Shades of 2004? Iowa Running Back Jewel Hampton Done for Year With Torn ACL

Iowa Hawkeye blog Blackheartgoldpants, coined a term called the "Angry Iowa Running Back Hating God," or AIRBHG for short.

I can't remember when this deity first came up. My guess is that it was in 2008, when the Hawks went into spring camp seemingly devoid of running backs. The starter at that time was walk-on Paki O'Meara, and his backup was Juco transfer, Nate Guillory.

In the end, Paki became the third string back, Guillory transferred before the season started, and Shonn Greene wound up the starter, an All American, and the Big Ten's Offensive Player of the Year.

However, the real inspiration for AIRBHG was 2004. During that season, the Hawkeyes saw their first three backs go down with torn ACL's, and their fourth back miss the last half of the season with a high ankle sprain.

For the final six games of the season, Iowa started Sam Brownlee, a walk-on sophomore out of Emmetsburg, Iowa.

The Hawkeyes wound up finishing dead last in the country in rushing offense that season. On the other hand, they also wound up the co-Big Ten champions.

Moving back to 2008, Shonn Greene's backup that year was true freshman Jewel Hampton.

When Greene left college one year early, Hampton was slotted to be the feature back, until a torn ACL derailed his season. He took a redshirt, and Iowa's rushing yards were put on the back of two freshmen.

One of them was true freshman Brandon Wegher, and the other was redshirt freshman Adam Robinson.

Behind them was still Paki.

13 wins and one season later, and the Iowa Hawkeyes and their fans are in familiar territory; Jewel Hampton's season appears to be over, and the Hawks are down to one running back and praying that the vengeful one spares that back's knees.

It's funny, because this fall camp started with what seemed to be a glut of backs. Both Wegher and A-Rob were back, and Jewel Hampton was healthy.

At the beginning of August, I think most Iowa fans wondered if one of the backs would change positions, as there could only be so many carries to go around.

Then Wegher left the team for unspecified reasons, but fans didn't worry too much. After all, the Hawks still had two really good backs, and Paki was dependable in the third spot.

Nevertheless, here we are. A-Rob is the last man standing and Paki is behind him.

Well, sort of. Paki will probably miss the next game due to a concussion he sustained in the Arizona game.

Besides, while according to all accounts Paki is a great teammate and a solid special teams player, running back is one position where you don't want a walk-on starting. It is simply a position where a player has "it," or he doesn't, and all the hard work and practice in the world will not give that player what it takes to excel at this level of football.

Therefore, it appears that this opens the door for true freshmen Marcus Coker and DeAndre Johnson.

Rumor had it that Coker was going to burn his redshirt before a shoulder/collarbone injury ended his fall camp prematurely.

Coker is a Shonn Greene-type of back: Big and powerful. He is listed at six feet tall and 230 pounds. Due to that, one would assume he can take a pounding. Nonetheless, last week was his first week back in full-contact practice.

Meanwhile, Johnson, at 5'8" and 210 pounds, is more of a scat back. He had been playing on the scout team through last week, so he has a lot of catching up to do.

Then there is redshirt freshman Brad Rogers who, as fullback, is not ideally suited to being an every-down back. On the other hand, he's a healthy body.

Finally, according to Kirk Ferentz, "anyone else that wants to volunteer" can also have a shot.

As it turns out, Iowa's opponent for this week is Ball State, and it couldn't be more ideally timed. Hopefully, the Hawks will get the starters off the field in a hurry, and get a lot of playing time in there for Coker and/or Johnson.

Because with Penn State coming to town in two weeks, they're going to need it.