Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - ALERT: Hawkeyes' Offensive REVOLUTION Leaves Tight Ends Behind | Is Iowa's NFL Pipeline in JEOPARDY?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Tight end you. It's been a moniker that's been a part of Iowa football for a long time, but is Iowa football moving away from that tradition with tight ends enter Tim Lester, one of the program's proudest traditions on the chopping block today, 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. I've been covering the Hawkeyes for over 20 years on the radio here in the state of Iowa, including currently on the Iowa Sports radio network with stations in Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, the Quad City, Sioux City, and our flagship station 106.3 KXNO in Des Moines. You can hear me

Starting point is 00:00:54 talking the world of sports each weekday including the Hawkeyes from noon to two with Ken Miller. Today's episode of Lockdown Hawkeyes is brought to you by FanDuel right now. New customers get $200 in bonus bets when you win your first $5 bet. We got baseball talk as Iowa will finish off the regular season with Oregon coming your way a little bit later on what Iowa needs to do to position themselves not just for the regular season title but more importantly for an NCAA

Starting point is 00:01:22 tournament berth. We'll get into that a little bit later on. John Bowencamp is going to stop by we'll talk some college hoops with him we'll talk a little football and some baseball as well. John Bowencamp going to join us the Associated Press writer on the Iowa Hawkeye Beat. But we begin today with our continued coverage as we put a cap on spring football our continued coverage as we put a cap on spring football and take one final deep dive into each of the positions. Now we will reevaluate things here coming up again in another month when we get into June we'll be diving back into things freshmen will be arriving onto campus and what are the positions that we just haven't talked about a ton is the tight end position. I don't know for a lot of people you kind of group them together a

Starting point is 00:02:06 lot of times with the wide receiver position but that's not been the case at Iowa. And as we look at this position and what it is tight end you for Iowa the success of the guys at the next level year after year your starter even play tight end for Iowa even not as a starter you're going to get an opportunity at the next level. And we've seen so much high end talent at the tight end position. But it got me thinking as we look at this season and what Iowa has coming back. And really, the gears started turning a little bit for me.

Starting point is 00:02:41 Very frankly, and very simply with this, there are a whole lot of tight ends on this roster. Now I know they are bringing in two this year, two freshmen will arrive on campus, that will change things a little bit. But when you see a program that for so many years had six, seven, eight scholarship tight ends, and that's not the case right now,

Starting point is 00:03:03 I think that was the first part of that, that got me wondering a little bit. Tim Lester, we hear what he is doing with the offense. We go back to spring football and all the great things that we heard about the passing game. But so much of that conversation was the wide receiver position. And what we saw from Reese Vanderzee and Seth Anderson and Jacob Gill and the young guys like KJ Parker and Sam Phillips coming in and adding the speed, Jarrett Bowie, those were the guys that we were talking about. But the tight end position wasn't. And it's not because there's a lack of options. Again depth isn't there and just five guys are listed at the tight end

Starting point is 00:03:44 position. The two guys that you know, Addison Estrenga, who goes into his final season, I think for a chance at a breakout year. Now you go back to two years ago, that wretched, just absolutely putrid offense, he got 31 balls out here. Now the problem, and it's still baffling to even think, Addison Estrengo two years ago, 2023, 31 catches for 192 yards. That is 6.2 yards per reception. Hideous. Last year, 15 catches, 114 yards. A part of that was, of course, the return of Luke Lachey. Lachey was the guy that led the team in receiving out of the tight end position a year

Starting point is 00:04:26 ago with 28 catches for 231. But with the strength of back, Zach Worth, who we continue to see have those moments, those are two pretty good options to start up with. You got the H back roll with Hayden Large. He's back for another season. Michael Burt, youngster, redshirt freshman out of Omaha. And then a walk on that there's a lot of talk about DJ Vatame from Carol Kemper and the possibility that maybe down the line, he could be a guy that's going to help out. Astrega

Starting point is 00:04:58 Ortworth, great starting point. But what I want to see this year and if this wide receiver room really does pop, and if we see a passing game, is just how involved the tight end position is. Is it going to become more of we're seeing a lot more single tight ends? Is that the formation that is going to come back in vogue? And the two and, at times, three tight end sets

Starting point is 00:05:21 that we saw so many times under the previous offensive coordinator, if that is going away completely, and we are going to see, yeah, you're gonna have a tight end on the field and to run the football, like Iowa wants to, you're gonna have plenty of two tight end sets. But it's not going to be something where you see 50% of the time or even 40% of the time where there's two tight ends out there because of the depth again that they have at wide receiver if that pops We're able to see it where there's a number of guys that are able to go out there and make plays that very well could change The the the way that we look at the tight end position certainly in the here and now for Iowa football What other Avenue that I'm interested in at the tight end position I mentioned Coming up this season the two incoming in at the tight end position. I mentioned coming up this season the two incoming players at the tight end position so You start Eli Johnson

Starting point is 00:06:14 Redshirt candidate big kids six six to thirty Gonna have to get a little faster He's gonna be your your prototypical blocking tight end is what Eli Johnson's looked at. Now another guy is Mason Woods and what they do with him. Some people like him as a tight end. Other people think that wide receiver is where he should start. Maybe he's too big. A lot of different things. He was recruited as an athlete. But finally, the one that I think a lot of people know and are excited about is Thomas Meyer.

Starting point is 00:06:47 And we've seen true freshmen that have been able to show up and play, at least be part of the reps. So we're not talking about a starting role, right? Anything like that for Meyer. But you start with his offer list. And when you have Nebraska and Stanford and Texas A&M and Miami showing up in Clear Lake that gets your attention. We know Iowa can evaluate the tight end position. We know Iowa can find guys. Watching him play

Starting point is 00:07:18 basketball his athleticism really pops there. Obviously seeing his highlight video that you watch on the football field, it's definitely going to pop on that one. The athleticism, a lot of people look at him maybe a bit like a TJ Hockenson, who was an oversized wide receiver out there at Sheridan back in the day for them. And maybe that's what you're going to get out of Thomas Mayer.

Starting point is 00:07:41 We'll see. But something just to put in the back of your mind is you look at those top two, really good shape there. And it very well could be Meyer just playing a four games, able to get the reps, able to go out there, be on the road. You're going to maintain that red shirt season and go that direction. That could be something but one to put there.

Starting point is 00:08:00 At the tight end position, I don't think it's being de-emphasized. I don't think that's the correct terminology. It's just going to be used differently. And that's OK, because the passing game, we love being tight end you. I get it. I like to have something where I was known for in the NFL.

Starting point is 00:08:18 But if it changed, then actually we have, I don't know, a competent passing game. Something that is interesting, intriguing, and you can go out there and beat some teams in a different way than just beating them, bludgeoning them over the head defensively. You can actually win a game or two against good teams with some offense. I think most of us would sign up for that. Sign it up, talk to John Bowencamp from the Associated Press. He's going to join us next. We're going to have a potpourri of

Starting point is 00:08:44 talk, including Iowa baseball. Just how bad it is. Plus, we're gonna talk college basketball and some rule changes being implemented for college basketball. Doesn't make sense. We'll talk about that with John Bowencamp as we continue. This is Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast. Your team every day. The NBA playoffs are in full swing and every night delivers highlight worthy performances, major momentum shifts, and

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Starting point is 00:10:24 IowaCollegeHOOPS.com, et cetera, et cetera, for John and he joins us. Hello, John Bowencamp. How are you? I'm good. How are you doing? Doing pretty well. Disappointing weekend for the Hawk baseball team who's downtown Des Moines.

Starting point is 00:10:38 Lost the first two and a draw. Yeah, a tie at the end of it is they had to make a flight, which is crazy, but that's minor. It happens at AAA too. So it's not like this is the first time it's happened. You well know, but disappointing, I would have to say is how the weekend turned. Now again, they packed the place. It was over 7,000, I think most of the weekend each day. So that worked out well, but the success on the field wasn't there, John.

Starting point is 00:11:02 No. And I mean, they really needed to get one, I mean, to help their NCAA tournament hopes and maybe even win the series would have been a big step for them. But now it is, you've got to win this weekend to win the Big Ten regular season title, and you got to go to Omaha and you've got to play well over there. And then, so I mean, it, it was a chance, it was an opportunity missed, I think more than anything else. You had, you had a chance to, to get a couple of signature wins and they didn't do it. And so that really makes this weekend very, very important.

Starting point is 00:11:39 Well, and I think a lot of Hawkeye fans maybe seeing the team for the first time or starting to follow here the last few weeks see that gap. Yeah, I was having a great season and they still very well could win the regular season crown but that gap between those top 10, 15 type teams and what Iowa is in a really nice season for them, that gap is significant, John. Yeah, oh yeah. And I mean, that's, you know, that's the way college baseball is, you know, and I mean, when you, when you think about it, I mean, you know, the's the way college baseball is, you know, and I mean, when you think about it, I mean,

Starting point is 00:12:05 you know, the vast majority of your teams are the really, really good teams in college baseball are down south and, you know, and on west coast. And so, you know, big 10 teams, I mean, there's a relative good to it. I think the way you put it is they're really good for the big 10 nationally. You know, that's kind of a different story, I think. So, yeah, this would have been a weekend to really make a statement in my mind. And they didn't do it. John, you obviously followed baseball for a long time down in Burlington with the bees. You talked a lot of people inside baseball.

Starting point is 00:12:39 The divide between the southern teams and what we have up here. Would pushing the season back, would that help? Would it be anything significant? Even a month? Yeah, push it back a month. Is that something? I know it'd help a little bit, but is it even worth the time? Is it even worth doing it? Because still in the grand scheme of things, down there they can play 365. That's never happening. Right. But then, you know, as I was you know, and I was talking about that with somebody this winter, we were talking about, you know, well, you know, what it helps the Northern teams as Louis, but the Southern teams now, all of a sudden you're playing in June, you know,

Starting point is 00:13:14 in Louisiana and Alabama where it's going to be a hundred degrees, you know, so, so you may not want them. They may not want to make that trade off. You know, they're, they're the ones that, you know, in late February, yeah, in late February, they're getting 10,000 people. They don't care what those are up north. You know, they, I mean, LSU's mind, they don't care what's going on at Michigan. They don't care what's going on at Iowa. They, you know,

Starting point is 00:13:38 they're going to do their thing. And I mean, you know, those Southern teams and the West Coast teams run the game. I mean, when you really think about it, they're the power brokers. Like, you know, like the big 10 in SEC or in college football, that's what they are in college baseball. And so I don't see it changing anytime soon, as much as the Northern schools would like to see a change. I just don't see it happen.

Starting point is 00:14:00 Speaking of change, change might be coming to, to men's college basketball, John, with a, a challenge system,, which each each coach would get the one challenge. You know, it works. If you win it, you keep it. Uh, you lose the time out. If not, if you lose your challenge and it's not overturned, you don't get another one. Uh, overdue. Will it happen?

Starting point is 00:14:18 Is it make too much sense for it to happen? I, you know, I, I was trying to, to just kind of picture the logistics of it. My head, you know, are you going to have somebody there, you know, on the on the sidelines watching, you know, the replay and saying, hey, challenge this, like like they do in Major League Baseball. I it's one of those things I think it would be. Yeah, yeah. I don't know how it would work. And then that's why I'll be honest, right now it doesn't work. Challenge code. I'm glad you brought that up. Never entered my mind. Officials right now are relying too much on this. And I think that's a problem. And so I don't know what the solution is, but I don't think this is it and

Starting point is 00:15:07 you know, I There's some other things I think they need to worry about but at the same time I do think the officials have gotten way to rely on a replay, you know, guess what you're gonna miss some calls You know, you're gonna miss calls, you know, you're gonna miss ball strike calls in baseball You're gonna miss holding calls and football you're gonna miss them. It happens You know, it's just a matter of when they happen. I think sometimes that, you know, and so that becomes the phrase, the coach, you know, do you burn one early in the game when you think it might affect momentum, you burn a challenge, you know, or save it for late in the game? Who knows? You know, so it would just put a lot of different things in the game. And I just, I don't know how it would work.

Starting point is 00:15:44 It would just put a lot of different things in the game and I just I don't know how it would work Speaking of basketball as we still await for you know, Emily Rodriguez visit in the women's program The men's side kind of slowed down a little bit Is it just at this point they don't have the roster full is it finances? Is that one side waiting for that check and the other side saying we're out of money Why have we suddenly seen this portal just kind of screech to a halt and, and there just hasn't been a whole lot of activity, even though there's a ton of kids out there still searching for homes. Oh, there's a lot of kids out there. And that's why, you know, I, when,

Starting point is 00:16:15 when we talk about this the last time I said, you know, there's going to be, you have to kind of do some bargain hunting at this point, because I do think the money isn't there. Now you've spent your money, I both think that really, in my mind you've spent your money. So now you don't know what the house settlement is going to be. You don't know where that's going. I think maybe you're waiting to kind of see that so you can go to a player and say, hey, this is what you're going to get. I don't know. But like I said, it really has slowed down nationwide. It's not just an Iowa thing.

Starting point is 00:16:49 It's a nationwide thing. You're really starting to see it because I do think a lot of people right now are at the end of their money when you think about it. So there might be some guys that you're going to have to go get and say, hey, look, we'll take care of you. You're just going to have to find that guy that really wants to come there and doesn't mind that he's only going to get X number of you. You know, you're just going to have to find that guy that really wants to come there and doesn't mind that he's only going to get X number of dollars. And those guys are going to be kind of hard to find at it. John, as we bounce around with a lot of different topics here,

Starting point is 00:17:13 I find it hard to believe that you would have been out and about making your rounds, whatever you're doing. In the last few years, people would want to talk Hawkeye offense when it comes to football in the offseason. I mean that just hasn't been there, right? Right. But this year Well in a negative way. Well sure, there was always that. But from an optimism standpoint, is it, and I'm guessing it's the same in the East, maybe it's even more overblown out there. I sense there's a great deal of optimism when it comes to the offense that Tim Lester is going to have to work with this year. Well, I think there is, but I also think too, there is that, okay, we're still not quite sure because it is Iowa,

Starting point is 00:17:56 so it is Kirk Barron. But I don't think they realize, I don't think a lot of people realize how good Mark Grunowski really is. And I mean know, and I mean, I know of him, you know, at his time at South Dakota State, I know what he can do. Now, how's that going to translate to this level? I think it's going to translate just fine. You know, so I'm more optimistic maybe than some people are because I know what he can do. And, and, and I truly think this is probably one of their best quarterback

Starting point is 00:18:26 Options in a long time and so I do think once people realize and really break down what he's done numbers wise Resume wise they'll realize that this is probably gonna be a pretty good offense I mean, obviously everybody's gonna stay healthy, but it's still a pretty good offense I think if they're gonna have a special season They're gonna have to win a game 31 28 the 27 20 they can't 14 13 games Just don't work that often I think they squeezed all the toothpaste out of the tube that they can Is the offense at that level that they can go out there and and they get in a shootout and they can win at?

Starting point is 00:19:01 3734 are we at that level? Yeah, I do I think you can win games that are in the high 20s and low 30s. I don't think you're going to have 44 41 or something like that. Cause I think I was, defense is still pretty good. Um, you know, I bet, I mean, I think you can get to that level because I think you're, you're really good at running back. Even though you boss even though you lost one of your best running backs you've had in a long time. You're still pretty good at that spot. You're going to be always good up front. Your receiver group is probably the best it's been in a while, and you've got a quarterback

Starting point is 00:19:35 who's one national pilot. I think you're in pretty good shape to where you can put up some points. Yeah, I agree. Did you see Kyle Tucker's? The Dodgers are going to be involved in Kyle Tucker? Of course. I mean, I said that the other night, uh, Alex Cohen, when he was talking about you comparing Tucker's number to Bobby, we'll wait till next year when they're

Starting point is 00:19:56 teammates. So, um, anyway, I mean, we, cause I mean, there's going to be a lot of money coming off the books and you are going to need to write to them, just saying. Who comes off the books next year? Do you know off the top of your head? Not right off the top of my head, but I mean there is going to be obviously some changes here and there. I mean I don't know if Max Muntz returns. I don't know. They've got the money. They're fine. Yeah. Freddie Freeman's fine. repaired egg, right? Um, it's funny. I said, look at their record right now. And again, I said, they still haven't played their best face.

Starting point is 00:20:32 So, um, and Kershaw's coming back. They'll be fine. That's John Boeing camp, our resident Dodger fan here in the state of Iowa. And of course covering the Iowa Hawks. So I'm excited to see what's going on in the state of's John Bowencamp, our resident Dodger fan here in the state of Iowa and of course covering the Iowa Hawkeyes on the beat with the Associated Press. Great stuff is always

Starting point is 00:20:54 from John Bowencamp. Always appreciate our conversation talking to all things Hawkeyes and those expectations for that football team. It'll be interesting to see how this off season is. You know, you know fringe top 25 team from some national people out there the difficult nature of the schedule what does Iowa got to do to solidify not the regular season crowd the math is very simple for that to win a big 10 regular season championship for the first time since 1990 that's easy what's it going to take to solidify themselves as an NCAA tournament team plus the structure of the big 10 baseball tournament it's kind of baffling We come back locked on Hawkeyes. Ever check your bank account and wonder where did all my money

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Starting point is 00:22:58 Monarch Money with the code LOCKDONCOLLege for half off your first year, moderatemoney.com. Welcome back. This is Locked On Hawkeyes. I'm Trent Conda. Thanks for being with us. And a shout out to our everydayers who are with us each and every day. Couldn't do it without you.

Starting point is 00:23:18 Appreciate all of you. If you're watching us on YouTube, hit Subscribe. Just takes a moment, and it does help us immensely get in front of more Hawkeye fans. If you are somebody that just listens to the audio side of things, five star reviews, that's what we're looking for and definitely that is a big help. So Iowa goes into the final week of the regular season with the lead in baseball in the Big Ten crown. And we can look at

Starting point is 00:23:44 the merits of what they've actually accomplished. We can take a look at this program and you look at how difficult the Big Ten slate was. And there are other teams that have played a more difficult Big Ten schedule. That's the reality, but that's okay. To do something you haven't done since 1990, to do it in year number one of the editions of UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington. I think that says a lot. And it says a lot about what coach Heller does with this program every single year. It's absolutely incredible what he's been able to do. So what's it

Starting point is 00:24:15 going to take for Iowa to really feel to be in great shape going into the Big Ten tournament to be an NCAA tournament team? I saw two more projections here today. Both of them had Iowa in the NCAA tournament, but also had them amongst the first four in. I mean, very simply, you sweep this series. You win an outright Big Ten championship, even if you lose two games in Omaha at the Big Ten

Starting point is 00:24:42 tournament. I think it's going to be incredibly difficult for the committee at the Big Ten. That, and baseball is not elite, but it's still very solid to leave them out. I have a difficult time wrapping my mind around that that is gonna be something that's gonna happen. Still good.

Starting point is 00:25:00 And you know, we go back to last week in the softball team and one bad loss against Penn State. Now that's a single elimination tournament, but that one game very well could be the deciding factor. You look at the number of teams that Iowa finished ahead in the standings and not just ahead but clear by multiple games in the standings at teams that they beat during the regular season that got tournament bids.

Starting point is 00:25:22 And it leaves you a little bit concerned. And that's for Iowa. Win this series with a sweep I think you're in. Win the series you're in great shape and on top of it this is going to be a huge boost to their RPI. Iowa just hasn't had many opportunities to play teams that are quad one. They're three two and one right now in quad one games and that's going to be another aspect of it. Coming up tomorrow on the program, Cal Heusman from Hawkeye Report, who is on the Iowa baseball beat. He's going to join us. We're going to dive a little bit deeper into all of this. But one final thing, if you haven't yet,

Starting point is 00:25:55 take a look at the structure for the big 10 tournament. So if Iowa earns the number one seed, they'll be in a pool. They're going to do pool play, four pools of three teams, as we will have 12 teams that'll qualify. So Iowa will be in the pool as the number one seed with the eighth seed and the 12th seed that qualify. Your two seed, you get the seven and 11. Three seed, six and 10, and the four seed, the five and nine. So that's the structure of it. And the winner of each of the pools then move on to the semi-finals. So you'll play two it. And the winner of each of the pools then move on to the semifinals.

Starting point is 00:26:25 So you'll play two games. And in this exercise, just for argument's sake, let's say that Iowa earns that number one seed. So they'd play on May 22nd and the 23rd, both those games at 6 o'clock. And then if they win their pool, they move on to the semifinals. Single elimination tournament then after that as the four teams that win the pool.

Starting point is 00:26:47 But the one interesting aspect is, look, I'm in there right now, I'm in the midst of it. You triple-SA softball with my daughter's 10-U team as the coach, and it comes down to run differential, runs allowed, those are the tiebreakers. Not the case here. If we have an instance where we have the three teams that tie, everybody beats everybody, you go one and one, it's not going to come down to run deferential. It's not going to come down to how many runs you allowed. No, instead, it's going to come down to this. Who is the better seed coming into it? So it gives ammunition and a little bit more power to what you did in

Starting point is 00:27:28 the regular season. And I was instance, this is great. You're very happy about that. We'll see how this plays out, how it works, but before that, the big series against Oregon, and again, Kyle Heusman's going to join us. Thanks for joining us here today on Lockdown Hawkeyes. I am Trent Condon. This is what we do on the Lockdown Network. Your team every day. I got you covered on the Hawkeye front. Your favorite NFL team. MLB, NHL, NBA. All here on the Lockdown Network.

Starting point is 00:27:53 Not only that, we got a whole lot more. We got the portal with Brian as talking all things recruiting in the portal. And I got you covered on that front. Lockdown College Football, Lockdown College Basketball, Lockdown NFL, our big national shows all here all under one umbrella on Lockdown and glad to have you aboard with us on the Lockdown Hawkeyes front. Thanks for being with us as always we'll talk to you again tomorrow until then go Hawks!

Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - ALERT: Hawkeyes' Offensive REVOLUTION Leaves Tight Ends Behind | Is Iowa's NFL Pipeline in JEOPARDY?

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