Derrick Mitchell (undisclosed) will likely miss the entirety of spring practice, head coach Kirk Ferentz announced Tuesday.

Mitchell (undisclosed) will likely miss the entirety of spring practice, head coach Kirk Ferentz announced Tuesday.

Analysis:

Ferentz noted that Mitchell should be back to full strength as soon as June, but the fact of the matter is that Mitchell could fall behind on the depth chart due to his absence this spring. LeShun Daniels and Akrum Wadley figure to see most of the first-team reps this spring with Mitchell sidelined. Mitchell was explosive in his limited role last season, taking 25 carries for 162 yards (6.48 YPC) to go with two touchdowns. Even if Mitchell falls to third on the depth chart, Iowa does not shy away from spreading the workload amongst its backs. Last season, three running backs had more than 80 carries and two of them (Jordan Canzeri and Daniels) each had over 140 carries.