Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Breaking Down Iowa's Future: 2025-2026 Football Recruiting and Scott Starzyk's Commitment

Episode Date: July 19, 2024

Welcome to the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast with your host, Trent Condon, where we dive deep into the world of Iowa football! In this episode, Trent breaks down the latest recruiting news for the 2025 and 2026 Hawkeyes, highlighting a major commitment from Scott Starzyk, the #1 kicker in the country. Tune in as Trent discusses how this top recruit could shape the future of Iowa football and what it means for the program. Plus, get the scoop on the excitement around Kinnick Stadium as single-game tickets for every game—except for the Washington matchup—have already sold out. Don’t miss out on all the Hawkeye action and analysis!Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.eBay MotorsFrom brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. As playoffs wind down, the sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, FanDuel is hooking up ALL CUSTOMERS with a boost or a bonus, DAILY! That’s right, there’s something for everyone, every day, all summer long! Visit FANDUEL.COM and add a big win to your summer bucket list!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 wrap up the week with some football recruiting. The class of 2025, not completely set. Still some prospects out there. We'll talk about them. And a peek forward to 2026 with Lockdown's recruiting analyst, Brian Smith. We break that down. And football tickets, they're going fast. Just one game remains that you can find tickets for.

We break it down today. Lockdown Hawkeyes. you can find tickets for. We break it down 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. 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 find podcasts, and you can also watch us on YouTube. While you're there, hit the subscribe button. Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Today's episode is brought to you by GameTime.

Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code LOCKDOWNCOLLEGE for $20 off. Your first purchase. Terms apply. Well, happy to kick things off today with our analyst here on Lockdown, our recruiting guru. He is Brian Smith, who joins us. You can find him on Twitter, X, at FBScout underscore Florida. And he looks as we get ready for the weekend to join us today.

Brian, I know a crazy couple of days. I had my days mixed up. Normally, we do our recordings when we have you on on Thursdays. I put it into the spreadsheet this week. I'm just screwing things up all over the place. Happy to have you here and excited to talk some football. Woke up a couple of times early in the morning, and you feel just a little bit of more nip in the air.

Not sure if you're getting that down in Florida, though. No, I live in Alabama now, but it's the same thing. It's perfect here in terms of the early mornings, middays. Yeah. Yeah. Gets out of there just a little bit. Well, as we look at this, put together notes for this week. And one of the guys that I knew Iowa was very interested in was a kicker. Now, scholarships, kickers can be a weird thing and kind of want to start right there. Scholarships for punters. I was done it. I did it very successfully, obviously, recently with Tori Taylor. I was done it to varying degrees of success at the kicker position. Not I was specific.

This is more nationwide. When you look at it, what do you think is the right path? How do you set up kind of those specialist scholarships? And does it make sense in an environment like a competitive big 10 sec to use x amount of scholarships for those specialty positions how do you look at it in recruiting uh two things number one it depends on what's available and number two nick savin used to do it so those are the ways i look at savin used to give scholarships sometimes to long snappers so that tells me there's value right off the bat.

And then the way I would do it, to get a great player, whether you're recruiting him out of high school with a scholarship or not, once he's on scholarship, you really don't want to get one right away. You want to take as many walk-ons as you can. Hope one of them hits, and he's ready to take over when the next guy does, and then you're really having two guys on scholarship. But, man, it's hard. The new thing, though, and I know that some of these schools have done this, and this is going to be the new trend.

There are kids that are kickers now, and I don't know how many programs, that they're not on scholarship. But they're not paying a penny because of NIL. Is that illegal? 100%. But that's the way it's going to be. What are you going to do about it? Right. So that's a really gray area.

And the NCAA is such a completely toothless institution. What's, you know, what are you going to do? It's crazy the way that it's set up. Well, we know it's going to be happening in Iowa coming up this year because they're currently at 88 scholarship athletes. They have to be to 85 by the time August camp starts. Well, we're less than two weeks away. So it's going to happen. And a couple of those guys will go to walk-on status, but we'll still have their tuition paid for through the NIL. The collective will have that set up. And it's just the way that they do that. It's weird. It's

interesting. But until we get this thing all figured out, it's going to be kind of that transition period. And that's what we're going through right now. It is a new kicker for iowa and that's where we start the number one right kicker in the country by cole's kicking scott stars it now i was had highly rated guys in the kicking game that haven't worked out i think of a guy like trent moss mossbrocker that just didn't work for him there's by the other side and they have had a huge number of guys that have been walk-ons that have been considered good now Now, scouting is difficult, I believe, in its own right, seeing the differences between guys. How do you scout a kicker? You don't.

I mean, I can see the lag and all that, but that's all mental stuff. Yeah. UCF took a kid a few years ago that was just incredible. His nickname was Boomer, and it was justified. He was one of the best kickers in the country his freshman year. Then he got terrible all of a sudden. Yeah. How does that, you know, at the end of the year,

there was a play, you know, in the bowl game, what Gus didn't put him in the game. And it was an obvious kicking situation because he'd missed like three out of his last four. The kid was in his own head. You can't project kickers. You just got to let the Coles Kicking Academy, something like that,

talk to you, but it's between the ears. I have no interest in scouting kickers. Yeah, it's a difficult endeavor. I mean, leg strength is one thing, but you're right. The mental aspect is completely different than any other position in not just football, but a lot of other sports.

Because you have one job. Three seconds on the field. That's it. Well, but a lot of other sports. Yeah, because you have one job. Three seconds on the field, that's it. Well, and we're talking about football. It's a big physical sport. And then he got Scott Starzik, number one ranked kicker in the country by Coles Kicking. He's 5'9", 172. So you have the mental aspect.

You're a little guy on this team of behemoths. There are so many oddities to the position as a whole. He had scholarship offers from Syracuse, Mississippi State, Memphis, a walk-on opportunity from Texas A&M. So this is a Texas kid that had some opportunities but made the decision, at least for now, that he's going to be an Iowa Hawkeye. With that, I want to jump over to some of the uncommitted guys. Start first probably with the one that continues to generate the most headlines,

and that's Yosei Epinesa. Dad played at iowa older brother is at iowa right now oldest brother played at iowa was all-american and aj epinesa the bloodlines are there the family lines are there but this is different than when aj was going through the recruiting process six seven years ago it's a different landscape and miami continues to, for many people in the recruiting world, seems to be the frontrunner. Utah is right there with it as well. And I was still hanging around, but it feels like maybe they're third in this group at this point in time.

Look at him first as a player, what you see when you look at Jose Finesa, because I see an absolute stud. He was the biggest of the bunch when he was a little guy. He's reportedly in the 270-pound range. I don't remember what his older brother was, the kid that's playing with the Bills now, but he wasn't that big at this stage. 230, 240 if I remember right.

But anyway, his get-off, his hand use, and his ability to read the tackle as a strong side end is pretty advanced. Obviously, coming from the family, he does. Talking to his brother and his dad and stuff helps. But he also works his craft. I mean, you can tell that it's consistent. So you're not only getting a long, nimble body that's very powerful, but it's also technical.

I think he could start at a lot of school. Like Iowa, he might start at Iowa as a sophomore at the latest. It's not like they don't have good D linemen, but he just has more skills than they do. It's just they don't have guys like him. But he could even play early at Miami, and Miami is not struggling for defensive linemen, I can assure you. So the only question with him is does he end up inside or not?

I don't know. He's technical enough that maybe he stays outside, but he's pushing that point where you've got to at least think he's going to slide inside on passing down sometimes well and even projecting forward i mean you look at a guy that's already that size he's more of your prototypical defensive end in a 3-4 and we know i was not going to change to a 3-4 they're not going to do that even for a guy like as talented as that they're going to be a 4-3 team our 4-2 stack is a 4-2-5 stack is what they do now for the most part but if you project him towards the nfl does he look like a defensive end is a 4-2-5 stack is what they do now for the most part. But if you project him towards the NFL,

does he look like a defensive end in a 3-4? He looks like the guy that Saban or Kirby would love. And then the guys that, you know, some of the teams that run the true two gap scheme, because he just, I mean, it's pretty basic. You slant and you use your power. You try to get under their pads and just create havoc by holding two gaps. You know, that's the exciting play.

The other one is you just hit the guy and look and then go for it i mean it's it two gapping is not a good time it takes a special mentality and a special frame but on third and eight he's one of the rare guys as a true dn and a three four that can rush the passive that is unlimited what i mean there's what five of those guys on the planet you know what what I mean at that level? Those guys are usually terrible pass rushers because of their power. This kid is not. So I think he's a future NFL player. He's ranked that way.

There's a reason. He's got the heritage. He's got about every edge there is. So I don't think it matters, though. He's so technical, he would figure out four, three, or three, four. So Iowa might use him in a different package on third and eight or something they might go three man line because they get another guy in coverage because he's you got to either double him or he's getting your quarterback so there's a lot of ways you can look at it because not many college guys

are going to block him especially by his sophomore year he'll be a dominant player keeping the fingers crossed that that's going to go on a positive light now one more in the class of 2025 it's a guy we've talked about in the past, Terrence Smith, a wide receiver. I look at the guy, look at the production. Great. You look at some of the catches and again, it's highlight reels and that doesn't paint the whole picture. I always wonder though, because I look at him and I see a prospect, Midwest kid, Chicagoland area. Look, everybody knows about him. Why haven't we heard more, even not an offer, but maybe kind of a back burner from the Michigans

and the Notre Dames and the Ohio State of the world. What would be the knock, I guess, against Terrence Smith? Right now he's down to two, Iowa and Minnesota. Speed. He's just not that fast. I bet on a gun he's 4.75, something like that, electronic. His hands are ridiculous, though. He makes some really, really really unique catches he's just

not a burner but you can't teach the frame you can't teach a kid to get faster like there's ways you can improve somebody's quickness out of the break etc iowa needs a kid like that this is a recruitment they need to win he may be a red shirt kid whatever you got to start somewhere they need a kid like him in every class or better the key words are every class iowa tries to do it once every four it's not a good idea you know what i mean like they they're they're recruiting at wide receiver we've so much to be brought into question yes and i know it struck but like you had to get there uh part of its play calling part of it's a former coordinator and all that but it's still a pig 10 football program. Some of these kids could walk in and like start, you know, I just,

and they're not even getting a sniff. So I don't know what they're doing, but they need a kid like this. Cause he's got the big body that you're that you have to have. And it also helps in the run game. Not many corners don't want to go against that guy. He's going to be six, four to 15. They're not going to want to take him on. So he would be a valuable asset to Iowa's football program.

Well, Brian, when we continue here, Locked on Hawkeyes, I want to get of the committed guys for the class of 2025, your favorite out of that group. And then we're going to take a peek ahead, class of 2026, three in-state prospects from the state of Iowa. We'll get Brian's opinions on all three of them, including a couple of guys that are big time, perhaps national recruits with the offers that they already have.

We'll do that as we continue. This is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Today's episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast is brought to you by GameTime and the GameTime app. GameTime is an authorized ticket marketplace for Major League Baseball. It makes getting tickets faster and easier. Prices on the GameTime app actually go down the closer it gets to first pitch.

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Create an account and redeem code LOCKEDONCOllege. That's L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N-C-O-L-L-E-G-E for $20 off. Download game time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Trent Condon alongside Brian Smith back with you again here on Lockdown Hawkeyes. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. All right, before we take a peek back to 2025 and your favorite guy,

three guys that I had you take a look at for the class of 2026. All three of these guys are in-state prospects. I want to start with Evan Jacobson, the tight end. Now, I've known the Jacobson family for a very long time, so that probably distorts my view even a little bit more.

So, I'm not even going to put any thoughts or opinions out there. I'm going to leave this completely open to you. What do you look at? What do you see when you see Evan Jacobson? Love the frame and the length. Makes catches that are contested and has the ability probably to fill out to 250 pretty easily. It's not a burner or anything like that,

but he's a traditional Big Ten tight end that I expect him to use as an inline blocker. And as he gets more athletic and stronger, will be more impressive as a receiver. Right now, he's a big piece of clay. He's a kid that this is famous for Iowa anyway, that kind of fits their old school mold at the tight end position. He's got a chance to be good. It's just going to take a couple years. Don't see very often Ohio State, Penn State, Florida State, Auburn, Arkansas, offering kids from the state of Iowa, LSU, Miami already out there. I mean, the offer list is already immense. His brother played college basketball at Nebraska and Iowa State and then has been in the NFL with the Seahawks and a guy that maybe with Evan, good basketball player in his own right,

that might be though his future is not even worrying about that basketball side like his brother did and just concentrating on football. Dre Sean Ross is the next one from Fort Dodge. Ross is an elite level, national level recruit on the mat, one of the top wrestlers in the state. And for a big guy, he is absolutely outstanding. And seeing him his freshman year at the state wrestling tournament, that was an eye-opener. But on the football field, he's already compiled a pretty good list himself looking this season. What position do you see? He's an incredible athlete.

What do you see out of Dreshawn Ross? Well, he's got two years of high school left. And, like, they use him in the Wildcat. Sometimes at running back, he plays linebacker. They try to keep him in the middlecat sometimes at running back he plays linebacker they try to keep him in the middle of field so he can just run down guys and he plays at fort dodge in iowa i mean i'm guessing that 99 at the time he's the best guy on the field and he just he runs over people i could see him as a running back possibly kind of an old school power back but i'd imagine that he'll end up being an inside backer at Iowa or something like that. And he fits the mold. He's 200 pounds

now, two years of high school left. He's going to be 6'3", 235 as a junior at Iowa, I guess, and be your starting middle linebacker. Finally, the other from the class of 2026, Jayden McGregory. So Jayden began his career at Des Moines North. He transferred over to West Des Moines Valley last year for his sophomore year. He's part of the team that made a deep run in football, won another state championship in basketball. He's a really good basketball player and a minimum would be a D2 kid there

and probably even a mid-major type of basketball player, but his best sport is football. Good size, 6'2", wide receiver. Some people like him at. Other people think he's a defensive back. Maybe the most interesting part, though, he's got offers from K-State and Iowa State and Tennessee, Minnesota, Missouri. The Hawkeyes haven't offered yet. That one's a weird one. What do you know about Jaden McGregory? I actually sent a text to one of the guys in

the recruiting industry about him. It's got him ranked pretty high nationally. The length is ridiculous. He looks like an LSU corner, like just on the hoof. And the way he breaks on the ball, it's similar to that too. So you think, well, obviously Iowa's defense would love to have him, but they need him on offense. Let's not kid ourselves. They need him to play offense.

I don't know what he wants to play. I don't know the young man, but holy cow, can he move? The only question I have is what's his demeanor? What's he looking for? If Iowa hasn't offered yet, I wonder if he's an NIL kid who wants a bunch of money or he's not coming to Iowa, which is not interesting. That's possible, but I'd imagine he's going to command a lot of money. This is a four-star kid, minimum, and he has the potential to play receiver. He has the potential to play safety and corner kids with that much physicality and athleticism and length they can pretty much pick their spot i don't care where he plays to get into my program you know i mean he'll be the best player in a lot of games

that he plays beyond high school i'm guessing he's really good get him on the bus and then you figure it out later right 100 yeah and that's a component. And one thing, I used to work in the West Des Moines School District, still live there and know a lot of people there. There's some growing up that probably needs to be done and you know the Iowa program. They're not going to take a chance on a guy, certainly a guy this early unless they really know and they've done their background work. And I think there's still some things that maybe they're looking for before an offer comes, but he's going to have opportunities. And Nebraska may be the forefront for him for the class of 2026.

All right, wrap it up with you, Brian. And the class of 2025 isn't finished yet, but we talked about a lot of these guys, the newest commitments, the kicker coming in. But when you look at this group, Thomas Meyer, the tight end, he's a good one. I just want to get who your favorite guy is. And it doesn't matter what direction, upside, greatest potential, whatever direction you want to take it. But out of this group for the class of 2025, who's your favorite commit? Thomas Meyer is the best player in the class now in the safest pick, the highest

floor, the tight end out of Clear Lake Iowa but that's like a low-hanging fruit to pick the two kids that I kind of went back and forth with and you can go with it however you like Mason Woods he's a kid that's a big receiver maybe he's going to be a tight end or HVAC athletic kid he could probably play defense as well the versatility be from the family he's from he's obviously familiar with the Iowa program. He's going to be successful. And then a kid I know we talked about a while back is not that they need to help again really on defense, but they always develop these kind of guys.

Charles Bell, the kid out of the prep school up in Connecticut, long kid, athletic, they'll add weight and whatnot. They always coach DB as well, and I like his feet. So I think those two guys are really, really good too. good too all right we're gonna hold it to you in about five six years we'll see how right you are how's that sound sounds good hey appreciate i know we had to do some adjustment here today i really appreciate your flexibility brian always love talking football with you thank you so much thank you sir have a good one brian smith joining us as he does uh every once in a while we We talk a little football recruiting,

always enjoy our conversations and a little bit deeper dive. We continue the football conversation, get you ready for the weekend. A few nose and nose news and notes and just an idea rattling around in my brain. We'll do that as we continue more Hawkeye football talk. This is Locked on Hawkeyes. This is Locked on Hawkeyes. Trent Conant back with you one final time on the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. So as we wrap things up and get ready for the weekend,

maybe you're listening over the weekend, got some yard work to do. Yes, hand raise. I'm right there with you. Got some other things to do around the house. Driving, whatever it is. Always happy to be in your ear. And first, if you're thinking about Kinnick Stadium, there's something special. And is it cheesy? Is it nerdy?

Yes. Can I be cheesy and nerdy? Yes. Do my kids make fun of me? Yes. Does my wife? Absolutely. But as I saw the ticket sales, and we talked

about this yesterday, go on sale for single game tickets and don't get over to near the number of games that I once did. Kids activities kind of throw a wrench into that, but every single time, and we'll be taking the kids to the first game of the season. Every single time I walk into Kinnick Stadium for that first time, every single year, I still get goosebumps. Even as a 44-year-old man, I still walk in and I still get that. As you make your way through the tunnel, making your way to our seats that we've been now for decades, I still get that special feeling.

I still get that moment where the chill hits you and it's walking in. It's a special place. And we are incredibly lucky to have a stadium like we do, to have a fan base like we do. And it's going to be even more special, I think, walking in this year because I have some personal connections now to the program. And as I get older, my friends' kids get older, those connections, it's going to be really special. I'm looking forward to that and just had that thought. As we see, there's only one game remaining where you can get tickets outside of the secondary market

and make sure you use game time when you're doing that for Hawkeye tickets. But the Washington game is the only one. The prices continue to go up. The cost of doing business in college athletics, as we know, continues to go up, but it's still great. And getting together with friends, family,

the tailgating, cheering on the Hawkeyes, post-game activities, whatever it may be, however you consume the product. Does it get more and more expensive? Absolutely. But is it worth it? I think it is. I think it is to have those kind of moments and to be able to get those chills.

You don't get those chill moments a whole lot, at least for me, anymore in the world of sports. Still get in a Kinnick. And looking forward to the opener against Illinois State. Hopefully the kids last a little bit longer than the home opener a year ago, but it felt like it was 120 degrees. Hopefully we'll be a little bit better shape and we can make it through the whole game coming up this fall. It should be fun again, Washington,

the only place where you can get single game tickets for the Washington game. And it's going to be another sold out year at Kinnick stadium. Boy, what a place. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Next week, we got a lot of busy shows. We got to continue our previews. We have only made our way through one aspect of that,

and the only aspect that we've got through at this point in time is the quarterback position. That was the easy one. We got to talk about offensive line. Some good stuff coming earlier this week, including Jennings Dunker slimming down. We'll talk about that. Of course, that deep running back position

and gets deeper with two incoming freshmen this year. Wide receiver, what do they do there? The tight end position, defensive line, linebacker, defensive backs, special teams. We still have a lot to preview before we get to Iowa Football Media Day. Next week will also be Big Ten Football Media Day. We'll make sure to get in a lot to preview before we get to Iowa football media day. Next week will also be big 10 football media day. We'll make sure to get in a lot from there.

We'll talk to a couple of people that are making their way over to Indianapolis. Also next week, I'm going to be on the East side of the state for you. Hawkeye fans over there. I will be in Cedar Rapids Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday calling the state baseball tournament.

Looking forward to getting over and seeing the colonels ballpark for the first time. No doing banks field this year. It'll be in Cedar Rapids, but my first look at that one. And if you're over there, make sure to say hello. I give a tip of the ball cap and out and about should be a great time with

the state baseball tournament and plenty of future Hawkeyes will be involved in that as well. Thanks for making lockdown Hawkeyes. Your first listen every day, hit that subscribe button. If for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Hit that subscribe button if you're watching on YouTube. Would appreciate that. Five-star reviews if you're on the other side, on the podcast side of things. We'll be back with you next week.

Until then, go Hawks.