Greg Garmon is Gone
Iowa freshman running back Greg Garmon will be transferring from the school and has gained his unconditional release, that according to Rob Howe of HawkeyeInsider.com on Wednesday evening.
Howe spoke with both Garmon and Garmon’s father Tony Hollingsworth in this item, with one very interesting quote standing out among others:
While fans speculate on the reasons for Garmon’s departure, the bolded text is interesting.
The Iowa staff spent time recruiting Garmon and they saw what he was at the high school level; a lithe athlete who ran upright and was more of a gazelle in the open field than he was a between the tackles bruiser. Yet in Iowa’s system, but of the runs are going to come between the tackle box even if that tackle box is moving laterally a lot within Iowa’s zone scheme.
So if we’re talking about fitting a scheme, and then to say that Garmon wasn’t a good fit after he got there, that just doesn’t fit. Was Garmon not a good fit in another area? He did have that marijuana related arrest last spring that followed some tweets/retweets related to getting high. However if that’s it, Iowa could have gone a different direction in May.
For now, nobody is saying anything but in instances like this, the more time people have to speculate can lead to the parties involved wanting to clear the air or set the record straight. For now all we have is that Iowa and the Garmon camp agreed that the Iowa football program was not a good fit.
Here are a few tweets from resident football expert HawkeyeGameFilm on the Garmon topic listed in chronological order:
Just now seeing Garmon transferring news. Figured someone would be transferring with the crowded back-field, but thought Canzeri was the guy
— Hawkeye Gamefilm (@hawkeyegamefilm) December 13, 2012
I agree with him here; when you look at the Iowa backfield for next year, it seemed likely that someone was either going to leave or change positions and try to get more involved in the offense from the slot. Perhaps that was a conversation Ferentz had with Garmon (move to the slot) and wasn’t well received.
Garmon struggled in pass pro this year, most FR do; thought that limited his reps some. Easily better in space than in traffic as a runner
— Hawkeye Gamefilm (@hawkeyegamefilm) December 13, 2012
Not sure Garmon ever would have been a load carrying back at Iowa; size/build and upright running style were issues.Definitely has speed tho
— Hawkeye Gamefilm (@hawkeyegamefilm) December 13, 2012
Concern: Just saw Mel Gordon shred Neb in B1G title game w/speed sweeps; Garmon a VERY similar player, yet nothing like that from Iowa
— Hawkeye Gamefilm (@hawkeyegamefilm) December 13, 2012
I realize Iowa isn’t going to change identity but when you have an athlete like Garmon and you don’t find ways to use him, it’s a problem
— Hawkeye Gamefilm (@hawkeyegamefilm) December 13, 2012
Other concerning aspect: KF agreed w/Garmon that it wasn’t a good fit. I saw his HS film, kid was a glider then too. Never was a power back
— Hawkeye Gamefilm (@hawkeyegamefilm) December 13, 2012
Garmon had a diff style; apparently Iowa thought they could change that or just find a way to use him. Doesn’t appear to the latter
— Hawkeye Gamefilm (@hawkeyegamefilm) December 13, 2012
Ultimately losing Garmon doesn’t break Iowa; definitely doesn’t help; biggest concern to me is lack of willingness to evolve/augment scheme
— Hawkeye Gamefilm (@hawkeyegamefilm) December 13, 2012
There is more than one way to skin a cat and Garmon appeared to have the best breakaway or open field quickness of any of the Iowa backs. Again, we don’t know if a conversation had been had related to Garmon’s role and wanting him to move to a new position on the field.
I think Damon Bullock and Mark Weisman are going to take 80% of the running back reps next year at a minimum as long as they are healthy (Yeah, I know). I think Bullock is the best running back on the team. Sure, Garmon has potential and came in with more accolades than any other running back on the team. But we’ve seen Bullock carry a load and I liked what I saw this year. He ran harder and tougher than I thought he would, his vision really improved as the year went on and if he would have had the chance to finish the game against UNI and play against Central Michigan and Minnesota, I suspect he would have flirted with 200 yards in each of those games the way Weisman did.
Some are sort of losing their minds over this, presenting it like Iowa just lost a sure fire Doak Walker Award candidate when he’s gained just over 120 yards in his college career. The bigger issue is that it’s another running back who has left the program prior to his eligibility expiring. In fact, he’s the seventh scholarship running back to leave Iowa in the last three years; Garmon, De’Andre Johnson, Mika’il McCall, Marcus Coker, Jewell Hampton, Brandon Wegher and Adam Robinson.
Johnson, McCall, Robinson and Coker served some type of suspension prior to their ouster or it caused their ouster so I wouldn’t say that any of those players had what you’d call a ‘normal’ transfer. Brandon Wegher left the program for personal reasons that had nothing to do with the Iowa football program and everything to do with choices he made off the field and in his personal life.
However, it’s the totality that makes things worse and those who look at it from the outside (perhaps future recruits and/or their parents and other coaches recruiting against Iowa) won’t make the distinctions of familiarity that I have made here and that you are well aware of. They’ll see or hear that Iowa has had seven backs leave the program in the last 28 months and wonder what the heck is going on. Sprinkle in a little bit of the AIRBHG injury legend and you can create a bonafide smear campaign.
Without Garmon in the mix, Bullock and Weisman will be there as mentioned, as will Jordan Canzeri. Barkley Hill should be available in the fall after tearing his ACL in practice last August and Mike Malloy will be available, too. Iowa is in the mix for Ohio prep back LeShun Daniels, a Boston College verbal who recently visited Iowa and is considering the Hawkeyes and BC in the wake of Boston College’s coaching change.
Iowa should have a solid offensive line next year with the return of Brandon Scherff, Brett Van Sloten, Austin Blythe, Andrew Donnall and several other players who saw some experience in 2012. There’s still an opportunity to run the ball at Iowa.
However, Garmon had talent, even if it was still very raw. In a perfect world he would have been a redshirt candidate, given how ‘skinny’ he was. Iowa didn’t have that luxury this year due to the injuries they had at the position last spring (Canzeri) and the defections last January (Coker and McCall) and then the camp injury to Hill in August. Perhaps the limited reps didn’t set well with him. Perhaps he was hearing one thing all week about being ready or being high on the depth chart and getting reps in practice and when the game played he either didn’t see the field or barely saw it.
Who can really know what is going on inside a teenager’s head except for that teenager?
As for now, we don’t know all the answers. All we know is that Greg Garmon felt Iowa was not the right fit for him and that the Iowa coaching staff felt the same way.
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