Both Nielsen and Morris struggled in this game. Both missed some tackles which is out of character for them. Nielsen tweaked an ankle early and it clearly affected his play in this one. I noted him moving gingerly on it at times between plays and he lost that athleticism and explosiveness that makes him effective. Hopefully he shakes it off quickly and gets himself healthy fast. Morris had troubles finding the ball at times on ISU's zone read runs, especially in the inverted wishbone look. Morris has solid range but he needs to make quick decisive reads to be able to go side-line to side-line. Bad reads/positioning led to most of his missed tackles as well. He should take some valuable lessons away from this one.
This was the one of best, if not the best, individual performance I've graded for an Iowa LB in the last two years. Kirksey was everywhere during this game. He really only made two mis-steps that I caught and one of them was getting beat by a WR on a slant, which I don't really consider a big deal due to it being a mis-match. The other poor play was being too slow to read the run and getting eaten up by OL on a run. Other than that he was lights out. Played the run very well and lead the team in tackles. Did his fair share in both zone and man coverage and was very effective blitzing as he tallied a sack and drew a holding call. He also forced a fumble as he whacked an ISU receiver coming over the middle. Kirksey was the lone bright spot for a defense that gave up 44 points and 473 total yards in this one.
Nielsen
-1 Just got buried here after losing contain on the run play. Gave up contain and then got pancaked. S4
+1 Alertly falls on the Fumble S4
-1 Very poor tackle here as he just doesn’t wrap up and the back pinballs off him for a gain of 7 or 8. S10
-1 Not a good work on the blitz here. Tipped his hand very early and allowed ISU to audible to a slant where he was vacating. To top it off he hesitated on his rush and all he had between him and the QB was a 185lb RB. Very poor effort here and needs disrupt this play. Injury may have effected him here but it looked bad either way. S10
Overall: -2
Morris
-1 Slow to react on the quick inside screen and then takes a bad angle and misses the tackle. S1
-1 Missed the tackle on shuffle pass here as he got caught flat footed. S6
-1 Very slow to read here and he’s still flat footed as the G comes out and keeps him well away from the play S7
+1 Nice job attacking outside shoulder of blocker and forces his man to commit the holding penalty here. Nice work S7
+1 Great job chasing down the back here as makes a big play to start the drive. S11
Overall: -1
Kirksey
+1 Excellent job on the run blitz as he fires up the A gap and makes the stop on 3rd down.S2
+1 Big hit on Jantz for a sack, was a late breaking blitz, but showed great closing speed as he whacks Jantz. Give credit to Binns for coming hard from the outside and forcing Jantz to step up in the sack as well. S3
+1 Great job playing run by Kirksey, read play and smoothly closed and delivered a bit hit. S7
+2 Great hit on WR over the middle and then recovers the fumble Great job peaking the route on the way to his zone. Perfectly timed and put a shot into’m. S7
+1 Great job reading the run and takes a good angle and makes the play in the backfield S10
+1 Great blitz by Kirksey again as he disrupts timing while drawing a hold this time. S11
+1 Great job defending on the slant vs a WR. Shows quick feet and bats the ball away. Great play in the red zone. S11
-1 Slow to read and react and the guard gets out to him and drives him 10 yards downfield. Needs to read quicker than this. S12
Overall: +7
Hitchens
-1 Put his head down on the run play and misses the tackle. S1
Overall: -1
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