What To Expect From The 2018 Iowa Hawkeyes

College football is finally back, and oh, how I have missed you, my sweet mistress. I mean, what a pleasure it is to be a B1G fan as we have coaches helping other coaches beat women, and that doesn't even register on the "this is really bad" scale since another coach not only helped players get away with assaulting women; he also set up workouts that killed a player. Sorry, SEC, but you ain't got shit on the B1G.

Fuck, college football is some truly awful shit.

But, since we didn't create a workout that made guys piss blood this offseason, the Iowa Hawkeyes are in the clear, so let's look at the football side of things. Can the Iowa Hawkeyes be good? Yes. Could they be very good? It's possible. Will they shock the world and win a National Title? Only time will tell...but no, they will not.

But Iowa is still interesting.

Quarterback
Nate Stanley exceeded all expectations in his first year as a starter last season. It feels odd saying this, but outside of tight end, this may be the position to feel best about going into the season on offense. Stanley had ups and downs, but with experience, he can hopefully minimize the lows while still helping Iowa put up 50+ on the blue bloods of the B1G. There are a lot of people predicting big things for him this year, and it certainly wouldn't be shocking if he was the best quarterback in the conference. That's going to depend a lot on the people around him.

Wide Receivers
Nick Easley seems to have the best chance as long as he can convert a few of those drops into catches with Brandon Smith as the second receiver, who has shown he has some size and athleticism, but not much else. Ihmir Smith-Marsette is a legitimately fast player who plays for Iowa, so that's exciting, but it's not clear that the coaching staff has much faith in him. Right now, it's probably unlikely that this team is going to have a great passing attack that is led by its wide receivers.

Tight Ends
But even if the receivers fail to take a step forward, Stanley will have reliable options in tight ends Noah Fant and TJ Hockenson. Got some good news and bad news when it comes to Fant. The good news is that he is one of the best tight ends in the nation and is a damn game changer at the position. The bad news is that if he comes anywhere near repeating last year's performance, his ass is gone to the NFL. There are worse things to deal with than players being so awesome that they leave early for the NFL, especially at a position like tight end where Iowa just keeps sending dudes to the pros. TJ Hockenson is going to be so involved that Iowa has two tight end spots on the depth chart, so he should not only be an important contributor this year, but the obvious heir apparent if Fant leaves after the season.

Running Back
At running back, there is no proven commodity, but they have a three-headed monster that should do well. Ivory Kelly-Martin is listed as the starter, with Toren Young and Mekhi Sargent backing him up. I could see any of the three guys emerging as the top back, but I don't think anybody completely takes over the role to be a true #1 at the position. Young and IKM looked good in limited action last year, and Sargent has been getting great reviews after transferring, but this is more a position group that should be fine. They probably won't be great, and they probably won't be bad; they'll hopefully be good enough.

Offensive Line
The running game will likely be dependent on the performance of the guys up front. The offensive line is led by two sophomore tackles who both started all of last year (although they are both suspsended for the first game) in Alaric Jackson and Tristan Wirfs. I wouldn't say that they were great last year, but considering that it was two freshman that at least held their own, hopes are pretty high for the outside of the offensive line. The interior of the line is a bit of a question mark, but there have been positive reports on Keegan Render at center as being able to play his way into a potential draft pick after this season. This isn't going to be a legendary Iowa offensive line, but as long as the interior can hold up, they should provide more good than bad.

Defensive Line
The defense has the most exciting and most terrifying position groups on the team. The defensive line is stacked. Parker Hesse and Anthony Nelson have extensive experience on the outside with production to match. Matt Nelson and Cedric Lattimore started last year and should only improve from last season. With those four, Iowa should be in great shape up front...

...but let's be real here. This is all about AJ Epenesa. Epenesa rotated in at defensive end last year, and his talent jumps off the screen when you're watching Iowa. His explosiveness is incredible, and he is a mismatch for all but the most elite offensive tackles. He is still raw as he did put himself out of position on occasion so he has some things to refine, but the raw materials are incredibly exciting and all Iowa fans are basically head over heels in love with him already. I'm as guilty of this as anyone, and I make no apologies for it.

Linebackers
On the other end of the spectrum, we have linebacker. Linebacker is not going to be good; it's not that the players don't have talent, but they have about as close to zero experience as is possible in a linebacking corps. They have never started before, and Iowa rarely cycles in linebackers, so their big experience is special teams. Amani Jones is the middle linebacker which makes him the most important guy of the three. He has been getting the most positive reviews, but that may have just been that they were only really confident that he would be one of the starters. Number two is Nick Niemann, who should not be confused with Nick Nemeth as I do not believe he has plans to tag with Drew McIntyre anytime soon. The good news with Niemann is that his brother, Ben, played linebacker for Iowa, and he is supposed to be the better athlete. Ben was solid, so solid+athleticism=pretty darn good? I hope that's the case at least. Getting the last spot is Kristian Welch who nobody knows anything about, but he was good enough to beat out the other guys, at least to start the season. Go Kristian Welch!

Secondary
Secondary could actually be good, but there is no depth, and for the first time in a while, there is no clear shutdown corner as Iowa was spoiled with Desmond King and Josh Jackson these past few years. Instead we have Matt Hankins and Michael Ojemudia. Hankins appeared to edge ahead of Ojemudia at the end of last year, so he's likely what you would consider the number one corner, but both guys have gotten a decent amount of playing time and have the potential to be solid. There is also the possibility that they come out of nowhere like Josh Jackson did last year and become an absolute game changer at the position, but the odds are against that. At safety, Iowa has two returning starters in Jake Gervase and Amani Hooker. The latter showed a lot of potential and could take a big step forward this year. The former got better as the year went on, but I'd be surprised if Iowa got much more than adequacy from him.

Special Teams
Iowa also has many kickers and punters.

Prediction
After doing a look at all of the different position groups, there are a lot of factors to weigh. I think this is a year where Iowa can only slip into a bowl game. That bowl game will be the College Football Playoff Semifinal, where Iowa will win. Don't you see? I lied at the beginning, because Iowa is definitely winning the National Title this year. Bama ain't got shit on the Hawkeyes. 15-0!