Football Hawkeyes aim highBY CHARLIE GREEN | JULY 20, 2015 5:00 AM Iowa’s football season doesn’t kick off for 47 days, but the eagerness to get back to action was palpable at the Iowa football media availability July 16. Although fall camp doesn’t start until Aug. 6, players have their sights set on what can be done to win the Big Ten West Division. “I think we just need to execute at a level we know we can,” center Austin Blythe said. “I think with guys being excited as they are this summer and this spring and going into this fall camp, it’s going to be huge for us.” Blythe leads an offensive line that lost tackles Andrew Donnal and Brandon Scherff to the 2015 NFL draft. Ike Boettger and Boone Myers are expected to fill those voids, while returning starters senior Jordan Walsh and sophomore Sean Welsh are slated at the guard spots. The line accounts for three of five returning offensive starters, and Blythe comes into 2015 on watch lists for the Rimington Trophy for the nation’s top center as well as the Outland Trophy for best interior lineman. The group will be pivotal in Iowa’s hopes of winning the West, a task that right now does not appear out of reach. National champion Ohio State is the heavy and obvious favorite to win the conference, but the Buckeyes play in the East. Michigan State has arguably been the top program in the Big Ten over the past five seasons, and the Spartans, too, could only meet Iowa in the Big Ten Championship on Dec. 5. Even seemingly up-and-coming programs with high-profile coaches such as Michigan and Penn State are in the East, leaving the Hawks with a golden opportunity in the other half of the conference…
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