Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - 2 More Hawkeye Football commits, Gambling investigation update, Throwback Thursday to 1985

Episode Date: June 29, 2023

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The Hawkeye recruiting train continues. Two more commitments, both on the offensive side of the football. We break it down and what it means for the future of the Hawkeye offense. It's a throwback Thursday. We go back in the way back machine to 1985, plus the latest on the sports wagering probe happening with the University of Iowa. All today, Locked on Hawkeyes. You are locked on Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome in. I'm Trent Condon, and this is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available wherever you get podcasts. You can also find us on YouTube. Make sure you hit that subscribe button while you're there. Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Well, there is a ton to talk about today. Iowa, after our latest conversation, a couple of more commitments, both offensive players.

Gavin Hoffman, a three-star tight end from down in Kansas City, becoming the second tight end in this recruiting class. Also, Reese Vanderzee from up in northwest Iowa. Vanderzee makes his commitments over Iowa State, Nebraska, to the Hawkeyes. We will talk about him, what it means for the future of the offense and getting that big receiver on the outside. How much fun maybe that can be in the future of Iowa football. It's a throwback Thursday. That's right. We'll look back today. It's 1985. Now I'm going to have some help from you guys in the

comments section or on Twitter. Help me out there because my memories are very faint of that season. I was in kindergarten. It was a great year. It's where my fandom really began as a sports fan. I remember very clearly the Rose Bowl. Unfortunately, that was one. I remember the number one versus number two in it, the lead up to that game against Michigan that season.

And of course, a lot of other things going on. Also, it's how I became a Bears fan. Maybe unfortunately, because that was a high watermark and we're talking about now here 38 years later, hasn't gone very well for my Bears. But that was my fandom. So there might be some cracks you need to fill in. Hit us up on the comments section on YouTube. Hit us up as well on Twitter at Trent Connan or at LockedOnIowa.

And I'll let your comments be heard. And also the latest on the gambling probe. Some good information here. And the NCAA may be doing something right for the first time. It's crazy to think about. But a very real possibility. Let's get into the latest, though, at the Hawkeye front. And that is the commitments to the two newest members of the class of 2024.

Want to start first with Gavin Hoffman. So I told you earlier in the week for your everydayers, you remember he was the one that I wasn't exactly sure about. He had kept his recruiting, talking to the recruiting sites a little bit more at arm's reach. It was a little bit more difficult to kind of get a read on him. He was a kid that really blew up this spring and he saw his recruitment go to another level. You know, he started to pick up some big time offers, Missouri right across the border from him and SEC program. They come calling that one would have made a lot

of sense at Columbia and a place that's done a pretty good job in the past. Also with tight ends, Arizona state was also involved. He took a visit there and there were a few others on top of it that looked like Gavin Hoffman. There was going to be a real chance, but he took his official visit this past weekend. And as Iowa did, maybe one of the more impressive performances we have seen for Iowa football, what they were able to do, putting together this recruiting class. And it sounds like it's not going to end. Of those guys that were there, there's a real possibility that I was going to get a commitment from every single one of them that took their officials this weekend. It's absolutely crazy to think about. So when you look at Hoffman, a guy that is late developing, I think a little bit, a guy

that has the frame, though, 6'5", 195 pounds. He's going to get bigger. He is a guy. When I watched his film, the guy that kind of jumped out, and maybe it was the hair, too hair too was TJ Hawkinson if you remember Hawkinson in high school now they split him out wide he wasn't your prototypical tight end and he had to learn how to block and he's done it incredibly well during his career there in the NFC North but he is a guy that I think with the physical traits that he has really sets up to have an incredible season and a guy that is just that absolute perfect fit of what Iowa wants to do year in and year out. He is a guy that has a ton

of upside to him. He goes and he high points the ball very well. He is very handsy with his catches. He is not a guy that was cupping it in and using his body to try to haul in passes. He's got the hands to go along with it. I think that's incredibly exciting with him. You have a guy that is absolutely perfect for what Iowa tries to do at the tight end position and the latest development. He is a guy that I would put money on right now that he is going to make it to the NFL. That is what you see when you get this kind of guy that runs the way that he does, that can high point the ball,

that has the physical traits that Iowa looks for. That's where you have to go at the tight end position. And it's great to see. So that one, absolutely a home run and beating SEC and Pac-12 for him. Really good one. The other commitment is Reese Vanderzee. We talked about Reese a ton.

He is a guy that I think is a lot of fun to talk about and think about what it can be. Iowa hasn't had this big six foot five kind of hulking receiver out there in a really long time. They've tried in the past. They've had some bigger frame guys. You think of Brandon Smith. He was more upper body strength of what he was as a physical wide receiver and ability to go up. as a physical wide receiver and ability to go up. Van Der Zee, we'll see speed-wise how it's going to translate at the next level. I think that is the question mark with him. He's a guy, though, that has looked the part, has done it in track, has done it on the football field. You watch the tape at the Unidome when he's played there.

He has the speed, but a jump up in competition going up to the Big Ten level, we'll see how that translates. That remains the question. but at minimum as a red zone target at minimum, as a guy that can go up and get a jump ball, that's something to be excited about. And he is very fluid. He's got, because of that frame, he looks a little different out there running as wide receiver, but there's still wiggle to his game. There's still excitement there. And most importantly, maybe in this conversation is who they beat to do it, to go out there to beat Iowa State. It sounded like it was down to Iowa State and Iowa and Nebraska tried

to get involved also in his recruitment, but ultimately he decided he was going to stay in state. And what Iowa State has done with Alan Lazard and Hakeem Butler and those big wide receivers and how successful they've been under Matt Campbell for Iowa to be able to sell Reese Van Der Zee and say, you are a guy that makes a whole lot of sense for us that we can put you in a chance to succeed. I think says a ton about this way, this Iowa team is recruiting right now, what Kelton Copeland, the wide receiver coach, what he was able to sell. And I would get in the commitment from a big receiver, one that Iowa state wanted, and they have a little bit more to sell at that position not many other positions let's be honest but certainly at that x-wide receiver and yet Iowa gets his commitment

we will roll through here it is a look back at one of the great Hawkeye football seasons a throwback Thursday back to 1985 let's go back and get some memories of one of the all-time greats. Iowa ranked number one for a long portion of the season. We'll get into that when we come back here on Locked on Hawkeyes. Take your first swing at betting MLB on FanDuel and get 10 times your first bet amount in bonus bets up to $200. That's right. Just bet 20 bucks. You'll land $200 in bonus bets. Win or lose. That's 200. You can spend betting everything from the money line over-unders, who you think is going to hit the forced home run, strikeout totals, you name it, they have it at FanDuel. All on an app that's safe, secure,

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That's fanduel.com slash locked on. FanDuel, official partner of Major League Baseball. Trey Conner back with you once again here on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. As always, thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Big thank you to our everydayers who are with us. People in the comments section love to hear the feedback from everybody out there, positive or negative. Coming up later in the week, we will be talking with our scouting director here at Lockdown,

Brian Smith. And I will make sure, yes, that we say, yes, get the last name right. It's Ference. Rhymes with parents. It's not Ference. We will bring that up to Brian as he struggled a little bit last time last time i mean he's only been around for 25 years right i will throw a little shade at brian but he does a really good job on the recruiting side and love to get his insight on the prospects here from the state of iowa and as more commitments come in we will continue to talk about them but

right now it's time to look back 1985 as i mentioned i was a kindergartner just figuring things out was Washington Elementary School in Osage, Iowa. Took the bus every day from a little town that I grew up in, New Haven. Population 42 bars. Yeah, I think you can understand my background a little bit there. And my parents were not huge sports fans. My dad finally has gotten into football here later in his life in retirement. My mom, a casual sports fan. She likes sports, but it's nothing compared to my fandom came from my grandpa's. And my grandpa on my mom's side, my grandpa Dean, I would sit and lay on his belly.

We'd go there every Sunday. My dad was a truck driver and he had to work on Sunday. So after church, we'd make our way over to grandpa's farm and hang out with grandpa and grandma. And he'd read me the big peach and he would show me the pictures. And then since it was Sunday, he would have, of course, all kinds of things in Iowa football. And that's where my fandom began with the Hawkeyes and talking about it. And I do remember that there was just so much talk about this team and talking about, and I couldn't wrap my mind around what a national championship meant at the time, but I knew it was important. I knew it was big. And everybody at this time was a Hawkeye fan. Everywhere you went, you couldn't find a Cyclone t-shirt. You couldn't find Iowa State anything.

If you watch college sports, you watch the Iowa Hawkeyes in the 1980s, certainly where I grew up, and I'm going to guess that I'm not alone across the state. It was just a different level. And this team came in with some big expectations. So coming on the heels of 1984, a year that ended with an absolute throttling of Texas in the Freedom Bowl, 55-17, they cruise into that one. They finish the year 8-4-1, and he knew that game meant a ton to Hayden Fry.

They were on the precipice also of working on the bubble. I believe this was also the time where Hayden Fry and some USC rumors were out there, but he came back and he had one heck of a team led, of course, chuck long so they come into the season with big time expectations and when chuck long made the decision that he was going to come back he became one of the front runners to win the heisman trophy trophy and we know ultimately finished second in that voting after three weeks of the season iowa was ranked

number one they were there for a number of weeks. They came in preseason number five. And how about this? They opened up the season against the Drake Bulldogs. Now, Drake back then, they were a scholarship program. They're like what you and I is now. Not nearly as good, but they went out there and throttled. 58 to nothing. Week two, Northern Illinois, another throttling. 48 to 20.

Week three, a road trip to Iowa State. Games on ABC, national audience, and Iowa rolled again 57-3 against the Cyclones. I mean, how about that one? Love to see. Let's get another throttling like that. After that, they ascend to number 1, and they open up Big Ten

play against Michigan State. Nationally televised game again on CBS, and you're going to see this a lot where people were out there looking at this team and looking at what they were. So Michigan State for the Big Ten opener. Old 130 start, 66,000 people in attendance. You got Musburger and Araparsijan

that are on the call on that one on CBS. And this was a back-and-forth game. You might remember seeing the clip where Chuck Long with the ball over his head, wild back-and-forth. I mean, it was just a crazy game. 35-31 is the final there. Chuck Long goes 30 of 39 in this game,

380 yards, four touchdowns, and the winning touchdown with just 27 seconds left in the game. This play is also where Chuck Long has told the story before, where they run that bootleg play, and Chuck Long's the only one that knew that they were going to do it. Didn't tell the running back that he wasn't going to hand it to him. This was everybody go in, fool everybody, and Hayden Fry and the offensive staff with Bill Snyder

believing we have the guy that can make this play, that can sell it correctly, get all the Michigan State defenders to go out there and to get the win. That's exactly what they did. The defensive coordinator, by the way, for that Michigan State team, where Iowa put up 380 yards of passing, four touchdowns, and 35 points. Nick Saban, not too bad, huh? I mean, Lorenzo White was on that team. That was a really good Michigan State team, and Iowa gets it.

The following week, they go to Wisconsin. Iowa gets a 23-13 win, a workmanlike victory. It was tight, maybe tighter than people anticipated, but Iowa ultimately gets the win, 23-13 over the Badgers. But that set up number one versus number two. And the buildup to that game, the week being in school, everywhere that you went, it was about the Iowa Hawkeyes. That's all people were talking about.

The farm crisis is going on. Here comes Michigan with the winged helmets. Iowa had arrived a couple years earlier, but this was the chance. Iowa's ranked number one. Michigan comes to town. One thing that people might forget about this game also is it ended up being under the lights. You had Musco come in, put up the lights. I believe it was Musco back at the time because it was rainy.

It was middle of October, October 19th, and Iowa didn't have permanent lights at the time. This was something that was a big deal. They knew because of the way that things were set up that they were going to have to have some lighting for the end of the game. They get it done. And of course, Rob Hotland with the field goal to win it. Earlier in the game, Iowa had a touchdown that was taken off the board. It would have been a touchdown in today's environment with instant replay,

but the officials got that one wrong. How differently would the game played out? We will see. But an absolute physical, a blood sport type of game in that one. Outland with the game winner. That 85 Michigan team, they were also loaded. That was the only loss of the season for Michigan. They went 10-1-1 that year. Won the Fiesta Bowl against Nebraska 27-23. Michigan, in fact, end of the year

ranked number two in the country. Jim Harbaugh was the quarterback. Jamie Morris, the running back, an absolute great team. And Iowa got the win in that one. Followed it up with a win against Northwestern. They cruised there 49-10. But then, after being ranked number one for five weeks, it comes to an end on a rainy day in Columbus against the number eight-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. And this is, you know, just kind of that bugaboo, right, of that game. How frustrating it was.

They just couldn't get anything on track. That old, awful AstroTurf, everybody's sliding all over the place in the old days. Iowa falls in that one. They're down 15-7 at the half and just never could get on track. A block punt out of the end zone gave them a safety. They're up 15-0 right away. Iowa, at the end of the half, gets a touchdown to make it 15-7

from Ronnie Harmon. Another score on the other side from former Green Bay Packer Vince Workman had made it 22-7. Iowa gets a touchdown in the fourth quarter with about eight minutes to go. They go for two but don't get it. They're down nine and ultimately lose that game by nine. The next week then is against Illinois. This is one of my favorite games of this Hawkeye football season. Illinois was really good at the time. Illinois, their border rivalry there, it was different, certainly football-wise, than it is today.

And Illinois was talking. They were talking some trash. Iowa goes out after that frustrating loss, thinking maybe your national championship hopes are dashed. They put 35 up in the first quarter that game was also a nationally televised game and they dominated it 35 nothing after the first quarter 49 nothing at the half 59 nothing is the final and it was a little bit of everything robert smith had a couple of touchdown grabs in the game yeah i'd like flag catching a touchdown

in that one from chuck longley in the game. Just domination from the Hawkeyes. A week later, they go to Purdue. This one was tight, but Purdue, Iowa ultimately gets the win on a 25-yard field goal from Rob Houtland, 27-24 the final there against the Boilermakers. And then they wrapped it up with a win against Minnesota against theophers, before going on to the Rose Bowl. This is also a big conversation about the season and about this year. And the memories will be Ronnie Harmon in that game. So I mentioned, I have memories of the Michigan game. I remember watching it with the family.

I have memories of the Rose Bowl, Illinois game a little bit. Don't remember much early in the season. I'm not even sure if those games were all televised at the time, but the Rose Bowl, the frustrations, the frustrations from, I remember, my family members, big Hawkeye fans about the way that played out because there was a path in 1985 where Iowa still could have won the national championship with a little bit of help in the bowl games, and it didn't happen. 45-28, Ronnie Harmon with a big drop catch four fumbles in the game and it will be remembered for a long time because of that and what could have been Iowa jumped out to a seven nothing lead David Hudson with the touchdown in that one and Iowa came back too and tried to make

it a game late but ultimately it was just a day that will be remembered for a long long time and the fumbles in the game, Eric Ball, also, he was a monster. You know, we can talk about the mistakes and plenty of people still do from Ronnie Harmon in that game, but they couldn't get stops. Eric Ball was running all over him and they couldn't get stops in that game. And I think that's something also that needs to be remembered about that one. And the way that it played out is uh ucla won the football game ucla ran for almost 300 yards in the game nearly 500 yards of total offense it was domination from the bruins in that one how about this the game had a 22.7 share

one of the biggest rose bowls in terms terms of television. That is our Throwback Thursday. Back to 1985. Always fun looking back. You got a team that we want to spotlight here on Throwback Thursdays throughout the summer. Make sure to hit us up on Twitter at Trent Condon or Lockdown Iowa, and we'll talk about some of your favorite teams here on the show.

Coming back, the latest on the gambling probe. What do we know? And what does this new NCAA guidelines? What does that tell us about this Iowa football team? We'll do that when we come back locked on Hawkeyes. Try kind of back with you one final time. Thanks for making locked on Hawkeyes your first listen every day So we take a look now at this gambling investigation

And a gambling investigation that is drug on a lot longer I think than anybody certainly could have anticipated This is something that has gone a whole lot longer And led to a lot more frustration And we're still waiting to have an official report from the DCI. I'm not sure what they're waiting for from an athletic profile, but this is also something that is drug on. It is not just student athletes that are being targeted. There's also been investigations in the general population of the students at Iowa and Iowa State.

Again, targeting what this started as is underage gambling, but also has gone to another level. And when they found out that there was a lot of activity in the athletic offices at both Iowa and Iowa State, they realized that they had to open investigation because of the potential point shaping, game fixing, those types of things. Now, the great news is there has been nothing from either side about that. And we certainly would have heard if that was the case at this point in time.

There has been nothing that leads anybody to believe anything nefarious has been happening as it pertains to fixing games, shaving points, doing those types of things. Nothing has showed up. Nothing at all has been out there on that front. But the NCAA yesterday announces that they are ratifying a reinstatement decision on guidelines that they have with violations related to sports wagering.

This from the NCAA website. And an interesting nugget here for all wagering-related violations reported on or after May 2nd. When did the Iowa State story come out? May 2nd. Student did the Iowa and Iowa State story come out? May 2nd. Student athletes who engage in activities to influence the outcomes of their own games

or not only provide information to individuals involved in sports betting will face permanent loss of collegiate eligibility. That's a big one. And as we said, we don't have anything that says at least there's point fixing, but giving information to other individuals, maybe that's something you have to keep an eye on. And that's the way it should be.

We need to be above the board if we're going to have sports wagering. That's the way that it has to be. If a student athlete wagers on their own sport at another school, education on sports wagering rules and preventions will require as a condition of reinstatement and the loss of 50% of one season. So that means, hey, you're a Hawkeye football player and you're betting on the Michigan State-Ohio State game. That is a problem. Betting on your own sport, even if your team's not involved, that is a big no-no.

And you're looking at a 50% loss of the season. That's something you're doing. If you're betting on professional sports, though, this is the big change. And the cumulative dollar value of wagers will be taken into consideration. $200 or less? Slap on the wrist.

You'll have to take a rules and preventions education class. If it's between $201 and $500, a 10% loss of the season. $500 to $800, 20% of the season. More than $800. And again, this is cumulative. So even if you put $200 in your account and you're betting $20 a game, that still can add up cumulatively to over $800.

But even with that, a loss of just 30% of the season, plus rules and prevention education. That one, that was eye-opening. Because I really believe that we were looking at the potential of these guys, whoever it turned out to be, and it was all guys. No female athletes were included in this probe. That we were going to be looking at something where we're talking about losses of six games,

nine games, maybe season-long suspensions. And with these new guidelines from the NCAA, that does not appear to be the case. This is good news for Iowa, and got to be happy the way that this plays out. Now, we still await the names. I've had some rumors that have come my way when I've checked on the names that I've heard. I've had other people say not even close. So we'll see. We'll keep digging.

We'll keep trying to find out and see what we can. And hopefully this will resolve itself very quickly. Big 10 media days are right around the corner. We know that's going to be a big topic, certainly if things are not resolved. So one to keep an eye on going forward. That does it for Lockdown Hawkeyes today. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes

your first listen every day. We'll talk to you again later in the week. We got more football recruiting. We talked about Gavin Hoffman today, along with Reese Van Der Zee. We'll take on our Lockdown recruiting expert, Brian Smith. He's going to join us coming up here later in the week. We'll talk to you again coming up. Thanks for joining us.

This is the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast.