The first depth chart of the summer

There's a unique satisfaction that comes along with seeing the first depth chart of the summer. It's almost the exact opposite feeling of seeing the mall's first Christmas decorations in early October, which probably has a lot to do with Bing Crosby's involvement with each situation.

Most of these rankings are, of course, subject to immediate change. While we're probably not going to see Klinkenborg drop off the 2-deeps, he's only one of about five players with a starting job sewn up.

Pay special attention to walk-on Brett Greenwood, who has played exactly zero snaps in his college career, but still has an early lead on the free safety position. While it would be easy to draw a parallel between him and guys like Sean Considine or Derek Pagel--white walk-ons at free safety are easily confused, after all--his melanin-challenged predecessors didn't lock down starting roles until their senior years. Greenwood, meanwhile, held a second-string role on the 2-deeps last year without losing eligibility. While it might seem strange to use one of the road dress spots on a guy you were never planning on using, it's not as if backup safeties were even on Iowa's radar of major problems last year.

Another position battle of note is the WR role, where Trey Stross seems close to eclipsing Dominique Douglas and putting two white wide receivers in the starting lineup. Even more amazing? They're the speed guys.

Lastly, keep an eye on Kenny Iwebema and Adrian Clayborn (VHT!) at one of the end spots. Iwebema had a serious regression in performance last season; if he continues to underachieve, Clayborn could probably step in and improve the defensive line. Let's hope, however, that Iowa's 2007 season doesn't include a former first team All-Big 10 defensive lineman losing his spot to a redshirt freshman.

Now onto the good stuff. All links go to the official 2007 pages for the players, and the stars refer to the letters won by each young man.

OFFENSE

SE 80 ** Andy Brodell 6-3 200 Jr
89 James Cleveland 6-1 195 #Fr.

LT 78 ** Dace Richardson 6-6 305 Jr.
60 Kyle Calloway 6-7 305 So.

LG 68 Andy Kuempel 6-7 295 So.
74 Dan Doering 6-7 300 So.

C 52 * Rafael Eubanks 6-3 285 So.
58 Rob Bruggeman 6-3 287 Jr.

RG 75 * Wesley Aeschliman 6-8 318 Jr.
61 Travis Meade 6-2 285 So.
or 63 Julian Vandervelde 6-3 295 #Fr.

RT 71 * Seth Olsen 6-5 305 Jr.
72 * Tyler Blum 6-6 285 So.
or 76 ** Alex Kanellis 6-4 295 Jr.

TE 81 * Tony Moeaki 6-4 255 Jr.
83 ** Brandon Myers 6-4 250 Jr.

QB 6 * Jake Christensen 6-1 215 So.
8 Arvell Nelson 6-4 210 #Fr.
or 12 Ricky Stanzi 6-4 215 #Fr.

WR 88 * Dominique Douglas 6-1 190 So.
or 86 * Trey Stross 6-3 195 So.
84 Anthony Bowman 5-11 167 So.

RB 21 ** Albert Young 5-10 209 Sr.
or 28 *** Damian Sims 5-9 197 Sr.

FB 35 *** Tom Busch 5-11 235 Sr.
38 Jordan McLaughlin 6-0 230 Jr.

PK 39 * Austin Signor 6-4 230 So.
or 1 Daniel Murray 5-10 175 #Fr.

DEFENSE

DE 92 ** Kenny Iwebema 6-4 267 Sr.
94 Adrian Clayborn 6-3 275 #Fr.

DT 53 ** Matt Kroul 6-3 277 Jr.
56 Rashad Dunn 6-3 285 Jr.

DT 47 ** Mitch King 6-3 264 Jr.
59 Anton Narinskiy 6-4 265 Jr.

DE 99 *** Bryan Mattison 6-3 272 Sr.
98 * Chad Geary 6-3 261 So.

OLB 49 * A.J. Edds 6-4 244 So.
42 Jeremiha Hunter 6-2 222 #Fr.

MLB 40 *** Mike Klinkenborg 6-2 240 Sr.
41 * Bryan Gattas 6-1 233 Sr.

WLB 44 ** Mike Humpal 6-3 242 Sr.
43 * Pat Angerer 6-1 230 So.

LC 19 *** Adam Shada 6-1 195 Sr.
16 * Drew Gardner 5-10 178 Sr.

SS 2 Harold Dalton 6-1 201 Jr.
or 14 *** Devan Moylan 5-10 201 Sr.

FS 30 Brett Greenwood 6-0 200 #Fr.
18 Lance Tillson 6-2 205 #Fr.

RC 13 *** Charles Godfrey 6-1 200 Jr.
29 ** Bradley Fletcher 6-2 200 Jr.

PT 5 Ryan Donahue 6-3 175 #Fr.

To borrow a well-turned phrase, it's not plagiarism if I link to it.