With some of the freshmen and redshirt freshmen who are starting to make an impact.
Here's one from April on Brett Greenwood, whose dad, Dave, graduated from CR Kennedy and played at Iowa State.
Headline: Walk-on DB rises to top of chart
Intro: Pleasant Valley's Greenwood is Iowa's top free safety
Byline: Marc Morehouse
Source: The Gazette
Brett Greenwood was a dot in the binoculars last season. He was the other No. 30, the
main 30 being tight end Ryan Majerus.
But Greenwood's No. 30 kept dotting the binoculars.
Every Iowa freshman who's sitting out a red-shirt season gets a chance to dress and
stand on the sidelines during one or two home games. It's a ceremonial thing, something to
whet the kid's whistle.
Greenwood did that, but his No. 30 also showed up on road trips - every road trip. This is
more than ceremonial. The Big Ten limits travel rosters, so every player has at least an
emergency chance to see the field, especially one who makes every trip.
The point is that the Iowa coaching staff was high on the 6-foot, 185-pound walk-on from
Bettendorf.
Hammering the point home is Greenwood's spot as the No. 1 free safety on Iowa's
depth chart this spring.
It's a quick rise, so you know the coaches liked what they saw in practice last fall,
even though Greenwood kept his red-shirt and was never put in a game.
"Being around him, he prepared like he was ready to play even though he was red-shirting," Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. "He has a great attitude and is a great athlete. We like what we have seen so far. It will be interesting to see what he does this spring."
Ed Morrissey, Greenwood's football coach at Pleasant Valley High School, knew he had a
good athlete when he made Greenwood a starting defensive back, punt returner, wingback and
backup quarterback as a sophomore.
Morrissey wasn't surprised when Greenwood told him he was going to walk on at Iowa.
Greenwood's work ethic made Morrissey a believer.
"He'd be out on the field long after practice was over, running routes with a couple teammates," Morrissey said. "We'd come out of coaches meetings after practice and would be taking off to go home and we'd see Brett and a couple other guys, running routes and throwing the ball.
"I'd say, `Hey, doggone it, we've got to get home, we've got families, we've got to get home for dinner.' "
Iowa offensive line coach Reese Morgan, who recorded 146 victories as a prep football coach
in Iowa and is in the Iowa high school coaches Hall of Fame, recruits and brings in walk-ons
from the state of Iowa.
Walk-on scouting is taken seriously. This is where the Iowa staff has found the likes of
Dallas Clark, Derek Pagel and Bruce Nelson, former walk-ons from Iowa who went on to become NFL draft picks.
It also makes up a huge chunk of Iowa's roster. There are seven walk-ons listed on Iowa's two-deep roster this spring.
Greenwood had the football resume coming out of Pleasant Valley. He was first-team all-state
his junior and senior years. During three years on the varsity, he rushed for 1,076 yards,
passed for 686 and had 783 receiving yards. He also picked off 13 passes at free safety.
Greenwood probably sealed the deal with his performance at the 2006 state basketball
tournament. During Pleasant Valley's semifinal matchup against Linn-Mar, he drew Jason
Bohannon.
Bohannon went into the game averaging 27.6 points. Greenwood held the future Wisconsin
Badger to four points on 2-for-11 from the field.
"You could tell that Reese had strong feelings about him in recruiting," Ferentz
said. "He knew more about Brett than any of us. He knew about his basketball, the other
things that he was doing, the intangibles. All of those things that (Morgan) had a sense for,
we saw when he came to camp."
Greenwood also came with excellent bloodlines.
His dad, Dave, a Cedar Rapids Kennedy graduate, was a first-team all-Big 8 offensive lineman
at Iowa State in 1976. Brett's sister, Lindsey, earned a soccer scholarship at Nebraska.
"He's a straight arrow," Morrissey said. "He's the hardest worker I ever had. He's the kind of kid you put a lot of faith in."
Iowa already is.