The Hawkeyes’ spring football day – there still is some doubt as to exactly what that will entail – is already upon us Saturday.

It has been a pretty quiet spring for the program. No arrests. Very few injuries. Almost no position changes. Other than Jeff Tarpinian moving ahead of Troy Johnson as the starting middle linebacker and some shuffling of bodies on the second line of the two-deeps, very little has changed since the start of spring drills.

Here are some players that fans may be getting their first extended look at when the Hawkeyes hold a practice and possibly a brief controlled scrimmage Saturday at Kinnick:

Jeff Tarpinian: We’ve been hearing for years about his potential and he’s been a big special teams contributor but now, on the eve of his senior season, he apparently is emerging as a mainstay on the defense. Norm Parker said Tarp has been great this spring, forcing the coaches to move him from the backup slot at weakside linebacker to Pat Angerer’s vacated spot in the middle.

Markus Zusevics: Another guy who has been around, lurking in the shadows, and now is ready to play a major role. He has packed on about 60 pounds since arriving three years ago and still is not as big as Kyle Calloway, but he is going to be a more than adequate replacement for Calloway at right offensive tackle.

Micah Hyde: A brilliant, but undersized high school quarterback in Ohio, he played a lot of special teams as a true freshman last fall but saw only spot duty in the secondary. He now seems to be the guy who will replace Amari Spievey at right cornerback. Most of us assumed it would be Jordan Bernstine or possibly William Lowe or Greg Castillo, but Hyde has outshone all those more experienced players this spring.

Jordan Cotton: This team didn’t really need one more wide receiver. Marvin McNutt is a budding superstar, Derrell Johnson-Koulianos has led the team in receptions three years in a row, Colin Sandeman is a very capable role player, Keenan Davis should take a huge step forward after a rocky freshman year and if Paul Chaney is healthy, he’ll be in the mix. But Cotton, who redshirted as a freshman last fall has hustled his way into the hearts of the coaches. With DJK, Sandeman and Chaney all seniors, he should be a major factor in 2011.

Jonathan Gimm: Iowa just keeps cranking out quality tight ends and this sophomore might be the next one. He apparently is pushing Brad Herman for the No. 2 job behind Allen Reisner and since the Hawkeyes love three-tight end sets, he should see the field at least some this fall. Of course, when high school All-American C.J. Fiedorowicz arrives, everyone might move down one notch.

Brad Rogers: He should be the No. 4 or No. 5 running back in the fall but for now – with all the experienced backs sitting out for precautionary reasons — he’s No. 1. He has shed a lot of excess weight since arriving last fall and served notice that he’s a viable option if something happens to Adam Robinson, Jewel Hampton and Brandon Wegher.

A.J. Derby: It’s going to be at least a year-and-a-half – maybe more – before we see Derby do anything much in an actual game but everyone is curious to see what he looks like at quarterback right now. He graduated from high school in December so he could enroll for the spring semester and go through spring drills.

Random thoughts in the wake of Wednesday’s national signing day:

— Once upon a time, when a high school football player made a verbal commitment to sign with a school, you could take it to the bank. The recruiting was over. The kid was going to that school.

Not any more.

“Decommits” — players who change their mind after committing to a school — are now very common and seemingly increasing with each passing year.

Iowa only had one player decommit this year — Matt Hoch of Harlan, Iowa, changed his mind in December and decided to join his brother at Missouri — but the Hawkeyes picked up three players who once were pledged to other schools: C.J. Fiedorowicz (Illinois), Kevonte Martin-Manley (Bowling Green) and Tanner Miller (Northern Iowa).

— After signing Marcus Coker and D’Andre Johnson on Wednesday, Iowa now has eight running backs on scholarship and all but one of them will be either a freshman or a sophomore next season. And the one who will be a senior (Paki O’Meara) may be the least of the eight.

Even if Brad Rogers and Jeff Brinson end up at some other position (or some other school), it’s still hard to figure out how the Hawkeyes can find enough playing time for Adam Robinson, Brandon Wegher and Jewell Hampton, especially if Coker is the second coming of Shonn Greene, as some believe.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz isn’t concerned.

“You know, I hope it becomes a problem,” he said. “I’m trying to think of the last time it was … I can’t remember us having too many good players at any one position. I certainly can’t remember us having too many running backs. My memory is a little bit recent right now. I was just happy this past year to have two in one game.”

— Obviously, big things are expected of Fiedorowicz, Coker, A.J. Derby and Andrew Donnal, the four-star players in Iowa’s recruiting class.

But some of us won’t be shocked if Solon linebacker James Morris ends up being the best player out of this class. And you have to believe there are some other great “sleeper” prospects in this bunch. Carl Davis is a 300-pound defensive tackle who regularly dunks in his high school basket-ball games in Detroit. I can’t wait to see what that guy looks like.

— From my experience, recruits who also have played sports such as basketball and tennis generally have very good footwork that translates well to the football field.

If that’s the case, this is a really good group. I counted 14 players among the 21 in Iowa’s class who play or have played for their high school basketball teams. Fiedorowicz already is his school’s career scoring leader. Brandon Scherff and Austin Vier are among the top rebounders in the state of Iowa right now. B.J. Lowery and Martin-Manley are going to be four-year lettermen at the var-sity level. Tanner Miller and Jim Poggi are in their third varsity season. Derby, who is sitting out this basketball season, helped Iowa City win a Class 4A state title as a sophomore.

Scherff, who is listed at 310 pounds, also lettered in tennis as a freshman in high school.

This normally is a very busy time for college recruiters. They use the time between the end of the regular season and the bowl game (for those that are in bowl games) to host recruits on campus and to try to nail down firm commitments from players they have been courting for months.

It’s a rare year for the Hawkeyes. Kirk Ferentz and his staff don’t have much to do. They have a solid recruiting class of 19 committed players in place. All they want to do now is make sure they hold onto what they already have.

And Ferentz admitted that because of the kind of season the Hawks have had, they don’t expect to have much trouble doing that.

At least one of Iowa’s recruits – quarterback A.J. Derby of Iowa City – is planning to graduate from high school in mid-year and enroll at Iowa for the second semester so he can go through spring practice. It’s a blow for the City High basketball team, but it should help Derby find playing time earlier in his college career.

Scout.com rates the Hawkeyes’ recruiting class No. 33 in the country and No. 5 in the Big Ten, which is probably slightly higher than they usually are rated. Recruiting rankings aren’t something Ferentz cares much about anyway.

The rest of the Big Ten, according to Scout.com: Penn State is 4th, Michigan 16th, Ohio State 21st, Michigan State 26th, Wisconsin 39th, Purdue 42nd, Indiana 47th, Minnesota 50th, Northwestern 58th and Illinois 68th. The Illini normally would be up in the middle of the Big Ten somewhere, but they only have six commitments at the moment.

Iowa already was having a very good recruiting year, but things got a lot better this week when C.J. Fiedorowicz, regarded by some as the top tight end prospect in the country, announced that he would renege on an earlier commitment to Illinois and sign with the Hawkeyes.

Fiedorowicz, a 6-foot-7, 240-pounder from Johnsburg, Ill., had been rumored to be reconsidering for several weeks and he told the Chicago Sun-Times he feels much more at ease with the Hawkeyes than he ever was with the Illini.

“I wasn’t happy with what is going on at Illinois,’’ he told the Sun-Times. “I like all the coaches at Iowa. They will be staying around for a long time. I went to the Iowa-Minnesota game last weekend and the atmosphere was so much better than at Illinois. Now I feel good about my decision.’’

While Iowa often features the tight end in its offense, Fiedorowicz said it seemed as though the Illini threw to theirs “maybe 10 times all year.’’

Fiedorowicz, who also had football offers from Ohio State, Notre Dame and LSU and basketball offers from Indiana and Wisconsin, is considered to be a superb receiver who needs some work on his blocking skills.

“He has an NFL body,’’ recruiting expert Tom Lemming said. “If he listens to his college coaches, he’ll be a first-round draft choice.’’

Fiedorowicz is the 20th player to commit to the Hawkeyes, who weren’t expected to sign quite that many. Included are three four-star recruits and 16 three-star recruits, according to Rivals.com. Three of those players were named Iowa’s high school player of the year in their respective classes last week – A.J. Derby of Iowa City (4A), Matt Hoch of Harlan (3A) and James Morris of Solon (2A).