Angerer finally ready to make mark for Hawkeyes
By Eric PageQuad-City Times | Posted: Friday, August 15, 2008
IOWA CITY -- Call it a run of bad luck, a jinx or what have you.
Pat Angerer just hopes he's shaken the curse that kept him on the sidelines for eight of 12 games last season.
A little more than a year ago, the former Bettendorf all-stater was sitting pretty, right where he wanted to be. Coming off a freshman season in which he appeared in every game for the University of Iowa football team, Angerer was listed as the second-string middle linebacker entering his third fall on campus.
He was set to be a regular on the field, primed to make a real impact.
Then, mid-summer, he was struck down by mononucleosis. It sapped his strength and stamina and kept him out of action the first month of the season. When he returned, he played two games before suffering a hamstring injury that lingered the rest of the year.
"Pat just had a year from -- you know, just a terrible year last year," Hawkeyes coach Kirk Ferentz said. "I mean, everything that could have gone wrong went wrong, starting with mono in the summer and right on through."
Angerer, the player who owns Bettendorf's single-game, season and career records for tackles, finished his sophomore year at Iowa with one tackle, a single stop made while playing on special teams in a loss at Penn State.
More painful than the illness, injury or lack of personal production, though, was watching helplessly as the Hawkeyes struggled through a 6-6 season.
"It was rough," Angerer said. "When you're playing, you don't realize how much you love it. When you're not playing, you realize that you really love it, and you don't know what you'd do without it. When you don't have it, you just want to get back out there."
Last week at Iowa's media day, a bulked up -- 6-foot-1, 232 pounds -- and finally fully healthy Angerer was eager to talk about the future. He is listed atop the depth chart at middle linebacker along with sophomore Jacody Coleman, and the two are expected to engage in one of the more heated position battles in preseason camp.
"I'm more motivated than ever," Angerer said. "I'm just tired of being hurt, tired of not playing, and I want to get back on the field."
A healthy Angerer, said Iowa linebackers coach Darrell Wilson, is as good as they come in the Big Ten Conference.
"What we saw in Pat Angerer this spring was the Pat Angerer that everyone got used to seeing when he was a prep school boy here," Wilson said. "He is a very good football player, very intense, very smart. This spring, he felt good. He had the confidence in himself because he was feeling healthy."
Angerer -- who, by the way, is a huge fan of mixed martial arts and said he one day could see himself competing in the octagon -- is confident now. More than ever, it seems.
It's a quiet confidence, though. Almost cautious.
But he's not looking back.
He's got his fingers crossed, his eyes fixed forward and his feet pointed straight ahead.
Pat Angerer just hopes he's shaken the curse that kept him on the sidelines for eight of 12 games last season.
A little more than a year ago, the former Bettendorf all-stater was sitting pretty, right where he wanted to be. Coming off a freshman season in which he appeared in every game for the University of Iowa football team, Angerer was listed as the second-string middle linebacker entering his third fall on campus.
He was set to be a regular on the field, primed to make a real impact.
Then, mid-summer, he was struck down by mononucleosis. It sapped his strength and stamina and kept him out of action the first month of the season. When he returned, he played two games before suffering a hamstring injury that lingered the rest of the year.
"Pat just had a year from -- you know, just a terrible year last year," Hawkeyes coach Kirk Ferentz said. "I mean, everything that could have gone wrong went wrong, starting with mono in the summer and right on through."
Angerer, the player who owns Bettendorf's single-game, season and career records for tackles, finished his sophomore year at Iowa with one tackle, a single stop made while playing on special teams in a loss at Penn State.
More painful than the illness, injury or lack of personal production, though, was watching helplessly as the Hawkeyes struggled through a 6-6 season.
"It was rough," Angerer said. "When you're playing, you don't realize how much you love it. When you're not playing, you realize that you really love it, and you don't know what you'd do without it. When you don't have it, you just want to get back out there."
Last week at Iowa's media day, a bulked up -- 6-foot-1, 232 pounds -- and finally fully healthy Angerer was eager to talk about the future. He is listed atop the depth chart at middle linebacker along with sophomore Jacody Coleman, and the two are expected to engage in one of the more heated position battles in preseason camp.
"I'm more motivated than ever," Angerer said. "I'm just tired of being hurt, tired of not playing, and I want to get back on the field."
A healthy Angerer, said Iowa linebackers coach Darrell Wilson, is as good as they come in the Big Ten Conference.
"What we saw in Pat Angerer this spring was the Pat Angerer that everyone got used to seeing when he was a prep school boy here," Wilson said. "He is a very good football player, very intense, very smart. This spring, he felt good. He had the confidence in himself because he was feeling healthy."
Angerer -- who, by the way, is a huge fan of mixed martial arts and said he one day could see himself competing in the octagon -- is confident now. More than ever, it seems.
It's a quiet confidence, though. Almost cautious.
But he's not looking back.
He's got his fingers crossed, his eyes fixed forward and his feet pointed straight ahead.
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