Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Big Ten Network travels to Iowa City for Iowa football practice

Episode Date: August 21, 2023

Big Ten Network travels to Iowa City for Iowa football practiceTrent Condon gives you thoughts on the Big Ten Network crews comments on the Iowa football team including a deeper and more athletic offensive line, hearing from Brian Ferentz, Kirk Ferentz, Cooper DeJean, Cade McNamara, Erick All and Phil Parker.And some thoughts on Cade McNamara's injured quad.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetterhelpThis podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp.If you’re thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. Visit BetterHelp.com/lockedoncollege today to get 10% off your first month. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONCOLLEGE. Terms and conditions apply.eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit. eBay Motors dot com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Right now, when you bet on a Super Bowl Winner, you can GET BONUS BETS EVERY TIME THEY WIN IN THE REGULAR SEASON! FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Big Ten Network crew made their way to Iowa City. A lot of great information. What can we believe? What did we find out 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. 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. We're available wherever you get podcasts. You can also find us on YouTube. While you're there, make sure you hit that subscribe button. Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. With you for another week as we count down to kickoff.

And as you listen here on a Monday, no, this is our final week. And next week, it will be game week. It is right around the corner and so fired up for this Iowa football season. Coming up today, we got a lot going on, including the Big Ten Network. We will talk about the comments coming from the offensive and defensive coordinators, Brian Ferentz and Phil Parker, respectively. Also heard from Kirk Ferentz, the crew with the Big Ten Network. And of course, also got to hear from a player in Cooper Dajin.

These days, every new potential hire can feel like a high-stakes wager for your small business. That's why LinkedIn Jobs helps find the right people for your team faster and for free. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash lockdowncollege. Terms and conditions apply. So as we get started here today, we're just going to go through this chronologically and take a look back at the Big Ten Network crew, what they said. Now, you have to start with this. You have to put this caveat in there every single time.

The Big Ten Network crew is not going to come in and say that the team is terrible, that they suck, that they're awful at this. That's not what they do, right? They're going to paint a very good picture for all 14 teams in the Big Ten. And next year, that best tour is going to be a whole lot different as they're going to have to probably get on a jet to make their way to LA to see USC and UCLA, head up to Oregon and Washington. That bus trip's going to be a little bit different in the future years with the Big Ten Network. But this is just a great part of the summer and something, you know, the Big Ten network and its formation has really added to the lead up to the football season. You just get that glimpse,

you get a couple of things. As I said, they're not going to kill a team, but you have to find out exactly how to read through the line. So you open up with the starting comments and the starting comments. Obviously, one of the biggest things that was talked about is the offensive line. It maintains its spot as the number one importance for this football team of what they're going to be in 2023. If the offensive line is bad again, this offense is going to be bad again. There is not an offensive coordinator out there at any level of football that can scheme around a bad offensive line. You just can't do it. Can you make it okay?

Can you be adequate? Can you find a way to win football games? Well, we've seen that the last two seasons with Iowa football. They've won football games with bad offensive lines. This year, though, if they're going to get the heights that I believe this football team can get to, winning the division, competing with the upper echelon of this conference, maybe with a few breaks,

putting them in contention for a college football playoff bird. That's how high I believe the upside, if everything clicks this year, with this team is. But the offensive line has to block in order to make that work. And hearing from Jerry DiNardo, a guy that certainly knows offensive line himself, also knows Kirk Ferentz incredibly well, him, Howard Griffin, Dave Resn. And what Jerry DiNardo said is they look more athletic and deeper at the offensive line spot.

That was something that certainly caught my eye. You know, the deeper part of that, I think, is something that has been overlooked. And going out and bringing in Rusty Feth, bringing in De'Jon Parker, helping out with a crew that brought back a lot of offensive linemen this year. Brought back a lot of guys with experience, yet not resting on your laurels, not sitting back and saying, all right, though we took our lumps, they're going to be okay. Adding competition to the room is a huge, huge part of that. I thought that was incredibly important, hearing what they had to say on that and Darno bringing

that up. So we kick things off and the first conversation is with Brian Ferentz. So a couple of takeaways here with Brian. Now we've heard from him a little bit this off season. We go back to the press conference back in the spring and you could tell he was going insular, right? I mean, they were, they were really narrowing the scope of what they were doing, taking away the outside noise and doing what we're going to do. Brian Ferentz, I think every day you guys know my thoughts on him. If you don't, if you're new to the program, I don't think he's good.

And it's not a leap the last two years, but just overall. And people love to point at the numbers, offensive numbers, points per game, those kind of things, obviously aided in what is great defense during that whole tenure that he is there. I just think schematically, and this isn't just him, but what Iowa does offensively, schematically, it just can't work at an incredibly high level in today's college football. Can you score points? Absolutely. Can you have enough players that you're going to be able to get through some of those? Yes. But as we continue to see the outside zone and the inside zone and the zone blocking scheme that Iowa employs, it just frankly doesn't work anymore.

It doesn't. With the speed of linebacker, what we see defensively from teams, the amount of speed that is out there and what Iowa tries to do, it doesn't work. Coupled with the change in the blocking rules in college football, zone blocking is incredibly difficult. Not only do you have to have the continuity to make it work with your offensive line, you have to have all those guys working in unison. And when it works, it's incredibly useful. And at the professional level, you see it work well. Well, their blocking rules are different.

That's not the case. And how many times that we've seen that guy that's coming off the edge, an outside linebacker, a defensive end, and coming up and making the play from behind. And it's because of those blocking rules that is the case. So Brian brought up something interesting. And he said, is the system and scheme sound? I don't know if it is. And that remains a concern for me going into this football season.

I just don't know if the system and the scheme is sound enough to cover up, to have one of those games where you have to go up to Penn State and you're not going to win the game. Now, Penn State, I think this year is absolutely loaded. Their offensive and defensive lines are as good as they've had in an incredibly long time. Drew Aller, the new quarterback, is what many people believe he is going to be. This team can get to the college football playoff. Penn State can win the Big Ten and get into the playoff this year. They're that good. Even with Ohio State and Michigan over there, they're that good this season. That's what I

believe out of them. And you got to go up there and you got to win a game 24-21. Can you? Can you with this scheme and this system against the speed, against the physicality of a team like Penn State? I don't know the answer to that one. I don't believe it's the case. Against the elite of the elite, the best of the best in a game out game, game in game out scenario. I just don't think that the scheme and the system work anymore. Also, he likes to talk about being a competitor, right? You're just going to go out there again and be a competitor and try it again and go to the well. And he said the same things back in the spring, the same things last fall when people were asking about him

possibly resigning from his post and maybe making it easier on his dad so he didn't have to be fired. Well, we know that's not the case, and that wasn't going to happen. And he just keeps saying, no, I'm a competitor. I'm going to keep going out there. And that's all well and good. Great, you're a competitor. But when you're a competitor and you see time in and time out,

you get your teeth kicked in the last two seasons, something has to change. Like I said, very insolent. And the outside noise is cracked through the walls of Fort Kinnick. That's going to be interesting. And the first time that we see the offense struggle this year, we see some issues. That's definitely something that is going to be a conversation piece going forward. Then you talked about Greg Davis and GDGD, as he was dubbed by many people in the Iowa football community. Well, fans for the most part. Gosh, darn Greg Davis. And it wasn't gosh, darn.

All right. You got where I'm going there. He brought up him. And when he was the offensive coordinator and took a lot of arrows he was trying to meld his short passing game with his own blocking scheme and it just it never worked look I watched a half of a football game at Soldier Field against Northern Illinois in his tenure and I looked over at my wife and I said this thing sucks this isn't gonna work and for the most part it's proven true in 2015, they were able to do enough and, of course, had the 12-0 regular season. But it was just interesting to hear his name brought up by Brian Ferentz and a couple of

guys that are certainly much, much maligned during their tenure as offensive coordinator. It goes with the territory. Look, you play Xbox, you played sports, you think you can do it. It's not an easy job. That's not what I'm here saying. It's not that I can do anything better. I know I can't call an offense better than Brian Ferentz or anybody else that is a coach at the division one level. I mean, that's just silly to be able to think that. However, are the better candidates out there or guys that could do better without what Iowa has? That's the argument that I continue to make. We continue here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. More including hearing from Kirk, Phil Parker, also Cooper DeGene, and some more thoughts from the crew at the Big Ten Network.

Plus, an update on Cade McNamara. I told you on Friday's program, things are a little bit iffy. Kirk Ferentz talked about that. We'll get into those comments and what Cade McNamara, if he's able to go against Utah State. As I mentioned Friday, that's still the plan. This injury, though, a little bit more significant

than maybe some people thought. We'll continue on that. This is the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast as we continue in a moment. These days, every new potential hire can feel like a high-stakes wager for your small business. You want to be 100% certain that you have access to the best qualified candidates available. That's why you have to check out LinkedIn Jobs. LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the right people for your team faster and for free.

I've used LinkedIn Jobs to find candidates for my small business. Super easy to use. I love that. Time is money when you're a small business owner. Don't have time to be dinking around on the computer trying to figure things out. Something goes wrong. Don't have to worry about that. At least I have in my experience using LinkedIn jobs. All you do, add your job in the purple hashtag hiring frame to your LinkedIn profile. It spreads the word that you're hiring. They have simple tools like screening questions, makes it easy to focus on the candidates with the right skills and experience so you can quickly prioritize who you'd like to interview and hire. It's why small businesses rate LinkedIn Jobs number one in delivering quality hires versus leading competitors. LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates

you want to talk to faster. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash lockdowncollege. Again, that at linkedin.com slash lockdown college. Again, that's linkedin.com slash lockdown college to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. Trent Conner back with you once again here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast.

Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Available wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find us on YouTube. While you're there, hit that subscribe button. Every time we go live and new programs out there, you will know about that. Just click subscribe. It takes less than a second. I mean, it's just one click. That's all I'm asking for you. Or if you're on the podcast side, five-star review. That's what we're looking for. And a big thank you to everybody with us here as we count down to football season. Continuing in the conversations from the Big Ten Network and some takeaways from what we heard and what we see. Going over to Kirk Ferentz. So he comes with the injury update to Cade McNamara.

And what he said, and that was the first question, as it should be, the importance of him. We talked about the offensive line, but obviously this team is completely different with Cade McNamara compared to Deacon Hill or Joe Labus, or if they got down to Lioness. Yeah, this is a completely different team. We get all that. And what he said about that was that, you know, this injury, that they're hopeful he'll be back next week, but can't predict that. And that's what I told you on Friday. He's working his way back to be back for the Utah State game. All I was telling on Friday, and I continue with this,

is that this injury is more than a tweak. More than just the tweak that I think some people in the fan base wanted to dispel the notion that there is a possibility that this thing could be significant, and the lingering effect. We'll get into that a little bit more. Now, Kirk talking about the team. Kirk loves leadership, right? Leadership is something that is paramount to the Iowa football program.

The older guys teaching the young guys how you do it, how you practice, how you get your reps in, how you do your work, all those things are incredibly important for Iowa football. And when Kirk mentioned that this team is more mature than what they were a year ago, he mentioned that this group, you can tell that there's a lot of upperclassmen. You know, we're talking about three six-year seniors coming back with Noah Shannon, Nico Roccaini, and Joey the Bull on the outside, Joe Evans.

You got the experience there. Though Nick Jackson is a newcomer, nothing but praise all over the place for Nick Jackson. And what we've seen in the emergence of Jay Higgins from a year ago on the back end, Cooper to Jean Quinn Schulte guys that have gone through it in the past and then bringing in somebody like Cade McNamara and the praise that continues to come his way. This is a mature football team. This is a football team that also has expectations.

And when Cade McNamara and Eric Gall were on the podium there being interviewed by the BTN crew, I thought that really showed out too. You saw at the end something that just got me fired up. Because you bring in these guys for Michigan. You bring in these guys that played in the college football playoff. You bring in a guy like Cade McNamara that saved Jim Harbaugh's job. You bring these guys in. And yes, they want to get a shot against Michigan

in the Big Ten championship game. We know that. I mean, it goes without saying, right? You want to go up against your former team, and you want to give it a shot. But it wasn't just that. It wasn't about winning the West. Eric Hall said, we want to win the Big Ten. We want to win a natty.

And that's something that you rarely hear from the Iowa crew. And I'm sure Kirk and probably a couple of the staffers talked to Eric Hall and said, all right, let's slow down and that kind of talk. But as a fan, didn't that get you fired up? Yeah, is the chance of Iowa making a college football playoff incredibly difficult in this final year of the 14 playoff? It is.

I was going to have to go 11-1 in the regular season and then beat Penn State or Ohio State or Michigan in the championship game just to get a shot. Even if they go 10-2 and would pull off that upset, it's going to be incredibly difficult for Iowa to get in even at 11-2 to the college football playoff. But he put it on them and that's what their expectations are in the locker room. Yes, expectations are always high in locker rooms. You always think you're going to win, right? That's what being a part of a team is about, is you believe in yourself and you believe in your team.

But to hear that said from an Iowa football player, I don't know, maybe I'm alone here. Tell me if I'm wrong. That got me fired up to hear that. Yes, that's what it is. And not hearing it from a player when you're at the side, right? Not hearing it from a guy off the record, but really hearing it in an interview like that, it got me going.

And came back to marijuana to say the same. He caught himself. He's a quarterback, right? Quarterback's got the microphone a whole lot more than the tight end does. But Eric Hall, he was willing to say that. That was, I thought, a really great moment. Also, Kirk Ferentz talked about Noah Shannon, his maturity, making the decision not to go to Indianapolis with the

gambling investigation. Now, the most important part as we await what the NCAA is going to hand down for the guys that are not part of the criminal investigation instead broke NCAA rules by betting on sports is what those suspensions are going to be. Now they change what the rules are in the past. You bet on anything. your career was over, which in today's day and age is very, very questionable. So they changed it. They morphed with it. I said at the time, right when those new rules came out,

if you bet less than $200 total combined, you don't lose any eligibility, you don't miss any games, and you're able to go out there right away after taking class, all right, check that off, and away you go. But go but if it's more than 800 and just think of this as we've seen with most of the cases here in the gambling investigation inside the state of iowa when you look at those numbers and sometimes they're eye-popping they're averaging 7 10 15 20 bucks a game that they're betting. Well, cumulatively, that adds up very quickly. We're not talking about guys that are risking their life. They're not going to be able to pay for their apartment or their house and their rent next month. That's not what we're talking about. Guys are not throwing away hundreds of thousands of dollars. That's not what this is. Let's throw

in a couple of bucks on the game, have a good time. In today's environment, with how sports wagering has become just a huge part of what we do day in and day out, it's a conversation piece for me, day in and day out, of what I do on the radio. And the way I talk and the way that I do sports radio, it is a part of it all day long. Guys got caught up. Should they have known? Absolutely. Should there be a suspension?

No doubt about it. But the way that they added this up in this cumulative $800, it adds up quickly. Look, you're betting a couple of games a week, that $800, you're betting 20 bucks a time. You're going to go past that $800 easily by the end of a season, a football season, a basketball season, a baseball season, whatever it is, you're going to fly past that number. If you're just betting a couple of times, 20 bucks at a time, that it needs to be re-evaluated. I believe from the NCAA and hearing Kirk, I think Kirk and I are on the same line in that one. So a couple of takeaways there from Kirk Ferentz. Finally got to hear from Phil Parker. Look, it's not flashy. It is rep after rep after rep. I continue to say that

the depth is the question with this team outside of what you have with the front floor. The defensive line is as deep as anybody in the country. They're going to be in great shape there. The question is, though, what about after Nick Jackson, Jay Higgins? Who's there? Carson Shire's a guy that I was been excited about for three years now, but he's not healthy. All right. You got Kyler Fisher. He's a 5'10 linebacker. Great special teams guy.

Made the big touchdown against Nebraska a couple of years ago on the block punt. Still, this is a guy that does not have a whole lot of reps. And then, as I continue to maintain and hear that there's going to be more suspensions happening, it's not just going whole lot of reps. And then as I continue to maintain and hear that there's going to be more suspensions happening, it's not just going to be Noah Shannon. There's going to be more guys that were involved and possibly in the defensive backfield,

if that's the case. What does that mean? Because depth, after your starters, after Cooper Dajin and Jamari Harris, who back looking the part, now healthy again, after those guys, you're talking about youngsters. I thought Deshaun Lee looked pretty good. TJ Hall, I'm not selling any stock on him.

In fact, I bought a bunch of it after you guys sold a bunch of it after the Nebraska game last year. I think he still has a chance to be a very good cornerback for this team. Nestor, a young guy coming in, a true freshman. We don't know. We saw guys hair on fire and how they struggled early in their career in the Iowa system, that quarter system, and running that cover four, and how difficult that can be. Xavier Wampa, you're excited about the upside because it's immense.

He's got one start under his belt in the Kentucky game last year in the bowl game. That's it. Experience, that's big. If shuffling shuffling around that needs to happen if there are suspensions how they figure that out depth a linebacker and defensive back starters feel great about it's the depth that continues to be the question but just hearing phil talk about it smile on his face and hearing cooper dejean afterwards talking about playing for phil parker and you know he's he's kind of tough he's tough. He's different, but the dude is one hell of a coach. Speaking of Cooper to Jean, he also brought up a couple of young guys. He mentioned Xavier Wampa and Aaron Graves. How excited are we to watch Aaron Graves out there with this defensive line unit this year? I mean, a guy that just had so many

accolades coming in, small school kid coming in there yet an army all-american if he would have kept his recruitment open this guy would have been a five-star i mean that's just how talented he is and the number of offers that were continuing to come his way even after he committed to iowa what could have been on the recruiting trail he doesn't care about that stuff he's out there playing football going into a sophomore season so excited to see as we heard cooper Degene is, with Xavier Wampa. Mention Cade McNamara a little bit more on that. This is an all-football edition. That's right, we're getting close, guys.

We are 12 days away from the kickoff against Utah State in historic Kinnick Stadium. Can't wait for it in one of the more anticipated Iowa football seasons in a really long time. Cade McNamara a little bit more on the injury, what the expectations are when we come back. This is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. All right, Trent Conner back with you one final time on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast.

As always, thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. So Cade McNamara, it is a key to this team. We know the gap between him and everybody else in this quarterback room. It is significant. I mean, there's no doubt about it. You saw his accuracy before the injury last Saturday

in the kids' day practice. He just, he's got a command. He's got the swagger. That's a huge component too, of getting a guy that has that kind of command of this team, getting guys to believe that, yeah, we can compete. We can put scores up. We're going to put points on the board this year offensively, not just relying

on the defense to help it out in order to do that. I think that is another big piece of what he brings to this team. But the injury, the quad injury, well, he saw the sleeve on his leg. If you're watching the Big Ten Network and the coverage there. It's going to be there. Kirk said he was hopeful that he was going to come back, right? They're hopeful that they were going to get him back coming up this week. I still hear that that is more unlikely than it is likely. Now, he's getting the best treatment that anybody in the country is going to get, right?

I mean, there's not a better place with the University of Iowa hospitals and the training staff that Iowa has. He's getting everything possible. And maybe it's, what, the platelet enrichment that he's getting. He's getting everything that you could possibly get. It's a little bit different than you, and you're out there, and you're going out and playing a lunch ball, playing a little five-on-five, and you tweak your quad, and you're going to be out four weeks, right? This is completely different than that.

But the injury is more than just a tweak. That's what I continue to maintain. He's going to try to make it a go. As I told you Friday, that is going to be the case. They are still targeting that he's going to be back for Utah State. If he's back, though, how mobile is he going to be? How much of the offense are they going to show you know we saw the play the middle opened up and he went charging there well that happens in a game

against utah state and he does make it a go what does that mean he gets a couple yards just slides dives through the turf probably how much of the offense and some of the tweaks that are in there are they going to be able to do? Some of Iowa's best plays over the last 25 years is that quarterback waggle, right? Where they roll out there. How much do you want to roll out against a Utah State team that you should be able to roll out a bad win? How much of those bootlegs are you going to be doing? How much of the waggle is going to be there?

That is still the question that we have to know. And is this something that liggers? And that remains a concern about this kind of injury, because it's incredibly easy to re-aggravate something like this if you do push it too hard. I expect Kate McNamara to be out there against Utah State. I also expect him to be limited in what he can do physically in that football game. And the hope is that Iowa jumps out and they're up 28 to three at the half and they can put him on the bench for the second half. And you get Deacon Hill a little bit of run and that's the direction that they're going to go. Joey Labus still not back in practice. He still is going through another soft tissue injury, still working his

way back and trying to get out there, but he's been out for weeks now. That's a problem because Deacon Hill, he's a big dude. Norwood Country Mile. Not sure how good of a quarterback he is, certainly at this kind of level. Then after that, we're talking about a true freshman. Marco Lioness has got a long, long ways to go before he's ready for the Big Ten. We're ready for another big week here on Lockdown Hawkeyes. We got you covered. Your team every day. That's what we do on the Locked On Network. And it doesn't matter your team. We got you covered. MLB, NFL, fantasy football, gambling, you name it.

We got it here on the Locked On Network. Your team every day. And we got you covered with Locked On Hawkeyes. Still more coming up. This week, we will continue to break down this football team. What's the best case scenario? What's the worst case scenario? What's the worst case scenario? We will get into that.

We'll take your questions. Also, a mailbag edition and one final throwback Thursday. That's right. We'll take one final look back at great teams in Iowa history. We've been doing it throughout the summer months on Thursday. We got another one coming your way on Thursday. That's all this week on Lockdown Hawkeyes. We'll talk to you again tomorrow.

Go Hawks!