THE MONDAY KICKOFF: So many choices for Iowa in the backfield

There was nothing but open Kinnick Stadium turf in front of him, and Toren Young smiled when reminded of that.

Young had a 52-yard run on Iowa’s opening play of the second half in Saturday’s 48-3 win over Middle Tennessee State.

It was the longest run of Young’s career, and it sparked a drive that led to a Keith Duncan field goal that gave Iowa a 27-0 lead.

Young enjoyed seeing all of that green artificial surface. Young headed down the right side of the field, before finally being brought down by Middle Tennessee State's Jovante Moffatt, who had to deal with the collision and subsequent stiff-arm from Young.

“That was a lot of space, yeah,” Young, a junior from Madison, Wis., said. “You don’t see that a lot when you get a carry. It was very exciting, very fun.”

Iowa’s running game right now has the same description.

The Hawkeyes can go four-deep in the running game. Young had just 11 carries, but finished with a career-high 131 yards. Freshman Tyler Goodson had 12 carries for 97 yards. Junior Mekhi Sargent had 14 carries for 91 yards. Junior Ivory Kelly-Martin, who also has experience, had just one carry for three yards, but he’s considered part of the rotation as well.

Asked about getting just 11 carries, and Young shrugged.

“We’ve got good running backs, across the board,” Young said. “One game, it might be your day. The next day, it might be someone else’s.”

If you’re looking for that 25-carry bell cow in Iowa’s backfield, you’re not going to find it. Sargent has 54 carries in four games. Goodson has 34. Young has 33.

“There's no master plan or design,” coach Kirk Ferentz said. “We kind of have a plan, but you never know how it's going to shake out. So all four of those guys really have done a good job of being ready when they are called upon.”

Ferentz admitted that the usage of such depth is “unusual.”

“I don't know that we've ever been in that situation,” Ferentz said. We have confidence in all four of the backs. The older three guys we know very well. We came into August part of practice really feeling good about those three players, kind of like the receiver group, but now Tyler is an addition.”

Young is a power back. Sargent has the combination of power and speed and can also pass-protect. Goodson is flashy, and seems destined to be the lead back sooner rather than later. Kelly-Martin also has speed and is a receiving option as well.

“Those guys are really fun to watch,” tackle Tristan Wirfs said. “It’s kind of funny, you’ll be blocking, and you don’t think the ball is coming your way, and then you see Mekhi run by you.”

“We have guys who want to see the hole, and hit it,” guard Cole Banwart said.

Iowa had 351 rushing yards on Saturday, the fourth-most in Ferentz’s 21 seasons as Iowa’s coach.

“From the beginning, on Monday, we were talking about just being physical, playing fast, blocking them, trying to open holes for the backs,” Banwart said.

“That’s something we talked about all week, just establishing the run,” Young said.

And it will be a goal in the future, no matter who has the ball. It is what the Hawkeyes do, but who does it is anyone’s guess.

Young liked that it was his turn on Saturday.

“It was definitely a confidence-booster,” he said.

SNEAKY STANLEY

Third-and-1 from the Iowa 34-yard line on the second drive of Saturday’s game, and the play was a quarterback sneak for Nate Stanley.

Stanley plowed ahead … and kept going. It was a 10-yard play, keeping a 9-play, 44-yard scoring drive alive.

“You don’t really expect it,” Stanley said of what was a simple play that turned into something larger, not just because of the power of Iowa’s interior blockers, but because of Stanley’s drive. “It’s kind of surprising. Maybe if I stay on my feet on that one, I could have had some more.”

Then he smiled at the thought.

“I think those guys are fast, so I don’t think I would have gotten very far,” Stanley said.

The quarterback sneak is something the Hawkeyes are using more with Stanley, and he’s OK with that.

Center Tyler Linderbaum has been leading the way on these plays, but it helps that Stanley is 6-foot-4 and weighs 243 pounds.

“Bill Parcells, that's all they did when he was coaching,” Ferentz said. “We've been to that and then we kind of got away from it and now Nate's done a good job with it.”

Expect more of these plays.

“Whenever we need to, it’s something we have the ability to do,” Stanley said.

It's the B1G, and we enjoy a good fullback TD.

Brady Ross just had the honor for @HawkeyeFootball. pic.twitter.com/KLuS7jmlVq
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) September 28, 2019

OH, AND THE FULLBACK

Senior fullback Brady Ross had his first career touchdown, a 1-yard pounding drive in the second quarter.

It was only the 11th carry of Ross’ career, his fourth this season.

“He's been such a good team leader and the fact that he's been voted captain each week this season is an indication or illustration of the kind of respect that he's had from everybody here,” Ferentz said.

“Tough, hard-nosed guy. Came here as a linebacker. Fullback is a graveyard for all former linebackers. That's where they end up in that stack. But he takes a lot of pride in it and helps set tempo for our team and offense. Tremendous young man. He's been a great leader and he'd better hang on to that moment because they don't get too many of those historically around here, so it was pretty good.”

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