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This week has provided Iowa football fans with an example of the work that goes into putting the pieces of the puzzle together that will become the Hawkeyes’ 2012 football recruiting class.
The three verbal commitments Iowa received Sunday and Monday are example of the extremes that Hawkeye coaches go to as they search for talent to fill the needs of a Big Ten program.
Alex Kozan is an offensive lineman who has attracted the attention of programs from coast to coast and received offers from most, dozens from FBS programs alone.
The Colorado native whittled down his list to a final three, Iowa, Michigan and Auburn before selecting the Hawkeyes.
He’s a product of a program in suburban Denver which will have a number of players signing with Division I programs tomorrow.
His commitment came shortly after Iowa received a verbal commitment from Nate Meier, an eight-player standout who calls tiny Tabor, Iowa, population 994, home.
Meier rushed for 500 yards in a game last season, but the only schools rushing to offer him a scholarship initially were Northern Iowa and South Dakota.
A versatile athlete who is expected to get a look at several positions once he arrives at Iowa, he is a prime example of the type of late bloomer that the Hawkeyes have had success in developing over the years.
While Kozan’s signing will be a crowded affair, Meier is the first player from Freemont-Mills High School in southwest Iowa to sign with a Division I program in any sport since 1969.
A pro-style quarterback who didn’t believe he would fit with the new spread offense that Mississippi plans to run under a new head coach was the third addition to Iowa’s class over the weekend.
He made a quick visit over the weekend after contacting Iowa and decided to switch a commitment he had made last May.
C.J. Beathard, like Meier and Kozan, believes he has found the right fit.
They come from different backgrounds, have experienced their own recruiting stories, yet each believes they can fit into a Hawkeye program built on developing players into teams that have been bowl eligibile in each of the last 11 seasons.
The dogged determination of leaving no stone unturned on the recruiting trail that those three athletes illustrate is among the reasons that has become a perennial bowl contender.

No matter what, Iowa will not be returning to the Insight Bowl.
The Hawkeyes may one day go back to the bowl game they have played in the past two seasons in Tempe, Ariz., but they won’t be playing in the Insight Bowl after Insight Enterprises announced Friday that it will no longer be the title sponsor for the game between Big Ten and Big 12 teams.
Fiesta Bowl chairman Duane Woods, whose bowl operates the bowl which has been sponsored by Insight Enterprises for the past 14 years, told the Phoenix Business Journal that the bowl believes it has plenty to offer a new title sponsor.
Iowa fans helped the bowl attract record crowds in each of the past two years and the bowl’s contract with the Big Ten runs through the 2013 season.
Insight is a technology company based in Tempe.
The company’s president and CEO, Ken Lamneck, did not indicate why it had chosen to drop its sponsorship, saying in a statement only that it wished organizers “continued success with the game” and that “we believe that the next sponsor will enjoy the fruits” of the Fiesta Bowl organization’s efforts to build the Insight Bowl.

If you are thinking about using the number of people who have been associated with the Iowa football program as the way to pick your Super Bowl winner, you haven’t found a solution.
The player rosters and coaching staffs of this year’s Super Bowl qualifiers, the New England Patriots and New York Giants, each contain one player and one coach with Hawkeye ties.
For New England, former Hawkeye Jeff Tarpinian is on the Patriots’ injured reserve roster and former Hawkeye Brian Ferentz is coaching the tight ends.
For New York, Tyler Sash is seeing time in the defensive backfield and former Hawkeye assistant Pat Flaherty is the offensive line coach. Flaherty was Iowa’s offensive line coach in 1999, Kirk Ferentz’ first season as the Hawkeyes’ head coach.
There will be 22 former Big Ten players in Indianapolis for the Feb. 5 game, representing 10 of the league’s current 12 institutions.
Michigan has the second-most players on Super Bowl rosters this year with four, while Michigan State, Penn State and Purdue have three apiece. Iowa joins Illinois and Ohio State with two former players on Super Bowl rosters, while Indiana, Nebraska and Wisconsin have one apiece.
Here’s a breakdown:
New England: LB Jeff Tarpinian, Iowa; QB Tom Brady, Michigan; P Zoltan Mesko, Michigan; QB Bryan Hoyer, Michigan State; OG Rich Ohrnberger, Penn State; OT Matt Light, Purdue; LB Niko Koutouvides, Purdue and LB Rob Ninkovich, Purdue.
New York: OT David Diehl, Illinois; P Steve Weatherford, Illinois; OT James Brewer, Indiana; S Tyler Sash, Iowa; C David Bass, Michigan; WR Mario Manningham, Michigan; LB Greg Jones, Michigan State; WR Devin Thomas, Michigan State; DB Prince Amukamara, Nebraska; TE Jake Ballard, Ohio State; C Jim Cordle, Ohio State; DT Jimmy Kennedy, Penn State; OT Kareem McKenzie, Penn State; TE Travis Beckum, Wisconsin

A guy has to feel comfortable in his own skin.
That’s one reason it is hard to fault A.J. Derby for making the decision he made when he asked for and was granted a release from his scholarship from the Iowa football program.
It’s obvious that Derby first and foremost wants to be a quarterback, something that wasn’t going to happen as long as he continued to wear an Iowa uniform.
He did earn a role as a back-up at the onset of the 2011 season, but the reality was that Derby would have never beaten out James Vandenberg for the starting position and with talented freshman Jake Rudock prospect redshirting last fall, it is reasonable to assume that the opportunity to take controls of the Iowa offense probably wasn’t going to be there once Vandenberg’s career is completed after next season.
Coming off of a suspension, Derby did accept the chance to make a move to the defensive side of the ball in mid-October.
He worked out at linebacker the rest of the season but despite the number of injuries Iowa dealt with there, it seems unlikely that the athletic Iowa City High product would have ever been comfortable there or at any other spot on the defensive side of the ball.
Derby’s statement issued Monday seems to indicate that he believes his best potential lies elsewhere on the field, most likely in a return to the quarterback position he filled as a high school player and was recruited at by Iowa.
He’ll have to go elsewhere to make that happen, but it’s tough to blame a guy who simply wants to play a game he loves from a position that leaves him in his comfort zone.

Iowa football recruit Drew Ott is among high school players named to the Parade Magazine all-American team that you can read about in Sunday’s Quad-City Times.
The versatile 6-foot-4, 245-pound Ott was named to the team as a lineman and committed to the Hawkeyes last summer as a defensive end.
He plays eight-man football at Giltner High School in south-central Nebraska and he lined up at a multitude of positions this season for the Hornets, who finished 10-1 and reached the Class D2 state quarterfinals.
On offense, Ott played tight end, fullback and quarterback and enjoyed success at each.
He recorded 52 receptions for 960 yards and 18 touchdowns, rushed for 62 yards and scored twice on 13 carries and completed 7-of-8 passes for 99 yards and one score.
He was equally effective on defense, where he saw playing time as an end and linebacker.
Ott recorded 122 tackles, forced four fumbles and intercepted four passes on a defense which allowed an average of 165 yards per game.
Other than creating that type of havoc on the football field, Ott finds time to maintain a 3.98 GPA in the classroom and is a standout on the basketball and track teams at Giltner.
Ott is among 18 players who are currently committed to the Hawkeye program, the bulk of which will sign binding letters of intent on Feb. 1.

When the Iowa football team trots onto the turf at Chicago’s Soldier Field next September to open its 2012 schedule against Northern Illinois, the Hawkeyes will open the year with a new opening-day body at running back for the fourth straight season.
Marcus Coker’s departure from the program on Tuesday guarantees that.
It is likely the dirty little details of Coker’s suspension for violation of university policy and the school’s student-athlete code of conduct and his subsequent decision to not seek reinstatement will remain shrouded in the secrecy of privacy laws and regulations.
Coker isn’t talking. University officials certainly are not talking. And the next time Kirk Ferentz steps behind a microphone at a news conference, don’t expect any earth-shattering developments.
While it is known that Coker was investigated for an alleged assault, no charges were filed in part because the unidentified victim in this instance did not want them pursued.
That does not preclude the university from handing out its own discipline, which apparently resulted in Coker’s suspension from the Insight Bowl.
University officials will not say the investigation and suspension are related, saying only that Coker violated university policies and thus, also violated the student-athlete code of conduct.
Now released from his scholarship and free to search for a place to complete his collegiate career, Coker does claim on his Facebook page that he had been punished for something he did not do.
Ferentz chose in this instance, as he did when Mika’il McCall left the program a week earlier, not to comment on the early exits.
No thanks for your contributions, best wishes for the future.
The silence speaks volumes.
In today’s world, that silence is heard by recruits, some of whom turned to social media to question what is taking place within the Hawkeye program.
Verbal commits Jaleel Johnson and Maurice Fleming are among those who told the world through Facebook and Twitter that they question what is taking place and wonder why another gifted running back has taken his game and left Iowa City.
With the start of the NCAA’s signing period for football three weeks from today, they’re looking for some answers.
Maybe they’ll get them even if the program’s fans are being left in the dark.

Several former Hawkeyes are on the move as January nears its midpoint.

Chad Greenway was named today to first-ever Pro Bowl assignment. A Hawkeye from 2002-05, Greenway completed his most productive season for the Minnesota Vikings earlier this month, recording a career-high 174 tackles.
“Even though we didn’t have the kind of season we wanted to as far as winning games, we have guys who are proud and want to get back to the top,” Greenway said in a statement on the Vikings’ website announcing his selection.
“I’m honored to be thought of as a Pro Bowler and will make the most of the opportunity.”
Greenway, who recorded a career-high 22 tackles in a game against Oakland this season, replaces injured Chicago Bear Lance Briggs on the Pro Bowl roster.
Greenway has been getting things done off the field as well. The Vikings recognized him as their “Community Man of the Year” in 2011 for his charitable work in the Twin Cities.

As suspected, Mike Stoops wasn’t just hanging around on the sidelines with his brother at the Insight Bowl.
The former Hawkeye and ex-Arizona head coach will rejoin brother Bob Stoops’ staff at Oklahoma for the 2012 season. He’ll work as co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach for the Sooners.

Two former Hawkeyes have been involved in a shake up of the staff at Notre Dame.
Bob Diaco was promoted to assistant head coach after working the past two years as the defensive coordinator and linebacker coach.
Diaco retains those responsibilities after coaching a unit which has allowed fewer than 21 points in each of the last two seasons — a first for Notre Dame in the past decade.
Former Hawkeye Kerry Cooks now has added responsibilities there as well. Cooks is now the co-defensive coordinator at Notre Dame, where worked as the outside linebackers coach in 2010 and cornerbacks coach in 2011.

Nobody should be surprised that Riley Reiff opted to take the money and run. The Iowa offensive lineman’s early exit for the NFL is the result of the work and effort he has put into his game since arriving at Iowa and as coach Kirk Ferentz alluded to last week, while he knows his 2012 team would be better with Reiff as part of its offensive line, he also realizes that Reiff had to do what was best for him.
The lifespan of linemen in the NFL is a short one and already 23 years old, Reiff made a wise decision to take his game to the next level where new challenges await.
A soft-spoken player in front of the media, Reiff learned well from watching Bryan Bulaga work and embracing the suggestions he made when Reiff was still cutting his teeth on the college game.
Now, Ferentz can only hope that Reiff has passed that along as well to younger players in the Hawkeye program.
Redshirt freshmen Andrew Donnal and Brandon Scherff and sophomore Brett Von Sloten have seen some time this season and freshman Jordan Walsh redshirted this year, but appears to have a promising future.
Left tackle isn’t the only area of change that the Hawkeyes are dealing with.
Mika’il McCall says he is going through with his plans to transfer. We’ll never know what type of career McCall would have had in an Iowa uniform. He had a promising start, gaining 61 yards on nine carries against Tennessee Tech after performing well in preseason practices.
McCall worked hard to return to the field after breaking an ankle in that season-opening game, but a fumble two carries into his return at Purdue and his suspension for violating team rules two days later brought his rookie season to an abrupt end.
The fumble wasn’t the only rookie mistake made by McCall, whose disgruntled rants on Facebook – where he complained about his lack of playing time and raised an eyebrow or two.
He later announced briefly that he was leaving the program, only to remove the post within a matter of hourse after being bombarded with messages from angry fans.
McCall reaffirmed what he posted Tuesday night, that he doesn’t plan to return to Iowa.
While he showed promise with his skill on the field, his off-field behavior seemed to hint that he was headed toward an oil-and-water existence with Iowa coaches and for a freshman, that has never been a good thing.
Iowa did land a highly-rated running back in Greg Garmon on Tuesday. The two-time all-state back is from Erie, Pa., a place that has sent Bob Sanders, Ed Hinkel and Jovon Johnson to the Iowa program in the past.
They’ve all brought a toughness to the program and played the game with an attitude which allowed them to succeed.
Garmon’s credentials are good. We’ll all learn together over time if that translates to success on the field.