Kirk Ferentz provides update on Iowa injuries

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz provided injury updates on tight end Luke Lachey, running back Jaziun Patterson and running back Kaleb Johnson following Saturday’s 41-10 victory over Western Michigan.

In his post-game press conference, Ferentz discussed Lachey unprompted after the tight end sustained a right leg injury in the first quarter of the game.

“Unfortunately, I hate to lose Luke to an injury,” Ferentz said. “It’s fairly significant, so we’ll know more about that in a couple days. They’re assessing that. That’s the one downside right there.”

Lachey had 10 receptions for 131 yards on the year.

Ferentz was then asked about his two running backs in Patterson and Johnson. Johnson, the starter heading into the game, was announced as out prior to the start of the contest. Patterson earned the start with Johnson out but picked up a knock during the game.

Patterson had six carries for 20 yards prior to his injury.

“Kaleb’s got an ankle,” Ferentz said. “Got it at the end of the game last week, it didn’t respond. We’ll take it week-by-week, day-by-day. Jaziun had a little bit of a tweak as well. Obviously, we thought he was going to go today, but tweaked it a little bit during the game. I don’t think it’s real significant. We’ll know more in a couple of days.”

The Hawkeyes didn’t open the game how they would liked versus the Broncos. They were down 7-0 at the half and then only up 14-10 at the half. But Iowa exploded for 27 points after the break, despite being down those three key players on offense.

Cade McNamara finished the game with just 103 yards passing but the Hawkeyes rushed for 254 yards thanks a multi-pronged attack. Leshon Williams had 12 carries for 145 yards while Kamari Moulton had 50 yards and two touchowns and Terrell Washington Jr. had 31 rushing yards.

“Obviously, it was a slow start for us and credit goes to Western Michigan,” Ferentz said. “They came in here with a good plan. They were competing hard, so credit goes to them on that. I am happy the way our guys responded. It was not the kind of start we had hoped for certainly, but they fought through some things. One thing about football, it’s a full 60-minute game, always has been, always will be, sometimes more than that. That’s why you play the full 60. You never know what’s going to happen.”