Before the start of college football season, and Iowa's opener against Maine! I just can't wait. Black and gold thoughts consume every fabric of my brain, and basically all I do with my life is monotonously pour over every update and new nugget of information with vigor, watchin old youtube and scothawk videos to get myself ready for the season. As if I needed anymore motivation. Right now my only big concerns are the Moeaki and Stross injury rumors...I guess if you're a glass half full guy you could say this is a good time to have injuries, but we cannot afford to have these guys hurt again. Moeaki's really concerns me, because they are saying it's a broken foot and those can potentially keep you out for awhile. Hopefully it's not that and if it is, it's a minor break, but we shall find out all of this info at the big 2-hour open scrimmage today, where the media and fans will swarm upon Kinnick. At least we can thank the heavens for giving us good tight end depth and a proven stud in Brandon Myers, but Moeaki has Dallas Clark-level potential. Enough said. Stross's injury is supposedly the hamstring that bugged him for most of last year, so it's not good if it's still giving him problems. Stross is a great deep threat and had impressive rapport with Christensen, so we need him on the field. Luckily our 1st two games are glorified scrimmages and should give these guys a chance to recover and get ready for more relevant, competitive contests. As far as the running back situation, it's still fairly unclear, with a bevy of guys looking pretty good. Shonn Greene has looked huge and impressive ever since he's been getting good reps in practice, and I would expect him to be the starter from day 1 thanks mainly to his experience. A running back by committe approach is the most likely, however. Paki O'meara has still looked good, bringing experience and an impressive work ethic as well, while freshman Jewel Hampton has ran hard/hungry, looking like the best bet as far as frosh go to get some time. Nate Guillory is fast as lighting, but he's got such skinny legs I don't know how he's going to be able to block. And at Iowa, running backs have to block. Finally, we have special teams menace Jayme Murphy, too white to be taken seriously, and freshman Jeff Brinson, who's been fairly quiet in practice, looking like he just spent his entire summer at Hardees. I still see Shonn starting, with Paki, Nate, and Jewel all getting some carries at 1st to sort out some sort of a rhythm or rotation. Jake Christensen is still barely holding onto the QB spot, as it has been his to lose since last year, but Stanzi sure is looking good and he's definitely challenging jake and giving him good competition. Like I've been saying since last year, I think Jake will be much improved and will have a good/great year, but if he struggles early Ferentz won't cut him so much slack like last season and will put Stanzi in. The wideouts look strong and deep, but I'd breathe much easier if Stross was healthy. The secondary looks young, but like it could be one our most athletic ever. You won't see any more Shadas struggling to keep up back there. The experienced and much improved Bradley Fletcher has one corner spot locked down, with super-athlete Jordan Bernstein likley taking the other. Jordan was the best athlete in Iowa two years ago, coming from Des Moines, and he looks ripped and ready to go. Young playmaker Brett Greenwood still has free safety locked down, but word out of camp is that heavy-hitter Harold Dalton is being pushed hard by relative unknown Lance Tillison for the starting strong safety spot. Always love some good competition. The D-line is set, and for the linebackers it looks like Jacody Coleman and Jeff Tarpinian are both the likely candidates to take over for Humpal and Klinkenborg and start alongside AJ Edds. The offensive line should be much improved with the tough trial by fire they experienced last season, with less shuffling around and more consistency and stability. Lots of good competition and lots of hype all over the line, and they should basically be better this year by default. One more position of concern is placekicking...Kirk sounds very unimpressed every time he talks about Daniel Murray, who showed good flashes last season but then baffled with botched extra points and a weak leg. Look for freshman Trent Mossbrucker, from Indiana, to get a serious look at placekicking duties, especially if Murray struggles early. Field goals really could have made all the difference last year, and Kirk knows it. Here's to a happy and healthy national championship for my Hawkeyes this year!!