Iowa Football: Jewel Hampton Out, Next Man In

Did you hear that? It was the collective sharp intake of breath from most Iowa Hawkeye football fans.

That's the response most people could expect when learning that Jewel Hampton is out for the season. Hampton was supposed to be Iowa's hope for putting together the season Hawk fans everywhere were hoping for.

Well, he's gone. We should go find the darkest corner of our basements, assume the fetal position and find a pillow to squeeze the life out of while we soak it in tears, right?

WRONG.

Stand up, man! It's time to realize that the world is not ending and Hampton's injury, though certainly not a blessing, does not spell out the doom of Iowa's 2009 run.

Take a lesson from history. Coach Kirk Ferentz's "next man in" system has worked in favor of Iowa in years past. It's happened before, it can happen again.

Hampton came into this spring's practices appearing to me "Mr. Indispensable." After a few months of practice, however, that name no longer fits. Several others have emerged as possible dark horses for the Hawkeyes and given the team some much needed depth at running back.

Paki O'Meara, a junior from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has landed the starting role for Iowa in Saturday's game against Northern Iowa. The only running back left on the depth chart with any experience, O'Meara has arguably had as good of summer as anyone else on the Hawkeye roster. With that and the fact that O'Meara looked good during his limited experience last year in mind, he is clearly Iowa's next man in.

Redshirt freshman Adam Robinson has also surfaced as a potential impact player for Iowa. Ferentz has commented on Robinson's impressive summer practices, especially in the last week or two. Robinson seems to be another Iowa native stepping up right when the Hawks need him most.

Fellow redshirt freshman Jeff Brinson of St. Petersburg, Fla. will be someone to watch all season long. He would have been even if Hampton had managed to remain healthy.

Brinson, whose high school statistics speak for themselves with nearly 5,000 rushing yards and 67 touchdowns, is a born play maker. Many believe Brinson will be Iowa's most prominent running back this year.

Brinson's name is only absent from Iowa's two-deeps because of an ankle injury, which caused him to miss significant time earlier in the summer. Once Brinson catches up and gets on the same page as the other Iowa backs, watch out.

Then there's a little-known true freshman out of Sioux City Bishop Heelan high school way out in western Iowa by the name of Brandon Wegher. During his prep career, Wegher had 792 carries for 6,825 yards and 105 touchdowns. Of those stats, 3,238 yards on 362 with 54 touchdowns came his senior year.

Oh yeah, he was also named a 2008 EA Sports second-team all-American and helped re-write the rushing section in Iowa's high school football record book.

Given the depth of Iowa's running back position, Hampton was anything but Mr. Indispensable. Yes, he's a great player but so are the guys behind him. Also, with a monster o-line creating gaps even this writer's 4'11'' girlfriend could run through, the Iowa Hawkeyes will be fine at the running back position.