‘It happens naturally’: CB Riley Moss, Iowa Hawkeyes ready to replace defensive departures
There will be plenty of talk over the remainder of this month about how Iowa is replacing some talented members in its secondary. Hawkeyes head football coach Kirk Ferentz mentioned as much after another successful Kids’ Day at Kinnick.
It makes sense, too. Iowa is in the business of replacing 95 combined career starts between Dane Belton, Matt Hankins, and Jack Koerner. Riley Moss, the defending Tatum-Woodson Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year, shared his thoughts on how the Hawkeyes can navigate that hurdle and more at Iowa Media Day.
Replacing starters in the secondary
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“We’re keeping ‘The Doughboys.’ It’s going to keep rolling. So we’ll see how long that lasts. But, in terms of losing some guys, it happens naturally, but we have so much depth. We’re a developmental program and a lot of guys have developed in the past eight or nine months, especially with spring ball and camp. There’s a lot of guys that have stepped up and have grown,” Moss said.
The closeness of Iowa's 2022 defense
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“I think we’re another close-knit group, and that happens naturally being in camp and being around each other so much. We have kind of built a culture in that room last year that a lot of these younger guys saw and want to replicate. So that’s kind of our goal and we always played better when we are a close knit group,” Moss said.
Learning from the Hawkeyes' NFL lineage
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“When we watch film, we have watched clips from the past years and it is cool to see some of the guys like Desmond King who went through the entire program and that are excelling in the NFL. You pick up a lot of things in terms of technique and what they can see in terms of schematics.
“Watching film of them in the past really helps in the present. When I was deciding last year whether I was going to stay or leave, I reached out to Desmond and kind of picked his brain. But also, I keep in touch with the defensive backs from last year because we were so close: Jack Koerner, Dane Belton and Matt Hankins,” Moss said.
Returning to Iowa City for another season
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“I am excited because it’s a great opportunity, and it’s another opportunity for me to help out this team and hopefully achieve our goals this year. It is going to be exciting to see how the season progresses and how camp finishes out. I could get a little better in man coverage because that is all they play in the NFL, and then take a couple to the house like last year,” Moss said.
More Iowa Media Day defense coverage
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