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<p>According to a report, Iowa wide receiver Matt VandeBerg suffered
a broken foot in practice on Monday and will undergo surgery
Tuesday.</p>
<p>On Monday night, HawkeyeReport.com tweeted that VandeBerg
suffered the injury during Monday’s practice. How much time
VandeBerg will miss is uncertain. Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz
meets with the media Tuesday.<iframe id="twitter-widget-0"
scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true"
class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="position:
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data-tweet-id="780598714062823425" title="Twitter Tweet"
frameborder="0"></iframe>If VandeBerg is ruled out for the
season, it’s likely he will not be eligible for a medical hardship
waiver. The senior from Brandon, S.D., has played in four games
this season, that’s more than the 30 percent that the NCAA rule
allows for a hardship waiver.
</p>
<p>VandeBerg is Iowa’s leading receiver with 19 catches for 284
yards and three touchdowns. The 19 receptions are tied for third
in the Big Ten. After VandeBerg, who led Iowa with 65 receptions
last season, Iowa’s No. 2 receiver is tight end George Kittle, who
has 10 catches for 192 yards.</p>
<p>Iowa’s wide receiver group went into the season as a question
mark. Now, second-year sophomore Jerminic Smith is the leader in
the group. He has seven catches for 97 yards this season.
Sophomore Ronald Nash and true freshman Devonte Young traveled
with the team to Rutgers last week and might be in line for more
looks in the passing game.</p>
<p>More on this Tuesday.</p>
<p><strong><span class="Body copy bold">B1G honor for Coluzzi</span></strong></p>
<p>Google “Ron Coluzzi trucked” and you’ll see a video of the
Central Michigan punter getting drilled by a Purdue play.</p>
<p>Today’s Google will read Big Ten special teams player of the
week.</p>
<p>In Iowa’s 14-7 victory at Rutgers last weekend, Coluzzi averaged
42.0 yards on seven punts, with a long of 55 yards. Four of those
were downed inside the Scarlet Knights’ 20-yard line, helping
greatly in a game where field position was magnified. Coluzzi also
recorded touchbacks on all three of his kickoffs and now leads the
Big Ten lead with 18.</p>
<p>The weekly honor is the first for Coluzzi, a graduate transfer
from Central Michigan.</p>
<p>Coluzzi is the second Hawkeye to earn B1G player of the week in
2016. Redshirt freshman defensive end Anthony Nelson was named
freshman of the week following Iowa’s opening win over Miami
(Ohio). Marshall Koehn was Iowa’s last special teams player of the
week (Sept. 21, 2015).</p>
<p>Through four games, Coluzzi averages 43.2 yards on 20 punts, with
opponents returning just two punts for no yards. He has five punts
of 50 yards or more and just one touchback. Coluzzi has recorded
18 touchbacks on 22 kickoffs.</p>
<p>Coluzzi’s best hangtime against Rutgers, according to Pro
Football Focus, was 4.51 seconds.</p>
<p>Coluzzi graduated from Central Michigan with a degree in
marketing and logistics. He used that “Coluzzi trucked” video clip
during an internship last summer.</p>
<p>“I did an internship for Coyote Logistics (in Chicago, near his
Naperville, Ill., hometown) last summer and I sold freight out of
a brokerage,” he said. “I would send that video to some of my
clients to get the ball rolling with whatever we were selling that
day.</p>
<p>“It did work. I got a bunch of relationships with companies.
People always joked about it over the phone.”</p>
<p>Running back Derrick Mitchell wasn’t listed on the depth chart
released Monday by Iowa (3-1, 1-0 Big Ten). He suffered a leg
injury and didn’t play against North Dakota State and didn’t make
the trip to Rutgers last weekend. Going into this week’s matchup
with Northwestern (1-3, 0-1) 11 a.m. at Kinnick Stadium, Mitchell
appears to be the only significant injury for Iowa.</p>
<p>Outside linebacker Ben Niemann did leave last week’s game near
the end and was replaced by Kevin Ward. Niemann was available for
postgame interviews and seemed fine.</p>
<p>Guard Sean Welsh (ankle) and center James Daniels (knee) returned
to the lineup last week and helped turn around the Hawkeyes
running game. Iowa had just 34 yards against NDSU (its lowest
output in 36 games) and then churned out 193 against the Scarlet
Knights.</p>
<p><span class="Body copy bold">Offensive personnel groups</span></p>
<p>11 (one back, one tight end, three WRs) — 5 rushes for 29 yards;
1 of 5 passes for 5 yards</p>
<p>11 shotgun — 4 rushes for 7 yards; 8 of 10 for 129 yards and a TD</p>
<p>21 (running back, fullback, one TE, two WR) — 14 runs for 127
yards and TD; 1 of 3 for 6 yards</p>
<p>22 (two backs, two TEs) — 4 runs for 24 yards; 1 of 1 passing for
20 yards</p>
<p>12 (one back, two TEs) — 7 rushes for 9 yards; 1 of 2 for 12
yards passing</p>
<p>32 (three backs, two TEs) — Championship formation 2 kneels for
minus-5</p>
<p><span class="Body copy bold">Let’s check some Pro Football Focus
grades</span></p>
<p>Go to <a href="https://www.profootballfocus.com/">Pro Footbal
Focus</a> and totally dig into that site. Learn about football.
Get smarter. Win arguments. That’s the whole point of what they do
and what I try to do (sometimes not as great as others).</p>
<p><span class="Body copy bold">Iowa’s run blockers ranked by PFF
(starting O-line, fullbacks and TE):</span></p>
<p>1. G Boone Myers</p>
<p>2. G Sean Welsh</p>
<p>3. C James Daniels</p>
<p>4. FB Drake Kulick</p>
<p>5. TE George Kittle</p>
<p>6. FB Brady Ross</p>
<p>7. OT Cole Croston</p>
<p>8. OT Ike Boettger</p>
<p>Myers’ number was hugely positive. It might’ve been his best game
as a Hawkeye. Graded Iowa’s highest by a large margin. Welsh was
the only other positively graded, but Daniels was close. Their
return to the lineup made a huge difference.</p>
<p><span class="Body copy bold">PFF’s top pass blocker this week</span></p>
<p>Myers, Daniels, Boettger and Welsh graded positively, with Welsh
leading the way. Here’s something I didn’t consider, but PFF put
two of Rutgers’ sacks on Beathard.</p>
<p><span class="Body copy bold">Best PFF overall grades for the
offense this week</span></p>
<p>1. G Boone Myers</p>
<p>2. G Sean Welsh</p>
<p>3. C James Daniels</p>
<p>4. TE George Kittle</p>
<p>5. (tie) QB C.J. Beathard and RB LeShun Daniels</p>
<p>Myers was off-the-charts good. Welsh and Daniels were positive
grades. Their impact was obvious. Kittle put up another solid
week. Beathard and LeShun Daniels were neutral scores, but very
close to positive grades. Tackles Boettger and Cole Croston and
No. 2 TE Peter Pekar were negative grades. Rutgers fielded a
couple of pretty good pass rushers.</p>
<p><span class="Body copy bold">Offensive factlets</span></p>
<p>— Here’s what it looks like when a defense is able to pressure a
QB with its front four: PFF had Rutgers with just three blitzes,
but also with 11 pass plays pressure. Weird game for Beathard: He
completed 2 of 2 when blitzed, but hit just 10 of 21 on 28
dropbacks (yes, only 23 passes, but scrambles are counted here).
Beathard had his best game with his feet in his last nine games
and was Iowa’s lone positive grade in running the ball.</p>
<p>— Last week, NDSU sold out to stop Iowa’s inside zone, holding
the Hawkeyes to just seven rush attempts between the guards and
center for 17 yards. Total opposite this week. Hawkeyes had 12
inside rushes for 85 yards, including nine for 74 yards on the
left side.</p>
<p>— Kittle and Wadley had the best ratings in the receiving game.
With the WR group trying to find maybe a few more contributors,
the playbook on Wadley in the passing game has to be open.</p>
<p><span class="Body copy bold">Iowa’s run defenders ranked by PFF
(starting D-line and linebackers)</span></p>
<p>1. LB Josey Jewell</p>
<p>2. DT Jaleel Johnson</p>
<p>3. FS Brandon Snyder</p>
<p>4. DE Matt Nelson</p>
<p>5. (tie) LB Bo Bower and CB Desmond King</p>
<p>6. (tie) DE Anthony Nelson and OLB Ben Niemann</p>
<p>Iowa gave up 193 rushing yards, but eight defenders finished with
positive grades vs. the rush. Jewell’s number was terrific. He’s
Iowa’s best interior player on either side of the ball. If you
factor in volume, this makes more sense. RU rushed 18 times for
102 yards in the A gap.</p>
<p><span class="Body copy bold">Best PFF overall grades for the
defense this week</span></p>
<p>1. CB Desmond King</p>
<p>2. LB Josey Jewell</p>
<p>3. FS Brandon Snyder</p>
<p>4. DT Jaleel Johnson</p>
<p>5. (tie) DE Anthony Nelson and DE Matt Nelson</p>
<p>King or Jewell for Iowa’s best overall player? King was immense
in coverage last week, scoring his best PFF rating yet. PFF
credited Matt Nelson with three sacks and Hesse with two. A week
after posting Iowa’s lowest grade, Snyder is in the top three. He
is a first-year starter and that’s the kind of trajectory you want
to be on. No Hawkeyes posted a negative number. Remember, the
defense allowed just seven points.</p>
<p><span class="Body copy bold">Defensive factlets</span></p>
<p>— PFF had Iowa with six blitzes and eight pressures. Anthony
Nelson, Jewell and Niemann were credited with hurries.</p>
<p>— Iowa’s defense was hit with nine missed tackles, with Snyder
having three. That’s why the head coach took a few seconds after a
big fourth-down stop, in which Snyder had a hand on, to explain to
the sophomore that seeing is tackling.</p>
<p>— Iowa’s raider package corners Manny Rugamba and Joshua Jackson
were targeted twice with one going for a TD on Jackson. King was
targeted twice with one catch for one yard. He also broke up two
passes. Bower allowed just one completion for 4 yards in four
targeted throws.</p>
<p>l Comments: (319) 398-8256; <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:marc.morehouse@thegazette.com">marc.morehouse@thegazette.com</a></p>
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