Before we jump in to this week’s edition of Kirk Speaks, a quick shout out to our usual author Matt Cabel who welcomed in the newest addition to his household a week earlier than expected. Everyone is doing great, except for those of us who sit around waiting for him to digest these weekly pressers for us. So congrats to Matt and family – we’ll do our best to fill the void!
Happy Floyd week, folks. The bye is behind us, the Hawkeyes sit at 5-1 and #15 in the country at the exact halfway point of the season and the biggest question in Iowa City got itself answered on a Tuesday afternoon: Jeremy Hecklinski is the starting quarterback Saturday at Minnesota.
What I love most is HOW the news came out. Monday’s depth chart had the dreaded “OR” between Hank Brown and Hecklinski, everybody spent 24 hours reading tea leaves, and then Kirk just… mentioned it. Mid-answer. Almost to himself. The man has guarded quarterback decisions like state secrets for a quarter century and this one he dropped like he was reading a grocery list.
Let’s get into the details. You can check out the full transcript HERE, my highlights and commentary below.
Q. I think we know how much equity matters to you within the program, the day-by-day work. You have two quarterbacks that have gone on the road in tough environments and pulled out wins. Whoever you go with at quarterback on Saturday, how do you balance continuing to instill confidence in them but also understanding that, as you’ve mentioned, you have depth at quarterback. I don’t want to use the phrase is the leash going to be shorter if they don’t perform, but how do you kind of maintain that balance of instilling confidence and maybe looking to make a change?
KIRK FERENTZ: We’ll handle that as we go. Did I put up the depth chart? So Hecklinski will be our starter Saturday.
Since the start of the season, it’s been even. What’s good for us is they’ve both done good jobs and both won on the road in tough circumstances. So that gives us a lot of encouragement. I think we have two good quarterbacks, which a couple years ago we couldn’t say that.
“Did I put up the depth chart?” is an all-time way to announce your starting quarterback. No statement, no graphic, just Kirk wondering aloud what’s on his own two-deep. Then casually announcing something completely counter to that depth chart after confirming it’s been put out. Wild, wild sequence and genuinely shocking that he announced anything at all.
I’ve been pretty confident if Heck got the nod it would be under the guise that Hank Brown, while medically cleared and available as an emergency backup, was not fully back and needed more time.
WELP….
Q. What is it that led you guys to the decision to start Jeremy? And then also is Hank at 100 percent? How is he doing health-wise?
KIRK FERENTZ: Hank is 100 percent. He could have played the last game, emergency, but I don’t think it was a smart play to play him, and probably would have – not endangered him or they wouldn’t have cleared him, but probably would have set him back for a while. He’s perfectly healthy. A little sore last week, and having that bye week came at a good time.
As a determining factor, it’s kind of like the first time. It’s not a coin toss, but it’s awfully close. Both guys, you can make an argument either way that makes sense. We just decided that was the best thing at this time to do, and we’ll just keep playing forward here.
This part is maybe more baffling than Kirk just blurting it out. Brown is healthy – fully, 100 percent healthy, per KF – and the job went to Heck anyway. That makes this a performance call, not an injury bridge and that’s a big deal given where Iowa’s offense has been this season.
When someone asked the question even more directly, Kirk made Brown’s case for him – “do you discount a quarterback bringing us back for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter?” – which tells you how close this really was. But close only counts in horseshoes. Heck’s the guy. Completing 79% of your throws against Power 4 defenses will do that for a guy.
Q. Was curious with Xavier Styles, how you’ve seen him kind of develop since he got on campus and what he did to earn that starting opportunity? Also, I know you said Tyler Brown is out. Styles, do you expect him to start again versus Minnesota?
KIRK FERENTZ: Kind of ties in with what Tom asked earlier about who’s going to — we’ve liked Xavier. Didn’t think he was ready. Anyway, with Tyler out, we have to find an answer. He and Anthony have both been competing.
We just made that decision that last game to throw him in there and see what he’d do. He really flashed at some good things. Some detail work to take care of, which is what you’d expect any time a new player goes in. He’s only been here however many months, ten months on campus, so he’s still has some finer things.
His knowledge base compared to like Zach Lutmer’s is a little bit different. Like his attitude and the way he runs around. He made a good showing for himself that first time out, so we’ll keep building on that. We’re going to keep working with Anthony too because he’s going to be a good player.
The thing that both those guys are fighting is newness to the system and just all the intricate details. Luckily, we’ve got Zach back there to help quarterback some stuff and carry some of that burden. We liked what we saw. Just even standing on the sidelines a couple weeks ago, just him flashing around, you can just get a feel sometimes, like this guy is trying to make some plays and get involved and be active. Be curious to see where it goes. It’s all in front of him right now. Same thing with Anthony. He’ll get his chance.
This feels like another one of Kirk’s meandering non-answers, but I think it roundabout highlights what makes Phil Parker’s defense click. We see the same basic defense that is predictable but there are details and intricacies that are nuanced and barely noticeable to the untrained eye. And the critical piece is everyone executing their role without the need to process. That’s a tough ask for a young guy and getting reps for so many of these younger players should pay big dividends down the road. Just hope it doesn’t bite the Hawks against quality QBs – Minnesota’s Drake Lindsay is capable of making Iowa pay for mistakes in the back end.
Q. Also, when they went to Purdue, you could tell there was almost an it’s just Purdue kind of attitude with the way they played. What kind of message do you tell them and how they evaluate the film and the results in order to prepare them for this game?
KIRK FERENTZ: One side thought, the just Purdue thing, which is kind of a commentary on last weekend. When my kids were all younger, it’s the old – I was guilty of the same thing when I was a little kid. When you play Little League games, right? The Cubs beat the Tigers, and then the Tigers beat the Reds, hey, we beat the Tigers, so we’ll naturally beat this team, and you end up losing by 10 runs. That kind of thinking gets you beat.
Then the bigger picture is last weekend is a great illustration, if anyone is paying attention – I’m thinking more about our players than everybody else – but it’s just week to week because you can’t make it make sense if you do comparative scores.
The Little League transitive-property bit is Kirk at his Kirkiest. The annoying part is he’s right. Minnesota beat the two ranked teams it played and got blown out by two unranked ones, so comparative scores are useless here. He also got in a swipe at the sport’s December brain – the “playoff shows coming out sometime in the next four weeks” – and said the best advice he can give his guys is to just worry about Saturday. We, of course, are under no such obligation and will keep worrying about December on their behalf.
Q. I wanted to ask about Zach Lutmer. I know he had some issues with health coming out of camp, not a 100 percent. He shared with us today that he’s feeling significantly better. How much do you think – and he’d probably agree with me when I say that he probably didn’t play to his standard so far this year in the first half of the year. How much does health help him get back to that? And he also mentioned overthinking plays. So I guess how do those two things come together and help your defense perform better because he’s one of the better defensive backs in the Big Ten.
KIRK FERENTZ: I have a smart friend who sends me stuff to read every now and then. One of them was about a guy who’s a dove hunter. I know nothing about it, but he’s really proficient about it. Somebody went up to him, do you shoot with one eye or two eyes? One eye open or two eyes open, and the guy had never thought about it. He started thinking about it, and he couldn’t shoot a dove anymore, which I wouldn’t even know how to start to thinking about shooting a dove.
But the thing is sometimes you do overthink. It happens to certain football players, especially when they’re looking to press a little bit. We’re all striving to be as perfect as you can in your performance, but you can’t squeeze the bat, I guess, is the best way I can put it. You have to have a little confidence.
Yeah, I think he’s in a really good place physically right now. I think he’s been playing really well anyway. Hopefully his best football is out in front of him. We certainly are going to need him. He’s a great leader and a great young guy.
Only Kirk Ferentz answers a question about his All-Big Ten safety with a parable about dove hunting. The substance under the story is encouraging though: Lutmer says he feels significantly better, Kirk says he’s in a really good place physically and a secondary that just promoted Xavier Styles into the lineup could use its veteran playing free and loose in Minneapolis. Stop thinking about the doves, Zach. Just shoot.
Let’s end with this:
Q. I’ll get off the quarterback topic for you.
KIRK FERENTZ: Although it’s a lot better than a couple years ago. Was thinking about when we went to UCLA, and the official said your third quarterback is number whatever it was, and I nodded like, yeah, I got it. Got off the field, and I’m like who the heck is that? It was Kyler Gerardy just for the record. A freshman defensive back was our third team quarterback.
It’s not funny, but it’s funny.
From “who the heck is that?” at quarterback to two guys with road wins and a coach happily declining to pick a favorite in public. It’s not funny, but it’s funny – and it’s a long way from where this room was a couple years ago. Go get the pig, boys.