Iowa Football's Renaissance Men: 10 Hawkeyes Who Found Success by Changing Roles

If there are two things Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz and his staff have proven that they can do, it is spot and then develop talent.

The argument one often hears is that Ferentz knows how to get more with less. I find this statement to be insulting and ridiculous.

It implies that somehow Iowa all-conference or All-American players are somehow "less" than, for example, Ohio State or Michigan players, simply because they weren't highly recruited or didn't have a press conference to announce their collegiate intentions.

In the end, Shonn Greene's Doak Walker Award or Brad Banks' Davey O'Brien Award is worth every bit as much as Reggie Bush's or Tim Tebow's and implies every bit as much individual achievement.

That said, Ferentz and staff certainly have a nose for diamonds in the rough. They also have an uncanny ability for finding the right position for a player once he is on campus.

The 2011 recruiting class had a notably large number of "tweeners" or "hybrid" players—players whose body types will allow their being able to move to any of a number of different positions, depending upon their skill sets, how they mature and where bodies are needed.

This is no more apparent than in the case of Rodney Coe, who has come to Iowa to play running back but who some people feel is bound for the defensive side of the ball.

Whatever happens with Coe, or Henry Krieger-Coble or Ray Hamilton or any of Iowa's 2011 tweeners, Kirk Ferentz's Hawkeyes have a vaunted history of successful position changes.

The following article will look at some of the more notable ones.

Dallas Clark: Tight End 1999-2002

Dallas Clark was 19 by the time he came to the Hawkeyes. Holding no FBS scholarship offers, he decided to walk on at Iowa as a linebacker.

He redshirted his first year and then spent the next two seasons at linebacker, mostly seeing time on special teams. He missed much of his redshirt freshman season due to injuries.

He moved to tight end before the 2001 season and had a solid enough year to earn All-Big Ten honorable mention.

In 2002, he started all 13 games for the Big Ten champion Hawkeyes. He finished the season second on the team in receptions (43) and yards receiving (742).

He was named first-team All-Big Ten and a consensus All-American, and he won the John Mackey Award as the nation's top tight end.

Robert Gallery: Offensive Lineman 1999-2003

Gallery came to the Hawks from Masonville, Iowa. Located in the northeastern part of the state, Masonville boasts a population of 104.

Gallery was a 6'7", 230-pound tight end out of high school that only held FBS offers from the two in-state schools.

He redshirted as a freshman and used the year to gain some weight.

His first action as a Hawkeye still saw him lining up as a tight end. In fact, during the out-of-conference part of the 2000 season, Gallery caught three passes for 52 yards.

However, he moved to the offensive line at the start of the Big Ten season and wound up starting the final six games at right tackle.

Three years later, Gallery was the anchor of the offensive line, weighed 320 pounds and was a consensus All-American and the Outland Trophy winner as the nation's best interior lineman.

Jonathan Babineaux: Defensive Lineman 2001-2004

In high school, Babineaux played both sides of the ball, including fullback on offense and linebacker and end on defense. He was also his high school team's punter, averaging 40 yards per punt.

Coming out of Port Arthur, Texas, Babineaux's only FBS offers were Iowa and North Texas.

He chose Iowa and came to the Hawks as a fullback.

He played all 11 games in his true freshman year, starting three at fullback. In his first year, he touched the ball three times, including one carry and two receptions.

He was injured before the start of the 2001 season and wound up redshirting and missing the entire year.

Before the 2002 season, Babs moved to defense. He started 12 games at end and was a key member of the No. 5 rush defense in the country.

In 2003, he started the first seven games and was well on his way to an all-conference season before an injury took him out of action for the remainder of the year.

In 2004, he started all 12 games at defensive tackle and finished the season with a team-leading 10.5 sacks and a league-leading 25 tackles for loss.

He was named first-team all conference for his efforts.

Matt Roth: Defensive End 2001-2004

When Roth committed to Iowa in 2000, the Hawks were in their second year under a new coach and had won a total of four games in those two years.

At the time, Roth was a fairly heavily recruited defensive prospect. Part of the reason he committed to Iowa over Nebraska (his second choice) was that the Hawkeye coaches told him he could have a shot at linebacker. Most other schools were recruiting him strictly as a defensive lineman.

In his true freshman year, he did stay at linebacker, though the majority of his playing time came on special teams.

Then, as a sophomore, he put his paw on the ground and never looked back.

Before he graduated, he had packed on 50 pounds and had become a two-time first-team All-Big Ten defensive end.

Scott Chandler: Tight End 2003-2006

Chandler came to the Hawks in the 2003 recruiting class. He was a 6'7", 215-pound string bean of a receiver out of Carroll, Texas. His brother, Nathan, had been the backup quarterback for Iowa in 2002 and was the likely starter in 2003 (Nathan did wind up starting).

Due to attrition at the receiver position, Chandler's redshirt was burned in his freshman year, though he didn't accumulate any statistics.

He made the transition to tight end during the 2004 fall practices. Still somewhat uncomfortable lining up with a hand on the ground, Chandler spent a good deal of time in the slot. He totaled 24 receptions for 324 yards for the 2004 Big Ten co-champion Hawkeyes.

Over the next two seasons, Chandler packed on some weight and became more familiar with the nuances of his new position.

By the time he graduated in 2006, he was up to 260 pounds, had caught another 93 passes for 1,143 yards and was named second-team All-Big Ten as a senior.

Mike Elgin: Offensive Lineman 2002-2006

Mike Elgin received the last offer of the 2002 Iowa recruiting class and was ultimately the second to last commit.

He came to the Hawks as a 6'4", 210-pound unheralded linebacker/defensive end prospect out of Western Dubuque High School in Epworth, Iowa.

He had no FBS offers other than Iowa.

He redshirted as a freshman and moved to the offensive line following spring practice 2003.

In 2004, he became the starting center, and over the next three years he bounced around between the center and right guard positions.

When he used up his eligibility in 2006, he was 280 pounds and an All-Big Ten honorable mention, not to mention an Academic All-American.

Tom Busch: Fullback 2003-2007

Busch came to Iowa as a moderately recruited 5'11", 230-pound inside linebacker.

Coming out of high school in Minnesota, Busch was compared to Zach Thomas. Moreover, unlike so many recruits that come out of high school as "athletes" with an undetermined position, Busch was strictly considered a linebacker.

Nevertheless, after a redshirt year in 2003, Busch had moved to fullback in spring 2004. By the end of the 2004 season, he was the starting fullback.

Over the course of his career, he only touched the ball a total of 44 times. However, he was a battering ram as a blocker.

Needless to say, in the spread era, where the fullback is becoming an extinct position, there were only so many accolades available for Busch.

Nevertheless, in what is unquestionably the least heralded position in modern football, Busch knew his job and did it well.

Mitch King and Matt Kroul: Defensive Tackles 2004-2008

The first commit of the 2004 recruiting class was a little-recruited linebacker by the name of Matt Kroul. Kroul was a 6'2", 215-pound farm boy out of Mount Vernon, Iowa that verbaled to the Hawks in the summer of 2002, a full two years before he would actually become a Hawkeye.

The third commit of the 2004 recruiting class was a moderately recruited linebacker out of Burlington, Iowa by the name of Mitch King. King verbaled at the end of his junior season of high school football.

At 6'3", 230 pounds, King was described by Scout as "an aggressive player who plays the game with a lot of passion." Moreover, they said he "could eventually add enough size to be on the defensive line" and has also "been mentioned as a fullback prospect."

Fast-forward to the opening game of the 2005 season, and the Hawkeyes' two starting defensive tackles were redshirt freshmen Matt Kroul and Mitch King.

Iowa likes to play its inside linemen small, but at the 255-260 mark, King and Kroul were tiny. Over time, they gained weight and manned those positions for the next four years. In fact, Kroul started every single game of his four-year career—50 starts in all.

Over that time, King led the Hawks in tackles for loss three out of his four years. In 2008, he won the Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year.

Meanwhile, Kroul was the yin to King's yang. Not as flashy or fast, Kroul was the quintessential Hawkeye defensive tackle, occupying blockers and stuffing lanes so that the Hawkeye linebackers could come in and finish the play.

In their senior season, the two four-year starters were the lynchpins of the ninth-best rush defense in the country.

Marvin McNutt: Wide Receiver 2007-Present

McNutt came to Iowa as Rivals' 13th-ranked dual-threat quarterback in the 2007 recruiting class. According to Scout, he was the 33rd-best overall quarterback in the class.

That said, McNutt was athletic enough to earn basketball scholarship offers from a number of smaller schools.

In the end, he chose to play football—specifically quarterback—for the Hawks, and that is exactly what he did during his first two years on campus.

In his true freshman year, he redshirted and played quarterback on the scout team. During his first season of availability, he was the third-string quarterback.

He wound up seeing action in three games, occasionally flirting with receiver. However, it was during bowl practices that he exclusively became a pass catcher.

Though he didn't get in any playing time during the bowl, by the time the 2009 season had come along, he was an Iowa starting receiver in time on the field, if not in name. He finished the season with both the second most receptions and yards on the team.

In 2010, he had both the most receptions and yards.

Looking forward, with a solid senior season, he could vault his draft potential up to first-day status.

Riley Reiff: Offensive Lineman: 2008-Present

Reiff came to Iowa as a 230-pound defensive end prospect.

After a redshirt year and a number of injuries to the Iowa offensive line, Reiff became a starting lineman in the second game of the 2009 season. For the next few games, he bounced around between tackle and guard.

He quickly proved his worth and remained in the starting lineup, even after the injured players began to get healthy.

As the Hawks approached the 2009 Orange Bowl, they moved Reiff to the right tackle position, opting to have the freshman play the outside over three-year starting tackle Kyle Calloway (who moved to Reiff's guard position).

In 2010, the third-year sophomore moved to the coveted left tackle position, where he was named second-team All-Big Ten at year's end.

Currently at 300 pounds, if Reiff continues to improve, the first round of the NFL draft could be realistic as soon as next year.