IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Former Iowa running back Akrum Wadley ripped the Hawkeyes on Monday, saying he was so mistreated by some coaches he now regrets playing there. Tavian Banks, 2,977, 5.9 ypc (1994-97)“The first play was an outside-zone play,” Wadley recalled. Akrum Wadley: From the 'doghouse' to an elite Iowa football running back. Sedrick Shaw, 4,156, 5.0 ypc (1993-96)One year in, things were trending up.Back to the bench he went. He spent free time holed up with a queue of movies.He had conquered homesickness and overcome the bad grades.Up next: The Senior Bowl, then (by all projections) the NFL.1. “You play the best teams in the league, you’ve got to bring it. He’s rushed 514 times for 2,784 yards and 27 touchdowns in 38 games with the Hawkeyes. His teammates voted him a captain for the North Texas game, which to him was a huge badge of honor.Then he made things worse when he threw a late-January party and sent a Facebook message inviting the entire UI class of 2017.
Against Illinois, they joined forces for 72.3 percent (247 of 342 yards) and all three offensive touchdowns. He’s not phony or anything. … Somewhere around mid-season, I started looking at that (and thinking), ‘Holy smokes, this guy is adding them up.’ I don't want to say quietly, but it's amazing what he's done, the company he's with.”3.
"And I’m so thankful he hung in there.”3.
ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. rated him as the 2017 draft’s sixth-best running back prospect.There were last year’s game-winning, fourth-quarter touchdown runs at Rutgers and Minnesota. "He didn’t know the area, so each day he would go to the same Dubuque Street sandwich shop.
He didn’t get a carry in four of Iowa’s next five games.Wadley's 3,521 yards from scrimmage (2,784 rushing, 737 receiving) also rank fifth in school history.Two, Wadley struggled with ball security. You’re going to leave because somebody wants you to eat?”“When I first got here,” Wadley said, “I let a lot of things slide.”1. That can be a lonely place for freshmen, with coaches' attention predominantly given to those who actually play on Saturdays.He gained 115 hard-earned yards against Florida; another 118 this year in the seismic win against Ohio State. Where Iowa Hawkeye fans gather. He played college football at Iowa.
"I felt like I could go.”It was a big deal for Wadley, a lightly recruited two-star prospect whose only other FBS offer came from Temple, to play at a Big Ten Conference school.2.
Running the ball has been an extremely integral part of that.”Through 11 games, the facts are the facts: The Hawkeyes’ offense ranks 121st out of 128 FBS teams.Against Michigan, Wadley and Daniels accounted for a remarkable 96.1 percent of Iowa’s offense (221 of 230 yards).Pound the rock, let linemen block, control the clock.“I think that’s a nice way to say it, but anyway, go ahead,” Ferentz said. That’s still true today.”Against Illinois, they joined forces for 72.3 percent (247 of 342 yards) and all three offensive touchdowns.That’s involved more double-tight end formations, more fullback and more straight-ahead running.And here’s the crazy part: It’s possible the Hawkeyes will, for the first time in school history, wind up with multiple 1,000-yard rushers in the same season.Certainly the past two weeks, in slugfest victories in which Iowa averaged less than 300 yards of offense, the Hawkeyes have unearthed a winning formula.The reloaded question, like the original, certainly was valid, and Ferentz knew it.If the Hawkeyes can get both close to the century mark by about 6 p.m. Friday, they’ll likely have improved to 8-4 and will await their bowl fate nine days later.Wadley has rushed for 861 yards on 135 attempts; Daniels 855 on 169.Iowa has had only two 1,000-yard rushers in Ferentz’s previous 10 seasons — Shonn Greene in 2008 and Marcus Coker in 2011. Not the part about coming to Iowa.Because of his prolonged school schedule back home, Wadley arrived to campus later than most of his new Iowa teammates in the summer of 2013. “And ... the linebacker, he tackled me (for a 1-yard gain). It may sound like a stretch, but with 216 yards against Boston College’s leaky rush defense, Wadley would reach 3,000 for his career.Between them, there was that issue of a stay-or-go NFL decision.
You talk to them and let them know, ‘I’m interested in the class.