Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - 247Sports David Eickholt joins to discuss the Iowa Hawkeye's basketball teams and 2022 football recruiting

Episode Date: March 4, 2021

We are joined by 247Sports David Eickholt on the show today to discuss tonight's game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Nebraska Cornhuskers, talk 2022 Iowa football recruiting, and the recent coaching development for the Hawkeyes.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 “LOCKEDON20,” and you’ll get 20% 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. 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, and I'm excited to be back for another show today, and we have a very special treat for you. We're going to be breaking down tonight's game, Iowa versus Nebraska,

talking a little bit about expectations for this season, diving into some coach talk for the Iowa football team, and then talking a little bit about recruiting and wrapping up with some conversations about Kaitlin Clark and what we're seeing from this amazing Iowa athletic program across the board. And we're doing that all with 24 seven sports, very own David Eichel. He has joined us for the show today. So with that being said, let's just get into it. Let's get into our show

right now with David. All right, y'all I'm joined here by 24 seven sports, David Eichel. David, it is a pleasure to have you on. I know you're kind of hopping around and helping out other podcasts. It means a lot for you to come on this show. How are you doing today, though, first and foremost? Yeah, man, I'm good. I really appreciate you asking me. You know, things are going well. Just very busy.

Obviously, I got back from a vacation, a little bit more tan, a little bit more fresh. Now I'm ready to grind out the you know what? Hopefully it's going to be a long March run. Hopefully I get to stay in Indy for a little bit. Yeah, man, I was, uh, I was actually planning out my schedule for this month because it's easier if I can actually plan out my weekly podcasting, you know, a couple of weeks in advance. And I was like, I actually think I have too much content. Like it's going to be a little bit difficult to cover every Iowa basketball game, women's men's, the wrestling tournament. We have NFL draft coming up. It's a crazy month. Um, as far as when you go on vacation, how are you handling that when you're on vacation? Cause

you're still working. I still see you tweeting. I still see you grinding. So what are you doing when you're on vacation, man? You know, it's one of the things too, where with the way that sports are kind of working this year with basically only going to home games, maybe some close away games, I'd prefer to look at a beach instead of a foot of snow and negative 20 outside. So that was sort of my thing. Uh, and you know, my, my parents were down there. They wanted me to go down there with, um, and, uh, you know, I'll always, it's weird. I always tell myself I may go take a couple of days off. I'm going to relax, but my head is just churning nonstop. And you know, when you're getting such a mode of just straight work, work, work, it's almost impossible to check out.

So, I mean, I'll never I don't know if or when I'll ever really be able to totally check out. I almost feel guilty of it. So it's a very it's more of just a self like push, like self motivator thing. Like I just cannot flip the switch off my head to be able to turn it off. I'm addicted to Twitter and that certainly doesn't help me either. Yeah, man. I definitely had that problem. Twitter's the worst. I'm like, I just find myself scrolling through and why am I doing this? Like just to catch whatever comes out as it comes out. But I get that, man. I'll go on vacation. I'm actually going to Mexico in April with my wife. And what happens is as soon as I start relaxing, all these ideas are flowing. Here's all these things I can do for the show. Here's all these things I can do for our, our social media presence. Here's unlike, can I just stop for a

second and just not care? And I like, can I just sit there and just enjoy my beer on the beach and not think about sports. Um, but I feel like that's what makes you so successful, man. And that's why I appreciate having you on. And again, what an interesting time in Iowa athletics. We have one of the best women's basketball players in the nation. I actually just did a show on that today, actually, which Caitlin Clark has been phenomenal. We got Luka Garza and the men's basketball team ranked top five in the nation. Let's start there though. They have a game when this show drops, they have a game tonight, Iowa versus Nebraska. Nebraska's a scary team. And the reason why I say that is because by every stretch of the imagination, Iowa should dominate this game.

But we've seen in the past with Iowa versus Nebraska, that hasn't always been the case. And they've kind of been a thorn in our side when we should just be able to get an easy win. Nebraska also coming off winning two straight games despite losing Teddy Allen, where I feel like that might be a addition by subtraction. From everything I hear, he's kind of a dick. addition by subtraction uh from everything i hear he's kind of a dick he's had he's had he's had he's had a difficult journey through college basketball i mean he's he's four years and uh four colleges and basically i mean so i you know i went to university nebraska for college and he went to

a place called boystown and i believe that's like just outside of omaha so i knew the area really well and boystown's known for kind of putting kids, trying to put kids on the right path who have had difficult upbringings. He had a difficult upbringing. So, you know, a lot of factors played into that. But I mean, from everything I've been told, he, you know, like you said,

probably addition by subtraction, I think is probably the best way to describe it. And I think if you watch Nebraska with them versus without them, the ball movement is so much better. And I think if you watch Nebraska with them versus without them, the ball movement is so much better. And I think that was the number one thing I've seen out of them the last couple of games. I mean, they have some shooters.

They're number one in three-point defense, only allowing 30.5%. Granted, there's not a team in the Big Ten with the shooters of Iowa's caliber, especially if Iowa's healthy. So, I mean, I'm interested to see how that goes, but I mean, this is a game where if Luca wants 40, 45, 50 points, he can go and get 40, 50 points. They're not going to be able to stop him. And, you know, and Luca, the biggest thing I've seen from him this year, one of the biggest things is passing so much better.

He's passing out double T's looking for guys to the, his knowledge of the game is so much better. How many times we found him just either be a hockey assist or finding a guy open the corner from three I mean those are the difference makers and those are the winning plays that that Luca's bringing the table and you know it like you said it's an interesting game but I will say I think the best thing to happen for Iowa hanging this game is watching Nebraska absolutely curb stomp Rutgers and leading by 30 at one point because if they did have any of those, we're going to go in and we're just going to win by 20, 30.

They're not thinking that after what they did to Rutgers. It's a wake-up call. And I think we've seen with this team, which is interesting for a veteran squad, where they do have those moments. I mean, they're still college athletes. They still have those moments where they kind of let it go a little bit.

Maybe they don't come out as intense. We saw the first game against Indiana, and then Indiana goes on and beats them, and Iowa doesn't score for 12 minutes. So, yeah, definitely a concern, but I 100% agree. Rutgers getting destroyed by Nebraska was definitely a good wake-up call for Iowa. And it's their last game in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

That's huge. I think that is something that's going to be a very important factor. As we watch Jordan Bohannon and Luca Garza, they play their last time in Carver possibly go off Luca with a very good matchup against a team. That is one of the worst in the nation and interior paint defense, Nebraska right now, 232nd and two point percentage defense.

So a good opportunity for Luca Garza to get his, I also think Jordan Bohannon has an opportunity to really go off and his final game in Carver. He finds those big moments and he just lets go. are your thoughts on that so here's the thing too and you remember you talk about Nebraska being a thorn Iowa side I mean you but you gotta look at this circumstance last year like yeah they shouldn't have lost the game last year everybody knows that but CJ Frederick was out Jordan Bohannon was out. Even Austin Ash was out, remember? And then Joe Wieskamp had his worst three-point shooting game of his career.

I think he finished 1-10. Iowa was 4-33. I've said this on the record, too. If they have Austin Ash in there, they probably win that game because at least they can stretch the floor. They were literally throwing four or five guys on Luka every single play, and that's the only reason why he had 16 points. He still had 16 points.

I mean, that's just Luka being Luka. So, like you said, I think there's a very good chance. I mean, I don't know what Fred Hoiberg is going to do. I think Luka is not going to really sell for that many jump shots. He might just to kind of spread out the defense a little bit more. But, I mean, if he gets – like, I have a hard time seeing anybody on that roster stop Luka from getting post-position on the block. And the second he does that, you know, again, I think this is a very –

this game spells 35 points for Luka Garza. I mean, it really does. And I think Jordan's more likely to go off against Wisconsin on Sunday because I think that that's almost like a full circle journey for him on senior day uh and I've said this too Wisconsin I'm not surprised with what Wisconsin is this year they are the same team they should not have won you know they won the big 10 last year nobody's ever gonna take that away from everybody knows they should have won that that was the worst big 10 title team I've ever seen on any level. No disrespect to them. That's that's just, it is what it was. It's the same exact team this year. And I think they

overperformed last year. Again, that's a credit to them, not taking it away from them, but Iowa matches up so well. I mean, they don't, they don't have, they don't have guards. They'll beat you. And you think Nate Reavers is going to stop Luca from getting whatever he wants in the post. Micah Potter, I think is a tremendous player. Yep.

But I think his defense is still a little bit lackluster. And I, I can't remember who tweet out this stat. So I'm a little bit, I feel bad about this. Brett Davison has the worst, terrible field goal percentage since 2000 of any, of any player since 2008, which is unbelievable to me.

And remember, he might come back for his 42nd year next year. I don't know what's going to happen. You know, the crazy, that's the thing. Wisconsin run the same team back again next year, if all these guys wanted to come back. But like you said, I think it spells Luka going off tomorrow or tonight since you're releasing this on Thursday. But again, I think that Rutgers getting demolished by Nebraska was probably the best thing to happen to Iowa.

Just like Michigan getting demolished by Illinois is probably the best thing to happen to Michigan hanging into that Michigan getting demolished by Illinois is probably the best thing to happen to Michigan hanging into that Big Ten tournament and the NCAA tournament because that team is certainly going to wake up last night. All right, we're going to quickly pause that conversation because you know I got to tell you about Bilt Bars because they are the best tasting protein bar on the market today. They come in 18 amazing flavors and these bars are covered in 100% chocolate and they are soft and and easy to chew. Built Bar is the perfect solution for the health-conscious guy or girl, because not only are they phenomenally delicious, they're great for you as well.

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any of those when they come out. Right now you can actually get them for a little bit of a discount as well. Go to BuiltBar.com and use the promo code LOCKEDON20 and you'll get 20% off your next order. Use that promo code LOCKEDON20 for 20% off at BuiltBar.com We are covering everything

you need to know about the Iowa Hawkeyes. But what about the rest of sports? Now the Locked On Podcast Network has you covered there as well with Locked On Today. It's hosted by the great Peter Bukowski, and it's all the sports news you need every morning in under 20 minutes. Subscribe to the Locked On Today podcast wherever you get your podcast at. Yeah, you're definitely, if you want to get those bad losses out of the way before you get into tournament time, you want to be focused and ready to go. And I feel like what Iowa win through has really changed their mentality

the last couple of weeks. When you look at what frame McCaffrey is saying, the team is locked in there, you know, engaged, they're looking at scouting ports a little bit closer. They're playing more intense defense. And we've seen that defensive energy, um, show up the last couple of weeks, you know, beating Ohio state. That was one of the best defensive efforts I've seen from Iowa and quite some time, the Wisconsin thing, I think is very interesting. So we have Asher Lowe host of lockdown Badgers. He's a huge basketball guy and coming into the season, we were doing a little preseason talk and he's like,

Wisconsin's better than Iowa. I was like, I know you're biased, but like, how do you possibly see Wisconsin is better than Iowa? Like this team is not an athletic team. They are not a great team. And then even coming into the Wisconsin Iowa game, he said, I think Wisconsin is going to go to the post and they're going to score a lot of points against Luca Garza. And I was like, I know Luca Garza is not the most amazing defender, but he's six foot 11. He's always in good position. He gets his hands up.

He doesn't foul a lot, but he redirects a lot of shots. It's not that easy to score in the post against Luca Garza. And sure enough, Iowa had a pretty good game against Wisconsin. I feel like that should be a win against UW as well. So Nebraska, Wisconsin should both be W's. In our opinion, would that be a good assumption from you as well? I'm picking Iowa and both at this point from what I've seen, but I'll say this Luke in terms of post defense, I think he's been better this year. The thing that gets Luka scored, it's the pick and roll. He just isn't quick enough to guard the pick and roll.

But again, with Jack Nunji out for the rest of the season. Now, I was very curious how Iowa is going to come out because they're going to try to protect Luca even more now because Luca is going to need to play 30, 30, 35, 37 minutes a game. And, you know, Luca is all on board. I mean, you know, I mean, Luca is all on board. He'll play 40 if he has to. It's just who is who he is. But I'll say this again. I do think that I do think that Chris Murray could be seeing some time here soon as well. was like Chris Murray I hope he can develop as quickly as Keegan Murray and I'm like it's not that he hasn't developed it's not that he's not ready to play minutes there just wasn't a spot

in the rotation for him and I yeah I do think there's a concern about bringing in a guy who hasn't had a lot of minutes with some of the the starters in actual game action but if there's a time and place to do it you want to get that done before you go into the Big Ten tournament before the NCAA tournament and when you talk to Kenya Murray, I mean, while they are very similar in some aspects, they have different styles of their game where Keegan Murray is more of a three-point shooter. You know, Chris is more of a slasher, a guy that we don't really, we don't have a lot of those on the team. So it'll be very interesting to see what that dynamic is.

And if he can get some time and these next couple of games, because we are going to need him for a long stretch run for the big 10. You can guard the one through four as well. I think Keegan's more built to guard five, and I'll say this. The most impressive thing about Iowa's win to me, besides Joe Toussaint, who I think earned a lot of – I want to say he was in the doghouse. I get people want more Joe Toussaint, but you can't look at what he had done over the past month and a half and say he served more time than he got.

Like I get it. The kid's potential is very high and he brings a different element to Iowa, but his turnover rate is 27%. Iowa, Iowa is not good enough to have that player on the long stretches of time. They're not good enough on defense to be able to handle turning the ball over and not scoring because iowa's offense is what drives this team defense might be the thing that puts them over the top but offense is what drives that team and iowa thrives on low turners they're averaging 9.5 a game and if you are putting a guy that turns the ball over more than once in every four possessions you're not going to get a lot of playing time in Francis.

And like, again, I get it. If he does what he did against Ohio State, he deserves to play 14 to 17 minutes. I think he can be a huge boost. But to write my original point, the thing that was most impressive to me was Keegan Murray's defense on EJ Liddell in the second half. EJ Liddell is an all-Big Ten caliber four.

He's played extremely well this year. He's a very good player. Had 13 first-half points. He only scored two in that second half, and Keegan played 15 minutes. They switched Keegan on to him. E.J. Liddell only took one shot, and he made it. Missed three free throws. Grabbed one board and two turnovers.

That's it. And he played 16 second-half minutes while Ken Murray was on. If Iowa gets that type of defensive effort from Keegan too, that's what they need. That's exactly what they need. Yeah, it's exciting stuff to see. And I agree with the Joe Toussaint point. When you're watching him, why is he getting five to seven minutes a game? He's not getting a lot of time.

Well, the problem is he would come into the game and immediately turn the ball over. And it was not – they were almost careless turnovers at some points to running out of bounds with the ball not getting not passing it when you need to right so things like that are going to get you in you said not the doghouse but kind of the dog I mean he wasn't playing for a reason and part of that's the good and the bad with Joe Toussaint what makes him such a an amazingly exciting player is also what is some of the issues that have been causing him to be held back and not get some playing time so if he can be the guy we saw against Ohio State, that is going to be phenomenal for Iowa.

What are your thoughts on this team going forward, though? Because I think after the Michigan game, a lot of people, myself included, were a little bit bummed out. I went on record saying, you know, if this team continues to play like that, they are not a Final Four team. They might be an Elite Eight team depending on matchups, but they are not a Final Four team. Then they come out and take care of business against ohio state what are your thoughts on this team's future for the rest of the season so one more quick point about the joe

tucson jordan bohan thing i'll get to your question so i've always said this too jordan bohanan's upside on offense is much greater than joe tucson's as a defender. That's why Warren Bo Hannon is playing more. If Joe Toussaint's not spacing the floor, you can't play Joe Toussaint and Conor McCaffrey together. You can't. There's not enough shooting right there. So get back to the point. I wrote this as a column yesterday. I don't want to hear the Fran February fade this season because this team did not do it.

I know they lost against Michigan. And two of the games, as I've said, if they have C.J. Frederick, they split at least one of those because those came down to final possession. So they win five to six. They lose to Michigan. But then they go. I don't care though. Ohio State lost two games.

Okay. I don't before Iowa beat them. You're going at Columbus on primetime television. You just route them. Ohio State came back. And what have we seen this year from Iowa at times when teams come back? They take their foot off the gas.

You know, they give up the lead. They can't pull it back. That's exactly what we saw in the first game against Ohio State. After Iowa went up 61-50, they got too reliant on the three. They started just launching them. Iowa stayed calm. They locked down.

They held the number three offense, according to Ken Palm, to 57 points, which is a season low. So I think that, you know, people talk about that rough stretch. I look at it as, is Iowa fresh off their best basketball game of the season on the last day of February? Yeah, I don't think you can say they've played a better complete game all season than what they did against Ohio State, especially against the Caliber competition and the fact there's a road.

So I'm not going to sit here and say that Iowa is going to win out. They're going to win the Big Ten tournament. They're going to know. But I do think that fans, I think that people should be encouraged about what they saw. And I think that that team said, hey, we're ready for March. They've always said that they feel like they can beat anybody in the country. I think prove that. I've always said this, too. The worst beat anybody in the country i think prove that i've always said this too the worst matchup in college basketball for gonzaga is iowa because

iowa can hang with them offensively and i'll tell you what jaylen sucks is not going seven to ten from three point range again with the caliber shots he took iowa scored 88 points while going four of 22 from three and by the way those threes were pretty open. They were not guarding Iowa's three-point shares. Again, Iowa defensively struggled, I think, quite a bit in that game. I think that's also a credit to Gonzaga. And I'm not going to sit here and say Iowa's going to beat Gonzaga. I think that, again, it's the worst matchup. But I will say this too. I've said this all year. Iowa's much more built for the NCAAcaa tournament than the big 10 this is a historically great big 10 comp uh conference these coaches these players have seen luca jordan cj joe east camp for years it's and again it doesn't make any easier to play against them but they know how to scout

they know their game do you think anybody in the country is going to stop iowa on a one-day scout there's nobody that can do it i don't think there's one team in the country that can do it and i think that's why i think this team is built for an elite eight final four run i'm not sure where i'm gonna pick them i want to see how the rest of the season sort of goes yep but at the same time it's gonna be tough for me to really teams that have to have a one-day scout in iowa iowa has to guard people people, obviously. But you think any coach that has never played against Luka Garza or scouted Luka Garza has to prep for him on one day, and then you have three 40%, two 50% three-point shooters behind the arc?

It's a tough recipe. I do think that the potential of this team still is a Final Four caliber team. Can they win the championship? I don't want to go that far. I want to see what they do in the Big Ten tournament. If they can beat Illinois in the Big Ten tournament and win the quarterfinal beat Illinois in the semifinals then I think that Iowa can be built for a championship run potentially all right one more pause before we wrap up the show with David I want to tell you about betonline.ag because betonline.ag is the fastest and the easiest way to bet on all your

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You can go get that gambling fix, get a little betting in there, put a little extra money in your pocket, and put even more money in your pocket with that 50% welcome bonus using that promo code LOCKEDON at BetOnline.ag. BetOnline.ag, your online sportsbook experts. Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley, your online sports draft experts. Subscribe today and follow Locked On NBA Draft. Now let's get back into our conversation with David as we wrap up the show. Yeah, I think it really comes down to what the scheduling looks like when the tournament bracket actually comes out. What are the matchups they are going to get? Because there are some matchups that I think hurt Iowa a little bit, and there's a lot of matchups that I think Iowa would be favored in.

I also agree with the Gonzaga point. When you look at what Iowa did from a shooting perspective, if they just hit their average amount of threes from a percentage perspective and their average amount of free throws they beat gonzaga in a very high scoring game so if i would just shoot even average not even above average average they win that game against gonzaga and i think the outlook on the season is significantly different than what it has been up until the point where they beat Ohio state. And again, I go back to the fact that they were so close to beating Illinois. You beat that,

you beat that Illinois team given a lot of pretty bad officiating calls. I think the outlook on the season was different after the Michigan game. So there's so many, what is, but like you said, the point is I was playing its best basketball right now. And that's ultimately what matters. Last thing about basketball,

before we get into some, some minor football talk, Joey's camp. Um, I've been talking about this on the show. I don't know what he gains from returning. I think he could come back and be the guy, but what are you gaining at this point? You've shown basically what you can do as an NBA caliber player. You can be a three and D type of guy. What are your thoughts right now? If you had to give a percentage estimate, is Joe East camp gone? Is it 70%? Is it 20%? I know that's not fair to Joe, right?

Joe has to make this decision, but what are your thoughts right now? You know, I think it's a fair, I think it's a fair point. I know I don't want to say it, but I, you know, or agree, but he has a legitimate decision to make. If I had to guess, and this is from no one's knowledge, I'm going straight off the cuff. This is just my gut feel, not based on anything I've heard him say or people I've talked to. I was 80% gone.

You guys like it. I think that I don't know what he gains and I'll tell you what, he's not going to go through a better stretch than what he has done in the past 10 games. Like I know he's had that. He struggled a little bit against, I think it was Michigan. But if you go through a nine game stretch this late in the year and you

shoot 60% from three and they see you as a three and D player in the NBA. Go. Oh, go, go, go get money. I still think though, he can earn a lot of money in the big tournament and the NCAA tournament

with his play. I think he can be maybe, I still think if he balls out, I think he could be a very late first round guy and early second round guy. I really do. I think the potential is still there. I think he'll be one of the best shooter in the draft class. He's a pretty decent athlete. I don't know how much he'll be able to guard, but I've always said this.

I know people want to scout guys who defend well in the NBA. Nobody guards in the NBA. Nobody guards in the NBA. Like I watch more NBA than like almost anybody. Nobody guards in the NBA. It's a lost art until it's playoff time. And then you see the intensity ramp up. So again, that's just a gut feel. I think Joe East camp is going to be gone. I think that Keegan Murray is going to be the second face of Iowa next year.

And I think CJ Frederick's in for, I've said this too. I said before this season and a lot of people give me crap for it. If CJ stays healthy next year, CJ Frederick will be a top three score in the big 10 and he will be a big 10 first teamer. He is that good because you're going to give him 15 shots a game. And I'll tell you what, he shoots 52% from three. And I know for a fact from people I've talked to in the know, he's mad about that because he feels like he can be a 60% three-point shooter. And if that happens, I mean, and he's, the thing is about CJ and he knows his role better than anybody on the team. And I think that's what makes him such a great player to play with. I think that's why he's so important to that team.

Yeah. Like I said about Joe, I think, I think Joe's gone. I'm not saying he won't return. He very well could, but like you said, what's the upside besides maybe saying some records in Iowa, getting to run the team for a year. Guess if you average 25 on 50% string from three and you're a first team, all American, he's lead Iowa to a final four. Maybe it'll be a top top 10 pick. I don't know, but I'll tell you what, that draft class next year is going to be pretty, pretty damn deep.

Yeah. And I think you got to go back to the fact that he just had one of the most incredible runs. And if he can put together another stretch of those games during the big 10 tournament and the NCAA tournament, I just, yeah, I don't, I don't see what you gain from, from returning. He's put together phenomenal performances. One of the things I've wanted to see from Joe is his ability to take over

games. And we're seeing that in this stretch. When Luca was struggling, Joe Wieskamp was carrying the team in a sense and doing whatever he needed to do to get the team back in the W column. CJ Frederick is a guy I'm very excited about next year as well. I think what is underrated about his game, he can shoot the three, but the guy can drive to the basket and he can finish too. And that is something that we don't see as much from a lot of our guards outside of our bench guys and this Iowa offense.

So definitely a lot of last year. Yeah. So it's definitely interesting. Switching gears to the football perspective, you put out a report about Joe Tripodi, football perspective, you put out a report about Joe Tripodi, Temple's offensive line coach, a guy who looks like he might be next in line for Iowa's offensive line coach. When I looked up his background, former Northwestern guard, you know, playing, understanding the Pat Fitzgerald type offense, coach at NIU has ties to Wisconsin. I mean,

this just seems like a match made in heaven for, for an Iowa offensive line coach. Do you have anything else to add to that? Yeah. I mean, so my thing is obviously, this just seems like a match made in heaven for an Iowa offensive line coach. Do you have anything else to add to that? Yeah, I mean, so my thing is, obviously, just for the record, at this point, nothing is official. I think I would feel comfortable saying he's a frontrunner at this point, but there's still a couple other candidates in the picture. But like you said, I think it's a match made in heaven because why did Palasek bring the table? Palasek's recruiting was phenomenal. You look at the 2021 class who he got.

He knows the Midwest. And I think Tripati fits the mold. And I believe off the top of my head, he was at Northern, he was at Illinois for nine seasons. And so that means he has Kelton Copeland connections as well. Just remember Kelton Copeland was at Northern Illinois. So those two guys work together. So you get that cohesiveness on the spot.

He knows the Midwest. He knows the big 10. He knows what it takes to, you know, to win in the big 10. And when he was playing at Northwestern, he was watching some pretty good Iowa football at that time too. Not, not elite. It wasn't the O2 to O4 run, but so pretty, pretty good Iowa football. So like you said, I think it's a match made in heaven. I think if, if, you know, assuming everything works out, I, I, I love the hire.

I think it's great. I'm very interested to see how he would hit the recruiting trail, but based on his resume, based on his connections, and then you get put, you know, you give him the resources and the Iowa often reputation. I'd say it's a pretty, that's a pretty dang good hire. So we'll see what happens obviously. But again, nothing official. But I, I, I, I would think that I was pretty much locked in on trying to, trying to get him in the fold. Yeah. Makes a lot of sense to me. And then you talk about the recruiting aspect. Iowa just had a big conversation with the quarterback out of Texas, Nick Evers. Sounds like Iowa might be not necessarily the front runner for him, but they want him bad. Any other news and notes from the recruiting front? I mean, I know we're recruiting

two tight ends out of Nebraska, Bellevue East, I believe, Micah Riley and Caden Helms. We also have a tight end out of Valley, Eli Raritan. What are some news and tidbits you can offer on that, on those conversations? Yeah, so obviously Iowa is really going all in on Micah, Micah Riley, their K and Helms, obviously they want both them. I think if they could get them both in the middle, that'd be tremendous. I think Cain Helms is a little bit less likely than Micah Riley. Micah Riley has some connections, LeVar Woods, by the way, W West and that was the same high school as Keegan Johnson.

Yeah. I was like, I was like, I knew I messed up one of the directions. I was like, I can't remember if it was east or west. Dang it. It's all good. Yeah. So I actually know that high school very well. I, you know, that's why I used to cover Nebraska recruiting at times. My old high school used to play against them in sports, which was a tough scene to say

the least, obviously with all the athletes. I think Iowa's done a nice job of trying to assert themselves in the Omaha market and that metropolitan area, because there's a lot of really topend talent, I think, coming out of Nebraska lately. I mean, as good as Iowa's in-state talent has been, Nebraska has got some good talent of their own. As far as Eli Raritan goes, I think Iowa's still in it. I know the Notre Dame offer was obviously a huge one, a legacy there. But, I mean, again, Iowa's tight end reputation speaks for itself. He's got a legacy there.

But, I mean, again, Iowa's tight end reputation speaks for itself. And I think with – one of the biggest surprises of that 2021 class to me was the inability to land an elite tight end. But I'll say this, Iowa's still got plenty of them in the fold. I think Luke Lachey, if he can be healthy, I think he can be a stud. Elijah Yelverton is going to be really, really good. I mean, Iowa's top four, I think, has a lot of potential. But now it's the same thing with Sorge running back, and that's no disrespect with Sorge running back,

and that's no disrespect to the 2021 running back that signed. Devin Hilson, no disrespect to him. But Iowa now has ways that they can sort of utilize on the recruiting trail. You know what? We got a late guy for running back. Obviously, again, Devin Hilson's a good athlete. I'm not taking anything away from him. Yeah. As far as tight end goes, okay, yeah yeah we didn't take it tight we have guys

sam laporta will probably be sam laporta will go the nfl sean byers going the nfl look at our statistics who do you want to go the nfl come to iowa and if they put the full court press on a few key targets i think that uh i think they'll be able to land some of those guys but as far as raritan goes as far as michael riley goes Caden Helms, I think it's a tough, I won't say it's tough to read right now, but I think a lot of those guys are going to wait things out,

especially, and first, I want to make this point here too. I pray to God the NCAA lets these kids visit schools. It's not. I get it.

I get the, you know, I get trying to protect the liability and all that, but you can't expect these guys to go through virtual visits, everything like that, and to make a expect the guys to go through virtual visits, everything like that. And to make a lifelong decision that could have major implications,

whether or not they can develop to go to the NFL and reach their potential. You've got to let these kids have the full utilization of information. It's sad. And the fact that none of the recruits, there's no organization speaking on behalf of the recruits. I think that's a failure in itself. You're allowing the NCAA to do everything, but what about the parents? What about the kids? They, you say you're all about that. We'll give them a voice, a lot of them have an opportunity there.

As far as Nick Ewers go to go back, I think Iowa's in the running. He likes Iowa. His mom likes Iowa, especially again, with the Iowa offensive line. I mean, she wants her baby boy protected. You got, you know, you got the Iowa offensive line doing that. So things will work out. But, yeah, it will be interesting to see how that kind of unfolds. I know Florida is looking at him a little bit. I know they're going to host a couple of virtual visits,

and I know he also earned a couple of good in-state offers. I believe Texas Tech offered last night, TCU offered a couple days ago. Obviously, those in-state Texas kids, once they get those Texas offers, I mean, those are usually fairly notable. But, you know, it's been a slow start for the 2022 class for Iowa, but I'd say this to people. I wouldn't, I wouldn't even blink twice about it. Iowa is going to be fine. And Iowa doesn't offer a lot of kids. They're waiting to get these kids in camp. And I think Iowa is holding out hope that they can get on campus and have a chance to really evaluate them because Iowa is not just

going to throw out offers with offers that they don't care how long it'll take. That's just not Iowa's mantra. And I'd say it's worked out pretty well considering Iowa's 2021 class is the highest in 24-7 sports history for the University of Iowa. Yeah, you actually stole my – I was actually going to say, I was like everything seems to be moving a bit slower with recruiting. And I feel like a lot of that has to do with the fact that Iowa is so patient and they want to see these people, these players in person, because I think maybe this,

just my thoughts, the progression of Kirk Ferentz and his recruiting has changed so much from the early parts of his career at Iowa to now where they have locked in on exactly what kind of player they want, not just from an athleticism standpoint, but from a character standpoint. And they haven't had some of the issues they had early on, you know, the early 2000s and whatnot with law enforcement and all that kind of stuff. They've done a better job of bringing in some higher character guys

that they feel like really fit the mold of the program. And a lot of that has to do with just meeting these guys in person, getting them on campus, seeing how they interact with each other. And they're not, like you said, they're not going to go just willy nilly extending offers like Nebraska or Minnesota, just to try to get any guy in the program.

It's interesting though, too. And I think that's a, I think it's an interesting point they bring up, but I also say recruiting just evolved so much over the last 15 years. You talk about more film, more accessibility, and like the, you know, recruiters will talk to the kids, janitor at the high school. They'll talk to teachers. They'll talk to friends. They go through so many different avenues. At least Iowa does before they offer a kid. And I'll say this too.

I know this about Fran McCaffrey. And by the way, I think, you know, people can say whatever they want about Fran character on the sideline or whatever. Fran is not Brian. One bad kid is Fran. Iowa basketball players have been tremendously high character. They aren't troublemakers. They again, I think it speaks for itself in that aspect but i think kirk ference is sort of that same mantra right now is if if they host a kid on visit and they ask the player who the player who hosts the kid on visit you know what do you think of him will he fit in with us and they say no they're

not gonna take him i know a few few players that that's happened to. Now, obviously, I'm not going to name names, but it's happened. The basketball side of things is on the football side of things. And I also think that comes from a culture of trust between the coaches and the players and a certain level of respect. And obviously, Iowa's football culture changed dramatically over the past year. And based on everything that's come out, it's needed to. So hopefully that things have truly, you know, kind of changed in that regard. Like you said, I think bringing in high-character guys,

I think that, again, it just goes through so many different avenues now than it did 20 years ago. I mean, you'd see a kid on film or you'd hear about a kid, you'd throw out an offer, you'd go visit him, you'd throw out an offer. That was really the end of it. It's like, okay, multi-sport athlete. Does he wrestle? What are his grades like? What are his peers saying about him?

What are his teachers saying about him? Is he respectful? I mean, they go through these big, long questionnaires before they offer it. You know, again, Iowa might not have the most talented kids. I don't think they ever really will. They don't pursue a lot of most talented kids, and that's no disrespect to the kids who have earned those offers or not saying they're not people.

But Iowa's just very meticulous about who they offer and again the proof's in the pudding top 25 recruiting class last year is clearly paying off right now but again I'll also give a lot of credit in that regard to Kelton Copeland and Tim Palasek for the recruiting job that they've done since they got here Kelton Copeland I think has done one of the most unbelievable rebuilding jobs in a position group and in the entire country and he's really amazing what he took over what he took over was a four-letter word it was awful it was it was really bad dude it was it really surprised me and I think it surprised everybody but again that was no disrespect to Copeland but just the difficulty in the uphill battle of that and the way that the Iowa receivers have kind of changed their mantra since then.

It's pretty unbelievable. Yeah. I couldn't agree more. David, I have taken up a lot of your time today. We talked about recruiting. We talked about basketball. We talked about the Iowa football offensive line coach, anything else you want to add before we hop off the show today, man? No, I appreciate the opportunity. Obviously I like to talk a lot. So this is completely fine by me you're not taking up any of my time i'm happy to do this uh but no it should be busy time and i'll

say this then caitlin clark should be a top five person for the player of the year uh i you know i try what she's done is unbelievable and i'll say this too once once carver opens back up go flood that for that team because bluder does a a heck of a job. Caitlin is on. I mean, you think nobody's going to break, you think nobody's going to break Megan Gustafson's record and what she did for Iowa, man, Caitlin Clark. I'm I'm, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'll say this. She could be a 3000 point score at Iowa.

She in that, that, that I know how asinine that sounds, but I mean, by the end of this season, she'll probably have 700 or close to 700 and it's not even a full season. And then think about this. I doubt she will win the WNBA. She can stay five years, dude. Uh, I'm smiling because I literally talked about this on the show this morning. I was like, I think making, I think, I think Caitlin Clark is going to break Megan Gustafson scoring record. And she has right now five. Also whole section two threes though.

That's the thing though, too. Cause Megan couldn't shoot three is making a strict post. Caitlin, that aspect to her. So yeah, I mean, Caitlin Clark right now, 564 points. If she only plays four games, the rest of the season, she'll be at 671 points. If you extrapolate out her average, if you extrapolate that over four years,

that's 2,684 points, which you've got to factor in. She's playing 10 less games this year than Megan Gustafson has on average each of her years. So she's going to have more games. You got to expect the point per game average to go up or stay the same. Even if it doesn't, she's still going to be getting her points regardless.

I don't think it's unrealistic to think she could break 3,000. I think she also could break the assist record as well. Her average is higher than Samantha Logix was. So, I mean, what we're seeing from Kaitlyn Clark as a true freshman is just so beyond belief. And I think if she can stay healthy and she stays at Iowa, not going to the WNBA, not saying she's transferring out of Iowa, just not leaving Iowa for the WNBA.

Don't want to get anyone scared there. We're watching greatness happen, and I think we need to appreciate that as Iowa fans because this doesn't come around for any team very often. Yeah, and I like that. And this is, I think, a good ending point, and I've said this repeatedly on Twitter. I'll say it here too.

People focus so much on the destination and we get to embrace the journey you have spencer lee you have don't care a lot of them him jorbo jorbo hands almost unforgettable iowa players of all time given his journey the adversity he's been through he's literally in two hips to play for iowa and suffered through plantar fasciitis so iowa could have a point guard during his sophomore season. And obviously Luca Garza, who has just been, I think is the new, you know, is the icon of Iowa basketball now, you know, disrespect to any of the other greats. I mean, he's going to get his Jersey retired, his number retired.

And he absolutely a hundred percent should based on everything he's done. What Iowa has right now, and then he's throwing Megan Gustin. I don't forget about Kat Doyle who won Big Ten Player of the Year as well. Samantha Logic, Allie Disterhoff. I mean. It's amazing. You know, Iowa, as far as individual talent goes, they have absolute grace.

And I think that people, again, they focus so much on what life's going to be after. What's life going to be like after? How do they end up in their season? And get like they they have to wonder that but don't put so much focus on that where you forget about what you're witnessing you are witnessing greatness these guys will not come you think another Luka Garza is going to come within the next 15 20 30 years at Iowa I mean this is generational type stuff yeah Iowa might have better teams in the next 30 years. There's been no player better than Luka Garza at Iowa for a long, long, long time.

So embrace it, enjoy it, and just, if you can't appreciate it, it's what the best part about sports is. If you can't appreciate it, then I really don't know why you're watching or why you're paying attention. You spend all your time being so negative about it, maybe you should find a way to spend that energy and make it positive

elsewhere. It just, it is what it is. But yeah, I think, like you said, embrace the journey, you know, love the grass and also have fun. I mean, over the last 13 months, I mean, that's what it's all about. It's supposed to be fun. Do stuff to have fun. Appreciate it. I think if anything that we've learned over the last 13 months in life and sports, appreciate it because we know how quickly it can be taken away from us. Yeah, I'd rather have sports now than not have –

I mean, I'd rather have sports and be upset that Iowa lost than not have sports at all. I mean, I'll take that over any single day because that March through August timeframe was a little bit rough. David Eichel, it has been a pleasure having you on. Everyone can find your work. I mean, if they listen to me, they already know about you. But you can find your work at 247sports and on Twitter, David Eichel. It has been a pleasure having you on. Uh, everyone can find your work. I mean, if, if they listen to me, they already know about you, but you can find your work at 24, seven sports and on Twitter, David Eichel as well. It has been a pleasure. Have a good day,

man. And we'll talk to you later, buddy. All right. Thank you, man. Appreciate it. All right, y'all. And that will do it for our show today. Appreciate David coming on, uh, take the time out of his day to come talk all about Iowa sports. Love having him on. Um, maybe we'll see if we can get him back on in the future as well. If you enjoyed the duo that we had there again, really enjoyed having David on. It was awesome to talk to him about Iowa sports all around. If you liked this show,

please make sure to give us that five-star review and subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast at and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We have some awesome stuff coming up ahead. Bakari Evelyn is going to be joining us to break down Iowa basketball games. We also have some NFL draft

prospects from the Iowa Hawkeyes from this season. They're going to be on the show as well. We have some recruits coming on. So lots of awesome stuff up ahead. We also have some Iowa United talk as well. I know you all love the TBT, so that's all coming up in the next couple weeks. It is a busy time here, and we're going to keep you covered with everything you need to know about the Iowa Hawkeyes on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast.

Have a great day, Hawkeye Nation, and let's go Hawks.