We all might be waiting for Kirk Ferentz to hide under the receiver, OL thing. That's not going to happen.
That said, do you realize it took Bruce Nelson, Eric Steinbach, David Porter, Andy Lightfoot and Robert Gallery a few years to jell into arguably the best O-line in the history of Iowa football?
I know I totally forgot about that.
This group started two games together in 2001, the opener and the Alamo Bowl. It basically had one decent (2001 Alamo, 6th in the Big Ten in total offense at 393.5 ypg but No. 1 in scoring offense 32.6 ppg) and one brilliant season (8-0 Big Ten, Orange Bowl) and it was gone. Before that, pieces of this group (Nelson and Lightfoot played in '99; Steinbach and Gallery showed up in 2000) were 1-10 and 3-9 and not very good. The 2000 OL, which was a sports trainers training ground with all the injuries, allowed 57 sacks. In '99, the Hawkeyes rushed for 93.5 ypg and converted 30.2 percent of their third downs. (BTW, this year's Hawkeyes are at 118.3 rush yards a game and 29.2 percent on third down.)
Even this group didn't walk on the field and dominate. This is long-haul stuff. That's not what you want to hear, but you know it's true.
I don't know what the upside is for this year's group, but hopefully a look back sheds a little perspective on where these guys are in their development. As I'm sure you know by now, this year's group includes a junior (Seth Olsen), three sophomores (Kyle Calloway, Travis Meade and Rafael Eubanks) and a freshman (Julian Vandervelde), with Dace Richardson (out with a knee for an undetermined period of time) in for a few games.