a first down. It was the first time he was asked to do something significant on offense during a pressurized situation. It wasn't the only time he was on the field, though. He played on every special teams except field goal, which is probably about 20 snaps a game. We don't know much, including what he'll be asked to do and what reasonable expectations are.

"I don't think there's anything to worry about," he said. "I'm confident in my own abilities and, hopefully, the first game, the second game will hopefully just kind of prove that."

Adam Robinson, fr., 5-9, 205

Early in spring drills, there was a picture of Robinson wearing a white jersey at practice, meaning he was on defense, on the official site. He was switched from running back to safety. It didn't last long. By the end of spring, he was back to running back.

"He's a tough young guy, too. He's not the biggest guy. He's not a 220-pound guy. But he'll fight you. He'll block you," Ferentz said. "He'll play hard, but he's young right now. We kind of like the way he's performed and carried himself. He could be a real good special teams guy, too."

Going over Robinson's numbers from Des Moines Lincoln you see nice career and, yeah, maybe why he was a late scholarship offer for Iowa. He rushed for 1,064 yards and 13 TDs as a senior, nice but not earth-shattering. Then, you look at his junior numbers -- 1,192 yards on 97 carries. That's nearly 12.3 yards a carry and impressive on any level of football.

"A lot of people are worried about my size and all that," he said. "Yeah, I'm a smaller back, but I bring a lot of heart to the table. I have a never-give-up attitude. I'm real elusive and real quick."

Brandon Wegher, fr., 5-11, 206

This is the wildcard. Ferentz would only go as far to say that we'll probably see Wegher, a true freshman, at some point this season.

"He's really handled things pretty well," Ferentz said. "He had a little setback injury wise where he missed a period of time. But it wasn't overly lengthy. Whatever we've fed him, he's handled it pretty well. Some guys just handle that adjustment a little better than others. And again, it's a little bit easier when you're away from the ball. It's tougher if you're an interior guy. But he's done a nice job."

Jeff Brinson, fr., 5-11, 215

Brinson suffered a sprained foot sometime after the Aug. 15 open scrimmage. He didn't return until late last week. He's behind now, Ferentz said.

"Yeah, he's doing better. He's been on the field this past week. So, he's back on the field," Ferentz said. ". . . He's missed the most time (out of the running backs). That's put him behind a little bit."

How much action he'll see this weekend is not certain.

These are your four running backs for 2009. Who gets the ball and how much is up in the air.

It was one look, but I thought Paki looked like a much more confident athlete overall during the kids day scrimmage. Maybe a little mechanical in his movements, but he was aggressive and showed good vision with a 39-or-so-yard run. Robinson carried the most and seemed to be up to putting the work in. Brinson didn't look as good as he did during the spring open scrimmage. I still haven't seen Wegher.

Is someone capable of seizing this thing? My guess on that would be either Robinson or Brinson, but that's just a guess. Going the route of Sam Brownlee Syndrome, if someone blocks well and takes care of the ball, that might be enough for coaches.

NUMBERS GAME -- When Wegher officially un-redshirts, the Hawkeyes will have four sophomore running backs in 2010 -- Hampton, Brinson, Wegher and Robinson.

The math seemed to catch Ferentz by surprise.

"We'll have to trade one, I guess, maybe," he laughed. "Can we do that? Are we allowed to do that? We could (change positions), too. I don't think they'd go for that. Maybe we'll trade them for, what are we losing?"

Has nothing to do with what's in front of Iowa for 2009, but it will certainly affect recruiting. It might kink things next season.

VANDERVELDE UPDATE -- The junior guard is out for UNI and longer. He had surgery on an injured biceps earlier this summer. He's recovering, but it's taking time. He's Iowa's lone returning starter on the inside of the O-line. This weekend, Iowa will have four new starters on the O-line -- at least they're new when compared to last season's starters -- center Rafael Eubanks, guards Adam Gettis and Dan Doering and tackle Dace Richardson. (Yes, Eubanks, Doering and Richardson have had starts, but not for a while.) 

"(Vandervelde) may be able to play a little bit a week from now, but I can't see him -- we're not counting on him next week or even the week after," Ferentz said. "I think realistically if he's full speed by Big Ten play, excellent. It could happen sooner, but he's missed 20, 25 practices, 24 practices, so that's a huge part of the preseason. There's a reason you go to camp for as long as you do."

Tackle Kyle Calloway limped through camp with an IT band strain. He won't play this week (OWI suspension) and here's what Ferentz said about his health:

"He's coming around. He worked last week and looked good. But again, he's missed some time, too, so he's got some catching up to do and just keep working hard."

LEFT CORNER -- Ferentz said it'll come down to a game-day decision or in practice this week. The contestants are sophomore Willie Lowe and freshman Greg Castillo and Micah Hyde, a true freshman who'll play this season.

"We'll watch them practice this week," he said. "We've got three big days here right now, so that position, our returners, we haven't made up our mind there. So there's some things this week that we'll just keep looking at and see how the guys do."

The man who would be left corner, Shaun Prater, will serve a two-game suspension because of an OWI arrest in February.

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