Adam Robinson
Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz expects running back Adam Robinson to miss the remainder of the regular season due to an ankle injury he suffered in the Hawkeyes victory at Michigan State. The redshirt freshman from Des Moines is Iowa’s leading rusher with 629 yards on the ground.
Ferentz says a bowl games is very realistic, but for the rest of the season “unless we can find some pixie dust floating around,” it’s not going to work out and they will have to move on.
Brandon Wegher and Paki O’Meara are listed on the two-deep but Ferentz says the Hawks are becoming alarmingly thin at running back. “We’re running out of bodies in the backfield, it’s not a real crowded room right now,” Ferentz says. Ferentz says one option is to use true freshman Brad Rogers. The Ohio native was going to redshirt this season.
Ferentz says they took Rogers on the road and told him he should be ready to go. He says if Rogers has to go in, he will go in and do a good job. Iowa is 8-0 for the first time ever but Ferentz says a string of close games has helped the team stay focused. Ferentz says so far the team hasn’t seemed to be affected by the stuff that goes on outside and he says part of that is a tribute to the seniors.
Ferentz says they wonder about how many cracks in the dike they can handle, but they keep going out and getting it done. With each victory the Hawkeyes become more a part of the national conversation. Ferentz says they need to keep the distractions to a minimum. He says they have to be proactive about that and be smart about what they do. He says they learned from the past that the more you win, it creates more “chaos.”
Whether its the computer rankings, the coaches poll or the BCS standings, Ferentz says none of that matters if the Hawks don’t continue to win. He says the idea is to be there at the end, and says the Michigan State game is an example. Iowa plays three of the last four at home and plays Indiana this week followed by Northwestern. Ferentz says while many of the fans are looking ahead to a showdown with Ohio State the team is not.
Ferentz says everyone is looking ahead to Ohio State, but there are two teams coming in that they are 1-2 against in the last three years. He says that’s the reality and they need to worry about what is going on this week as they will have their hands full.