A lot of us figured the move of Marvin McNutt to the top of the depth chart at one receiver position was purely for motivational purposes. It seemed coach Kirk Ferentz and his staff were just trying to light a fire beneath the enigmatic Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, who is widely considered to be the Hawkeyes’ best receiver.

But after watching Saturday’s final spring scrimmage, there might be a little more to it than that. McNutt clearly has the makings of a topflight receiver. He’s very reminiscent of Clinton Solomon, who made a similar transition a few years ago.

In any case, everyone (except maybe Johnson-Koulianos) seems happy with the way the move is working out.
The 6-foot-4 McNutt said he is happy to be working against 5-foot-10 cornerbacks instead of being slammed by 280-pound linemen. Quarterback Ricky Stanzi said he’s happy to have a big, rangy receiver to throw to.

Head coach Kirk Ferentz said he has been delighted with the way McNutt has responded.

“Marvin’s a good athlete, a good football player and an outstanding person so we didn’t think there would be any issue there,” Ferentz said.

“He’s not there yet, but he’s made progress this spring. I think he has a chance to be a pretty good football player. We just wanted to get him on the field.’’

But there still is some motivational madness behind the move. DJK, who caught 44 passes last season, played very, very little Saturday, considerably less than fellow backups Colin Sandeman and 6-foot-6 walk-on Don Nordmann. He never had a pass thrown his way. A message is being sent.

Running back Shonn Greene opened some eyes with his performance on Iowa’s pro timing day, a few weeks ago, but it’s still not clear where he fits into the NFL draft, which is now less than two weeks away.

It’s still possible Greene could last until the second day of the draft, simply because there are so few NFL teams in desperate need of running backs this year.

Greene has done individual workouts with San Diego and Arizona in the past two weeks, but the Cardinals are probably the team most likely to select a back in the first round. The Chargers may be more likely to be looking in the second or third round as they plan ahead to the days when LaDainian Tomlinson is no longer around.

Greene said he doesn’t have any preferences as to who drafts him – that’s what draftees are sup-posed to say – but you have to believe he would love to go to Philadelphia, which is less than an hour from his hometown of Sicklerville, N.J. The Eagles definitely will draft a back. Brian West-brooks has a lot of mileage on him and backup Corell Buckhalter has signed with Denver as a free agent.

Seattle, Houston, New Orleans and Indianapolis also are looking at backs although the position is not a top priority for any of them. Greene might be an especially good fit in Houston. The Texans could use a big back to complement the speed of Steve Slaton, who is coming off an excellent rookie season.

Being a parent is not easy. Many of us know this from personal experience.

Your kids inevitably make dumb mistakes and you have to take them aside and discipline them accordingly. If they make the same mistake again, you generally need to do something drastic to deliver your message.

Most of us get to do that in the privacy of our own little world.

Kirk Ferentz is going to need to do it with an entire state watching. He’s going to need to do something I don’t ever recall any other coach doing: He’s going to have to kick his own son off his football team.

Ferentz’ son, James, a promising young offensive lineman, was cited for an alcohol-related offense in Iowa City last October during his first semester as a member of the Iowa football team. Few people had any problem with Ferentz eventually reinstating his son as a member of the team. Anyone can make one mistake.

When James got into the same sort of situation again in the wee hours of Monday morning, he put Dad in a terrible spot. Repeat offenders generally are asked to leave.

If you kick some kid off your team, you generally don’t ever have any more contact with them. You grit your teeth, turn your back, move on and eventually forget. What happens when you kick a kid off your team and have to look at them across the dinner table the day after that? And the day after that? And the day after that?

And what message are you sending your other players when you your own flesh and blood more slack than you would others?

We’re about to learn an awful lot about Kirk Ferentz.