Iowa Hawkeyes in the middle of Spring Drills coming off 12-2 campaign a year ago ...

Iowa City, IA -- The University of Iowa football team kicked off Spring Drills in March. The 2016 season will kick-off at Kinnick Stadium, on Saturday, September 3rd, when Miami-OH comes to town.

Every year is new. We haven't sustained so well at times. It really gets down to the same story. Every January you start over again. Typically you have some good players coming back, and you've lost some good players typically. It's all about the opportunity for everybody. But it's everybody at every level. The older guys, guys like CJ (Beathard) and Josey (Jewell), if they play the way they played last year, it's not going to be good enough. We need them to play better, and that's true of all the guys that have played, and the guys that haven't played have to deal with the guys we've just talked about. Jerminic (Smith) and Adrian (Falconer) have to step in and be able to play a role.

We've got to have younger guys supporting those guys and moving along because you just never know when somebody's going to get called into action. There are a lot of moving parts, but it's a new challenge every year, for sure. But we've got new opportunities as well. - Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz

Spring Football comes to a close for Iowa, Nebraska and Iowa State

The Hawkeyes are remodeling the playing surface at Kinnick, so no spring game or scrimmage for the fans this year. But, coach Kirk Ferentz and his staff did conduct a scrimmage and contact drills in front of recruits, recruits parents and the media.

KCRG-TV ran some highlights on the 6 pm news, including the return of offensive linemen Dace Richardson. Richardson is working at left guard and could earn his starting position again, after stepping away from football in 2008, due to knee problems. Richardson is a 5Th year senior, who is a former starting left tackle. Iowa returns a strong group of the 2008 team that finished the season 9-4 overall and among the Top 25 teams in college football.

Nebraska fans filled Memorial Stadium again for another Spring Game, while Big 12 opponent Iowa State welcomed in a new era, with new head coach Paul Rhoads at the helm. Rhoades replace Gene Chizik, who has moved onto Auburn, after two years (5-19) as the ISU head coach.

The 2009 College Football season will kickoff on Thursday, September 3, 2009, with at least five national games planned already. Iowa State will kickoff the Paul Rhoads era on Thursday, September 3Rd with a home game with North Dakota State.

The University of Iowa will open on Saturday, September 5Th hosting in-state opponent, the University of Northern Iowa, who finished runner-up in the FCS National Championship Game in 2008. Nebraska will host Florida Atlantic, from the Sun Belt Conference in their season opener on the first weekend of college football for 2009.

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