Vandervelde out, Richardson in on O-line

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By Eric Page | Wednesday, September 26, 2007 4:02 AM CDT | () comments

IOWA CITY — Julian Vandervelde wasn’t on the depth chart released Monday for the Iowa football team’s homecoming game against Indiana.

He suffered an ankle injury early and didn’t return to the field in Saturday’s loss at Wisconsin.

After the game, coach Kirk Ferentz said Vandervelde, a redshirt freshman from Davenport, had been cleared to play but was held out to not risk further injury.

Tuesday, Vandervelde’s health remained in question.

“Julian has a chance,” Ferentz said. “We’ll know more (today). I’m not optimistic there.”

Vandervelde has started all four games at right guard this season. When he went down, junior Dace Richardson came on and saw his first extended action of the season at right tackle, shifting Seth Olsen to right guard.

Richardson, who started eight games at left tackle last season, missed all of preseason camp and most of the first three games while recovering from minor offseason knee surgery.

“It felt good,” Richardson said. “It was a long time working. I finally got my chance to get back out there, and it felt good.

“I feel like each week I’m getting better.”

“He looked better than I would have anticipated,” Ferentz said. “If you had told me he was going to play as many snaps as he did, I would have been a little skeptical.”

Swapping Richardson for Vandervelde adds some experience to an offensive line that has struggled mightily through the first third of the schedule.

Iowa ranks last in the Big Ten in total offense largely because of the unit’s inability to create running lanes for running backs Albert Young and Damian Sims and protect quarterback Jake Christensen. The Hawkeyes’ average of 3.7 yards a carry ranks second-to-last in the league, and their 11 sacks allowed are the second most by any team in the conference.

“We really need to establish a better running game to help out the passing game,” Olsen said. “We need to figure out how we can run against teams that are blitzing. We need to figure out how to block them and then finish our blocks.

“Our backs are great. They’ll find the holes. With our backs, the holes don’t have to be huge.”

More police blotter

According Johnson County court records, redshirt freshman Ben Evans was arrested July 29 and charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated, an incident that went unreported by the media at the time.

Evans, 19, is a walk-on wide receiver from Iowa City.

Ferentz said Evans has served a two-game suspension, which wasn’t released by the university’s sports information department, as has been the case with the numerous other arrests of Iowa football players the past six months.

A search of court records also revealed sophomore running back Dana Brown was arrested twice in a span of three months — May 3 and July 19 — on charges of fifth-degree theft, a simple misdemeanor which normally indicates a shoplifting offense.

It’s unknown if Brown served a suspension. He played in the opener against Northern Illinois but did not see the field against Syracuse or Iowa State before playing Saturday against Wisconsin. He is scheduled to appear in Johnson County Court at 9 a.m. today.

The arrests of Evans and Brown brings to 11 the number of Iowa players arrested in Johnson County since April 15.

Signor returns to practice

Iowa place-kicker Austin Signor has returned to practice after suffering a hip-flexor injury last week and missing Iowa’s game at Wisconsin.

Redshirt freshman Daniel Murray filled in admirably in his absence, connecting on field goals of 41 and 37 yards, while having a 36-yarder blocked.

Ferentz said Signor has been doing some kicking during individual workouts, and the coaching staff will continue to monitor his progress throughout the week. Murray was listed as the starter on the depth chart released Monday.

Mystery man

At least three Iowa players sustained concussions during Saturday’s game.

Linebacker Mike Klinkenborg and safety Devan Moylan have been cleared to practice, but one other player Ferentz wouldn’t name remains questionable for Saturday’s game.

Extra points

About 1,000 tickets still remain for Iowa’s regular-season finale against Western Michigan at Kinnick Stadium. It is the only home game that has yet to sell out. … Captains for Saturday’s game will be Young, Sims, Klinkenborg and Bryan Mattison.

Eric Page can be contacted at (563) 383-2277 or epage@qctimes.com. For more on the Hawkeyes, log on to Hawkmania.com.