This week in Chicago it’s been all about the Big Ten Media days, and Kirk Ferentz and his Iowa Hawkeyes football team have found themselves center stage. The defending West Division champ Hawks and cross-division foe Ohio State absorbed most of the spotlight.
ESPN polled current players regarding their pick for the conference’s defensive and offensive most valuable player award. Not surprisingly, Iowa’s reigning Jim Thorpe awardee Desmond King was the overwhelming pick for defensive MVP. On the offensive side of the ball, OSU’s J.T. Barrett came in first, with Iowa QB C.J. Beathard in the mix as well.
How will the Hawks follow-up last years perfect regular season, division championship and Rose Bowl birth? The Cleveland.com poll predicts they’ll repeat with another blockbuster performance, as does Big Ten Network’s Tom Dienhart.
“Iowa will deal well with being the hunted in the West Division,” said Dienhart. “In fact, look for the Hawkeyes to carry a 7-0 mark into a home game vs. Wisconsin … This is a veteran Hawkeye club that is primed to return to Indianapolis for the Big Ten championship game.”
As expected, Kirk Ferentz received questions regarding the encounter between senior Faith Ekakitie and the Iowa City Police Department that drew national attention last week. The Hawkeyes coach used this question as an opportunity to speak to the larger concerns of rising tensions in our country.
“I think we all just need to talk to each other a little more,” Hawk Central quotes him as saying, “and listen a little bit more, too, and find some middle ground.” Ferentz continued, “I’m a coach … and I see the good in people — young people, certainly. And sometimes you’ve just got to bring it out. And it all starts with talking and sharing ideas.”
