IOWA HAWKEYES FOOTBALL
Iowa Football 2019 Position Previews: Offensive Line
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Can the big uglies be bigger and uglier?
By
BenjaminRoss@renboss23 Jul 30, 2019, 7:01am CDT
Here’s the thing about Iowa football. Everyone knows it’s O Line U. But not since
Brandon Scherff in 2015 has Iowa had an offensive lineman go in the first round of the
NFL Draft (Iowa has had 22 first round NFL draft picks, that’s kinda neat).
The sun will rise again on OLU.
Tristan Wirfs and
Alaric Jackson will likely bring back another lineman to the first round. If not this year as underclassmen, but next year as seniors.
The aforementioned are in charge of protecting Nathan Stanley. And they do a pretty good job. So let’s start with them.
The Bookends
First, we’ll talk about
Alaric Jackson. He’s got 24 starts under his belt and he’s a reigning consensus all-conference runner-up at tackle. He’s 6-6, 320 lbs of nasty and he’s in charge of protecting
Nate Stanley’s blindside. He’s got the money position for an o-lineman.
The craziest part about Alaric Jackson is the fact he didn’t play football until he was a junior in high school, leading to some growing pains:
He was rated the best pass-blocker in the conference last season by Pro Football Focus, and since he’s been going up against AJ Epenesa everyday, I bet we’ll see an even better version of Jackson in 2019.
Jackson can do more than his fair share of run-blocking, and really, I think this is going to be a special year for the guy. I wanna see Iowa’s offense click, and if
Nate Stanley can sleep easy on Friday’s knowing Alaric Jackson has his back, then we’re all butter.
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We’ll get to No. 3 on that above list in minute.
Actually, let’s just do it now.
There are many who think
Tristan Wirfs has progressed into the more talented tackle on this team. There were even whispers he and Jackson were to switch sides this season to reflect this development. The first sentence is moot and the second is pointless.
Wirfs and Jackson are both excellent. I’m not prepared to say one is better than the other, because we’re all on the same team, man.
Wirfs has 20 starts to his name, was an honorable mention as a conference player a year ago (he didn’t allow a single sack at all in 2018) and did this thing in the weight room recently:
Wirfs is a Draftnik Darling, and at 6-5, 322 lbs, a force to be reckoned with. You know he’s getting reps against AJ Epenesa errday too. Iron sharpens iron and this offensive line is going to be looking like a block of Yoshihiro’s come September.
Look, I’ve already done your homework for you: Tristan Wirfs and Alaric Jackson are pretty friggin’ special, and I think we’d be hard pressed to find a better tackle tandem in the country.