For Iowa offensive player Connor Colby, things seem to have clicked

IOWA CITY – This moment came in his very first semester at the University of Iowa.

Connor Colby would have still been a high school student if he hadn’t wanted to, but the offensive lineman from Cedar Rapids Kennedy decided to enroll early so he could participate in the Hawkeyes’ spring football practice.

“I ran off the field, my knee braces were locked together, and I landed face down in front of Coach Bell,” Colby said with a smile during Iowa’s recent media day. “I just got up and kept walking. I just don’t acknowledge it.”

Coach Bell is defensive line coach Kelvin Bell. He didn’t tell Colby about his faux pas.

Everyone left it alone. Hey, these things happen.

“Nobody in the locker room said anything to me,” Colby said. “I think they realized I was just out there trying to stay alive.”

To be honest, that pretty much sums up his college football career. The 6’6″, 300-pound player was rushed into the regular season before he was ready. He fell face down on the ground a few times, but always got back up and shook himself off.

Now in his final season, Colby is a real guy who will play right guard for Iowa and is considered someone who could make it to the Big Ten Conference.

“When I got here, I really realized how football should be played,” Colby said. “Just the speed of the game was a big adjustment for me. Like any freshman, you have to get used to everything. It’s a lot faster than high school. I wouldn’t say my falling on my face was representative of my game. You just have to get used to everything.”

Colby played in all 14 of Iowa’s games as a freshman in 2021, starting the final 11 at right guard. He moved to right tackle to start 2022 and then to left guard for the final seven games.

Last season he started 13 times as right guard.

“About halfway through last season, it clicked,” said George Barnett, Iowa’s offensive line coach. “We’re talking about a kid who was thrown onto the team as a high school junior and started at right guard at Iowa. That wasn’t supposed to happen, but it happened to him. So I have a lot of respect for that kid and what he went through.”

“The next year, we were short on tackles because of the difference in grades and availability, so he kicks out to tackle and plays way out of position. He’s a center back. He worked his ass off. Then last year, around the third or fourth game, it really started to click a little bit and he matured.”

Colby agrees with Barnett about the clicking thing.

“I think I started getting more calls halfway through last season,” he said. “I just know what’s going on, how to play, and I think that definitely helped me get going a little bit.”

“When you see him on the practice field now compared to two years ago, he’s a totally different person,” Barnett said. “He was always cool, calm and collected. But now he’s got a business-like attitude. It’s a little like after your sophomore year of high school. You start to paint that vision for yourself. You can see Connor has one now. It’s fun to watch him.”

Iowa’s line play has been suboptimal over the last three or four seasons, which has been the cause of a major breakdown on offense. Tim Lester has been hired as the Hawkeyes’ new offensive coordinator, and everyone seems excited about his plans.

But if the offensive line play doesn’t improve, the offense as a whole won’t improve.

“You just have to keep going. It’s like anything in football, you just have to keep going. But you need the right people. Then they just have to believe in it and keep going,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “These guys did that. We had our share of challenging situations, but the guys stuck it out and persevered.”

“George has done a great job of getting them focused on the right things and you can see that right now in practice. We’re seeing them starting to play at a little bit of a better tempo than they have in recent years.”

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