Iowa’s 2014 football schedule will include Big Ten newcomer Maryland. The conference released the schedule today for 2014 and the Hawkeyes will visit the Terrapins on October 18.

The 2014 schedule will consist of eight games for each of the Big Ten’s 14 teams, feature a new division alignment. The Iowa schedule that season does not include Michigan or Ohio State as both will be part of the East Division that season.

The conference division alignments will feature Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State and Rutgers. In the East Division and Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin in the West Division.

Each school will play the other six schools in its division plus two teams from the other division in 2014 and 2015, which will serve as transitional years in which the schools will still be playing eight-game schedules. Beginning in 2016, each school will play three teams from the other division as part of its nine-game schedule.

Iowa’s quarterback race is still too close to call as the Hawkeyes prepare to close out spring drills with a scrimmage on Saturday. Jake Rudock, Cody Sokol and C.J.  Beatherd are vying to replace James Vandenberg under center. The quarterbacks have been rotating every two snaps in practice this spring.

Iowa offensive coordinator Greg Davis says they did that in individual time Saturday, and then they let the quarterback own the drive if they were moving the team. He says they will probably do the same thing Saturday so the quarterback who is moving the team will stay in for the entire drive.

Davis doubts a starter will be named at the end of spring as he says all of the quarterbacks have done good things, but there has not been any separation yet.

Davis talked about what will allow one of the quarterbacks to emerge as the starter. He says that will be guys who can make a play when things break down, a guy who will take care of the football and make plays.

Davis says it is possible more than one quarterback will need to play when the 2013 season begins to make a decision. “Because some things you can’t evaluate in practice because you can’t get hit,” Davis says. He says for instance, they blow the play dead in practice when the pocket breaks down and they need to see how they do in live action.

Davis says they may make a decision by August, but they may not. Davis says Saturday will be more like a game than practice. It will be four quarters of offense versus defense.

An experienced offensive line will be counted on next season to help the Iowa Hawkeyes bounce back from a disappointing 4-8 season in 2012. Seven players with extensive experience return and offensive line coach Brian Ferentz says the goal this spring has been to build consistency.

Ferentz says they want to play physically, they want to be sound on their assignments, but being consistent is the most important thing if you want to have good results. The other goal is to build depth so they can withstand the injuries that occur virtually every season.

“And then the trick to that is, can you move pieces in and out, can you move guys in and out and maintain a certain level of play? I don’t feel like we did that very well last year,” Ferentz says. He says they are still working on that.

Ferentz says every offense has its strengths but the first goal for the Hawkeyes is to run the football. The Hawks averaged 123 yards on the ground last season.

He says they know they have to run the ball to be successful and he says that means being able to run it when the defense knows they want to run the ball. The Hawks will conclude spring drills with a scrimmage on April 27th.

Jordan Canzeri is anxiously awaiting his return to the game field. Iowa’s sophomore running back was impressive during Sunday’s practice in West Des Moines, a little more than a year after suffering a torn ACL in spring drills that kept him out of the 2012 season.

“I just feel like I am a lot more confident,” Canzeri says, “I took the injury as a blessing to be able to watch my teammates, to watch our ups and downs, watch practice and just be able to see from the standpoint of not being able to play, that made me really humble as to just how quickly you can can lose things. So I was just excited to go through all the rehab successfully and come back an play.”

Canzeri was cleared to play during the 2012 season but was held out of competition to preserve his redshirt. He says he just wanted to help the team out any way he could and understood the decision of the coaches to hold him out.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz is not surprised at how quickly Canzeri has returned to form. “He really practiced well last year, I was half tempted to throw him in there, it just didn’t make sense,” Ferentz says. He says Canzeri looked really good in the practice and it was good to see him out there.

Ferentz says they felt it was best for Canzeri to hold him out of last season as it didn’t seem like the right thing to put him in at the time. Canzeri is joining Mark Weisman and Damon Bullock in the battle for the starting running back spot.

A crowd of better than 8,000 was on hand Sunday afternoon to watch the Iowa football team conduct a spring practice at Valley stadium in West Des Moines. Coach Kirk Ferentz put his team through a more than two-hour workout.

Ferentz says it was a good practice for his team in what has been a productive spring. “They’re working hard, they’ve been working hard since the end of the season, their attitude has been really good. And I think we’re doing a lot of good things individually and we’re doing some good things in some of the group periods, but when we get to the team, it’s not there yet, and that’s usually how it goes in the spring and I have to keep reminding myself of that,” Ferentz says. “We’re not there yet, but the guys are working hard and they are really trying to improve.”

It was a special day for senior guard Conor Boffeli who is a product of Valley high school. He says it was nice to come back home to a place where he has a lot of great memories.

Junior Cody Sokol is part of a three man battle at quarterback with Jake Rodock and C.J. Beatherd and says they have been making good strides with the offense, but still have six more practices to get better.

Left tackle Brandon Scherff says it was a good experience to take a practice on the road. “It feels good giving back to the people…it was a great crowd and a great environment,” Scheff says.

Iowa closes spring practice with a scrimmage on April 27th.