Projected starter – Ricky Stanzi (6-4, 230, sr.)

Top reserves – James Vandenberg (6-3, 212, so.), John Wienke (6-5, 220, so.)

Futures – A.J. Derby (6-4, 225, fr.), Wyatt Suess (6-2, 200, fr.)

Stanzi’s touchdown-to-interception ratio isn’t going to land him any All-Big Ten votes, but this one statistic looks pretty good: He is 18-4 as a starter over the past two seasons. The Hawkeyes were 9-0 with him at the controls last season when he went down in a heap in the end zone against Northwestern. His 2009 season was marked by moments of electric efficiency punctuated by moments of amazing ineptness. Four of his Big Ten-leading 15 interceptions were returned for touchdowns, but his leadership qualities are unquestioned. He spent the off-season studying the interceptions and analyzing why they happened. Don’t be shocked if he is immensely improved this fall.

Vandenberg looked lost after replacing Stanzi in the Northwestern game, then staked his claim to the job for the future by nearly engineering an upset of Ohio State on the road the following week. Kirk Ferentz said Wienke may have been the most improved player on the team in spring drills so he may yet challenge Vandenberg for the backup job.

Derby was regarded by many as the top recruit in the state of Iowa last season, but there already are rumblings that his future may lie at some other position. But at the Kids Day scrimmage on Aug. 14, he looked to have as strong an arm as any quarterback on the team. Some of us fully expect him to remain at quarterback for the duration of his career.

The Brandon Wegher saga gets a little stranger all the time. Word has it now that the mixed-up sophomore running back returned to practice for a few days early last week, then left the Hawkeyes again because — in the words of coach Kirk Ferentz — “his heart wasn’t into it.’’

It’s apparent at this point that the best thing for everyone probably would be for Wegher to take the entire season off. He has a redshirt year to use. He wouldn’t be losing any eligibility. He’s not doing anyone any good with this on-again, off-again, I’m-not-sure-I-want-to-play dance.

It’s understandable that Wegher is having some doubts about what he wants to do. It’s surprising we don’t see more young college football players go through this sort of turmoil. Wegher was pushed to be great by well-meaning parents at a very early age – earlier than most kids – and now he is in a mid-life crisis in which he apparently is trying to figure if he’s chasing his own dream or someone else’s.

The kid clearly needs some time to get his head together and decide what he wants. It’s tough to sort out your emotions and your true desires in a few days or a week or even a month, especially when Hawkeye Nation is hanging on your ever move.

So, take a year off. Let Adam Robinson and Jewel Hampton carry the load this season and decide what you want to do in a less-pressurized situation.

Projected starters – Punter Ryan Donahue (6-3, 190, sr.); kickers Daniel Murray (5-10,185, sr.) or Trent Mossbrucker (6-0, 204, so.); deep snapper Andrew Schulze (6-5, 255, sr.)

Top reserves – Eric Guthrie (6-6, 245, jr.), Charlie Knipper (6-4, 230, fr.)

Futures – Jonathan Mullings (6-3, 210, fr.); Mike Meyer (6-2, 175, fr.)

Donahue is another of those unsung heroes, a guy who doesn’t get much publicity or attention but who is highly valued by the coaching staff for his work ethic and consistency. His punting average fell slightly to 40.9 yards last season, but he dropped 27 punts inside the 20-yard line and had a career-low five touchbacks. He also did not have a punt blocked all season.

Murray is the incumbent place-kicker, but he may have a hard time holding off Mossbrucker, who redshirted last season after some very impressive moments as a freshman in 2008. Mossbrucker was 13 for 15 on field goals and set Iowa’s single-season freshman scoring record before being inexplicably replaced by Murray late in the season. Murray was OK last season – 19 for 26 with a long kick of 48 yards – but head coach Kirk Ferentz never seemed fully satisfied. This may be the most competitive position battle of the fall.

Schulze enters his fourth season as the regular long snapper and one of the most intriguing stories on the Hawkeye roster is Mullings, a 22-year-old Australian rugby player who launched an 85-yard punt for Ottumwa High School last fall. And there’s also another capable kicker waiting in the wings if both Murray and Mossbrucker flop. Meyer, a former Dubuque Wahlert star, looked pretty good in last week’s Kids Day scrimmage.

Projected starters – Strong safety Tyler Sash (6-1, 210, jr.); free safety Brett Greenwood (6-0, 200, sr.); cornerbacks Shaun Prater (5-11, 180, jr.) and Micah Hyde (6-1, 185, so.)

Top reserves – Jordan Bernstine (5-11, 205, jr.), Greg Castillo (5-11, 180, so.), Willie Lowe (5-10, 172, jr.), Kyle Steinbrecher (6-2, 201, jr.), Tom Donatell (6-2, 205, jr.), Jack Swanson (5-11, 200, so.), Nick Nielsen (6-3, 210, so.)

Futures – Jason White (5-10, 205, so.), B.J. Lowery (5-11, 180, fr.), Anthony Hitchens (6-1, 200, fr.), Tanner Miller (6-2, 195, fr.)

Iowa has had its share of great safeties through the years, but it may not have had a tandem as good as Sashwood. Sash already holds the school record for interception return yardage in a career and he has two more years of eligibility. He figures to make a bid for All-American honors if he can simply duplicate what he did a year ago. Greenwood, a former walk-on, enters his fourth year as a starter and is the proverbial coach on the field. He’s the guy who helps everyone get to where they’re supposed to be.

Prater was thrust into an unexpected starting role last season and did a solid job at left corner-back but with Amari Spievey going off to the Detroit Lions, there is a vacancy on the other side. There are four possible contenders for that spot but the favorite is Hyde, who saw considerable action on special teams as a true freshman last season.

He’ll be pushed by Bernstine, who was pro-jected to start last season before breaking his ankle in preseason drills, and Castillo and Lowe, each of whom started games last season. Hyde and Castillo looked very good in a public scrimmage last Saturday and Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said Bernstine has looked more motivated this fall. Lowery made a big impression in his first week of workouts and is being compared by some to Spievey.

The depth behind Sash and Greenwood is somewhat questionable. Walk-ons Kyle Steinbrecher and Tom Donatell stepped into the backup positions in the spring, but Swanson and Nielsen are still in contention for those slots.

This is the first in a series of position-by-position looks at the Iowa football team for 2010.

Projected starters – Ends Adrian Clayborn (6-4, 285, sr.) and Broderick Binns (6-2, 261, jr.); tackles Karl Klug (6-4, 270, sr.) and Christian Ballard (6-5, 297, sr.)

Top reserves – Mike Daniels ((6-1, 275, jr.), Lebron Daniel (6-2, 250, jr.), Joe Forgy (6-4, 255, jr.), Thomas Nardo (6-3, 277, jr.), Steve Bigach (6-3, 272, so.)

Futures — Dominic Alvis (6-4, 240, fr.), Mike Hardy 6-5, 270, fr.), Carl Davis (6-5, 295, fr.), Louis Trinca-Pasat (6-3, 250, fr.), Anthony Ferguson (6-3, 280, fr.), Martin Hopkins (6-3, 250, fr.), Scott Covert (6-2, 245, fr.), Donavan Johnson (6-3, 265, fr.)

All four starters return and almost all the position ratings assembled by preseason magazines rate this as the premier defensive line in the country. There not only is ample talent, but it’s a nice mix of styles.

Clayborn is a 285-pound monster with the mobility of a linebacker. He’s on pretty much every preseason All-American team and has been projected to go as high as No. 2 in the next NFL draft. Klug, who played at 256 pounds last year, is a relentless agitator in the mold of Mitch King. Binns also is on the small side, but has long arms and batted down nine passes last season. Ballard, who started at defensive end in 2008, is the unsung hero, a reliable, rock-solid performer who also is likely to show up in the NFL someday. He originally came in as a tight end, but now weighs 297.

The coaching staff regards junior Mike Daniels as a fifth starter and junior Lebron Daniel also might be good enough to start for some other teams. He is likely to start the opener with Eastern Illinois while Binns serves a one-game suspension.

There are five true freshmen at this position, including a few players — Davis, Hardy, Ferguson — who arrive with more size than the Hawkeyes generally have had in the defensive line.

Veteran NFL writer Dan Pompei, writing on national footballpost.com on Sunday, quizzed NFL scouts on which schools they like to visit most. There was only one Big Ten school mentioned: Iowa.

Here is what Pompei wrote about the Hawkeyes: “It isn’t the easiest place to get to, but coach Kirk Ferentz and his staff usually make it worth the trip. Unlike some coaches, Ferentz doesn’t try to fool scouts. And most of his prospects are well-coached, polished and ready for the NFL.’’

I suspect a lot of this has to do with the fact that Ferentz spent six years as a line coach in the NFL and as a result, has a better feel than most college head coaches for what the scouts want and need.

Other schools mentioned by the scouts were Alabama, Connecticut, Oregon State, Pittsburgh, Texas and Wake Forest. It’s no coincidence that three of those schools also have head coaches who once worked as pro head coaches.

The big topic of conversation as Iowa opened camp Friday was who is going to the starting running back when the season begins Sept. 4 against Eastern Illinois.

Our guess is that it will be Adam Robinson. He may not be as flashy as Brandon Wegher and Jewel Hampton. He doesn’t have Wegher’s high school reputation. To borrow one of Kirk Ferentz’s words, Robinson isn’t the “sexy’’ choice.

But he’s the safe choice. He’s the guy who will make the fewest mistakes and that makes him Ferentz’s kind of player.

Of course, the Hawkeyes almost certainly will employ a committee of backs anyway, using whoever is most healthy or whoever has the hot hand and is playing well.

Hampton, who has had Iowa fans salivating ever since his occasionally spectacular freshman season, really hurt his chances when he was suspended for that first game because of an off-season incident. If Robinson and Wegher have big games, as you would expect they might against an FCS opponent, Hampton will be buried in the No. 3 on the depth chart.

Chances are, there won’t be that many times when all three players are healthy at the same time anyway.

The college football season is officially upon us. Iowa’s new recruits have been in camp since Wednesday and the full team goes through its first workout Friday morning.

You could tell the players – especially the incoming freshmen – were getting anxious as they posted status updates on their Facebook pages earlier this week. Such as:

Carl Davis Jr.: “On my way to Iowa. Bye Michigan.’’

James Morris: “Can’t wait.’’

Brandon Scherff: “Last day in Denison.’’

D’Andre Johnson: “Miami was nice but Iowa is where I belong.’’

Jordan Cotton: “Last night in Mount P, then it’s back to work. Game day keeps gettin closer and closer.’’

Julian Vandervelde: “T minus 20 hrs till lockdown.’’

Shane DiBona: “Life is over in 15 hours.’’

Davis, a 300-pound defensive tackle from Detroit, apparently didn’t enjoy his first night of camp with the other new guys. Late Wednesday night, he wrote: “Meetings all day. Superboring. Ughh. ‘Bout to go to bed.’’

Probably ‘bout to get an earful from the coaches and maybe some veteran teammates, too.

Bearing in mind that you are reading this on the Internet, I feel compelled to say this: Don’t read everything you read on the Internet.

At least not on the various college football message boards and chatrooms that are out there on the cyber-landscape. If you had read Iowa Hawkeyes message boards in the past few days, you would have seen that:

– Defensive coordinator Norm Parker was retiring.

– Freshman A.J. Derby was being moved from quarterback to linebacker.

– Running back Brandon Wegher was academically ineligible.

There may be slivers of truth in there somewhere, but Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz pretty much swatted down all three of those ideas at Monday’s Big Ten football media day.

He said he doesn’t know that Parker ever has contemplated retirement although old Norm will be coaching from the pressbox because of his well-documented health issues this season. Ferentz said Derby is still a quarterback although he is athletically gifted enough that he could help the Hawkeyes on special teams right now and may someday end up at another spot. And Ferentz said to his knowledge, everyone on his roster is in the clear academically.

Maybe Ferentz was just lying through his teeth? Not likely. More likely, someone out there without journalistic credibility or ethics heard a small bit of rumor and blew it up into something big. You can do that on message boards because almost everything is flung out there anonymously.

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?