The Career of J.D. Clark (NCAA 14)

[Hellisan]

2023 - Week 8 - #16 Wisconsin at #2 Iowa

[Hellisan]

Recruiting Update

Five players were in attendance for their official visits as Iowa took on Wisconsin. Four of those players made a commitment to play for the Hawkeyes and will sign their letter of intent early. That brings the total number of players signed by Iowa this year to seven.

We've definitely gone ham on defensive tackles this year despite already having 5 or 6 slated to return this year. Part oversight, part overreaction to how hard it used to be to find them. Plus, a couple of them are REALLY good and might push their way to the top of the pile.

[Hellisan]

Hawk Blog

Iowa LB's are Setting the Freaking Pace

Nothing lasts forever, so enjoy these guys when you can. When Iowa signed linebacker David Bryant out of Wisconsin and then a year later signed Brandon Butler out of Louisiana, those who closely watch the program were excited. These guys were highly rated. They were talented. And yet, they've been better than anything I could have imagined. These guys combine their talent with a lunch pail mentality on the field. They bring it. Every single week. Butler mans the middle, while Bryant fills the outside linebacker role. But in the modern game, Nickle is king. That means you have two outstanding linebackers patrolling the middle of the field who in some variations blitz off the edge as well, that influence the game like no other duo in college football.

"It's frustrating sometimes because old football coaches like traditional sets, and we probably still play those as much as any team does. But the bottom line is, if you can get two really good linebackers and then shape the role of the surrounding players around them, you can still compete against the run and be better equipped to deal with the pass," said defensive coordinator Victor Brown.

Bryant, Butler, and Dillon III from left to right.

One's a senior and the other's a junior, but I expect both are playing their final season in the black and gold. So who will fill the role going forward? Well, think about this fact. Coach Clark redshirted both Butler and Bryant. Meanwhile, Dez Dillon III is playing this season as a true freshman. A lot more than anyone expected. Here are the stats:

Butler: 50 tackles, 14 TFL, 2 sacks, INT, FF, FR, TD
Bryant: 48 tackles, 14 TFL, 2 sacks, 2 PBU, FF, FR, TD
Dillon III: 23 tackles, 6 TFL, 3 sacks, 3 INT, PBU, FR, TD

The Hawkeyes have three players that are all, individually, DECIMATING the chances of opposing offenses on a weekly basis. No wonder this team is doing as well as it is.

Look to Dillon to lead the position into the future at outside linebacker, and occasionally come off the edge as a pass rusher. At 6'6", he's three inches taller than Butler and Bryant, who are tall linebackers in their own right, and every bit as athletic, or more. For the interior, look for one of Willie Nelson or J.D. Maxey to get a shot. And don't sleep on Reggie Clancy The junior has seemingly been around for six years, but has another year of eligibility left and could move to a bigger role due to his experience.

Going back to Butler and Bryant, I asked Coach Brown what makes them so good, how they complement one another, and how they're different.

Brown: "It's funny you ask that, because if you asked me why they're so good as a duo, I would list those three things exactly. They're both incredible players, they're different, and that helps them to complement one another exceedingly well.

Both are great athletically. But Brandon stands out more as a pure athlete. He's faster, stronger, and almost unblockable. And he never stops. Those are the things that make him great. His mental game is good, but those things are the anchors. David, he's different. His ability to read keys and instantly know what's going to happen is unique to him. I haven't seen another linebacker that reacts as quickly. He's constantly moving into the right gaps to make a big play, or chase the thing down from behind. It's really hard to fool him. So you have these two guys, they're both exceptional, do things a little differently, and each are essential to our success."

Next Up: Road Game at 2-4 Northwestern

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Iowa have a soft schedule this year. That could hurt them if they don't win out. Northwestern haven't really been good at any one thing this year. They run a balanced offense, and are around the Top 50 in passing, rushing, and combined offensive yardage. On defense, they're also somewhat middling, and while Iowa are +8 in turnovers this year, NU are -4.

Smartly, the Wildcats have not elected to bring any recruits for visits this week. They'll be without their starting quarterback, but they have a talented pair of running backs. At times, this team has done damage against the Hawkeyes in the past on the ground. They also have Tom McMillan, one of the fastest receivers in all of college football. McMillian is averating 17.8 yards per catch on 26 receptions this year, and seems to be in contention for a 1,000 yard season. The offensive line is solid and very good on the left side. Northwestern have some serious beef on the interior, but their edge rushers are nondescript. Middle linebacker Demetri Foster is the standout on defense, and is capable of filling up a stat sheet when healthy.

Week 9 injury report:

WR NeShawn Talley - The Hawkeyes have a number of players with minor injuries, but Talley is the notable one with a more serious injury. He's not expected back until bowl season, recovering from a broken collarbone. He's an all-rounder the team can count on. Look for Doug Durbin to take up some of the slack. The talented Durbin was expected to do big things this year and might just need a reset that this opportunity provides. Coach Clark said this week he wants to get some of his speed on the field. That means Armand Holmes, or possibly, DJ Halloway, the two-way player of lore who has done virtually no two-way playing this season.

[moose141]

Re: Hawk Blog

Some great updates! The recaps for the Texas Tech game and Minnesota were unbelievable, I can’t imagine how much info you had to pump into ChatGPT for it to churn out articles like that.

The team is buzzing along, great to see some young players making big contributions in that Penn State win, and Larry just doing what he does. With Iowa as the mini Steelers, you might as well start calling him the bus and ride him to the promised land.

Some really good signings, but I hate that you stole a Pittsburgh product (Bethel Park is a Pittsburgh suburb) from right under our nose! Especially such a monster, I can see Omara being a huge contributor right away. Interesting as well to see you getting what looks to be a very solid quarterback. You had the whole QB controversy with Malone (does he transfer now?), Harkless, and now JMack leading the offense as a youngster, I wonder if this new kid with some decent talent is content to develop for 2-3 years or could he get in the mix right away as well?

[Hellisan]

2023 - Week 9 - #2 Iowa at Northwestern

[Hellisan]

Re: Hawk Blog

Will Big Man start demanding he play both ways with those hands? Jeez, what a breakout performance!

It was amazing. And it was even better because if I remember correctly that was one of the more frustrating games I've been a part of. In most of my games I just can't pass as well as I used to, the players on the receiving and passing end aren't as good as what I've had in the past. And just in general, I don't know what I do differently than everyone else whose dynasties I read but I can't pass like you all can, and the on-and-off nature of how I've been running this chise over the most recent years has definitely not helped. In THAT game though, it felt like we were doing most everything right but we were fumbling left and right and they were about to nick a win even though I felt like we were way better, so to see him get the THIRD one which was a beautiful one where he jumped it and to tapped the sideline, was pretty awesome and relieving.

Regarding Laterion "Big Man" Thomas - I just gave him that nickname because (in my imagination) - the players all felt his name sounds like an NBA Center. I think I put that somewhere in the miles and miles of text in this thread but didn't expect anyone to catch it.

This really resonates with me too, so you're not alone. I can count on one hand the amount of college football games I've watched from start to finish over the last few years, and fall Saturdays used to be my favorite days. Between realignment and the overemphasis on the CFP, it feels like the soul has been ripped from the sport and it's not coming back. That's one of the reasons why I personally enjoy sticking with playing the older games - it's a nice escape to a simpler time in the sport.

Really glad to have you back, Helli, and glad to see Iowa string together three more wins. What a performance by your freshman corner in Happy Valley - even if Penn State is down, snagging a trio of interceptions in that environment is quite the accomplishment.

I'm glad I'm not alone on that perception that college football is sort of lost. I like that the regular games still matter. I like a lot of the things about the game still, but when money is the overriding factor to the point that west coast teams are going to be joining teams in a time zone two hours east.... That's just nuts. I can't get on board with that. Just for the short-term gain. West coast fans have a lot to hang their head about, and one thing is, we aren't as into the sport as the other fans as a collective, and we killed our conference in a lot of ways. Glad to be back thanks a lot for the kind words and stopping by the thread.

Some great updates! The recaps for the Texas Tech game and Minnesota were unbelievable, I can’t imagine how much info you had to pump into ChatGPT for it to churn out articles like that.

The team is buzzing along, great to see some young players making big contributions in that Penn State win, and Larry just doing what he does. With Iowa as the mini Steelers, you might as well start calling him the bus and ride him to the promised land.

Some really good signings, but I hate that you stole a Pittsburgh product (Bethel Park is a Pittsburgh suburb) from right under our nose! Especially such a monster, I can see Omara being a huge contributor right away. Interesting as well to see you getting what looks to be a very solid quarterback. You had the whole QB controversy with Malone (does he transfer now?), Harkless, and now JMack leading the offense as a youngster, I wonder if this new kid with some decent talent is content to develop for 2-3 years or could he get in the mix right away as well?

Thanks Moose! Sometimes in the past I used Chat GPT to ask it to summarize loads of information in the writing Voice of Hunter S. Thompson. It spit out some hilarious stuff about a new condominium project I was working in, so I thought it would be humorous for a football game. I find that you do have to ask it to re-write a lot if it doesn't understand something and then maybe do some editing as well, but overall, it's a pretty cool tool and I just use the stats that you can see there, and then a game journal that I type up during games, after important drives. So it has the stats, the scoring summary, and then details about the drives and does pretty well with that.

I'm amazed you still remember my guys, if you're anything like me you at least had to take a look at the roster, but if not, kudos. and even kudos if so because I appreciate you asking about Iowa product Malone. I go about making games hard a little differently than most and I guess I'm looking for appropriately hard because I am going for a legendary coach and in the college football world that necessarily means loads of wins. But I want the game to be wide open while having to work for it. So the biggest key to that for me is making it hard to pass. My protection is pretty awful and the QB accuracy is second from the worst. Maybe a lot of people use that and still kill it, I don't know. i find that around 85 ACC is when you can make that work. Mack has an 84 and throws like an 86, Harkless has an 84 and throws like a 60 accuracy, (maybe because he's a lefty?) and Malone has an 81 and throws like a 78. It just makes it really hard to convert on third downs and things like that. Most of the difficulty I've had with J Mack this season is just user error. He's solid, and he's a pretty solid runner of the ball without being too easy to make big plays.

As far as recruits, we have the 6'7" guy Willis Delaney with 79 throw accuracy. I really want to redshirt him to get that number up. In my improvement model arm strength isn't something that goes up massively, but accuracy can (it just hasn't with Malone lol). So I'm hoping he's a long term solution. We also landed an athlete, Zade Mitchell, but I'm worried that even at 5'10", with his combination of incredible running ability and accuracy it would be a bit too easy. Also it's been really hard for me to find an all-around running back and he could be that for us. My guess is that Mack is the starter next year, but we'll see what happens, it would be awesome if one of the other QB had a great year of improvement and could pass accurately enough to make it a competition. Lengthy response I know, but you ask some pretty interesting questions. Without playing the updated game transfers are pretty few and far between but it's always a possibility.

[Careless Whisper]

Re: The Career of J.D. Clark (NCAA 14)

What a story for Larry Legend to save the day against the team that derailed his season last year! There really hasn't been a challenger to his Heisman resume thus far, and it should be a rout come December barring injury. I'm really fascinated with how good he is, since if I remember correctly, he's like a low-to-mid 80s overall? Illinois on the road next week will be a major test - goes without saying you'll need more from Mack, Harkless, or whoever ends up starting at QB.

[Hellisan]

Re: The Career of J.D. Clark (NCAA 14)

What a story for Larry Legend to save the day against the team that derailed his season last year! There really hasn't been a challenger to his Heisman resume thus far, and it should be a rout come December barring injury. I'm really fascinated with how good he is, since if I remember correctly, he's like a low-to-mid 80s overall? Illinois on the road next week will be a major test - goes without saying you'll need more from Mack, Harkless, or whoever ends up starting at QB.

Did you see the 80 yd run? If not, just fast forward to where the score becomes 28-28, it's the last play of the half. I watched in slow motion to see if I could detect even a shred of user joystick talent, I panic-juked one guy with the left stick in the hole but then just ran right into other bodies and he just ragdolls them. You're right about his rating. And I was so disappointed when in the offseason he didn't improve even a shred in my player development model. But it just hasn't mattered. There have been some times when good teams stopped him from making big runs this year but all his ratings seem to play up. My 94 speed guys aren't usually anywhere near as fast as he is, I'm not gonna say that he's never been caught from behind, but anytime he's been truly clear of angles, never, not even close. I've had a lot of good running backs rating wise that I couldn't get more than around 4 ypc with... In good numbers of carries.

Thanks so much for checking in. I'm gonna be limited on reporting for the next 2-3 weeks but hope to catch up on reading some other dynasties.

edit: Oh, by the way, I should mention that last year's Heisman winner, 99 OVR LSU QB William Todd has officially entered the chat, putting up big yards rushing and passing, and 7 touchdowns this week. Uh. Ohhhhhhhhhhhh

[Careless Whisper]

Re: The Career of J.D. Clark (NCAA 14)

Did you see the 80 yd run? If not, just fast forward to where the score becomes 28-28, it's the last play of the half. I watched in slow motion to see if I could detect even a shred of user joystick talent, I panic-juked one guy with the left stick in the hole but then just ran right into other bodies and he just ragdolls them. You're right about his rating. And I was so disappointed when in the offseason he didn't improve even a shred in my player development model. But it just hasn't mattered. There have been some times when good teams stopped him from making big runs this year but all his ratings seem to play up. My 94 speed guys aren't usually anywhere near as fast as he is, I'm not gonna say that he's never been caught from behind, but anytime he's been truly clear of angles, never, not even close. I've had a lot of good running backs rating wise that I couldn't get more than around 4 ypc with... In good numbers of carries.

Thanks so much for checking in. I'm gonna be limited on reporting for the next 2-3 weeks but hope to catch up on reading some other dynasties.

edit: Oh, by the way, I should mention that last year's Heisman winner, 99 OVR LSU QB William Todd has officially entered the chat, putting up big yards rushing and passing, and 7 touchdowns this week. Uh. Ohhhhhhhhhhhh

Yeah I watched the 80-yarder after reading the recap - just a special play by Lloyd. I can go on and on about him outplaying his overall ratings and such, but I think that run in particular is a neat callback to some of the older NCAA games. I swear if you give random Joe Schmoe the same ratings as Lloyd and run that exact play, he's bottled up after a couple of yards regardless of stick skills, but because Lloyd has had the year and career he has had, the game's engine gives him the benefit of the doubt and allows him to make the big play there.

[moose141]

Re: The Career of J.D. Clark (NCAA 14)

Larry, what a man! Pretty easy to just keep handing the ball off when your halfback is going for 10 yards a pop 27 times a game... It's funny how we all seem to end up having a player who becomes a stud even if they aren't the 99 OVR-rated player, like you with Larry and Jay Keyes in my file. Really makes for some great storylines!

[OldHossRadbourn]

Re: The Career of J.D. Clark (NCAA 14)













Shades of Jack Lambert here with that main picture.....

[OldHossRadbourn]

Re: The Career of J.D. Clark (NCAA 14)

Re: D-line recruiting, I really like searching out run-stopping DEs with the right frame and moving them to DT if I need to. Also, if you get too many DT's, make the ones with the pass-rushing specialty into big DE's.

I like to chase frames and prototypes then move them to the positions that make sense after the fact.

If it's a tough year for DT recruiting, I can typically find a run-stopper DE with the correct frame and right STR grade to recruit and fill the spot.

[Collegefbfan]

Re: The Career of J.D. Clark (NCAA 14)

Man, you do an amazing job on these. The recaps, player stats, pictures all look great. These dynasty write-ups along with me posting about my Coach Fig Newton Louisville Cardinals dynasty will make the off-season go by a lot quicker.

[Hellisan]

Re: The Career of J.D. Clark (NCAA 14)

Larry, what a man! Pretty easy to just keep handing the ball off when your halfback is going for 10 yards a pop 27 times a game... It's funny how we all seem to end up having a player who becomes a stud even if they aren't the 99 OVR-rated player, like you with Larry and Jay Keyes in my file. Really makes for some great storylines!

Haha! Until this last game, this was Larry's lowest YPC season yet as he's had to grind more for yards. 2021 7.3, 2022 5.8, 2023 6.0 now. The good thing is when he's not able to break big runs he can still give you a lot of carries. I agree wholeheartedly about the players without big ratings that become big players for you. It's a big reason I try to give everybody a shot at some point unless they're ridiculously not good. Which happens with a lot of my IA kids, I recruit anyone with any shred of talent from Iowa.

By the way, weird tangent absolutely nobody asked for, the game sims are super strange in NCAA 14. If I sort by total rushing yards, I have to go all the way down to the 12th guy for a player with a yards per carry at or below Larry's. There are multiple guys near 7.5 per carry. (which you do see in the NCAA occasionally in real life, usually at low level teams or at Air Force type teams). However, if you sort by gains of 20+ yards, it's Larry with 10 and our QB with 4, and then the next guy has 3. They must just be getting 8-15 yards constantly but somehow almost never break long runs in the sims.

Shades of Jack Lambert here with that main picture.....

Honestly, great call by the administration all those years ago to get permission from Pittsburgh and redesign the uniforms to be similar to those. They look great. I know a lot of people aren't that interested in Iowa, it's generally considered a pretty boring school but I love the look.

Re: D-line recruiting, I really like searching out run-stopping DEs with the right frame and moving them to DT if I need to. Also, if you get too many DT's, make the ones with the pass-rushing specialty into big DE's.

I like to chase frames and prototypes then move them to the positions that make sense after the fact.

If it's a tough year for DT recruiting, I can typically find a run-stopper DE with the correct frame and right STR grade to recruit and fill the spot.

This is some great information for me, especially if I end up moving to another school with a talent deficit. I'm concerned about doing too much to help the pass rush now though, as I'm already getting a bit too many sacks. Mostly because my coverage heehe Thanks bro

Man, you do an amazing job on these. The recaps, player stats, pictures all look great. These dynasty write-ups along with me posting about my Coach Fig Newton Louisville Cardinals dynasty will make the off-season go by a lot quicker.

Thanks a lot! Yeah it's not a huge problem for me anymore since the game has been ruined but for those who still love it, it's tough when the season is actually over and there's a big wait remaining before it starts up again. NCAA 14 is a great fill-in.

[Hellisan]

2023 - Around the Nation, Week 10