Voice of the Hawkeyes Board

I would guess we will lose Trent Mossbrucker, Johnny Mullings, and a prob Wienke or one of the LB's in our log jam of young LB's.

or Our Top 3 running backs

Rumors of DeAndre Johnson leaving but I hope they are false. I think this kid will prove his self worth eventually. Rumors of Mulllings but I doubt it. I could throw out a name like Nolan maybe getting tried of dealing with that sports hernia and leaving but if I were the coach....

As a coach I'd tell Jack Swanson, Colin Sleeper, Trent Moss, John Gimm, John Weinke that three of you are going to be cut. And it will be judged on prefromance/need based. So whomever works out hard and practices hard and helps make the team better will be retained.

****Also I do not feel bad about having a "try out" for a 5th year on the scholarship. As a coach I'd promise 4 years of free education. These kids all had 4 years plus summer classes to easily get a 4 year degree on a full ride scholarship. The 5th/6th year is a privilege. Sure Mullings didn't pan out but the kid is from Australia and I don't think it's right to cut him unless he's not holding up to his end of the bargain which is show up, shut up, 100% effort and maintain grades while staying out of trouble. Mullings is on the coaches, I say you have to eat that sholarship for two more years. PS please don't argue me on this one. It's not that hard to take 14 classes a semester for 4 years and 4 years worth of summer classes to graduate with a 4year degree on time.

This is my feeling as well. Certain players will prove during spring ball that they should - or should not - be on the roster in 2012, so we should have a much better idea after that.

I highly doubt DeAndre Johnson is leaving, I literally could ask him since we have class together, but that would be weird.

Jack Swanson and Collin Sleeper are both veteran ST players and to have them another year is still beneficial to the team.

Trent Mossbrucker is our only proven backup Kicker and don't come back and say Marshall Koehn is ready to be the backup because until I see him actually make a kick for the Hawkeye's, he has nothing on Mossbrucker.

Gimm is likely our #2 FB, with Brad Rogers having a history of health problems and with Nate Meier yet to step on campus, I think keeping Gimm is another year is again perfectly reasonable, plus I assume he's probably a starter on ST somewhere by now.

Forgot Wienke...Wienke is our top backup QB (until the coaches say otherwise) and also apparently our top backup Punter over Jonny Mullings. For both reasons he is still a valuable backup to keep on the team.

As far as Mullings goes, the coaches to my knowledge has never received a scholarship. He signed with Iowa with a Grayshirt offer and considering scholarships previously have needed to be renewed yearly by Ferentz, I don't think a Grayshirt actually comes with a "guaranteed" scholarship the year after. He still gets a chance for me considering after this season Wienke will be gone and we won't be signing another Punter this class, so if I'm Ferentz I keep Mullings simply because we will probably have another year or two until we get another worthy backup, after which he's gone after his 4th year. If we had another backup for Punter and/or an upper-classmen to start over Kornbrath than I would cut Mullings now and maybe give a good word for him to join the men's soccer team if he's interested.

Der I think your wrong on all accounts, funny isn't it? Cause you think I'm wrong on all accounts.

Weinke is bad bro. There was no question who the back up was last year and that's why I think the coaches went JUCO on us. Rudock is better than Weinke and Derby was better than Weinke. Weinke is nothing but signal caller. I think everyone had the feeling if JVB went down early in the season we were going to pull Rudocks RS hence he made the travel list to every game. If I could rank Weinke on the next video game he'd be a 59 overall and that's me being nice. I'm not worried about a backup punter and most NFL teams have one kicker and one punter on there travel squad and they aren't bringing 85 players so I think we can make do as well.

Mullings is on a schollie. You promised him 4 years and KF doesn't cut players SEC style. Soccer scholarship? Kid played Rugby & I'm go to take it that was a serious joke. You don't cut a kid after 2 years because you did a bad scouting review on a kid that traveled all the way from Australia

Gimm isn't penciled in as our number 2. If anything he's a slash with Reisen. But I truly do expect Mark Weismann (air force transfer) to take the second string spot. Also I wouldn't bank on Nate Meier playing offense. I think he'll be Dline but am hoping he'll be MLBer. I don't think the coaches use a scholarship on a FB ATH when they have Weismann and plenty of other options of failures at OLB or TE positions.

Back up Kicker? Back up Punter? No thank you and most people would look at the amount of special teams scholarships we have tied up and laugh especially considering the product results. We landed a freshman P/K and with the new rule changes on kick off we will be fine. Not even Virgina Tech (Special Teams U) has as many kids on schollie for SPTs.

I never said DeAndre was leaving its just a rumor I heard. Im a big fan so if you do wanna ask him go ahead. I know a couple of his buddies that played at Pace with him and they all raved about a stud he was. But I don't think he'll leave considering the RB situation but rumors are dif out there.

Fat is going to have to be cut one way or another and the easiet fat I can see is 5th year kids. Swanson especially. That's what RS FS are for. They can get their feet wet now in SPT's. So the real question is Der what 3 guys do you cut?

heard wienke is trying to punt

Coaches went juco to get another starter once Vandy is gone after this season. So it could be said that maybe Rudock isnt where everyone thought he would be.

Weinke probably won't play again in his career as both Sokol and Rudock are probably ahead of him. He would still be a valuable member to keep around at least to help the younger QB's and possibly be the backup Punter.

How you know for a FACT that Mullings is on scholarship, I don't know or really care for that matter and quite honestly I don't think it's true as it doesn't seem like he even has a slim chance of playing ever. The coaches never actually promised him 4 years either and even if they did, it was still a Grayshirt so it's really only 3 years and it was something he had to earn. If we have an extra scholarship to give out for a semester or 2 than give it to him for all I care until it can be used on another player. I actually checked out Mullings' profile on Hawkeye Sports and he didn't come here straight from Australia, he moved to Ottumwa and played at Ottumwa high school for 2 years. I believe you readily admit football is a business, to be a good businessman you keep personal feelings and beliefs out of your decision making, which you obviously aren't doing. I would take him off scholarship IF he's actually on one in the first place.

I believe, and anyone can correct me if I'm wrong but Gimm is the only FB we used last year besides Rogers. If he isn't our #2 coming into spring I would be totally surprised. What happens with Mark Weismann and Nate Meier are yet to be seen, however I FULLY expect Meier to stay on offense, possibly be a goaline RB for a year or two and FB for the next 2-3 years.

This deserves it's own paragraph, WHO do we have that are considered "failures" at OLB or TE?????????? That literally makes zero sense considering almost, if not all of our LB depth has actually played at LB already in their careers and the same thing for TE. It is absurd to say we have had any surefire "failures" at either position.

Literally no one "laughs" at us for having a backup Kicker or Punter, it's perfectly reasonable (in my opinion) to give 3.5% (or 3 players) of our scholarship total to 2 of the most important, yet under appreciated positions on the field. If you really think I consider or care about what Virginia Tech does, than you're again mistaken. Using an outside presence as a point here is totally nullified since if anything, "ST's U" is an arguable point in and of itself.

Who I would "cut" doesn't matter here and I absolutely wouldn't do what you're doing and just look at what year a player is in. We also don't actually every player the OP counted as being on scholarship next year and even if it's right, we don't have to be down to 85 until the fall at which point a few players are likely to leave on their own. For that matter, who you would cut and who you THINK most deserves to be cut doesn't matter since you aren't in a position of power to make any of these decisions, especially considering you aren't even qualified to make the decision. FYI, what I mean by not qualified is that you aren't an elite coach who gets to see and work with all of the players everyday.

My understanding is that Kornbrath has the inside track to kickoff and be the starting punter in 2012, and would be the backup place-kicker unless he can beat out Meyer. Assuming that's the case, then Mossbrucker and/or Mullings aren't really needed.

There is a rugby team, and I'm sure they'd be glad to have Mullings - but no schollies...