Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - BOMBSHELL: Iowa Basketball STUNS Recruiting World | Trey Thompson SHOCKS Purdue with SURPRISE Commitment

Starting point is 00:00:00 I'm back and Iowa basketball is back in a big time way after Iowa gets four star Trey Thompson over Purdue, UConn and Kansas. Here we go. 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. I've been covering the Hawkeyes for over 20 years on the radio here in the great state of Iowa, including currently you can hear me on the Iowa Sports Radio Network with stations in Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, the Quad City, Sioux City, and our flagship 106.3KXNO in Des Moines each weekday from noon till 2. Today's episode of Lockdown Hawkeyes is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app,

Starting point is 00:00:53 create an account, and use code LOCKDOWNCOLLege for $20 off your first purchase. Hannah Stolke is a gold medalist. We'll talk about that. Little Iowa women's basketball. Two new recruits for Iowa football for 2026 and a couple of big time prospects in their own right. And we begin today talking a little basketball is Iowa. And Ben McCollum does it kind of out of nowhere. Trey Thompson, a four star in the class of 2026 is reclassifying. We'll talk about that. Before we get into all of that that though, back from vacation, thanks for last

Starting point is 00:01:27 week being with me a couple of different times, but we are now all systems goes we are here in July, flipping the calendar over after the Fourth of July holiday. We got so much to get ready for I will be in Las Vegas for Big Ten football media days I will have daily podcasts for you each and every day from Las Vegas, bringing you everything that is happening over there I only with the Hawkeyes, but also everything happening in the Big Ten Looking forward to that we start to ramp up our coverage here

Starting point is 00:01:53 I'm locked on Hawkeyes going back to the daily podcast level and we got so much to get into Basketball is hitting it hard football. There's some baseball news out there as well Just so many different things and it's a great time for you to be aboard. I also hit my anniversary here on Lockdown. Three years and thanks to everybody that has been with me, stayed with me throughout these three years. It's been an incredible run and love doing this for you each and every day. So let's get into it and a little longer open than what we

Starting point is 00:02:19 normally have there but I'm so excited about the news about Trey Thompson and you know I find it interesting because you know you listen to the interviews that I had with some of the beat guys the last couple of weeks, going back to that open availability that the press crew got a couple of weeks ago with Ben McCollum's squad. And we talked about the defensive intensity, some guys that popped in that, a couple of different things that came out of it. But I didn't know if I was reading too much into it, or if this was Ben McCullum maybe leaving us a little bit of a nugget, but I brought up the fact that he mentioned reclassifying. He was talking about guys that are available. Of course, there's still some guys in the portal.

Starting point is 00:02:54 You're looking there. Most of the guys are pretty well picked over at this point. Talked about European guys, guys from overseas and the like, and the possibility of bringing somebody like that. And he also brought up somebody reclassifying. So I just asked, was it a throwaway line or was that just a little crumb that Ben McCollum was maybe leading for us? So that's going to lead to me, of course, wild speculation all the time because that's what we do, right? We talk, we speculate, and we converse about the Hawkeyes. And that's where my mind went. Was there somebody out there? And it leads back to Trey Thompson. So Trey Thompson's a guy, four star player, top 60 player in the class of 2026. So for the last couple of years, most people in the recruiting industry believed he was going to be a

Starting point is 00:03:37 Boilermaker. Matt Painter loved him. Absolutely perfect skill set for what they do. Tough, tenacious, hard nose, a little bit undersized, but at the power forward position, a guy that really could play well in the map painter system. And that's kind of where it felt like it was. Tennessee was involved, Alabama was involved, Kansas, Yukon were coming calling. I mean, with those kinds of programs involved, we're talking about different waters than really what Iowa swam in for a very long time. Kuprakach had some nice offers. You know, there's been some other guys that have been at that, but it's very rare that

Starting point is 00:04:10 Iowa's been able to do this. And I think it worked more than anything is the reclassification because Kaufman Wren is back for another season at Purdue at the power forward position. They also brought in a backup for him out of the portal this year. So there weren't going to be minutes for Trey Thompson, likely, at Purdue this year. We know Iowa searching for that frontcourt depth. Here is another piece that they can add to it. Now, are the expectations as a top 60 player

Starting point is 00:04:35 that he's going to come in right away and he's going to be a day one starter? I don't think we can get to that level yet. First of all, he's got to finish up his coursework. He is going to be behind because he's not going to get to campus here at best for another week or two, and maybe even longer than that before everything finishes up with his coursework that he needs to finish up to graduate early from high school. So there are a lot of things out there I think that

Starting point is 00:04:56 are going to slow down maybe his development to be able to hit the ground running right away, like some of these other guys. But that aside, it's it's crazy to have this happen. I mentioned the Purdue side of things to see the frustration from some of the Purdue fans on the message boards and on social media. There was plenty of that out there. Some things that leave you scratch your head a little bit. But overall, Trey Thompson talking about his visit to Iowa City that he took a few weeks back and and hanging out with the other freshmen in this class and and and Sage coming in and Trevon Yorock who we've talked about a lot

Starting point is 00:05:29 and even Peyton McCollum hanging out with those guys. So there's a lot of good things to come out of this and I think of a lot of excitement. Is he a guy that's going to play 15 minutes a game? I think that's maybe something you're looking for 12, 15 minutes a game, something like that. His skill set is interesting. He's not a wow athlete. He's not a guy. No, I saw maybe a couple of comparisons to a guy like Aaron White. Aaron White was an elite level athlete. I mean, you just think of the leaping ability that he had. He's not that kind of athlete, but he has a skill set. He's good enough athlete, but tenacious, tough, hard nose. And when you hear the stories of when Ben McCollum saw him here earlier in the spring for the first time and they played the Iowa United team a couple of times. It has

Starting point is 00:06:10 one of the best players in the country in class of 2026 and they're a seven-foot big guy. He didn't back down. He was right there. And I just think that this is a guy that fits incredibly well with what Ben McCollum is trying to do. It leads to even more excitement. So a lot of great things happening with Iowa men's basketball and it's it is an exciting time. Also last week it was announced that I was going to move be moving some students down onto the floor something

Starting point is 00:06:35 that I think all of us have been screaming about for years. I mean just the huge wide spots behind the basket with nothing there at Carver and the structure and the construction of it. Why can't you just put some risers back there? I've yelled about it. I'm sure you have as well. And here we are. It's actually going to happen. Now the students need to show up. We need to have at least a couple hundred students that are there. And even if it's not a couple hundred students, bring down some of the Wild Vans, right? And do it and try to create an environment that's better than what it's been for men's basketball here the last couple of seasons.

Starting point is 00:07:04 But the excitement definitely is raising with that. Shout out to Beth Getz and to Ben McCollum for making these things happen, things that we've talked about, things that seem simple, and actually putting it into place and getting Carver back to the arena. We know that it can be. It was great for women's basketball. It was great for wrestling.

Starting point is 00:07:20 And it's been great in the past for men's basketball. And it can get there again. A winning product is gonna go a Long way to making that happen, but back to Trey Thompson good skill set powerful Maybe a little undersized a six seven. He's not you know, six nine six ten behemoth anything like that But I think you're gonna like his play Watching some of the videos of him talking to a couple of scouts that I know in the industry when I got back home They mentioned

Starting point is 00:07:45 perfect fit for what McCollum does and this is going to be a guy that is going to be maybe not a high impact player as a freshman but is going to be an important piece for them going forward. Of course Fulgaris is going to be the guy this season. Banwa we've talked about what they're going to be doing inside but it's going to be a good look and we'll dive a little bit deeper into maybe some of those minutes distribution coming up here and all you Daryl's and Doug's out there can get excited as we go through and break down all the different minutes that are out there. So that's men's basketball. We got some great recruiting news on that front.

Starting point is 00:08:16 Let's get into some more recruiting news. Let's jump over the football side of things as we get into Iowa football diving deep getting into it and of course getting ready for Big Ten football media days coming up here in a couple of weeks. Kirk Ferentz did it again. Now one a legacy recruit, Julian Manson, we anticipated that but going into Nebraska and getting a guy the Husker wanted, that feels good. We'll talk about that next on the Locked On Hawkeyes

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Starting point is 00:10:28 the podcast side of things. Let's get into some Hawkeye football and talk about first the recruits of last week as I was away. Had a look at Oregon and a crossover edition with Spencer also did the same with Jacob on Lockdown Hoosiers. Take a look at two very important matchups, both cutting coming to Kinnick Stadium, you can catch all those in the archives here of the podcast. But let's get into the week that was and start with Julian Manson. Again, it comes as no surprise, Julian Manson,

Starting point is 00:10:55 the son of Jason Manson. Remember him? Excuse me, quarterback a little bit, move over wide receiver. He's been part of the Iowa football staff now for a number of years and a legacy guy that grew up in Iowa City, Iowa City West, not a huge stretch, but interesting that it sounded like there was a lot of involvement by Kansas State for a while. Maybe even Kansas State could have been considered the leader before Julian took his official visits to Iowa. considered the leader before Julian took his official visits to Iowa on that visit though. And making the call and get to stay home. Got to be an exciting time, not just for dad

Starting point is 00:11:31 and the family. Obviously having your son close to home, but continuing that legacy and something that I was just had such a great track record of the legacy recruits and what we seen recently with the epinesses and we could go on and on obviously in that realm. But having that happen is big time, and the way that that developed. Another interesting note from one of the recruiting sites, and I believe it was over, I think Elliot Clough now

Starting point is 00:11:54 over at 24-7, had the note in his column talking that Miami also was heavily involved in trying to get him on an official visit. Again, Miami doesn't hang around Iowa City West very often, searching for prospects. They recruit nationwide, but when you hear those kind of things. And the other thing about Julian Manson, look, you look at him,

Starting point is 00:12:15 he's a top 250 player nationally, regardless of what recruiting service you're looking at. People look at him as a linebacker and believe that there's other positions also that he can play. Maybe even he builds himself into a rush end, an edge type of player. And that could be a possibility depending on how he develops physically at the next level. But that aside, when you have a guy that's a legacy, that has a dad on the coaching staff, you're

Starting point is 00:12:38 not going to have the same push. It's just there's not a, you know, there's a finite number of minutes in a day. And coaches across the country are going to understand that you're fighting such an uphill battle, is it worth the time and effort to go into recruiting him? Because the offer list didn't even match up. Like we're talking even beating K-State Miami for a guy, I mean, that's pretty good in its own right. Julian would have had big time offers if his dad wasn't Jason Manson, football coach at

Starting point is 00:13:04 Iowa, right? Or employer development at Iowa. So all that being said, tremendous prospect, really exciting. A guy that has built already 6'4", 225, kind of a starter kit of a guy that you think could hit the ground running at that linebacker spot. The other one though, is another interesting one in Darien Jones. Omaha kid, older brother at Nebraska. Now his oldest brother Dallas, who got to know with a gambling contest that I was in and a really good guy. He's an Iowa guy.

Starting point is 00:13:35 He's a Hawkeye and little brother Darian also grew up a Hawkeye fan. So you got to got the family divided type of dynamic. But when he go into Omaha, even without the family connections, and he beat Nebraska for a recruit, I think that says a lot. It says a lot about what Phil Parker can sell. The versatility also of Jones, a guy that, yes, could be a cornerback. Maybe he's a safety. Maybe he's a cash guy.

Starting point is 00:14:02 That kind of versatility is tremendous. And as Iowa looks more and I think still looking maybe to add a little bit more defensive back depth to it, this is a big time get for them and a guy with the kind of versatility that you definitely need. Great recruiting videos with him as he made his announcement and picking Iowa just a really great story. And we like those kind of things, certainly here during the summertime. Overall, you know, we'll look back at this June. This June eventually probably didn't end up like we thought, maybe back in March and April when we started to really dive in

Starting point is 00:14:37 to football recruiting for the class of 2026. A number of the prospects that they were hoping to get on that visit in the third weekend of June didn't come already had committed elsewhere. There was a podcast that talked a little bit about that with Tom Kaker when they were talking about just the development of things and now programs are paying money. We're guys not to take visits with just a different world that we're living in now. Hey, commit to us. Don't go on those visits and here's a chunk of change. That's where we are. The world now of college athletics, but that is the new reality that you have

Starting point is 00:15:16 to get into. I was going to continue to try to flip some guys. There's going to be a number of prospects that are going to be after, but definitely good news for the class of 2026. Right now, 31, 32 in the recruiting rankings, kind of where they are going to be after but definitely good news for the class of two thousand twenty six. Right now thirty one thirty two in the recruiting rankings kind of where they are normally kind of the spot that I we is if they're somewhere between twenty five and thirty five all right that's pretty normal there's outliers in there but that's the that's just kind of the sweet spot for Iowa football as it's currently a structure. We also got some notes last week about Big Ten football media days as I mentioned. Three players will be heading out there. Probably the most intriguing though. Logan Jones is going to be there. Okay. Ethan Hurkett. Fine. But

Starting point is 00:15:53 Cohen Entringer who started one game at the University of Iowa. How often does that happen? A guy has started one career football game and he's going to be one of the representatives. Now this is not Kirk's call. This comes from the players. The players vote on this and these are the three guys that they're going to be sending. I think it says a lot about Cohen and Tringer. I think a lot of people, certainly on the Big Ten side of things, will remember him in the Big Ten championship game a couple years back, chasing down on the punt return all the way back to the five yard line after he missed the tackle, trying to pin Michigan deep,

Starting point is 00:16:27 comes all the way back 80 yards back down the field and makes the play to keep him out of the end zone. And that'll be remembered and I'm sure that'll be brought up a ton and Cohen will have to talk about that a ton. But the upside, you know, when we look at him and his versatility and what he can do, another guy, safety spot, down to the cash position, what they're going to do, kind of the mixing

Starting point is 00:16:48 and matching that Phil Parker is going to be doing with the defense this season and that defensive backfield and the defense overall. And we've mentioned it throughout the spring and now into the summer. It's just such an odd time because we come into the season, I believe with more questions on the defensive side of the football than we do offensively. But if Cohen-Entringer has a healthy, productive season, like we think, if the change over to free safety for Xavier Wampa works like many people anticipate that it's going to be, Phil Parker pushes the right buttons, not just getting TJ Hall to be the step forward that he took this spring, but being that number one cornerback this year and then figuring out the rest behind it, he'll get there.

Starting point is 00:17:28 And eventually it comes down to this. I trust Phil Parker. Yeah. They took a step back last year and it was frustrating, but the depth that they have in the defensive line, if Brian Allen could come back and be another edge rusher, if Jose Eppenesa can come in this season and deliver something as a true freshman, there are a lot of intriguing pieces. And then you got the linebacker part that they're either going to go veteran or they're going to go

Starting point is 00:17:53 young. And they have both places, guys that without a ton of experience, even the old guys that have been around and been waiting their turn. And then you got this young crop linebackers, including that group of redshirt freshmen that have been turning heads. So it's different, but there are still questions where offensively it is a different type of look. We'll again be diving deeper into those

Starting point is 00:18:13 and go more in depth here going forward. But put a bow on it. Great, great finish here for the class of 2026. And they're not done. Still looking for a number of prospects. Mentioned trying to flip some guys that are out there. Some of those guys are hoping to get on June 20th to their official visits that didn't happen. That will continue to be happening. As we continue on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast, a gold medal for Hannah Stulkey. We'll talk

Starting point is 00:18:37 about that in women's basketball when we come back. Back one final time on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. As always, thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listener every day. Happy to be back home and being with you once again here as we plunge forward. Let's get into the other side of things and that is Iowa women's basketball out of the big three and Hannah Stulkey beat Brazil in the gold medal match tonight. Well, I guess as you're watching it listening today last night, Sunday evening and Hannah Stulkey another good game 7.7 rebounds showed her versatility showed some signs that she's going to be able to be that player that we hope for last year was able to play more power forward than eventually she was with what they're going to have next season with what we saw out of Ava Hayden at the center position

Starting point is 00:19:34 last year. What perhaps Layla Hayes out of Alaska, the true freshman is going to be this year with those two post players that are your traditional posts. If Hannah Stolke can be that power forward, it allows Iowa to be big, it allows Iowa to be more physical. It also creates some matchup problems. And if Hannah Stolke can knock down an open 15-footer from the elbow, if she can hit a couple of three-pointers throughout the course of the season and expand her game outside of the tremendous rim runner that she is. And she's an elite level rim runner at that. But also add those other elements to her along with great defense and the excellent rebounding as she does. You're talking about

Starting point is 00:20:14 a team that's going to look a whole lot different. You throw in Emily Rodriguez, the transfer from central Florida that comes in another bigger player, a six foot one, six, two that might be playing the small four position. Then you go to add a deal what she's going to be right away and is she going to be a player that right away is out there starting in the starting lineup and I think a lot of people believe that that's going to be the case and and suddenly you look at the squad you look at this team and you say they can really take a step forward from a nice year a year ago now the five game losing streak was incredibly frustrating. Close losses in there.

Starting point is 00:20:46 What could have been the lost Oklahoma in the NCAA tournament? Look, I would just didn't play well. That's going to happen. And that happened in the round of 32 to the Hawkeyes a year ago. But you look at the overall group and what they have coming back.

Starting point is 00:20:59 And Hannah Stolke is going to be a huge piece. Her versatility, if it expands this year, and able to play that power forward, almost exclusively, there'll be times they'll play her at the five, I think regardless this year, but if it's going to be out of her, you know, say 32 minutes a game, 25 of them are at the power forward position, you're talking about a different build of the type of team that they're going to be and what they can be

Starting point is 00:21:22 inside and, and some of those big physical teams that you go up against is going to change the dynamic certainly from that. So trying to watch the game last night, boy that was frustrating. So it's on this, I don't know, some weird website, what 1891 something or the, anyway. So apparently you're supposed to be able to hook it up to your max account. Oh, I got one of those. All right, we'll hook it up. Nope. Struggled, struggled. Finally got it up on the TV. So was able to watch at least a little bit of it.

Starting point is 00:21:50 But overall, just watching Hannah out there doing her thing. Also another Iowan. Yeah, I know she's a cyclone, but seeing what you had in that front too, it was good. You know, Audie Crooks, root for her, local girl, you know, and though she's a cyclone, her out there doing her thing, just good. Very often, it's very divisive, right? Iowa, Iowa State, it's good to kind of bring back some of those positives and see them both out there with a gold medal win. Congratulations to Hannah Stolke. She'll be back hitting the ground running. There's going to be some Iowa women's

Starting point is 00:22:25 basketball availability coming up this week and we'll have a little bit more from that coming up here as well on the podcast. And that'll do it for today. We got a lot more coming up for you though. This week we got you covered each and every day talking Iowa Hawkeyes starting to ramp up that football coverage a little bit more but boy start off the week with a bang and what Ben McCollum did getting Trey Thompson and you know, upsetting Purdue fans. That's not a bad thing. Other you

Starting point is 00:22:51 know, Purdue. We've kind of been beaten down by the Boil of Bakers and basketball for large chunks of the last 25 years. It's good to get back at them a time or two. And let's hope that we can build on that. We will be back with you tomorrow. Thanks as always for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Hey, for your second listen, make sure you check out the Portal show. Brian Smith has the latest rumors, Portal entries and signings. Be the most informed fan on the rapid changes to the college football landscape with the Portal. You can find the Portal on YouTube or

Starting point is 00:23:23 wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find Lockdown Hawkeyes right here. Again, if you're watching me on YouTube, hit subscribe if you're listening on the podcast side. Five star reviews, as always, helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Until then, we'll talk to you tomorrow. Go Hawks!

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Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - BOMBSHELL: Iowa Basketball STUNS Recruiting World | Trey Thompson SHOCKS Purdue with SURPRISE Commitment

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