SPENCER, Iowa (AP) – Hundreds of relatives, teammates, classmates and community members have gathered to remember a northwest Iowa wrestler who collapsed during a championship match and died at a hospital. Austin Roberts was praised Monday at the Spencer High School Fieldhouse as a kind and compassionate gladiator. The 18-year-old Died Dec. 19 at Spencer Hospital, just hours after collapsing on a mat during the 220-pound weight class final at the Spencer High School Invitational meet.

A preliminary investigation points to a natural cause of death, but complete autopsy results are not yet available. The Sioux City Journal reports the Spencer High School wrestling coach Adam Gress says Roberts could inflict pain on the coach during their practice matches, but Roberts always asked, “Coach, are you all right?”

The success of the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Rose Bowl could come down to how well the defense stops one of the country’s top running backs. Iowa defensive coordinator Phil Parker says Heisman Trophy finalist Christian McCaffery puts a lot of stress on a defense to play its best. He says they have to go 13 games back and then see all the things McCaffery can do to hurt you. “The preparation is definitely difficult for us, and you’ve always got to go back and keep on looking for plays they have designed for him,” Parker says. McCaffery says there’s not a lot of reading of the defense to do before the snap.

He says they run they schemes very well with their techniques and blitzes and coverages. “It’s gonna be tough, because there are not a lot of indicators of what they are doing. They line up and it’s the same stagnant front,” according to McCaffery. Stanford offensive coordinator Mike Bloomgren says the Hawkeyes vanilla style actually makes it tougher to be prepared.

Bloomgren says Iowa lines up the defense and the coaches trust that everyone will be in the right place, as opposed to the Pac 10, where they see a lot of different schemes and movement. Bloomgren says Iowa and Stanford are a lot alike in philosophy. “Every time we touch the ball, we want to score points. That’s our offensive philosophy in a nutshell, hey let’s do whatever we can to score points.” Bloomgren says. “And the other thing is, play great defense. Both teams have certainly done that.” He says when it comes to Iowa’s defense, they can’t overthink the game plan.

“The biggest thing for us as coaches is not to put in every play that draws up well against that structure on the board,” Bloomgren says. “You’ve still got to limit. You’ve got to figure out what you do best and what is going to fit best for your matchups.”
Parker says one thing for his defense that has led to success is stopping long runs or passes. Parker says if they give up three or less big plays each game then they are only going to give up around 13 points. Any more big plays than that and he says they can expect to give up around 23 points. Parker says his philosophy is built a lot like former Iowa defensive coordinator Norm Parker.

“I think a lot about Norm. Obviously this year there were a couple of games where I thought he was looking over and smiling a little bit,” Parker says. “Last time I was here, I was here with Norm in the Rose Bowl, I was a G-A for him in 1988. So, to me it brings a lot of memories.” Iowa meets Stanford in the Rose Bowl on Friday.

(Radio Iowa)

Iowa’s defense took center stage during a session with the media in California Monday as the countdown to the Rose Bowl continues. Stanford has the Heisman Trophy runner up Christian McCaffery in the backfield, but Hawkeye All-American defensive back Desmond King says they are not a one dimensional offense, with a lot of weapons, including a top tight end, and a great offensive line. Sixth-ranked Iowa is the underdog going into the game against 5th rated Stanford, and King says that’s okay because they’ve done well in that role all season long.

“That’s fine with us — we want to be the underdogs— we’ve been that way all season…all year. We just know that we have a big plate to fill up and we’re going to take that,” King says. He says Stanford’s offense likes to grind it out just like Iowa’s offense and that may give them an idea of what they’ll face. He says they are very similar to the Hawkeyes, which may help, but at the same time you never know what type of team they can be. Linebacker Cole Fisher says that grind it out style makes it tough.

“They’ve shown in the past that it’s hard to get their offense off the field. If they’ve got like a second and four to go then seems like what they want to do make is make it a third and one or third and two,” Fisher says. “….it’s really hard stopping them at the line with the techniques that they use.” He credits McCaffery for making the offense work so well. Fisher says McCaffery is good because he has the patience to wait and see where the holes will open up when he runs. McCaffery named linebacker Josey Jewell when asked who he saw as a standout on defense. Jewell says he is just part of the overall unit.

“Out teammates put us in those positions for other people to call us out. So, the defensive line is a big critical part of linebacker play, and the safeties filling in– so it’s the whole team aspect, it’s not just one player doing really well, it’s the whole team doing really well,” according to Jewell. He says if everyone on the defense does its job, then they make things happen.

“It’s all about the small details with us, following the ball the right way, setting edges, we just have to do the small things right to give us a chance,” Jewell says. Iowa’s players have stayed pretty close to the party line in not wanting to give any bulletin board material to Stanford. While he didn’t say anything to upset the Cardinal, defensive lineman Jaleel Johnson did stray a little from the standard answer and says defense is about playing mean on defense. He says that’s part of his history.

“My family is full of mean people, so you know it was just handed down. My grandfather, he was a really mean person, my father was a mean person, so that’s where it came from,” Johnson says. Even though they are mean, that doesn’t make them bad people. “They’re great people, they’ve very, very great people,” Johnson says. “I take pride in being mean just like them.” Johnson says he doesn’t need anything to turn on his mean side in a game.

“It just happens that way, you make a play, make a very great play, it all comes from being mean. You can’t be soft out there,” Johnson says. The Hawkeyes at 12-1 meet 11-2 Stanford on New Year’s Day in the Rose Bowl.

(Radio Iowa)