IOWA CITY, Iowa — With an appearance more physically imposing today than nearly 20 years ago, when he first took the field at Iowa, Bob Sanders returned as the team’s honorary captain and delivered a message of leadership and brotherhood.
One player — the right player — took Sanders’ speech to heart before and during Iowa’s 26-20 win against Purdue. Starting Iowa safety Geno Stone grew up in the same state as Sanders. Stone is from New Castle, Pa., just 90 miles south from Sanders’ hometown of Erie. Stone’s uncle and high school coach faced Sanders in the Pennsylvania state playoffs in the late 1990s.
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Since arriving at Iowa in 2017, Stone has noticed the imposing shadow the 5-foot-8 Sanders cast over the program. Sanders’ Pro Bowl jersey hangs in the defensive backs’ meeting room, and his picture is everywhere throughout the football operations building. They met briefly two years ago but gathered for a direct conversation Friday and a quick one Saturday. But what made the biggest impact on Stone’s play Saturday came Friday night at Iowa’s team hotel.
“I’m not going to lie, me and (Michael Ojemudia) sat last night and watched his highlights from 2006, 2007 season when he played in NFL,” Stone said. “Like watching the highlights in the Super Bowl when he went in there, put his head down and forced a fumble. I’m like, ‘I’ve got to do that Saturday.’
“That’s why I really just tried to get a forced fumble. It’s just crazy because I image my game off him, how I played today.”
Stone forced a critical fumble early in the second quarter when he stripped Purdue receiver Amad Anderson Jr. at the Iowa 9-yard line and recovered the ball. That play kept the Boilermakers out of the end zone and proved crucial to the outcome.
On a rainy, cloudy day in a game few people will remember fondly on Tuesday, let alone at all in two weeks, it was Stone who helped cobble together the defense for No. 23 Iowa (5-2, 2-2 Big Ten). Along with his forced fumble and recovery, Stone added a hurry and five solo stops. While his turnover didn’t contain the raw power of a Sanders hit, Stone’s play was just as impactful.
With the Hawkeyes leading 6-0, Purdue drove from its 39 to the Iowa 18. Quarterback Jack Plummer found Anderson on a screen pass at the 18, and the receiver raced up the field until meeting Stone and freshman cash Dane Belton at about the 9. Iowa’s defenders stood up Anderson and held him as Stone tugged at the ball. As Anderson went over backward, the ball rolled to the playing surface. Stone fell on it for the recovery and held it high as he raced toward the sideline. The play stood after a review.
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“He was just trying to run me over,” Stone said. “So I held him up until everyone got there, and I was able to get my hands on the ball. And when I got it, I saw the ball on the ground, I picked it (up) and hurried up and got out of there as fast as I could.”
It was the type of play Sanders made repeatedly for Iowa when he was a three-time All-Big Ten safety. He did the same thing for Indianapolis when he led the Colts to a Super Bowl title in 2006 and was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2007.
Brotherhood is important on any football team, and that was the message Sanders relayed to Stone and his teammates during a speech Friday. Their bond is more important than football, Sanders said, as is their commitment to each other.
“I’m going to give it all I got for you,” Sanders told the team. “I’m going to sacrifice my body on every single play for you because I love you. You’re my brother. I love you.”
Sanders’ address spoke to Stone. Their one-on-one encounter Friday left Stone energized, like when an older brother encourages a younger sibling.
“He told me that he’s been watching all year,” Stone said, “and I’ve been playing really good. He told me he’s seen me take a step forward as a leader and everything. He said he remembers me being here as a young guy with eyes just wide open looking everywhere. Now, I’m a leader doing everything.
“I gave him a lot of credit because he set the example of what it is to be an Iowa safety. I talked to him before the game, too, and he just told me to go out and ball. Just don’t take anything lightly. He told me every time you see the ball, go get it.”
It heartens coach Kirk Ferentz that one of his players appreciates Sanders. Nobody did more to establish the Iowa culture under Ferentz than Sanders, who was referred to as “The Hitman.” In practice, Sanders was forced to wear a red jersey because he went so hard, he accidentally would hurt his teammates.
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“It’s interesting now because people aren’t always appreciative of tradition and history, that type of thing,” Ferentz said. “But I think our players have all been smart enough to figure out — and we talk about Bob frequently just what he was and how he did it, did things as a Hawkeye and the impact that he had. So I think everybody in our program has a pretty good knowledge of him.”
Sanders’ impact was immeasurable on his coaches, his teammates and the entire program. Defensive coordinator Phil Parker called him the greatest player he ever coached. Former Iowa teammates Chad Greenway and Sean Considine measured themselves against Sanders in all aspects, not just on-field production. That helped both enjoy long NFL careers.
“If I’m on the field and you line up with Bob Sanders and you see him play with a level of intensity he played with, I had never seen that before,” said Greenway, a two-time Pro Bowl linebacker during his 11 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings. “A lot of Iowans had never seen that before. To me, if you pick one guy who changed the culture of this place, I think the coaches would probably agree, it was probably Bob Sanders.”
Considine, who arrived at Iowa with Sanders, said his “sole mission was to beat Bob Sanders in everything we did. And that is what probably single-handedly took me from, you know, 4.75 running back out of Byron, Ill., to an eight-year NFL veteran football player.”
“That guy just had a different gear, a different motor, and you just had to look in his eye,” Considine said. “When he decided to go, it was 100 percent go, I mean to the point where they had to pull him out of practice because he’s hurting people.”
Last fall, Sanders was inducted into the UI Athletics Hall of Fame. He finished his Iowa career with 348 tackles, 30 pass breakups, 16 tackles for loss and seven interceptions. In his final game at Kinnick Stadium against Minnesota, Sanders registered 16 tackles, three forced fumbles and a sack. Shortly before the 2004 NFL Draft, Ferentz told reporters when he inserted Sanders in the starting lineup, “It was like being in a street fight and having your big brother show up.”
Sanders was just as instrumental for the Indianapolis Colts. During the 2006 season, he missed the final 12 regular-season games, and the Colts gave up an NFL-worst 5.3 yards per carry and 2,765 rushing yards — the most by 441 yards. Sanders returned to the Colts’ lineup for the playoffs, and Indianapolis held every opponent to fewer than 112 rush yards per game and 4.1 yards per carry. Sanders had a 38-yard interception return in the Super Bowl against Chicago, which turned into a 29-17 Colts victory. Injuries derailed a promising NFL career after only 50 games.
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Sanders’ accolades and bone-jarring hits impressed Stone and his fellow defensive backs. More than anything, Sanders’ imprint on every aspect of Iowa football is what stuck with the junior safety. Sanders’ message just reinforced the qualities Stone already has and displayed Saturday.
“Everyone says he’s one of the guys that every time he’s on the field, he made the team better,” Stone said. “That’s what I’m trying to do on defense is every time I’m on the field, just to try to make an impact and try to do as best as I can.”
Nobody has matched Sanders’ influence as an Iowa defender, and perhaps no one ever will. But Stone is Iowa’s most valuable defensive player this year. Iowa defensive end A.J. Epenesa said, “Geno sets the tempo at practice and in games.” If Stone’s brushes alongside Hawkeye perfection lead to excellence, then Sanders’ legacy is in good hands with his Pennsylvania protégé.
(Top photo: Matthew Holst / Getty Images)
