Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - ALERT: Big Ten's PLAYOFF Push HELPS Iowa's Future | Can Hawkeyes SURGE?

Episode Date: July 23, 2025

Big Ten football media days are here, and the Iowa Hawkeyes are gearing up for a crucial season. Will the projected depth chart shake up the team's strategy?Host Trent Condon breaks down the Hawkeyes' potential lineup, from quarterback Mark Gronowski to defensive standout Aaron Graves. The discussion covers offensive firepower, defensive adjustments, and how these factors might impact Iowa's performance in the expanded Big Ten. Condon also analyzes the proposed College Football Playoff model and its implications for teams like Iowa.Tune in for expert insights on the Hawkeyes' roster, key position battles, and how they stack up in the competitive Big Ten landscape. Can Iowa navigate the gauntlet of their upcoming schedule and make a playoff push?Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE at www.monarchmoney.com/lockedoncollege for 50% off your first year.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get ONE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

We're in Las Vegas for Big Ten Football Media Day as the Hawkeyes go on Thursday, but a lot of buzz and a depth chart that we're going to work on today. What are the Hawkeyes going to look like today? Locked On Hawkeyes. You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, welcome in. I'm Trent Condon and this is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. I've been covering the Hawkeyes

for over 20 years on the radio here in the state of Iowa. Currently you can hear me on the Iowa Sports Radio Network each weekday from noon to 2 and talk in the world of sports. You can hear me on stations in Sioux City, the Quad City, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and our flagship 106.3 KXNO. Today's episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account and use code Lockdown College for $20 off your first purchase. What we got word, uh, as we're talking with Elliot on Sunday and we got the official word for Matt Whitesill, the sports information director at the university of Iowa. There will be no depth chart. So we're going to get into that today and what a Hawkeye depth chart would look

like if we got it in this normal time, a big 10 football media days, what we expect to hear from Kirk and the players coming up on Thursday. We'll talk a little bit about that. Got some basketball news and notes to get into as well, but I want to start first with some buzz happening here at Big Ten Football Media Day. So yesterday had an opportunity to walk around a little bit, ask a couple of questions, talk to Greg Ciano for a moment, ask him about playing Iowa. Have that clip coming up for you here momentarily. Also had an opportunity to listen to Matt Rule and the Nebraska head coach and what he thinks about his squad. A lot of anticipation. One thing about

Rule, you know last year we had the non-shaking of hands and that turned into a thing and it was petty and it was Nebraska-like but that's not a surprise. But I can understand, as though I'm not a big Matt Ruhl fan, why, A, there's anticipation. Year three is normally when they take a big step forward in his programs that he has run in the past. But also, I understand how he sells, how he's a good recruiter and, and how people buy in to what he's selling. Just sitting there listening for 20 minutes on the side and getting some perspective from him. I get it. I understand it. It doesn't mean that I have to like the guy or anything like that, but it is just the reality. So always good to kind of get that information. Some of the different things that are talked about. The big storyline that

happened on Tuesday was Tony Petiti and Petiti gets up on the stand, opens up the remarks at Big Ten football media days and that's what always happens, the commissioner goes first. And of course there was a lot of conversation about the college football playoff and we've talked about this before. Every day there's no, where my perspective is

with the college football playoff and it's a selfish one. But I love the idea that the Big Ten has about the automatic bids. And I love it because we're fans of the Iowa Hawkeyes. And for us in this new 18 team league, how realistic is it that Iowa on any given season is going to be able to go through the gauntlet of a schedule that they're going to face realistically year in and year out this year, you don't play Michigan or Ohio state, and yet it's an absolute tough, difficult schedule

that the Hawkeyes have this year. That I was going to be good enough to get into a Big Ten championship game. And we go from the old Big Ten West, and the obviously opportunities that were there in that division to where it is today. It is a different world. And for the Hawkeyes, this kind of model makes sense. A year ago,

in a very disappointing year, Iowa would have been playing in one of those play-in games that the Big Ten wants to stage to get to the college football playoff, which is incredible, right? I mean that kind of opportunity. Now they're gonna have to upset Ohio State to do it, but still, to have that kind of opportunity, that is a realistic goal for a program like Iowa. It's not gonna be able to outspend programs. It's not the same stratosphere year in year out of the Ohio States and the Michigans and the Penn States and the Oregon's of the world, both financially

and just what they do in terms of recruiting. Iowa plays at a different level, but we do have something. And it's not just for Iowa, it's also for Minnesota and Illinois and Nebraska and on and on and on other programs that have that goal, a realistic goal that they're going to be able to attain in years. Yes, getting the sixth seed, maybe being eight and four like Iowa was a year ago doesn't scream playoff team but the NFL we have playoff teams that come out of terrible divisions and they get to host a game and that wouldn't be the case in this one so if you miss the model what the

Big Ten wants is four automatic bids to go to both the SEC and the Big Ten two for the ACC two for the Big 12 and then the remaining at largest group of five gets one Notre Dame would get one and then at largest to round out the field of 16. That's what the big 10 wants. And the reason they want that is for those games I mentioned. You still stage a conference championship game number one verse number two and then your number three team goes up against the number six. This all will happen on championship weekend. So it's more inventory. Talking about financially selling that to your television partners. That's big.

You get two extra games, four seed against the five, three against the six. The winner of those games then advance with an automatic bid. You're automatically in to the college football playoff. And that gives that ability for those other teams to get in there. Now I don't think Tony Petitti was always completely selling what his vision was. He's pretty dry. In terms of personality, he didn't have a whole lot there, but that is just who he is and that's kind of what we're dealing with and what we're talking about here. So we will hear more on Wednesday today as we will hear from PJ Fleck, a few other of the regional teams. Yesterday was Bieleman Ruhl, kind of our teams in our area and it'll

be that. Then on Thursday is where we'll hear from Kirk Ferentz and the three players will be coming along, Cohen Entringer making an appearance, Ethan Hurkett, and also we will hear from Logan Jones. So that will be coming up on Thursday, have a ton of content coming from that. Hope to have some interviews, not just with Kirk, but the players, and we'll have a lot of audio that will be coming your way. Speaking of audio, as I mentioned, I had an opportunity to talk with Greg Ciano, just for a moment, just a quick question. And his thoughts as he talks about

playing Iowa and playing against Kirk Farrant. You're against Iowa. You'll have a short week because it's on a Friday night as well. Kirk, get ready to turn 70 here next month. What's it like going up against a Kirk Farrant's team and you guys having that for blackout game, Friday night game for you guys and getting them for your opener in the Big Ten? Yeah, I have the most respect for Kirk. I think he's not only an excellent coach but an excellent person. He's enjoyed competing with he and his program. A lot of respect for not only he but all his assistants, the job they do. Yeah, it'll be our first game. I haven't really given a lot of respect for not only he but all his assistants, the job they do.

Yeah, it'll be our first game. I haven't really given a lot of thought because right now I'm focused on Ohio, you and our football team, but yeah, they're always very tough and well coached, disciplined all the things that I respect and all the things that I want our program to be. There you go. Greg Shiano. Just talk a little bit about Kirk Farrens and that matchup. You know, it's an interesting one. It'll be a short week for Iowa. We've talked about this in the past a little bit. You know, could that be a potential tough spot for Iowa?

You know, look ahead spot, those kinds of things. The Hawkeyes will have the Hoosiers after that. We'll see where Indiana is. Another one of the teams that have anticipation. Kirk Cignetti, he got under the skin of the SEC a little bit talking about his non-conference schedule, which is an absolute joke and saying it's an SEC-like schedule. And of course, rankling the people there, which is always good to do, right? Freaking out the people of the SEC.

All right, let's talk some Iowa football. And now let's get into a projected depth chart that I have, since we're not going to get a depth chart here this week in Big Ten Football Media Days. A deep dive into the Hawkeye roster and what the 2D will be, according to me, we'll do that next. Locked on Hawkeyes. Have you ever decided at the last minute to head to a ball game with friends or family? Maybe it's game day and you suddenly realize you want to be in the stands. That's exactly where game time comes in. It's the easiest way to grab last minute tickets without the stress.

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Trent Kona back with you once again here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for being with us and making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. All right, let's talk a little Iowa football and the depth chart. As mentioned, we will not get a depth chart this week. Always disappointing. So this is kind of piecing together a few things that we've heard throughout the course of the summer. Some guys may be taking a step forward. So let's start very simply on the offensive side of the football. And we started the quarterback spot. Now I think this one is an easy one.

Mark Grunowski is going to be your starter. The backup is going to be Hank Brown. I believe Hank Brown is going to be the guy that eventually wins that job. I know there's Jackson Stratton love from what we saw from him a year ago, thrust into the spotlight. I just don't see it.

I don't think that he is the answer, even though he is more veteran than these other guys that we're talking about. And then Jeremy hecklinski, that'll be interesting to see to kind of where he fits into this role. hecklinski the way for us transfer a guy that's gotten a whole lot of buzz there. We jump over to next running back and running back another I believe pretty easy one. Kamari Moulton listed as a starter jazzy on Patterson as the backup.

I think that's what we're going to see. But more and more buzz continue to build for Terrell Washington Jr. as he is a guy that's been talked about his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. Remember he was moved to receiver. Now he's back over at the running back spot, really dynamic with the ball in his hands. But I think we will see Moulton and Patterson listed one, two on the depth chart when it is released coming up in August. Let's go to the tight end position. Another easy one when we're just talking about one, two.

Addison Estrenga is going to be your starter. Zach Fortworth will be the backup. I think we got that one nailed down pretty well. And then we go to wide receiver. And this is where it gets dicey because yes, there's actually depth at wide receiver for the first time. So they've been listing three receivers in the starting spot. We know Jacob Gill is going to be one of the starters. We know Healthy Reese Vanderzee is going to be one of the starters. So who will be the third starter listed? We go back to spring football and the way that they had it set up. Vanderzee was listed at one of the spots, Jacob Gill at the other, and Seth Anderson was listed as a starter. And I believe that is going to be the case also going forward. When we get that first depth chart, that's what we're going to see. Where

does Sam Phillips though work into the mix? Is he going to be listed there? KJ Parker, a guy that speaking of a buzz summer guy, definitely going to be there. They want to get Caden Weechin involved more this season in the passing game and what he can do just with the ball in his hands, jet sweeps and the like doing that. Then the young guys that we saw glimpses of a year ago, Dayton Howard and Jarrett Bowie. You got both of those players. So a lot of depth at that wide receiver spot. I think your starters are going to be Gil Vanderzee and Anderson. And then from there, the backups, I got Phillips Parker Parker, and Wiedgid, at least in the listed ones, out there. We finished things up on the offensive line. And instead of going left to right, let's go right to left.

Because left tackle is certainly, I think, the most intriguing that we're going to see, and the most questions, obviously, with this football team. And, you know, you go back to a year ago, and the huge strides that we saw from the offensive line going to a new system, changing what they do in the running game, going with more outside zone, scrapping a lot of some of the zone comms that they had, but then you're using a lot more gap kind of blocking in the middle and with Caleb Johnson in the backfield that obviously exploded for the Hawkeyes a year ago. You return three guys, three veterans from that group, guys that have played a lot of football, and then you figure it out from there. So Jennings Dunker is going to be the right tackle coming off the surger that he had back in the

spring. Back up at that right tackle position behind him, going back to the spring, it was Kannon Leonard that was listed the sophomore as the backup of that spot. Right guard, Cade Peeper, is going to be the guy. Now he is bigger, He's added weight, added mass, life to see that. Pieper is going to be the guy. I believe Michael Malinsky, another guy that has been around for a long time, was a big recruit coming out of Jacksonville, Florida, and has never been able to be healthy. It would be great to see him have a healthy senior season to be able to help out at minimum in the middle of this offensive line. Center position, another easy one, Logan Jones is going to be listed as the starter. We definitely know that. Behind him, Kale Winter, a former

walk-on. He's a guy that continues to impress a redshirt sophomore coming up this season. The left guard position, that is Bo Stevens. He's going to be the guy there. We definitely know that. Who's the backup? Speaking of of young guys like Jones might be something to keep an eye on if he can start to become part of the rotation another redshirt sophomore but then we wrap up at the biggest intrigue who is going to be the left tackle you have the two guys that went through spring practice fighting for the job Jack Dotsler a, a redshirt junior, Trevor Lauk, a redshirt sophomore. And then they go into the portal and they get Bryce George from Ferris State. Guy that was widely coveted, USC was after him, Hawkeyes got him. He's

a guy that hasn't played a ton of left tackle, more of a right tackle in his career. The question's been asked about Jennings Dunker and we'll ask it I'm sure again coming up on Thursday with Kirk about his ability. Could he flip over to the left side? It's something that Jennings Dunker just has not been comfortable with. He's more comfortable in that right tackle position on the left side. Lowk, Dotzler, both those guys have been going through it. Can Bryce George close that gap? I'm going to say not a rep right away.

And I'm going to go with the upside of Trevor Lowk. You look at the profile, he's a guy that has been talked about for the last couple of years. He's doing all the right things. He's getting in the right reps. He's a guy that they were excited about and are excited about what he is going to be. So I'm going to go that Lauch is going to be the winner on the left tackle spot. So that is the offense. Let's get into the defense next and take a look at the Hawkeye depth chart. We'll do that as we continue locked on Hawkeyes

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August is the word that we got here in Las Vegas. We start up front and we know that it's going to be Max Llewellyn on one side, Ethan Hurkett on the other. Speaking of intriguing and young guys, Joseph Anderson showed up on the depth chart at the end of the spring. Now, I think there is also a reason for that. Brian Allen was not listed as he was going through surgery. So when Brian Allen is going to be part, he's going to be part of that rotation on that defensive line. And then you also have guys like Kenneth Merriweather, you know what he's going to be, but that young defensive

line, uh, Shanique, guys like that, that are going to be able to step forward, I believe and help out right away. We go to the middle of that defensive line. Obviously, Eric Graves, another easy one. He's going to be one of the starters at defensive tackle. And then will it be Jeremiah Pittman? Or is it going to be one of the two transfers that they brought in? So they go out to Central Michigan, they bring in Jonah Pace, they get Bryce Hawthorne from South Dakota State. And boy, it just continues to sound like Hawthorne is a guy. They got a gem. They're really excited about what he's going to be taking that step up. Still a younger guy and still three years of eligibility are remaining for Bryce Hawthorne. A lot of excitement that they feel like they got something done

there. Graves, we saw what kind of playmaker he can be. That was just being able to do that at a more consistent level inside. And can Jeremiah Pittman have one of those senior year steps going from being a guy and taking that big step forward. That's what you're hoping to see out of Jeremiah Pittman. I think that's what you're going to look like. I think it'll be at the start of the season, Pittman followed up by Hawthorne pace as the backup rolls at the tackle position. We jumped to linebackers. Jayden Harrell is going to be the guy at middle linebacker. Jayden Montgomery backing him up on the will side of things.

It'll be Carson Shire, if healthy, we talk about that a ton. Van Kekricks, who we've seen a bunch on special teams, he's going to be there in a backup role and still playing some good special teams. On the Leo spot, as we know, Iowa doesn't play a ton of 4-3 anymore in comparison to what it once was with the cash position. But when they do go with three linebackers, Jackson Rex Roth, excuse me, easy for me to say, he's going to be the guy listed as your starter. But keep an eye on Derek Weiskopf. You know, he's a guy that also showed up on that spring depth chart and him Preston Reese, who's just dominating in the weight room of what he's able to put together. And they got those three guys that came in together.

And now as redshirt freshmen, it'll be interesting to see if any of those guys can take a step forward and find their way out to the depth chart. Let's go over to the defensive backfield. And we've talked about the move for Xavier Wampa. As Wampa moves over to free safety, he'll take over the spot from Schulte, Cohen Entringer.

What's he going to look like? You got the cash position or the way that they're going to kind of mix and match. What makes the most sense for Iowa football? And if it is Entringer at the cash position, does that mean that we're going to see Lutmer at the strong safety spot? I think that's how it's going to play out. I think it'll be Lutmer at strong safety. Then you'll have Cohen entering her as that cash position when they're playing cash. That's going to be the look that you're going to see out there. And then finally a cornerback and cornerbacks probably the one that you look at and say after TJ Hall who had a tremendous spring who's going to win that second spot. Is it to Sean Lee who has the most experience

of the guys a little bit undersized, just feels like at times physically he hasn't been able to hold up. He's had some big spots, but plenty that have gone the other way. If it's not them, is it Shahid Barrows. Barrows comes in from South Dakota, a system that is very similar to Iowa's. That is going to be who I choose. I believe that he is going to win that job coming out of camp. They went out in the portal for a reason. They found a guy that they liked. And I think Barrows is going to be your starter opposite TJ Hall. Also, another name to know is Jalen Watson,

who played last year as a freshman, really like his upside of what he's going to be going forward. So there it is, a stab at the depth chart, since unfortunately, we will not get a depth chart here in Las Vegas. As mentioned, we got a lot coming up this week. We'll hear from Kirk, we'll hear from the players, we will continue to pump out the content here from Las Vegas. We'll see what we get out of media days coming up today here on Wednesday and then Kirk and the players will go on Thursday.

And we got you covered on Locked On Hawkeyes. Your team every day, that's what we do here on the Locked On Network. They'll do it for today. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Until then, go Hawks.