Summer of Scherff keeps getting stronger

CHICAGO — Kirk Ferentz described it as his 'Oh, crap!' moment.

'It was our second bye week (last season) and everybody was off on Saturday,' the Iowa football coach said. 'I'm driving to get some coffee and that 'Dari & Mel Show' on ESPN (Radio), I've got it on.'

'Mel' is Mel Kiper Jr., ESPN's longtime NFL Draft expert.

' 'OK, Mel, give us your three top underclassmen nobody's talking about.' The first thing out of his mouth is 'There's an offensive lineman, Brandon Scherff ...' I almost drove off the road.

'Son of a gun,' Ferentz said he thought to himself. 'He's gone. He's out. O-U-T.'

The coach was able to tell that story here Tuesday with a laugh because Scherff was sitting at a hotel ballroom table not far from Ferentz at the time, still a Hawkeye. Unlike Bryan Bulaga and Riley Reiff who came before him as Iowa offensive tackles, Scherff chose to forgo a probable spot in the NFL Draft's first round and return for his senior season.

Suddenly, it seems, this is Summer of Scherff. To little surprise, the first-team All-Big Ten player has popped up on all sorts of preseason all-Big Ten and All-America lists. This month, Gil Brandt of NFL Media tweeted:

Iowa OT Brandon Scherff could be No. 1 pick in 2015 draft. Was a 280-lb QB in HS. Now 6-4 5/8, 320. Strong like Suh. July 14, 2014

Iowa OT Brandon Scherff could be No. 1 pick in 2015 draft. Was a 280-lb QB in HS. Now 6-4 5/8, 320. Strong like Suh. pic.twitter.com/c3FlyGTpXu

— Gil Brandt (@Gil_Brandt)

Then came the topper. Hawkeyes strength coach Chris Doyle posted a tweet of his own accompanied by a video of Scherff completing three hang clean reps at 443 pounds. Never mind the weightlifting jargon. Know that as feats of strength go, that ranks somewhere alongside Superman, Thor and Hercules.

To say the video went viral is to understate things. National media including ESPN's 'College Football Live' picked up on it, and fellow Big Ten stars here for the league's media days were keenly aware of it.

For all the promotional material athletic programs put out, 33 seconds of Scherff lifting weight gave him more of a national lift. It was no talking from him, just doing. Which was fitting.

'Exactly,' said Iowa senior defensive tackle Carl Davis. 'That's the type of guy he is. He just comes in and goes at it every day.

'Any weight Coach Doyle puts in front of him, he just attacks it. I think they should make a squat video of him, honestly. Because he can squat a house.'

You ask Scherff about the attention from the video, the preseason honors, the people calling him a high NFL draftee-in-waiting, being front and center on the cover of Iowa's football media guide. The answers are all basically the same.

'I'm just a big old guy,' he said. 'Just trying to get better each day and try to improve myself and my teammates.

'All that talk, you've just got to toss it behind you. We haven't done anything this year. I haven't done anything this year.'

He isn't and never has been totally comfortable in interview situations. He does fine in those settings, but freely admits he'd rather be hunting or fishing than talking about himself. Which may make him the perfect player to be meat-and-potatoes Iowa's focal point.

If your team's top star is more interesting in mowing over defenders than mugging for cameras, how can anyone else on the club display a speck of prima donna?

'We've had five national award-winners in the last 12 years,' Ferentz said, 'and every one of those guys were exactly what you would want in terms of what they did in practice, workouts, meetings, and for the most part, academics.

'When your best players are the best guys, there's so much value in that. Brandon is every bit of that. Everything he does is full-speed, full-effort. He's extremely humble. Just a very hardworking guy, a very prideful guy.'

One Big Ten coach — not Ferentz — voted for Scherff last season as the league's Offensive Player of the Year. The award went to Ohio State quarterback Brandon Miller for the second-straight year.

Ferentz wouldn't identify the coach, but said 'This is a guy I've got a lot of respect for as a football coach. He knows football.'

Davis, who could get a lot of favorable off-field attention himself this fall, says he fully understands why Scherff has gotten the notice he has.

'He's the face of Iowa football right now,' Davis said. 'That's how it should be.'

To contact Mike Hlas: (319) 368-8840; mike.hlas@sourcemedia.net