Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - 2022 Iowa football commit Caden Crawford joins the show to discuss his recruitment and why he chose the Hawkeyes

Episode Date: March 25, 2021

We have the second commitment in the class of 2022, Caden Crawford, on the show today to talk about his recruitment experience and why he chose the University of Iowa to continue his football career!Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.BlueChewTry BlueChew FREE when you use our promo code LOCKEDON at bluechew.com at checkout--just pay $5 shipping. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back, Hawkeye Nation, to a Thursday morning episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade. Excited to be back for another show today. And we have a great episode coming at you because we are joined today by Caden Crawford, a three-star commit out of Kansas,

joining the Iowa Hawkeyes in the class of 2022. And this episode, though, is brought to you by rockauto.com. Amazing selection, reliably low prices, all the parts your car will ever need. Visit rockauto.com and tell reliably low prices all the parts your car will ever need visit rockauto.com and tell them locked on sent you and like i said we've got caden crawford on the show after we do the interview with him we're then going to go in to talk a little bit about some of the news that's come out over the last day or two and then talk a bit about the transfer portal as well so that's all coming up on segment number three but segment one and segment two

is going to be all caden crawford so So with that being said, let's turn our attention to the second commit in the class of 2022, Caden Crawford. All right, y'all, I'm honored to be joined here by the second commitment in the class of 2022. We have Caden Crawford on the line out of Kansas. Caden, how's it going, man? I'm doing well. How are you? I'm doing well, man. It's as good as Friday here. You are the most recent commitment in the Iowa Hawkeye class of 2022 congratulations on that man how does it feel to be a Hawkeye? Oh it feels amazing just ever

since I've committed just everyone from the Hawkeye family has been very supportive and encouraging and I'm just really grateful for that. Yeah man it's you'll find it's a very passionate fan base I know I reached out to you and you said I'd come on I was like wait a sec you're probably dealing with a very passionate fan base. Uh, I know I reached out to you and you said I'd come on and I was like, wait a sec,

you're probably dealing with a lot of people reaching out to you right now. I wanted to give you a little bit of a break. So how was the last couple of weeks been for you? Oh, it's been really good. Um, I mean like the first few, like two or three days on my phone was just blowing up like nonstop. I just, I literally had to turn it on. Like do not disturb cause it was just buzzing, but, uh, it's calmed down a lot now. Um, I just, I literally had to turn it on. Like, do not disturb. Cause it was just buzzing, but it's calmed down a lot now. Um, I mean, I still get a few stuff from people like asking me questions and stuff, but it's, it's been pretty good. I love it, man. And it sounds like

from everything I read, you haven't actually made a visit up to Iowa city yet. Correct. Correct. And you wanted to wait till Aaron was able to go up. Yeah, that's correct. Um, we were supposed to, I was wanting to go two weekends ago when he had state wrestling, but he had state and we were wanting to go together. And so since I've committed, my sister actually plays for KU. And so their volleyball season, they're still playing. And so like, we'll wait till after March because my parents want to come up with me and they're kind of watching her. So I think more towards April is when I'll finally be able to get up to Iowa City and go see everything.

I love it, man. Yeah, Iowa City is a beautiful place, an amazing campus. You're going to really love it. And you mentioned the fact that your sister plays at KU. You have several family members that actually played at Kansas State. So what was that like in that decision-making process? Were they supportive of not picking K-State? What was that like?

Yeah, a lot of them they were they were really wanting me to go to k-state but they they weren't gonna be mad at me wherever i picked because i knew it was like wherever i thought i was best that would be happy for me to go there they were just really supportive of me obviously i think it hurt them a little bit not going to k-state but uh i think they they're still happy pretty happy for me i mean i might be biased but i think you made the right choice there. You also had offers from Minnesota, Nebraska, and Oklahoma State. So what stood out to you specifically?

I know you've talked about this a bit, but what stood out to you specifically about Iowa over those schools? Just my relationship with Coach Bell and Aaron. Talking with Coach Bell all the time, he's a really straight-up guy. He won't ever BS you. He's always telling you everything, the facts. And Aaron, talking with Coach Bill all the time, he's a really straight-up guy. Won't ever BS you. He's always telling you everything, the facts. Like my film every week, he'd be telling me if I need to do this or whatever, he sees me.

And I just really like that. I really like the program, how no one – if you come in as a five-star or if you come in as a one-star, everyone's treated the same. There's no special treatment. You've got to go put the work in. And then it's really the family. Like, they really produce a lot of players. And, like, I just think the development and the program kind of really stood out.

I mean, all the schools that offered me were great, loved all the coaches. But I just thought what really stood out was the development and my relationship with uh coach bell definitely very nice of you to say that about Nebraska I maybe wouldn't be saying that but I'm just giving giving you crap man you mentioned the development with Kelvin Bell and what has he been saying what are some of the things that he thinks you should be working on as you prepare to go to Iowa in a couple years um he really likes how uh versatile I am like I play linebacker in high school I? He really likes how versatile I am.

I play linebacker in high school. I play outside linebacker, and I'm obviously going to move to defense spin once I get there. But he just likes how well I move for my size, and then I make a lot of plays across the field. I follow the play. I don't really give up on plays. I take pride in that.

I always try and make every play. Just basically, I'm not really used to putting plays. I take pride in that. I always try and make every play. He just basically, I'm not really used to putting a hand in the dirt and going. Like, if I go off the edge, I usually go in a two-point stance. So he wants to see a little bit of that. But just continue to work, get more explosive, faster, put on a little bit more muscle for my senior year. And then he's just, that's really about it. I love it, man.

I see you're rocking the Iowa hoodie. I love that. How much Iowa clothing have you gotten in the last couple weeks man um well I got a t-shirt whenever they first offered me and then I just got this like a week after I committed but that's really it I don't have anything else so that's awesome man and you did you have a favorite college football team going into uh before recruiting I should say um I mean I probably shouldn't say this but growing up it's okay to not be Iowa yeah yeah when I grew up I was a Oklahoma fan Sooners fan because most of my family's from Oklahoma but once once school started off for me I was kind of like all right now I gotta I can't just be biased and stuff I gotta look at

every school that's uh interested in me so yeah it makes sense. I would say this, though. Out of all schools you could have possibly said as your favorite school, Oklahoma's probably the one that Iowa fans can get behind. George Kittle's dad was coached there for a little bit. Bob Stoops is an Iowa guy as well. I feel like you picked probably the best school to be a fan of that's not Iowa, at least. I love it, man. You're pretty close with Aaron uh it sounds like how has that relationship developed um how big of an impact was that on your recruiting experience as well oh he was huge um as soon as I got offered I think the day or the next day he texted me and

said he's really excited about me he watched my film and like we've been pretty much texting since so it's been like six months I think we've been talking. And it's been weekly. I mean, the past, like, two or three months we pretty much have talked every day. And, I mean, I just can't be more grateful for everything. He's, like, told me – he's talked to me all about Iowa because he grew up in Iowa. He was an Iowa fan, all the history and stuff about the program. And then all the positives and negatives too about Iowa and he's

just been a really helpful and appreciative for that yeah sounds like a pretty good advocate and how have you are you looking to try to pass that forward right are you trying to look to bring other guys Iowa City and if so who are you talking to right now oh yeah for sure so I've already I've already started I've talked to um dominique orange who's from north kansas city i grew up with him we played a basketball together talked to nick herslog who uh goes to blue valley um i talked to eli rodon the titan from uh i think it's valley yeah valley and then i think that's it i might have talked to one more person but i think that's it all right i need to quickly pause the conversation with kate. We'll get back to that in just a second. But I got to tell you about rockauto.com because it is a family-owned business serving auto parts customers online for 20 years.

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Now let's turn our attention back to our conversation with Caden right now. I like it, man. We'll keep it going. Keep building that class. I think you already got a pretty strong foundation with you and Aaron. As far as you talk about basketball a little bit, having some, you know, people that you played with a you and the AAU circle and whatnot, what other sports do you play outside of football? I know Iowa loves to find the guys who play multiple sports, man. So I play football,

basketball. I power lift because I have power lifting Kansas and then I run track too. And you got first in bench press, right? Yeah, I got first at state and bench and then second and, uh, second and clean and third and squat. And then I got second overall. That's great. What was your, uh, what was your max bench and squat and press? So I benched three 30, which I mean, it was all right. I wasn't what I was looking for, but I still got first. I was good. And then on squat, I got four 50 and missed 500. got first so i was good and then on squat i got 450 and missed 500 and then on clean i cleaned 300 that's amazing if i could bench over 200 i'd be happy so and you're uh you're still in high school man so congratulations i know you got a lot of work to do um do you have any goals as far as weightlifting goes what is your goal to before you get into iowa city because that weightlifting

program is is renowned man so what are your goals before you even get there? I mean, I've set, I've like, I put it like a notes list, my iPhone, like I set goals every year for weightlifting stuff. So this year, I mean, I just try and set them super, super high. So even if I don't get them, I'm still happy. So I set a 600 squat, a 350 clean and a 405 bench. That's amazing. Well, good luck with that. Sounds like you got a pretty work ethic. Sounds like the COVID pandemic, you use that as an opportunity as well to really work on yourself because that was an interesting time. That's a time where people who are not motivated are not going to be able to build themselves and people who are, are going to be able to take another step above. How did you use the pandemic to your advantage? I know it's a weird way to say it,

but what did you do basically to get better during an off time? It kind of, it gave me a lot of free time because our school, we weren't in school like seven or eight hours a day. So I pretty much like would wake up and then I'd eat and then I'd go, I have a weight set in my garage and I pretty much was lifting every day, six or seven times a week. And just doing that repetitive over two or three months helps you out a little bit. Um, but yeah, I mean, it was really, really helpful for me. I even built a platform so I could do cleans off of and stuff with drop weights. And I think just like,

I kind of just thought of it as like, there's, it's going to be a while before you can get back into the school and like actual program and lifting. And so you can either sit and do nothing and it's not going to help you at all. So I like knew I had to get to work because I knew other dudes were probably doing the same thing. So I had to get a jump on everyone and just try and work as hard as I could. Absolutely, man. I love that. I love the fact that you built pieces of equipment to make sure you could do all the lifts you wanted to do. So going into your senior football season, what are your goals for your

last year of high school football? I just want to help keep building our high school program and kind of leave the legacy for the younger kids in our school. I mean, I just kind of want to be a leader to them and have them look up to me. And I want them to be better than me. Just, like, keep working hard and be a motivation to all the underclassmen. I love it, man. All right, and a couple things I just want to focus on.

Hayden Crawford, the person. What do you like to do outside of football? Really, like I just like being outside. Like I'll go fishing all the time. And since the spring, it's starting to open up. So I'm going to be excited for that. I like going hunting a lot. Real, real big deer hunter. I'm starting to get into duck hunting a little more. Usually every summer we go camping. My grandparents own a cabin in New Mexico. So my grandparents would like go and stay at the cabin and we'd go out to, uh, and go camping out in the woods on a, um, campground. And so I like doing that. We didn't get to go this year because of COVID, but, um, just really anything outside being outside doing stuff. Like I'll go

outside, play basketball, really anything outside is, uh, what I like to do. I love man. What part of New Mexico? Um, red river, New Mexico is it's like the northern part of new mexico on the so it's like the bottom half of the rocky mountains yeah kind of by taos yeah by taos like 30 minutes away no i say i actually live in denver so i'm pretty familiar with uh with the area so um and what are you planning on studying when you get to iowa or do you know yet? Right now I'm planning business. Nice. And then are you planning on enrolling early? Yes, that's actually the plan right now.

I've been talking with Coach Barnes about it and all my high school counselors, my high school coaches, and that's the plan right now for me to graduate early. That's awesome, man. If there's one thing you wanted Iowa fans to know about you, what would it be? That just I'm a really hard worker and i'm very humble i don't like being boastful and cocky like i won't go out and like if someone tries to talk to me i won't just be like too cool for them like like if people on my twitter will send me a dm usually i'll respond to them i'm not gonna like try and not respond i'm gonna try and like talk

to if a kid asks for advice i'll try and talk to as many people as i can and give them that advice. That's amazing, man. Yeah. I mean, I can personally attest to that. You were in the midst of committing to Iowa, probably getting a ton of DMS and I just slid into your DM and said, Hey man, you want to come on the show? And you're like, yeah, I'll come on. So I can, I can personally attest that man. Well, Caden, um, I know it took a little bit of your time. It is a Friday. Uh, how much more of your basketball season do you have left? Well, we actually lost, uh uh we lost in the playoffs on wednesday so we're subject then i shouldn't have even said anything yeah i just ended it right there yeah but uh i just started up track yesterday so i just got right right into the next sport so that's crazy and what do you do for i'm

assuming you're like a thrower um actually my fresh we didn't have track last year but my freshman year i ran the 400 and 200 and so my dad's really want me to run that so we'll see how that goes but yeah I'm gonna throw this year too that wait so what do you run the 400 and the 200 in my freshman year I ran like a 40 or not 47 uh 57 400 and then it was like a 23 200 I think or something like that moving and grooving for a defensive end man i love it yeah awesome well anything you want to say before we drop off the show um i just uh thank you for uh thank you for having me on i really appreciate it yeah man of course man happy talk

to you caden we'll talk to you later buddy yep all right sounds great all right that is the end of the conversation again thank you so much to caden for coming on the show had a blast chatting with him as i hope you all noticed he is going to be a phenomenal addition to the Iowa Hawkeye family really excited to see him in the black and yellow and see what he can do in Kinnick Stadium but I do want to tell you about betonline.ag the fastest and the easiest way to bet on all of your sports action football might be over but the NBA college basketball and the NHL are in full swing betonline.ag even covers awards, TV shows, and reality television. Real-time updated odds and props and almost anything you can imagine.

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Follow the Locked On NFL Draft podcast on the Radio.com app or wherever you get your podcast at. Now let's get into the remaining part of the show. A couple things I wanted to cover. We're going to talk about the transfer portal, but two big things came out today. First and foremost, we'll get to the fact that Iowa is going to be now allowing fans in the stands. According to Iowa's website, there'll be a 50% capacity outdoor venues, but not indoor venues. And apparently, Kinnick Stadium is still under consideration. So that means soccer, baseball.

Those are sports potentially track and field, although I don't think we have any meets in Iowa City this year for the rest of the year. But those are sports you should be able to go attend now with 50% capacity. So slowly getting to that spot, we'll be able to maybe have some fans in Kinnick Stadium and make that experience good once again. Also, big-time news for wrestling. Caleb Young is returning officially. The only senior in that starting lineup for the Iowa Wrestling Squad, Michael Kimmerer,

has not officially committed either way. Sounds like they're still talking to him, trying to figure out what is the best option for him. If he returns, that is absolutely huge for this Iowa team, a team that should be ranked number one going into next season as well. As all other seniors have announced, they are returning, including Jaden Ironman, Spencer Lee, and Austin DeSanto. And we talked a little bit about transferring on the show yesterday with CJ Frederick. There's still some rumors out there.

Obviously, Kentucky sites are dropping those rumors left and right. Again, I just want to reiterate that this is nothing coming from a credible source. They are saying rumblings around here. We heard. Well, unless they're hearing directly from CJ, they don't really have a good source. I think at this point, when you look at the articles they're writing, they are writing articles saying, here's guys we could go get as if Kentucky can just land anyone in the country they can't they can try but they can't they're not going to be able to land every single guy in the country

I think it's just pure speculation um CJ Frederick being a Kentucky guy I I can't imagine that he would actually I don't know I can't imagine him actually transferring actually, I don't know. I can't imagine him actually transferring. I guess it's still on the table. We'll find out more if he ever does actually enter the transfer portal. Better to do it sooner rather than later because spots are getting swapped up or taken up pretty quickly. But that does lead me to my next thing. When I look at Iowa's roster, if we assume Joe Wieskamp is gone, they have one recruit coming in, Peyton Sanford. That allows for two additional scholarships. And unlike when we had Riley Till and we gave a scholarship to Riley Till,

I don't see a guy on the roster, a walk-on, who would get a scholarship at this point. They're not going to be providing any key minutes down the stretch. So to me, that shows that I was going to be in the market for two transfers. And when I look at this lineup, if Joe Weiskamp is gone, the stretch. So to me, that shows that Iowa is going to be in the market for two transfers. And when I look at this lineup, if Joe Wieskamp is gone, this is a much better defensive lineup. It's a much more athletic lineup, but it's not as great of a shooting lineup. Jack Nunji, a guy who could probably hit 35% from three. C.J. Frederick obviously can hit 50% from three. I think Perkins can develop an outside shot. I know Keegan Murray can certainly shoot the ball pretty well.

And Patrick McCaffrey also is working on that outside shot. But it won't be anywhere near what we've seen so far for the Hawks. So what does that mean for Iowa? Well, again, it means they need two people. And right now, at the center position, you are relying on Jack Nunji, who just tore some ligaments and will be rehabbing and trying to get back for next year. You also have Josh Ogundale, who was out of shape coming into this season and didn't get

a lot of minutes, although he did get one minute against Kofi Kilburn and handled himself well, more of a defensive stopper. But with Jack Nunji's injury history and the fact you haven't really seen a lot of Josh, there isn't really a lot of depth at that big man position. Now, what I think is interesting is if you look at what Oregon did with five guys between 6'5 and 6'6 in their starting lineup, they were able to beat Iowa despite not having that height. And to me, that could bode well for Iowa looking at some maybe smaller big men. By smaller, I mean like six foot eight. So Race Thompson from Indiana just recently entered the transfer portal. That could be a target. We've also seen John Harar from Penn State enter the transfer portal. He was a rebounding machine. That could be a little bit more of a small ball

lineup that can still be effective. Not necessarily having the Luka Garza there, but if you have Jack Nunji and Josh Ogundale along with those guys, that is a pretty solid rebounding group. Liam Robbins is a guy who I'm kind of interested in. He transferred to Minnesota. He has not entered the transfer portal, so here I am speaking about how people are speculating with CJ Frederick, and I'm offering up other guys who haven't actually transferred yet. But Liam Robbins went to Minnesota in part because he wanted to play Big Ten basketball, in part because I believe his uncle is an assistant there.

His uncle getting looks at going to Iowa State. Regardless, there's a chance that he might be entering the transfer portal wherever he ends up. I mean, he would be a huge enforcer for Iowa as a defensive person. So those are some guys. But the only guy Iowa's really been linked to is Jack Nolan, a three-point specialist out of a D3 school. And I watched about 10 minutes of Jack Nolan's tape,

and he is definitely a great shooter. They ran a lot of screens to get him open with catch-and-shoot looks. Didn't see a lot of him driving to the basket. So from that perspective, great to have a shooter, but I think maybe not what we necessarily, it'd be great to have someone who can maybe shoot maybe just a little bit less threes, but can also drive to the basket as well. That's my thought. So I think from Iowa's perspective, they have a gluttony of small forward, big wing type of players. They have multiple point guards.

It kind of depends on how much you trust Joe Toussaint, Aaron, and then we have potentially Connor McCaffrey, although I think it would be interesting to see if Connor comes back. With tearing the two labrums, he has a better career in baseball, and at some point you've got to make a decision about what's best for your longevity in terms of professional sports. So Connor McCaffrey might not even be back, but I think the one spot Iowa does have a gluttony of is at that small forward spot.

Now at the shooting guard spot, you have CJ Frederick, you got Tony Perkins. I liked what I saw from Tony Perkins, but I think adding another guy in that mix could be really huge for Iowa. Just a guy who can get to the basket, but preferably, you know, a three-point shooter, Jack Nolan, a guy who could come off screens. But I'd like to see a little bit more versatility in his offensive game. And then, obviously, a big man. So what are you going to do with those two transfers? Typically, people aren't going to transfer in unless they're going to get starting minutes. So that'll be something as well to watch out for,

as Iowa does probably need to explore that transfer market. As more news comes up, as more rumors come up as far as who Iowa is targeting and what kind of position they are targeting, we're obviously going to cover that here. But again, that'll do it for the show. Thank you all for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed the show. I hope you enjoyed the interview with Caden Crawford, a great kid all around. Make sure to go follow him on Twitter as well and show him the love. And if you like the show, make sure to give us that five-star review and subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast app. And as always, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Hawkeye Nation, I appreciate you tuning in. We have a fantastic episode tomorrow with Jarek Andruski of Hawkeye Headquarters. He's going to be joining the show and helping us break down the Iowa women's basketball game against UConn that's going to be taking place on Saturday. So stay tuned for that. Again, Hawkeye Nation, thank you all for tuning in. Have a fantastic Thursday, and let's go Hawks.