Panthers put hammer to rebuilt offensive front

CEDAR FALLS - It wouldn't be surprising to see Rick Nelson wearing a hardhat to work these days.

The offensive line coach for Northern Iowa is in the midst of a construction project. All five of his starters from last season are gone, and there's little experience returning among the backups.

Fortunately for the Panthers, the blueprint is one Nelson knows well. And the men swinging the hammers are working well together and willing to put in long hours.

"We do have some older kids," said Nelson, who is heading into his 21st season as an o-line coach in the Missouri Valley Football Conference and his 11th at UNI. "They've just been behind some pretty decent players. They know what they're doing, but they haven't had the game reps."

Three players who have stepped to the front of that group are junior Jay Teply of Cedar Rapids, senior Austin Zlab of Urbandale and sophomore Brian Palangi, a Nahant, Mass., native who transferred to UNI after Northeastern dropped football last year.

Teply, a 6-foot-7, 328-pound specimen, showed tremendous promise as a redshirt freshman when he started eight games at tackle and earned Missouri Valley Football Conference All-Newcomer honors, but fell back last season and played sparingly.

"He just hit a plateau," said Nelson. "When he was a redshirt freshman he was pretty good and then he just never took that next step.

"I think it was just a case where he had two pretty good kids in front of him last year, but we need him to really be a leader for us this year, and I think he will. I think he feels like he's a major part of it now, and that's a huge thing when those kids feel like, 'Hey, I'm gonna be the guy.' He's kind of taken that by the horns and he's doing a nice job for us."

Read more of this story in the August 26 Pilot Tribune.