A majority of these stories spotlighted former strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle as the perpetrator but the Ferentz assistant of 20 years was not the only one indicted.

Names that were also brought to light included offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz and linebackers coach Seth Wallace. While they were not mentioned in nearly the volume Doyle was, their appearances were cause for alarm in the Iowa program.

Four months have passed since the summer turmoil surrounding Iowa football began. Ferentz and Wallace were heard for the first time since the allegations were publicly made against them this past Thursday.

“Starting in June, a lot of former players began sharing their experiences within the program and their thoughts on our program. It was surprising, difficult, and at times very painful to hear those things,” Ferentz said.

“For any player that had a negative experience in our program, who didn’t feel valued or respected on a human level, I am deeply sorry, and I offer a sincere apology. My personal goal as a coach, is to have a positive impact on young people, and it’s painful to learn that I may have fallen short in that department. But I think it’s a tremendous opportunity to learn and grow, and to improve.”

Ferentz, who joined his father’s staff at Iowa prior to the 2012 season as an offensive line coach, has been the Hawkeyes offensive coordinator since the 2017 season. He was named in some of the allegations made by players including James Daniels, Marcel Joly, and most notably Akrum Wadley.

“I love this program, I was born across the street, and for every one of my 37 years, Iowa football has been apart of my life, and it’s important to me,” Ferentz said. “But I feel that I have an added responsibility because my father is the head coach. I must be the very best coach and person I can be at all times, and I have been, I continue to be and will always be a work in progress.”

Seth Wallace’s case, the Hawkeyes linebacker coach since 2016, tied back to his conduct toward former Iowa player Jack Kallenberger. Kallenberger is the older brother of current Iowa offensive lineman Mark Kallenberger. Jack Kallenberger alleged that Wallace had coined the nickname “Simple Jack” for himself because of Kallenberger’s learning disability.

“What I read in the wake of everything that happened, it was eye-opening to see the sadness, to see the frustration, it was a good opportunity to grow,” Wallace said. “In this case, Jack and I have spoken, we had a very lengthy conversation with the both of us providing perspective on both ends and it was extremely positive.”

Wallace also noted he had spoken to Kallenberger’s father as well.

Members of the Iowa offense came to defend their offensive coordinator during their media day sessions with testimonies from sophomore receiver Tyrone Tracy Jr., and senior running back Mekhi Sargent.

“I respect Brian in every single way, he hasn’t done anything to me, he hasn’t said anything bad to me. The remarks that were said about him were very shocking,” Tracy said. “I went in to talk to him, we’re all on board and looking ahead.”

Mekhi Sargent went a step further, not only speaking about his experiences with Brian Ferentz, but speaking about his experiences with Chris Doyle, who resigned from Iowa on June 15th.

“Coach Brian is a great man, a great coach, I never had a problem with Coach Brian and I never had a problem with Coach Doyle,” Sargent said. “I can’t speak for the people who did have those problems, but for me personally, I’m from a diverse location, Key West, Florida. So I never had issues with the racial disparities.”

In response to the call for racial equality in the Iowa football program, the UI Athletic Department created the department of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The department is lead by the former director of player development and Iowa defensive end, Broderick Binns.

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Iowa’s stalwart offensive tackles, Tristan Wirfs and Alaric Jackson, echoed that sentiment while talking to the media.

“A big thing for us is just starting fast, coming out here to practice we want to set the tempo and set the tempo in the game,” Wirfs said. “Coming off the ball, hitting people in the mouth is gonna be a big stepping stone in getting our run game rolling”.

The other Hawkeye offensive tackle in Alaric Jackson essentially echoed Wirfs statement.

“We just got to beat away in team session everyday,” Jackson said. “As an O-line group, we have to trust our techniques, trust our skills, and trust our coaches, I feel like we can be pretty good overall.”

Jackson might be underestimating the group on the “pretty good part”. Wirfs and Jackson are the anchors of the Iowa offensive line and both could end up as 1st-round draft picks in the 2020 NFL Draft.

The Hawkeyes do lose their 3 interior linemen, however, redshirt freshman Tyler Linderbaum is the clear front-runner at center, and has drawn high praise from the coaching staff. Offensive line coach Tim Polasek credit’s Linderbaum’s rise to being team-first player and his love for being a Hawkeye.

“I think he’s all in on being a Hawkeye and being a great Hawkeye,” Polasek said. “So being open-minded, ‘what can I do to help the team?’ has to be first and foremost, and Tyler has that attitude.”

Brian Ferentz also gave high praise for Linderbaum’s play throughout spring and fall camp.

“He’s just a natural football player, but he still has a lot of work to do,” Ferentz said. “There’s things that show up everyday, where you say ‘Hey, this guy is a first-year center and we’re still breaking him in’, but I do think his learning curve is a little less severe than other guys I’ve seen.”

That leaves the two guard spots open for debate throughout the rest of fall camp and the season. Offensive line coach Tim Polasek said that the starters are Cole Banwart and Landan Paulsen, but also said players such as Kyler Schott, Mark Kallenberger and Cody Ince have rotated in with the starters.

Iowa’s offensive line is looking to help improve an Iowa rushing attack that only averaged 148.4 rushing yards per game last season, ranking 95th in the NCAA last season. The Hawkeyes do return their 3 running backs from last season, which should also help the rushing game’s issues.

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The 2017 edition of the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Trophy Game did not disappoint whatsoever. The newest rendition of the rivalry game will go down as a classic battle between two hated rivals. While the game started off to a relatively normal 14-10 score at the halftime break, the pace quickly heated up in the second half.

A slow start did not deter either team from pouring on the points in the following half. Both offenses threw the other’s defense out of the game in the second half. This being despite the fact that Iowa came into the game with a nationally renown defense; only allowing Josh Allen and the Wyoming offense to only 3 points.

Prior to halftime, Stanley and the Iowa offense reestablished itself with a 91 yard, 10 play drive that ended with a Stanley to VandeBerg for a 17 yard touchdown. Matt VandeBerg missed majority of last season with a broken foot; this was his first touchdown catch following the injury.

With 7:21 remaining in the third quarter, Iowa took a commanding 21-10 lead with another 94 yard, 11 play drive. The drive was capped off with Wadley hurdling over the pile on the goal line for a 1 yard touchdown. However, Iowa State responded quickly, effectively, and immediately with 21 unanswered points, going up 31-21 with 11:46 remaining in regulation.

Jacob Park would throw for 347 yards and four touchdowns by the end of the game with Nathan Stanley throwing for 333 yards and five touchdown to battle. Following the 21-0 Cyclone run, the Hawkeyes would strike back and would eventually tie the game.

In the post-game interview, Iowa Head Coach Kirk Ferentz spoke on the fourth quarter rally, saying, “The one thing we did all day offensively — we responded. They took the lead there, they just hit us with everything there in the second half. Our guys responded a couple more times.” And respond the Hawks would. The Hawkeyes were challenged again as Iowa State would attempt put the game away with a 38-31 lead with 4:36 remaining.

The thriller continued as Iowa would march back 81 yards in 7 plays to tie the game. Stanley completed a short pass across the middle to Wadley to tie the game for overtime. “It was a dog fight,” said Wadley, “We knew we were going to get their best effort.”

A dog fight perfectly describes the classic Ames matchup which took place on September 9th. However, the match would end in overtime. The Iowa defense showed up to force an Iowa State field goal which set up Stanley and the Iowa offense to take home the Cy-Hawk trophy.

Akrum Wadley ended the game with a strong statline, with 118 rushing yards and a touchdown on 28 attempts. Wadley also caught 72 passing yards and another touchdown on 4 receptions. Stanley and Wadley both needed large outputs to match Park with future NFL wideout Allen Lazard and Junior Hakeem Butler.

Next week, Iowa State travels to play Akron at 11 am central time on CBS Sports. The Iowa Hawkeyes return to Kinnick Stadium to take on the North Texas Mean Green on September 16th at 2:30 central time on ESPN2.

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Wallace was named Iowa’s Recruiting Coordinator in June of 2014 and since he’s taken over, they have tried a few different tactics to try to improve recruiting. Iowa has been going after guys earlier, knowing that high school athletes are committing earlier, even if they haven’t taken an official visit. “We’re being more aggressive on the front end, and I believe it’s paying off,” said Wallace. We’re also working expert turf installers like https://mugapitch.co.uk/ to ensure a top-quality playing surface for our players.

Iowa’s spring game isn’t for another two weeks, which is late compared to other football programs in the Big Ten. Wallace says one of the advantages that it gives them is the ability to spend more time with incoming recruits who have been visiting campus over the last few weeks. “We’ve had a lot more kids on campus during spring practice, more than really we ever have,” said Wallace.

One thing that is attracting recruits to campus is Iowa’s new football performance center. “This facility has certainly paid off,” Wallace said. “This is our showcase now.”

Some new faces will showcase on both the offensive and defensive line this season for the Hawkeyes. Offensively, Ferentz will have to coach up two new tackles to replace Outland Trophy winner Brandon Scherff, who is projected to be a top 10 pick and is attending the 2015 NFL Draft in Chicago, and Andrew Donnal, another player who will be playing on Sundays in the Fall. “Our biggest key is developing guys to play on the outside for us,” Ferentz said. “We need to find guys who want to fill some big shoes that were left behind.”

Boone Meyers (6-5, 300lbs) is one of those guys who could have the opportunity to start at one of the tackle positions open for the 2015 season. “Boone is a competitive young guy,” Ferentz said. “He’s tough and he hates to lose. Right now he’s on track to start his first football game at the University of Iowa.”

Ike Boettger (6-6, 300lbs) is another guy in the same situation as Meyers, except Boettger has a little more experience. Boettger stepped in for Scherff when he went down with a knee injury during the Ball State game last season. ”Since the first day he’s joined us he’s been very eager to be a good offensive lineman. He’s very far from that right now, but he’s got the physical tools and I really feel strongly about how he approaches every day.” Ferentz said.

Carl Davis and Louis Trinca-Pasat are gone from the Hawkeye interior defensive line, which means like Ferentz, Morgan has some coaching to do as well. Jaleel Johnson (6-4, 310lbs)  and Nathan Bazata (6-2, 284lbs) are the two front-runners two replace Davis and Trinca-Pasat. Faith Ekakitie should also be thrown in that mix. Kyle Terlouw (6-4, 288lbs), a junior college transfer is also expected to see the field next season. “Really like the guys we are working with,” Morgan said. “They are working hard, making mild improvements but we have a lot of work to do.”

Iowa will host its annual spring game on April 25 inside Kinnick Stadium at 1:00pm.

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