Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - 2021 commit Griffin Liddle joins the show today to talk recruitment, what he needs to work on, and his love for the Hawks

Episode Date: August 10, 2020

We are joined today by Iowa Hawkeye football class of 2021 commit Griffin Liddle, a defensive tackle out of Bettendorf, Iowa. He walks through why he committed to Iowa, how he grew up a Hawkeye fan, and what he needs to work on before heading to Iowa City. He also breaks down which side of the ball he likes more, what he thinks about having football heading into his senior season, and how he hasn't watched a Marvel movie. Prior to jumping into the conversation, the show quickly discusses the possibility of a canceled season, which we will dive into more on tomorrow's episode.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I thank God I was born on the good arms of the Midwest, and not on the battlefields of the U.S. It's a time of panic, and it's intercepted! It's picked off right away! Intercepted by Marty Hooker! Pick six! Eight seconds into the game! Buffen sets up deep in the pocket, goes down the field for Smith!

Oh! He's got it! Smith! Touchdown. 85 yards. High on. Touchdown, 10. Taking a shot in the end zone.

It is caught. No offense. Touchdown. That's either one or you have it. Go ahead and three. Yes. Two-point lead for the Hawkeye Nation, to another episode of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Lockdown Sports Network.

As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade, and today's episode is brought to you by the great folks at rockauto.com. Amazing selection, reliably low prices, all the parts your car will ever need. And on today's episode, we're going to be giving you the interview with Griffin Little, the defensive tackle out of Bettendorf, Iowa, a commit in the class of 2021 to the Iowa Hawkeyes. I really enjoyed having that conversation with Griffin and a big shout out to him for taking the time out of his day. He had just gotten done with his football practice, spent the time with me on a Monday morning to chat through kind of his commitment process to Iowa, why he wanted to commit, what he loves about the program, talked a little bit about what is going on currently in the world in regards to COVID and in regards to the alleged reports of racial bias and whatnot within the Hawkeye program.

I thought he gave some really incredible answers, So I want to get to that here shortly. Before I do that, though, make sure you are tuning into this show as much as you possibly can. We have some really great stuff coming up. And the best way you can do that is by subscribing wherever you downloaded this podcast at. So you can get it downloaded directly to your smart device whenever you open up your smart device. You can do that on Google, Spotify, Apple Podcasts,

and the Himalaya Podcast app, really wherever you get your podcast app. And make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We have some really great content coming up, like I said, some great interviews you're going to really love over the course of the next couple of weeks. And a big apology for not having an episode on Friday. Didn't have a chance to get that out, but we do have an episode for the next five days, so stay tuned for that as well. Before we hop into the interview with Griffin Little, though, I do want to make sure I cover some really important news that has kind of come up in the college football world. Late yesterday, there were some reports that basically the college football season was on the verge of being postponed. We saw multiple Iowa Hawkeyes voice their displeasure with this

and the need and the want to play. We saw some big-time guys in that class for next year, like Trevor Lawrence also voiced their need and want and desire to play next year. But it seems like we are quickly heading towards the lack of a college football season this fall with the potential to postpone that to the spring. The Mac already canceled their division this year or canceled football in the fall, I should say. And it sounds like the Big Ten is pushing to have the conferences move football as well to the spring. So we'll be staying on high alert for any news that comes out. It sounds like

that announcement should be made sometime today. Officially, which way they're kind of moving. So as soon as that comes out, obviously make sure to cover that on the Twitter account, the Instagram account, and the Facebook account. And then we'll also be breaking it down on tomorrow's episode of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. So I want to make sure I touch on that. Obviously concerning news, nonetheless

either way, so I want to make sure we're touching on that. But whatever happens, we'll break that decision down and what that means for the iowa hawkeyes and college football going forward and also the you know iowa hawkeyes basketball team since we are all aware of how how high the expectations have gotten with that team and how important you know it is for that season to go on for iowa hawkeye fans as well that being said though let's hop into the interview with griffin Little right now. So as far as coming to Iowa, you actually got a scholarship offer at the age of 14,

which Iowa is not really a school that offers people super early. So they obviously think very highly of you. What was that like getting that offer from Iowa at the age of 14? I was super excited. It's my dream school. I've always wanted to go there since my dad went there. excited. It's my dream school. I've always wanted to go there since my dad went there. And it's close to home. I just love everything about it. I love how the programs run. It's just where I've always wanted to go. And I kind of had my mindset from the start. I love it. You also got offers from Iowa State and Nebraska. I would love to hear how that process looked like from their, you know, from their side, what were they trying to pitch you on? You know, I'm sure they knew your background with Iowa, I'm sure they knew that you were pretty much heavily leading Iowa, what were they trying to

do to get you to go to their schools? Well, they just wanted to, they were just trying to recruit me and say what they have to offer, Obviously, they had some good things to offer. They're all decent programs and stuff like that, but I just didn't think I fit there, and I thought I fitted in with Iowa the most. I've always wanted to go to Iowa, and I've always had my mindset on it. That was an incredibly politically correct answer. I was hoping you'd throw some shade at Scott Frost or something, man.

No. He doesn't deserve that. You're a good man. All right. So right now you're currently listed at six foot three, 275 pounds. Is that what your current weight is right now? Are you a little heavier, a little lighter? What is, what does your off season look like? And kind of what are you hoping to get at from a weight perspective? Right now I'm actually – my weight fluctuates between around 250 and 260. 263 probably is the highest I've weighed in the past couple months. And so what are you – I guess what is the goal when you get to Iowa? Have they talked to you about what their ideal playing weight for you is? Not really. They just said – they haven't really said much about that.

For me, I just want to be – I'll do whatever they want me to do. It doesn't matter to me. I love it. So they do have a history of kind of moving guys around, especially in the trenches. You might be coming in as technically a defensive tackle. They might have you move over to the offensive line like Tyler Linderbaum. What has – has there been any conversations about that at all?

There's been a few conversations about it, but nothing like too in-depth. All I said was I'd play wherever they like me to, and they're completely fine with that. So it doesn't really matter where i'd like to play i just yeah i'd love to play at iowa yeah just want to get on the field man right yeah so if you had a choice though if you if you had to pick a choice would you pick defense or offense oh that's a tough one because last year would have been offense or last year would have been defense, but this I'm starting to like offense a lot. So it, it's a tough one.

I like hitting people on defense, but offense, you can get, you can get really, really tough in there too. That's fair. All right. All right. We're going to take a quick break from the interview we're going to get back to it though in just a few minutes before i do that though i do want to make sure i give you an announcement from our sponsor of the show today because it is important to know that rockauto.com is where you should get your car parts whenever you need car parts with the ever-increasing numbers of makes and models it is now impossible to stock all the

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possibly need and they do it for great prices. The prices are reliably low and the same for professionals or do-it-yourselfers. So why spend up to twice as much at a brick and mortar store for the parts that you can get online delivered directly to your door? Go to rockauto.com right now and see all the parts available for your car or truck and write locked on in their how did you hear about us box so they know we sent you. Amazing selection, reliably low prices, all the parts your car will ever need, rockauto.com. So, Bettendorf typically has a pretty good football program. Obviously, some of the schools on the western side,

central side of Iowa, have done pretty well the last couple years, specifically Dowling. Is your goal to take down Dowling? What is the ultimate goal for Bettendorf this year? Is it to win a state championship? Yeah, that's our ultimate goal. We've always wanted to win a state championship, and I think we have the right guys to do it. We just need to put it together. I feel like the past couple years, we haven't put it together. We've played to our best ability, but I think we can play to an even better level.

I think we just need to step up to that this year. I know we can do it. I know we're capable of it. It just needs to be done. Absolutely, man. Someone's got to take down Dowling. It's getting a little bit ridiculous. Yeah, they're good, and we've got to take them down. Definitely, man. So as far as your recruiting class, a really great-looking recruiting class already.

Along the defensive line, Iowa has some pretty big guys coming in for that class of 2021. How involved have you been with the recruiting class? How close are you with some of the guys? Are you talking to anyone on a regular basis? What has that communication been like for you guys internally as a class? We communicate maybe weekly. We have a group chat, but we don't communicate too much. We'll just send some stuff in our group chat, nothing too big.

Most people don't even respond in it so I usually don't respond in it but like I it's just we don't communicate that much I think we'd be better communicating in person yeah makes sense and I'm assuming you were planning on hopefully going to a couple games this year seeing a couple of the guys getting to know them sounds like who knows if that will happen so it could very well be the first time you see them is if you decide to enroll earlier or when you you know join Iowa as an official student depending on what happens with coronavirus so make that kind of makes things a bit interesting yeah um so obviously want to you know I don't want to touch on this too long. I want to focus on you as the player and the athlete,

but the Iowa football program has had some interesting things pop up over the last two months. I think some great learning opportunities and whatnot. How has that been for you? Has there been any thought process for you, wondering if this is the right fit, or do you feel like this is a really great opportunity for you to come in and help make a difference in the program? I think it's just a great opportunity for the

whole entire program. I think everybody's learning from this and learning from what has happened and stuff like that and I think that it can turn the program around a lot and change the culture a lot and I think it's just a really good step forward for the program. And I think it'll just really help the program in the future and help bring the guys together even more than they already are. Couldn't agree more, man. And obviously you've been an Iowa Hawkeye fan your whole life. Is there one or two players that you idolize from the Iowa Hawkeyes?

Could be past or present. Well, present, it's definitely Tyler Lindenbaum. I've always liked how he played. And even in high school, I always watched him. He's just a great player, and I've always wanted to be pretty much like him. And probably Tyler – or, I mean, Tristan Wirfs. He's just – he's the ideal guy to be like. He's just setting records in the weight room.

He's a great guy. He's a great player. He's just all around a great person, and I really like that. I love that. Relentless worker and a guy from Iowa, a guy who built his way up through the Iowa high school ranks so obviously some two great people to idolize from that perspective um with wrestling this year if you are able to do wrestling I'm assuming the goal is to win a state championship

is that correct yes do you feel like you have the ability to I mean I I didn't get a chance to look it up so have you won any state championships yet so far from from wrestling I did last year awesome and is anyone returning this year that you feel like is a big competitor for you or do you feel like this is your year you should be able to get first again um obviously there's going to be competitors at our weight uh I think a lot of guys are returning and a lot of guys are pretty good. And I think it'll be, it'll have some tough matches and it'll just be a fun year. Definitely, man. So then last couple of questions, I just want to do a couple of things just to get to know you as a recruit.

Obviously Iowa fans, they read about you. They see that you're a grateful player in the state of Iowa. They probably watched a couple of your games that they have an opportunity to but I want to just get to know you um as you know Griffin the person so um as you know a non-football player what is your favorite non-football activity to do oh that's a tough question um probably just hang out with friends and I don't know. I like lifting and out with friends. Lifting is probably a football activity, but kind of, but.

Whenever I talk to recruits, they seem to lifting always seems to pop up. Zach tweet was another one who said, can I, can I pick lifting? Is that okay? So that's, that's fair, man. Yeah. Could be worse, worse hobbies to man. Yeah. Could be worse hobbies to have. Yeah. All right, who was your favorite superhero? Honestly, I do not know that one. Probably Superman.

I don't know. I've never watched any, like, Marvel movies. You've never watched a Marvel movie? Nope, I've never watched any Marvel movies. Is it DC? Yeah. Yeah, I've never watched any of it. That's crazy. I'm not a big movie guy.

You're not a big movie guy at all? No, I can't sit down for a movie. I'm too antsy. Okay, that's fair enough. I was going to say, if you ever watch Marvel movies, I feel like you probably don't watch a lot of movies in general no never do you watch uh do you watch like any football college football baseball anything like that yeah I watch I'll watch college football all the time that's that's literally all I'll watch is college football

I'll watch NFL um baseball I can't really sit down and watch it's pretty boring I'll watch wrestling pretty much football and wrestling alright do you have a favorite NFL team? the Packers and do you have a favorite NFL player? I'd say it's right now

it's right now. It's got to be for defense, it's probably Mike Daniels. And for offense, it'd be Quentin Nelson. I like it. Both guys are pretty nasty. Quentin Nelson, actually, man, he's real nasty on the interior. I love that guy. I really wanted the Broncos to draft him. I'm a big Broncos fan. Not a lot of people want to take an interior offensive lineman

at the fifth overall pick, but the dude is just insane. Oh yeah, he's worth it. Definitely, man. Cool. So what has been your favorite football memory so far? I'd have to say, even though we lost against when we were playing Dowling, I think it was just like a couple years ago, I think it was just pretty much the funnest game I've ever played. It was just pretty much the funnest game I've ever played. It was just really fun, just all the ups and downs. And you'd never even think how fast your emotions could switch

in a game. And just playing off all those guys, it was a great team I played with. And then also just all the practices. It was just really fun, especially last year i we were really close to our team last year all those guys um just pretty much any memory during football i really i've really liked so far um it's just been real great experience i think you really love i mean like football is kind of your first and main passion does that be would that be an accurate

statement yeah definitely yeah i mean i think you'll fit in pretty well with Iowa then. So then as far as, you know, the football stuff goes, what are you looking to improve on prior to getting to Iowa? Is there, you know, one or two things that you think, if I can get this done or if I can work on improving my craft here, I might have a better opportunity to see the field a little bit earlier? What are those things that you're kind of looking at improving on this year? I'd say speed, footwork, strength, all of those.

I definitely need to improve a lot more on the offensive line. I just need a lot more improvement on the offensive line. Defensive line, I need to work on my hands more. I need to be quicker off the ball. I just have a lot of improvement overall as a player, physically and mentally. It's just – it'll come with time. And I think once I improve those, I'll be a lot better player. But I just got to keep working on it and see where I go.

Beth, man, do they have you playing tackle then on the offensive line? No. Last year I was a left guard, and then this year I think I'll be a guard. I'm not sure, though. I could be a tackle. I'm not sure yet. Yeah. Are there a lot of players in – I believe it's 5A now in Iowa.

When I was in Iowa, it was 4A. But are there a lot of players that are doing both ways at that level still? For our school, no. There's maybe two or three, maybe four guys this year that are going to play both ways, but for the most part, it's usually just one way. I'm assuming just based off how we kind of talked and you really love the game of football that you would have no other way other than playing as much as you possibly can. Would that be correct?

Oh yeah. I love playing. It's, it's super fun, especially just playing with the guys that you know really well. You work, you work out with every day. You're just there grinding every day with, you just, you like seeing them by your shoulder because you know that they've worked as hard as you and you just know what they've been through. And it's just – it's a really cool experience because they've been through the same exact things you have.

Definitely, man. So I have two more questions. The first one is, how do you think if there is a college football season this year, what is your prediction for Iowa football? They're winning them all. They got it. They're doing great. I love the confidence, man.

And the last question for you is what are you most excited about with playing with Iowa Hawkeyes? Is it running out of the tunnel? Is it playing under Kirk? I mean, are there one or two or three things that you're most excited about, about being an Iowa Hawkeye? I think it's if he's still there, I think it's going to be the coolest thing to play with Tyler Linderbaum, and I think it'll – if he's still there, I think it's going to be the coolest thing

to play with Tyler Linderbaum, and I think it'll be really cool to play under all those coaches because I – those level of coaches I've never seen. And my coaches right now are great, but these guys have seen everything. And I think it'll just be really cool to get coached up and like see the progression as a player while I'm there like under these coaches. Definitely man and obviously the goal seems to me like you want to play football as long as you possibly can but from an education background or an education standpoint what is your major have you thought about what you want to study when you go to Iowa? Right now, I'm undecided. I'm not sure yet. I'm still trying to find what I would like to do.

Yeah, I mean, you got plenty of time, man. Yeah. At least a year before you even get there, and you probably got two years after that to really make a decision. So I just figured I would ask. Well, Griffin, man, I really appreciate you taking the time. I know you're busy with football. You took the time out of your morning to talk with me. Is there anything you want to tell Iowa Hawkeye Nation before we drop off the podcast? Not really. I just thank you for your guys. Thank you guys for your time. Thank you for watching and have a great day. I love it,

Griffin, man. I made a few words, but I love the word you say, man. Obviously, the passion football is there, and I'm really excited to see you play for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Griffin, we'll have to have you on the show later on if you are willing to another time. But have a great football season. Obviously, we'll be keeping track of you. And as always, go Hawks, buddy. Thank you.

Go Hawks. Thank you. All right, and that will do it for our show today. Again, a big shout-out to Griffin for hopping on the show. Really appreciate him taking the time out of his morning. He was just getting done with football practice, and I really appreciate, obviously, him joining the show and giving us a little bit of an insight to why he decided to come to Iowa,

what he loves about the Iowa football team, how he feels about kind of the current events that have happened in the Iowa Hawkeye football program. I've been really impressed with not only him, but the other recruits I've talked to to Zach Tweed and Jennings Dunker. I thought they did a really great job of, of handling the situation really well. So really enjoyed that interview. Hope you did as well. If you liked the show today, please make sure to like review and subscribe.

Give us that five-star review, wherever you downloaded this podcast at and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. So that being said, thank you all for tuning in to today's show. Have a fantastic day, Hawkeye Nation. Go Hawks! We'll see you next time.