Shanahan West Coast offense is ‘really great system,’ but Iowa still needs to be ‘technically and fundamentally sound’

IOWA CITY — Abdul Hodge sees plenty of upside in Iowa football’s new offensive scheme.

“The Shanahan West Coast system is a really great system,” the Iowa tight ends coach said on The Gazette’s Hawk Off the Press podcast. “Has a lot of flexibility in the run game, in the passing game. Has a lot of answers that’s already built into it, whether it be hots or different variations in terms of the formations, various personnel groupings.”

Of course, there’s the motion, too — something Iowa fans saw a heavy dose of during the spring open practice. But Hodge also has especially taken note of the scheme providing “another way to control tempo.”

As Hodge sees it, there are “three ways you can control tempo.”

One way is what fans saw during this year’s Citrus Bowl between Iowa and Tennessee. Another way resembles what Kansas did last year on its way to averaging a Big 12-best 7.2 yards per play.

“They’ll align in the huddle, they’ll explode out as fast as possible and try to snap the football as fast as possible before the defense can actually see what’s going on and make adjustments and communicate,” Hodge said.

The third method is what Hodge sees Iowa doing with its Shanahan-style offense to “keep the defense off balance.”

“We will still huddle,” Hodge said. “We’ll get to the line of scrimmage. But at the last second, we can change that picture. We can go from a 3-by-1 formation to a 2-by-2 formation or 2-by-2 formation to 3-by-1 formation. … Or we can change the picture post-snap, when that ball is snapped.”

For those not as fluent in football schematics, the Green Bay Packers’ system offers a facsimile of what the Hawkeyes’ system will look like. (Lester was an analyst there before taking the Hawkeyes’ offensive coordinator job.)

“Being able to see those pictures, being able to see the examples, being able to pull up Green Bay’s tape and seeing some of those same concepts, I think, is very, very helpful,” Hodge said. “Because it can give you a visualization of what it’s supposed to look like.”

In fact, Iowa coaches traveled to Green Bay earlier in the offseason to meet with the Packers’ staff and watch practice. (That contingent included Hodge, who was the Packers’ third-round pick in the 2006 NFL Draft.)

As much as Iowa’s new scheme can help the offense in many facets, Hodge is quick to remind his players that schematics are “not the only thing that we’re going to have to hang our hat on to win football games.”

“At the end of the day, we still at Iowa are going to have to be technically and fundamentally sound,” Hodge said.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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Fans of the Iowa Hawkeyes are hoping this is the year it all clicks up front offensively.

Understandably, the amount of experience that Iowa returns defensively has garnered plenty of attention nationally. The Hawkeyes return 192 career starts to a defense that ranked fourth nationally in scoring defense (14.8 points per game) and seventh in total defense (282.5 yards per game).

Don’t lose sight of the amount of experience and starts that Iowa also brings back up front offensively. The Hawkeye offensive line returns 147 career starts, including 58 from last season.

That includes Iowa starting center Logan Jones and starting right tackle Connor Colby. Jones, a 6-foot-3, 290 pound senior, and Colby, a 6-foot-6, 311 pound senior, have started 26 and 36 career games, respectively. Colby started 12 last season, while Jones started 13.

In its annual preseason college football preview magazine, Lindy’s gave both some proper due. Jones was ranked as Lindy’s No. 6 center nationally, while Colby was ranked as Lindy’s No. 5 guard heading into the 2024 college football season.

For an Iowa offense looking to transform its production under new offensive coordinator Tim Lester, having Jones and Colby both back in the fold for his first campaign in Iowa City is massive.

In its breakdown of Iowa, here’s some of what Lindy’s had to say about Iowa’s offense as a whole:

Iowa’s offense became a national running joke last season, with websites, podcasts and—well, just about anybody who was paying attention—poking fun at the Hawkeyes and their offensive soap opera, which averaged just 234.6 yards a game, dead last in the country.

Yet they still won the Big Ten West.

In comes new offensive coordinator Tim Lester to replace the embattled Brian Ferentz, who has been replaced by a former head coach who has shown he can build a solid offense. After Lester was let go as head coach at Western Michigan (37-32 in six years), he spent last season as an offensive analyst for the Green Bay Packers.

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Good news for the rebuild: Quarterback Cade McNamara is healthy after missing more than half of last season with a torn ACL. Protecting the former Michigan transfer will be especially important, and after the line also battled injuries last year, that unit starts fresh with veterans at every position led by center Logan Jones and guard Connor Colby. – Lindy’s.

Iowa also brings back its top four running backs in Leshon Williams, Kaleb Johnson, Jaziun Patterson and Kamari Moulton.

Two of the Hawkeyes’ top pass-catchers at receiver are back in junior wide outs Seth Anderson and Kaleb Brown. Talented senior tight end Luke Lachey is back for Iowa as well.

In order for Iowa to complete the offensive transformation it’s working for, it’s no secret that Iowa needs to perform better up front, though. Jones and Colby join offensive tackles Gennings Dunker and Mason Richman, left guard Beau Stephens and Nick DeJong as offensive linemen that have started during their Hawkeye careers entering the 2024 season.

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CLEARFIELD, Iowa (WOWT) – Authorities in Taylor County, Iowa, are investigating after a 19-year-old man was shot and killed early Thursday morning.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations reports Taylor County dispatchers received several shooting calls around 3:20 a.m. Deputies responded to Bootleggers Bar and Grill on Broadway Street in the town of Clearfield. A male victim was found unresponsive on the ground with what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the head.

The reporting deputy alleges in an arrest affidavit he saw a man later identified as the suspect standing against an SUV near the victim’s body. He allegedly admitted to being the shooter; the deputy then detained him and transported him to the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office. Along with several witnesses at the scene telling deputies they watched the suspect shoot and kill the victim, he admitted to a DCI agent he had killed 19-year-old Colby Nelson of Lenox. It was revealed the two men had a disagreement in the bar earlier that night, which escalated to an argument when the shooter tried to leave.

The suspect, identified as Alan Schultz, 37, of Bedford, left the bar on his motorcycle before returning with a loaded handgun in a different vehicle. Schultz then allegedly confronted Nelson twice before shooting him in the face, unloading his handgun and waiting for deputies to arrive. He was booked into the Taylor County Jail on suspicion of first-degree murder.

A forensic autopsy will be performed on Nelson’s body by the Iowa State Medical Examiner’s Office in Ankeny.

The investigation is ongoing, and the Iowa DCI does not plan to release further information at this time.

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