Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz said in his Tuesday press conference that defensive back Tyler Brown remains sidelined.
"Tyler's out. I don't know if I said whenever it was, last week or two weeks ago, but he's going to be out for a while," Ferentz said.
Brown missed a considerable amount of fall camp and the first two weeks of the season as he dealt with a muscle strain.
The 5-foot-10, 201-pound defensive back did play against both Northern Iowa and Michigan, but Brown appeared to be limping toward the end of Iowa's 20-19 win over the Wolverines. That created a concern that he might have reaggravated his muscle strain.
Ferentz tabbed Brown as questionable in his press remarks last week ahead of Iowa's matchup against Ohio State. Then, the
James Madison transfer and Annapolis, Md., native was ruled out on the Hawkeyes' availability report prior to its game against the Buckeyes.
Brown has registered 11 tackles and one forced fumble so far this season.
Fellow safety and Iowa team captain Zach Lutmer exited Iowa's loss against Ohio State. Afterwards, Ferentz said he thought it was cramping for Lutmer. Ferentz confirmed on Tuesday that Lutmer will be available on Friday as No. 18 Iowa travels to Washington (3-2, 0-2 Big Ten).
However, Ferentz said he doesn't think Ty Hudkins will be available for the Hawkeyes on Friday night.
"I don't think we can count on Hudkins based on what I know thus far for this week," Ferentz said.
That sets Iowa up where Lutmer, Anthony Hawkins and Xavier Styles figure to be the three primary options at safety against the Huskies. Ferentz said Marcello Vitti could also factor in.
"Basically, that's your three top guys are right there, and maybe get (Marcello) Vitti or some other people to work into it. Hopefully we keep the guys out there and keep healthy and just keep improving, especially in the communication part. It's funny. Micah Hyde, that was the first point he made when he spoke to the team on Friday.
"We did have some communication issues. Part of that was crowd noise here. Home crowd noise can be a factor for the defense, and so we've just got to make sure everybody is on the same page. We won't have that problem for them this week. I guess that's good news," Ferentz said.
Kickoff between Iowa and Washington is set for 8 p.m. CT on Friday night. The game will be broadcast on either Fox or FS1.
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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Iowa football injury update: DB Tyler Brown 'out for a while'
