Kaleb Johnson, Jaz Patterson Officially Out for Penn State
Iowa's 41-10 victory over Western Michigan on Saturday featured a career day for sophomore RB Leshon Williams, who gained 145 yards on the ground and 27 receiving yards, with a score on a 25-yard screen pass. Concurrently, conspicuous in their absence were Kaleb Johnson, who was announced out that morning with an ankle injury, and Jaziun Patterson, who gained 20 yards on six carries before exiting to injury in the first half.
The ensuing depth chart released Monday featured Williams atop the running backs, with true freshmen Kamari Moulton and T.J. Washington behind him, in that order; both freshmen made their season debuts Saturday.
Being left off a depth chart is, historically, a poor sign for a player's availability under head coach Kirk Ferentz, and on Tuesday Ferentz confirmed fans' worst fears ahead of the Hawkeyes' trip to No. 7 Penn State.
"Both Jaz and Kaleb won't be available this week," Ferentz said Tuesday. "So we'll evaluate it each week as we go forward, but they're both going to be out Saturday. We'll go with the guys we finished up with the other day."
Ferentz also clarified the injury for Patterson, which he had called "a little bit of a tweak" after the Western Michigan game.
"It's lower leg," Ferentz said. "Both running backs have lower leg injuries. Hopefully [they're back] sooner than later, it's just day-to-day, week-to-week."
Williams said Tuesday that he's helping the freshmen prepare for the task ahead of them in Happy Valley.
"It's going to be a hostile environment," Williams said. "But at the end of the day, we're going to prepare hard this week, make sure go out there and do our job. Listen to the play, detail and assignment first, and go out there and execute."
Ferentz said all three scholarship backs on the depth chart are worked into the team's gameplan.
"Oh, yeah, all three guys are in there," Ferentz said. "It's going to be a different arena from what they're used to. But they're going to find out now. So here we go."