Iowa may or may not have one of its best football teams ever next fall.

One thing that does seem certain: It will be one of the deepest teams it has had.

The Hawkeyes will be pretty well insulated against injuries at almost every position except pos-sibly the offensive line and safety. Everywhere else, there are pretty good players waiting in the wings in case the starter goes down.

A look at the Hawkeyes by position following spring drills:

Quarterback: Ricky Stanzi is going into his third season as the starter and should be less turn-over-prone. That was a major point of emphasis in the spring. James Vandenberg showed last sea-son that he can be a capable backup and you get the feeling southpaw John Wienke gained ground on Vandenberg in the spring. The coaches said he made a major step up and you could see it in the spring scrimmage. Wienke looked crisper and more accurate than Vandenberg that day.

Running back: If Jewel Hampton, Adam Robinson and Brandon Wegher all are healthy, this is going to be very interesting. Robinson may have a slight edge in some of the little things like pick-ing up the blitz, but the other two probably are more elusive and have a bigger upside. It’s almost guaranteed that one of them will get hurt anyway. If more than one gets hurt, I still think there is a chance freshman Marcus Coker could be a factor right away.

Fullback: Senior Brett Morse is solid and there’s not a ton of drop-off to junior Wade Leppert. This isn’t an every-down position anyway.

Wide receiver: Marvin McNutt and Derrell Johnson-Koulianos have a chance to be the Hawk-eyes’ best receiver tandem since … well, maybe ever. Colin Sandeman and Paul Chaney are pretty good, too. If Keenan Davis improves as much as the coaches hope and Jordan Cotton continues to progress and 6-foot-6 Don Nordmann is as good as he looked in the spring scrimmage, they’re loaded.

Tight end: Don’t be surprised if Allen Reisner duplicates the statistical numbers Tony Moeaki provided last year although he’s probably not going to be as good a blocker. Brad Herman and Jonathan Gimm apparently made strides as the backups this spring but they still might have trou-ble holding off high school All-American C.J. Fiedorowicz, who should be game-ready when he arrives.

Offensive line: There is good depth at center, where James Ferentz and Josh Koeppel are bat-tling for the starting job, but this is one place the depth is a bit thin. There are a lot of big bodies behind Riley Reiff, Julian Vandervelde, Markus Zusevics and Adam Gettis but apparently no one who is ready to play with any sort of consistency. Coach Kirk Ferentz said converted defensive lineman Cody Hundertmark is the closest to being ready. If no one steps forward in the fall, there may be an opportunity for Ohio high school star Andrew Donnal to see playing time as a true freshman.

Defensive line: The Hawkeyes may be deeper than ever here. All four starters – Adrian Clay-born, Karl Klug, Christian Ballard and Broderick Binns – return intact with Clayborn and appar-ently Klug primed for starring roles. And some of us have felt for some time that Ballard ranks among the most underrated players on this team. Backup tackle Mike Daniels is good enough to start for half the teams in the Big Ten and young ends LeBron Daniel and Dominic Alvis have emerged as potential stars of the future. Pencil in Daniels and Daniel as certain starters for 2011.

Linebacker: This is another area where the competition has been fierce. Jeremiha Hunter is a third-year starter and Jeff Tarpinian and Tyler Nielsen have emerged as the starters at the other two spots, but Bruce Davis and Troy Johnson are still pushing. Even long-time walk-on Ross Peter-sen looked good in the spring scrimmage. You’ll still see some true freshman play here in the fall, though, as the Hawkeyes brace for the future. Hunter, Tarpinian, Johnson and Petersen are seniors and Davis and Nielsen are juniors.

Cornerback: Shaun Prater is solidly entrenched on one side and sophomore Micah Hyde may be a future star on the other side. Jordan Bernstine, projected to start ahead of Prater last fall before breaking his ankle, may have a hard time finding playing time but he, Greg Castillo and William Lowe provide quality depth.

Safety: Tyler Sash and Brett Greenwood – known to some of us as Sashwood – are one of the best tandems in the country but it’s hard to even guess at who the backups are at this point. Walk-ons Kyle Steinbrecher and Tom Donatell ran with the No. 1 unit in the spring scrimmage, apparently moving ahead of two scholarship players, Jack Swanson and Nick Nielsen, in the final week of drills. All those players have good size and Nielsen had two interceptions last Saturday. The depth isn’t necessarily bad, just unproven.

Kicker: Daniel Murray is the returning starter, but Ferentz has made it clear he wasn’t com-pletely satisfied with the job he did. Trent Mossbrucker, who redshirted last season after being the kicker for much of 2008, has at least an shot at winning the job.

Punter: Another place where the depth isn’t great behind four-year regular Ryan Donahue. But how often does your punter get hurt anyway?

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.

The players get most of the credit when a football team has the kind of season Iowa has had.

And the head coach takes his share of bows.

The offensive and defensive coordinators also get a small piece of the credit.

But as offensive coordinator Ken O’Keefe pointed out last week, a couple of other assistant coaches also deserve a large share of credit for the fact that the Hawkeyes went 10-2 in the regular season.

O’Keefe made note of how much work receivers coach Erik Campbell has invested in making Marvin McNutt into a topflight Big Ten receiver. And he said what Lester Erb has done as the team’s running backs coach is nothing short of amazing.

Entering fall camp, Adam Robinson and Brandon Wegher were pretty much No. 4 and 5 on the depth chart, but they end up playing extremely well. Robinson set Iowa’s freshman rushing record and Wegher had the highest yardage total ever by a true freshman. Between them, they rushed for 1,303 yards and 12 touchdowns and did an exceptional job of picking up blitzes on pass plays.

“I have to say Lester Erb has done an unbelievable job the last two years,’’ O’Keefe said. “He took Shonn Greene off the furniture truck and got him ready to play. And Jewel Hampton was only a true freshman. Then this year he took two guys who were great high school players but hadn’t ever played at this level and got them ready.’’

One of the hardest hitting games of the season prompted a handful of injuries and a great deal of uncertainty about Iowa’s lineup for next Saturday’s game with Indiana. A look at the injuries and their potential ramifications:

Dace Richardson: He has started every game this season, at three different offensive line positions, but I’m guessing we’ve seen the last of the big guy this season. He suffered what appeared to be a very serious foot or ankle injury (allegedly a fracture) and I can’t imagine he would be back before the end of the regular season. The good news is that there shouldn’t be much drop-off with veteran Julian Vandervelde ready to step back into the lineup at right guard.

Brett Greenwood: It looked really bad when they strapped Greenwood to a board and took him off on a cart, but that may have been largely a precautionary measure. The junior free safety was back on the sidelines in sweats at the end of the game. If Greenwood is out, fifth-year senior Joe Conklin becomes the starter. Conklin showed some inexperience when he was thrown into the action Saturday night, but with more preparation time he should be OK.

Colin Sandeman: He got knocked cold on a vicious hit by Michigan State’s Jeremy Ware. Head injuries aren’t anything to be taken lightly and it wouldn’t be surprising to see Sandeman sit out a game or two. His absence would mean more playing time at receiver for freshman Keenan Davis, but it’s not clear who would replace Sandeman on punt returns. Maybe Davis. Maybe Tyler Sash. Maybe Amari Spievey. Sandeman had done a very good job since taking over for Paul Chaney so this could be a bigger loss than it appears.

Adam Robinson: Many people probably didn’t even realize that Robinson injured his ankle late in the game because he and Brandon Wegher share playing time at running back anyway. Wegher also was banged up in the game (a shoulder, I think) although he came back and played after that. It not clear at this point how badly hurt either of them is. If both of them are out, it’s a major crisis. Hawkeye fans aren’t eager to see Paki O’Meara return to the starting lineup.

Just as it was easy to be pessimistic after the season-opening 17-16 escape against Northern Iowa, I suspect there may be a temptation this week for Hawkeye fans to get too optimistic after a 35-3 romp over Iowa State.

Don’t get me wrong, there certainly were positive signs. The offensive line, even without Bryan Bulaga, looked better. Brandon Wegher’s debut at running back was encouraging. The defense played well, especially that dynamic safety duo of Tyler Sash and Brett Greenwood.

But to be honest, I think the Hawkeyes played a tougher opponent the first week. It’s hard to imagine Iowa State winning more than four games this season. Paul Rhoads has a lot of work to do to clean up the mess Gene Chizik left him. When the opposing team gives you six turnovers, as the Cyclones did, you’d better win by 30 or 40 points. Hostile atmosphere aside, this really wasn’t a major test.

We’ll learn a little more about the Hawkeyes next Saturday. Arizona isn’t a great team, but it definitely will be a step up in class. The Wildcats moved to 2-0 late Saturday night with a 34-17 victory over Northern Arizona, thanks largely to a career-best 207-yard effort by veteran running back Nic Grigsby. Arizona is very similar to Iowa right now. It is 2-0, but it has beaten two teams it was expected to beat. It has been solid defensively and has made progress offensively, but it’s still not clear how good a team it’s going to be.

It’s probably exactly the sort of game the Hawkeyes need right now – a slightly more challenging test before getting thrown into a major test the following Saturday at Penn State.

You never know what Kirk Ferentz might do, but it really would be kind of shocking to see him start Paki O’Meara at running back again next week when Iowa visits Iowa State.

O’Meara was that bad Saturday. And Adam Robinson was that … well, he was better than O’Meara.

Robinson, an unheralded redshirt freshman from Des Moines, rushed for 63 yards in 15 carries in Saturday’s too-close-for-comfort 17-16 victory over Northern Iowa. He handled almost all the Hawk-eyes’ ballcarrying duties in the second half.

The insinuation was that Robinson got all the action after halftime because O’Meara suffered a nasty cut on his head when his helmet was knocked off during a play.

“My helmet popped off and I tried to keep going and get a few more yards, and I think I got hit again,’’ O’Meara explained. “It was bleeding a little bit and I needed a couple stitches.’’

However, as I recall, that happened very early in the game. O’Meara didn’t take a seat on the sidelines until after he fumbled the ball away in the opening minutes of the second half. He finished with 16 yards in nine carries with his longest gain being five yards.

Robinson was much more effective and scored a third-quarter touchdown on an 11-yard run.

The other running backs on the roster – Jeff Brinson and Brandon Wegher – both saw some action on special teams. It not be long before we see them running the ball, too.

Kirk Ferentz managed to put a happy face on a pretty unhappy situation Tuesday when he revealed that Jewel Hampton will undergo knee surgery and will be sidelined for the entire season.

You never know when coaches are being completely upfront with you, especially when this particular coach implied on a teleconference at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday that Hampton might be back in a week or two, then less than an hour later announced he was gone for the year.

But the hunch is that Ferentz was being genuine in saying the Hawkeyes will be OK with Paki O’Meara as the starting running back, possibly as part of a committee of backs.

As I’ve written in the past, Iowa is going to need to throw the ball much more this season no matter who lines up at running back. O’Meara, although not the most explosive runner of the group, may be the best receiver and the best blocker. So he may, in fact, be the best fit.

Redshirt freshman Adam Robinson could provide a change of pace with his quickness. Jeff Brinson, when he gets healthy, may provide more of a power element. And true freshman Brandon Wegher, if his high school numbers are any indication, should be a big factor once he gets some experience. It might be a good blend.

None of them figures to be a big star. Obviously, none of them is going to be Shonn Greene. But between them, they should be able to get the job done.

And the future at this position is extremely bright. O’Meara will still be around next season as a senior and all those other guys – Hampton, Brinson, Robinson, Wegher – will be sophomores. And all of them may have trouble holding off Marcus Coker, a 222-pound stud from Hyattsville, Md., who has made a verbal commitment to sigh with the Hawkeyes in February. The problem next season may be finding enough playing time to satisfy everyone.

The Hawkeyes used seven true freshmen last season, many more than in most years, and it would be very surprising to see that many first-year players see the field this sea-son. Our guess is that as few as three or four true frosh will play this fall.

We won’t have any answers until Kirk Ferentz’s first weekly news conference a week from now, but one guy that seems almost certain to get extensive playing time is highly regarded wide receiver recruit Keenan Davis of Cedar Rapids Washington.

Davis took a few snaps with the No. 1 offense in the Hawkeyes’ public scrimmage and looked very smooth. He appeared to be as fast and as elusive as any receiver on the team.

Who else? Maybe Micah Hyde. He was the Northwest Ohio offensive player of the year as a quarterback last fall, but he could be pressed into service very early on the de-fensive side of the ball, simply because that’s a major need area for the Hawks right now. Starting cornerback Jordan Bernstine is out for the season with an injury and his backup, Shaun Prater (who played as a true freshman last fall), is suspended for the first two games.

Another possibility is Jordan Cotton, son of former Hawkeye and Davenport Central star Marshall Cotton. He figures to be far down the depth chart at receiver, but could have an immediate impact as a return man.

The only other reasonable possibilities are running back Brandon Wegher; Josh Brown, who could end up at either running back or defensive back but has the makings of a good special teams guy; Shane DiBona, who could find a place far down the depth chart at linebacker; and Nolan MacMillan, a prep school recruit who supposedly has looked very good in the offensive line. The O-line is perhaps the deepest area on the team, however. MacMillan would have to be really good to break into that mix.

Close to a dozen players sat out Iowa’s public scrimmage at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday, mostly for precautionary reasons.

My guess is the one that Hawkeye fans need to be most concerned about is sophomore Jewel Hampton, who is being counted on to step into the starting running back job.

Bryan Bulaga, who might be the best offensive tackle in the Big Ten, didn’t suit up after “tweaking’’ his knee the day before but he ran a few sprints and seemed OK. Receiver Colin Sandeman said his hamstring injury isn’t a big deal. Tackle Kyle Calloway, who is suspended for the first game anyway, took part in a few drills. Chances are, the other guys who sat out won’t make the two-deeps anyway.

But the absence of Hampton, because of his importance to the Hawkeyes’ fortunes and because this is the second time in about a month that he has injured his right knee, has to be cause for concern.

With Hampton out, former walk-on Paki O’Meara ran with the No. 1 unit and actually looked pretty good. People keep dismissing O’Meara as a legitimate contender for the starting job, assuming that redshirt freshman Jeff Brinson is a better prospect, but O’Meara remains ahead of Brinson on the depth chart and he looked better Saturday.

O’Meara ripped off about a 30-yard run at one point while Brinson’s most impressive moment was a play in which he stayed on his feet following a head-on collision with Adrian Clayborn, then was swallowed up by other defenders for about a 5-yard loss. Bear in mind that O’Meara was running against the No. 2 defense while Brinson was carrying the ball against the No. 1s.

Adam Robinson, a redshirt freshman from Des Moines with decent quickness but not much size, is the only other guy who might be ready for any sort of playing time at this time. I could see him being effective against Northern Iowa and Iowa State, but probably not Penn State or Ohio State.

Incoming freshman Brandon Wegher, who rushed for more than 3,000 yards as a senior in high school last fall, was not in uniform for the scrimmage and another true freshman, Brad Rogers, didn’t look that great in very limited opportunities.