5 questions for UNI football in 2015

CEDAR FALLS — Just three more Saturdays, and college football returns full-tilt.

As teams across the country roll through fall camp, they search for what strengths to build on and what weaknesses to correct. For the Northern Iowa football team, wholesale changes have happened on the offensive side of the ball — in scheme, personnel and staff.

Just one position coach — Bill Salmon — returns from last year's 9-5 FCS playoff team. Gone is perhaps the best running back to have ever played for the Panthers, David Johnson. Gone, too, are Kevin Vereen, Chad Owens and Jack Rummells, among others. And in is a fast-paced, quick-read offense put in place by new offensive coordinator Joe Davis.

Defensively, it'll be more of the same in terms of scheme, but big names are gone there as well. Jake Farley and Xavier Williams were not only statistical leaders, but locker room leaders.

So what is to be expected out of the 2015 Panthers? And how do they move forward without No. 7?

Here are five questions headed into this season at the UNI-Dome:

1. How will the new offense perform? For 14 years, those who paid attention to UNI saw essentially the same offense — with maybe a few tweaks along the way. Mario Verduzco and Bill Salmon had developed a system and stuck to it. But Verduzco is now at Missouri State, and Salmon is focusing on running backs. With Joe Davis joining the staff, the Panthers will have a very different look on offense.

Not having David Johnson in the backfield is one reason — and that's a blessing as much as it is a detriment. No, they won't have all-but-guaranteed production, but they can spread it around and get creative.

Davis expects the Panthers to be multidimensional on offense. Rutgers transfer Savon Huggins and senior Darrian Miller provide a similar combination as last season. Daurice Fountain and Charles Brown will lead a receivers group full of former running backs. And there are four quarterbacks who have shown themselves to be capable (we'll get back to that).

With a lot of uncertainty as to who will step into the leadership role and where the bulk of the production will come, how Davis' system works is chief among things to watch this season.

2. What's the defense's identity? Very close behind watching how the offense performs is what to make of the defense. Losing the heart of the defensive line and linebacker corps is going to be hard to replace.

Last season, the Panthers held opponents to 94 yards per game rushing and 182.9 yards per game passing over its 14 games, including season lows of 37 yards rushing in a 27-13 road win at Western Illinois and 25 yards passing in a 50-7 home win against Tennessee Tech. They also forced, on average, 1.3 turnovers per game, including a stretch of at least two per game in the middle four games of the season.

All that to say UNI was a stalwart defense that ranked in the top 10 in the country for most of the year, and lost its key contributors — one of which who is on an NFL roster in Xavier Williams. The Panthers do have Ronelle McNeil, Isaac Ales and Brett McMakin returning, as well as Jared Farley stepping into a likely starting role. And Deiondre Hall still is out on the edge doing his thing.

But the interior defensive line and linebackers will have many new faces, including Barkley Hill — a former running back. How those two groups perform will reveal the kind of identity this year's squad will have.

3. How is UNI's depth? In the spring, it was well-documented how the Panthers were overrun with running backs and shifted several of them to new positions.

Barkley Hill (RB to LB), Marcus Weymiller (RB to WR), Duncan Ferch (RB to LB) and Rashadeem Gray (RB to WR) are just the highlights of players who were shifted to new positions because both the linebacker and wide receiver positions were severely lacking depth. While those four and others have picked up their new positions and performed will in the spring, they still enter this season raw to game action.

And should any of them go down to injury, the line of players to perform at a high level is not long. Additionally, offensive and defensive line face a similar problem. On offense, 11 of the 16 offensive linemen on the roster are underclassmen. On defense, nine of the 15 linemen are underclassmen. It's not as if underclassmen are incapable, but experience is invaluable at this level.

UNI cannot afford a rash of injuries at those positions, or the meat of what makes the Panthers the Panthers can't be relied upon.

4. Can the running backs be productive? That gaping hole of productivity left by David Johnson is exactly 1,553 yards rushing, 536 yards receiving, 438 kick return yards and 20 total touchdowns wide.

But believe it or not, offensive coordinator Joe Davis and running backs coach Bill Salmon aren't overly concerned with meeting or even exceeding those numbers. Granted, it'll take a pair of backs to do it, but it can be done.

Savon Huggins is in from Rutgers and has the Big East/Big Ten pedigree Mark Farley doesn't often get into purple and gold. Darrian Miller is a senior and was the primary backup to Johnson last season. He averaged 3.6 yards per carry and five total touchdowns (three rushing, two receiving). How those two coexist and share carries and catches will determine whether or not they can be the productive backs Farley and his staff have relied on in the past.

5. Who wins the quarterback competition? 'Quarterback battle' has become as cliché as 'one game at a time' in terms of preseason storylines in football. But cliché or not, UNI has a good one brewing this season.

It's been well-covered, but among Dalton Demos, Aaron Bailey, Sawyer Kollmorgen and Eli Dunne, one will rise above the others to lead the Panthers on offense. Dunne will likely have to wait his turn, but how he performed in the spring game suggests a bright future. Demos, Bailey and Kollmorgen each have proved reasons they are capable of playing at a high level.

The staff wanted to find its guy quickly. How quickly is as important as who, given the new offensive system and need to get reps with the starter before the Sept. 5 opener at Iowa State. Whoever rises to the top, the Panthers will likely be in good shape.

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com