Every time there is a kickoff to the Iowa football team, I get excited because I am looking forward to the potential of Paul Hornung Award watch list nominee Ihmir Smith-Marsette returning the ball. Through three weeks of the season, I have been disappointed.
A year after Smith-Marsette averaged a ridiculous 29.5 yards per return, he is averaging just 18 yards per return through three games this season.
The key thing to keep in mind though is he had 24 returns last year compared to just 3 this year, which would project out to be 12 total returns this year in 12 games, a pretty drastic difference from last year.