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.

The Hawkeyes have landed in Florida. Unfortunately, I have a few more days before I join them there.
I’ve only had two people offer today to go along and carry my bags for me. Most days, it’s five or six. It must be warming up outside.

Kirk Ferentz told reporters upon landing in Florida on Sunday night that he planned to loosen the reins and let the players have some fun in these first few days. But knowing Ferentz, the players aren’t going to have much opportunity to find any real mischief. We’re betting they are under a pretty tight curfew by New Year’s Eve.

Lady Gaga, an international recording artist given to outlandish dress and unpredictable onstage behavior, is scheduled to perform at the team’s hotel — the Fontainebleau — on New Year’s Eve. A few players last week told us they thought wide receiver Derrell Johnson-Koulianos was the player most likely to jump up onstage with the flamboyant Gaga although others mentioned injured wideout Paul Chaney and freshman Josh Brown (both accomplished rappers) as possibilities.

Chances are, none of them will even get a glimpse of Gaga and not just because of whatever curfew they might be under. The lowest priced tickets for her concert are $425. The good seats, up near the stage, are $25,000.