Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - BREAKOUT: Iowa's Unsung Heroes EMERGE | Will Brian Allen SHOCK the Big Ten?

Episode Date: August 5, 2025

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Forget the stars. Today we're talking underdog, term game changers. Who's stepping out of the shadows for Iowa football this season? 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 Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. your daily podcast on all things Iowa football, Iowa basketball,

and a whole lot more. Glad to have you aboard with us here today. I've been covering the Hawkeyes for over 20 years on the radio, including currently on the Iowa Sports Radio Network. And you can hear me each weekday from noon to two talking the world of sports and a lot of Hawkeyes on stations in Des Moines, Sioux City, Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, and the Quad Cities, the Iowa Sports Radio Network.

Today, we're going to take a look at the locked-on top 100, including two Hawkeyes that crack the top 100 players in college football and maybe some snubs that were also coming their way. We're also going to be joined by Elliot Kloff from 247 SportsHawkeye Insider.com. Elliot is going to join us and we're going to talk about the latest rumblings that he's hearing coming out of Iowa football camp. But speaking of Iowa football, our conversation begins today, not with the star players, not the guys that we've gone in depth with for the last

two, three, four, five months, six months, seven months. No, no, not those guys, not the Mark Rannowski's of the world, not even the Kamari Moulton's of the world. We're going to be talking about that next group of guys, some surprise guys that I believe have a chance to be breakout. These are the players that have not had the same kind of conversation, depth of conversation that we've had over the course of the season. I have four different players for you, I believe have potential to have a huge breakout year, guys that we haven't talked a ton about here throughout the discourse going back to spring football and where we. are to the game. I want to open up this conversation with a guy that every day, as you know, I have been a big fan of for a long time. And that is defensive end, Brian Allen. Now, Brian Allen, we have seen in spurts. And a few of those

spurts have come during open practices. You go back to the last two August Open Kids Day practices. Right now and both of those was an absolute star. At times looked unblockable. You go back to spring football of 2004. Same thing. He looked absolutely incredible. And the question with Brian Allen has never been about the ability to get to the quarterback. He definitely has that ability. He's shown that ability. He's shown that ability last season on the field for Iowa as he had three sacks in a backup role. The question with Brian Allen is, is this going to be a guy that can become a full service defense event? Look, to play at Iowa, any position, you got to be able to do everything. You have to be able to

do the little things. And if you watch any defensive line drills, even before games for Iowa, they're doing the exact same things, right? Hand placement. Where are you going every single time, where that first step is, all those different things that are very repetitive. I'm sure they're very monotonous as a player. But in the end, why Iowa has the success that they are,

it's because they are so fundamentally sound. They are drilled so well in those kind of things. He had a sack against Illinois State. He had a sack against Troy last year. Brian Allen had a sack last year against Washington, but for him, it is about building and becoming a full service defensive end. The size is definitely there now. He has built himself into a guy that can withstand and play 40, 50, 60 snaps a game.

He is going to do that and has that kind of ability, if need be. Now, this season, probably not going to be the case. With Ethan Herkut on one side, Max Llewellyn on the other, you're feeling good about the shape and the way that I was going to be at the defensive end position out of of the starters, but you're still searching for that backup. And that's where Brian Allen can be that kind of guy. Came off surgery, that's why he wasn't with him during the spring. But Brian Allen, even in a reserve role, a third down type of role, I think he can be

that guy that all of a sudden is talking about six, seven sacks this season. He can absolutely do that. And that would definitely be a breakout candidate. Let's jump over to the other side of the football offensively and another breakout candidate. Another guy that was banged up during the spring, and because of that, I think it's kind of fallen out of favor, at least falling out of the conversation when it comes to Iowa football. And it's at the wide receiver spot with Jared Bowie. Now, Jared Bowie last season, we saw him, glimpses of him, right? Final game of the year against Missouri in the bowl game.

He had three catches in that one. Had a couple of catches against Maryland. Nine catches last year, 94 yards, not a ton, but at least looked at. Had a couple of drops in there. Obviously has to be better about that. Still, a guy incredibly young, very raw, learning the position. He is a guy, though, that you look at upside-wise. Maybe Jared Bowie should be talked about more in that conversation

as we've gone through, you know, that group of wide receivers. After Jacob Gill, after Reese Van der Zee, who should be that guy? Jarrett Bowie's kind of been the forgotten piece. And I think one that we need to throw back into the conversation. For my third candidate for breakout player this season, and I want to go next to Sam Phillips. Now, Sam Phillips, when he committed Iowa back in January, we talked about him a ton.

A speedy wide receiver. He's little. Look, there's no way about it. And I think when you see him out there for the first time, either Friday at Media Day or Saturday at the open practice, you're going to see he looks really small because he has really short. As a short guy, I love him. I want him to succeed.

Fred Russell was my dude. I want these short guys to succeed. However, it's different to wide receiver. But he has something, an element that Iowa has been sorely lacking here over the last half decade. And that is speed on the outside. He definitely has that. You can use that speed in a myriad of different ways. It's just not about getting behind the safeties, getting behind the defense for the big plays,

but it can be across the middle. It can be in jet sweeps. And how Iowa finds Sam Phillips and finds a role that makes sense for him. coming off of what he did at Chattanooga after the kind of season that he had there, it's unrealistic and certainly with what we believe is real depth at the position this year that is going to look different. Your hope is that this guy is going to be somebody that helps out. He had 823 yards a year ago and he missed two games.

He's had a freshman record a couple years back with 44 receptions. This is a player that has been able to do it, and now can he do it at the Big Ten level? I think that speed is real, and if the speed is real, you can absolutely make plays. Sam Phillips, my final breakout candidate at the wide receiver group. And then one more name. And maybe this isn't anything that I think falls kind of in the same realm of a breakout candidate. Just a guy to remember, a guy that we haven't talked about, maybe enough. And it's in the backup spot and one of the guards.

spots, maybe at center. It's Michael Mislinski, who came in from Florida out of high school. He had an offer from Texas. Another guy. Don't see Iowa beat out Texas very often for a recruit. He was a big time recruit. And he has battled so many injuries throughout the course of his career. Finally, last year was as healthy as he's been during his career. And one of those senior stories. And that's not to say that he's going to unseat Cade Piper, where he's going to go out and beat Bo Stevens out for one of the starting guard positions. However, if there are injuries, somebody to keep an eye on, somebody that can come in there. And the feeling is inside that room, he can come in there and he's going to, though he lacks reps, he does not have the same kind of game experience that some other guys do. He is a guy that

they believe is going to be able to help out in the interior of their offensive line. And he's going to be a player that we keep an eye out for coming up this season. So there he are. Some breakout players. Let me know who you have for your surprise breakout players. for Iowa football this season. Any names that we haven't talked about a ton, guys that we're missing. And there's a lot of them out there on this team. Hit us up on the comment section.

You can find us on YouTube. In fact, if you're watching us on YouTube right now, hit that subscribe button. We're trying to get to 5,000 before the season begins. Just takes a moment and helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. If you listen just on the podcast, audio side, five-star reviews, all of that helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans.

We continue the Iowa football conversation next. Elliot Clough is going to join us from 24-7 SportsHawkeye Insider.com will get Elliot's thoughts of what he's hearing at Iowa football training camps and good nuggets coming up for you as we talk Iowa football. This is Locked-on Hawkeyes. Ever wish managing your money felt easier with Monarch money? It can. Whether you're growing your savings or planning a big purchase,

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That's monarchmoney.com with the code locked on college for half off your first year. Monarchmoney.com. Elliot Kloff covers the Hawkeyes for 24-7 SportsHawkeye Insider.com. Elliot joins us. Both of you guys, I'll ask this question because Bruce Feldman, I know it's not a 24-7 thing, but he comes up with his freaks list every year. Are you aware of this, first of all, Elliot,

Bruce Feldman's freaks list at the athletic? I am, yeah. Okay, so today he came out, and there are actually three Hawkeyes that made the all freaks list this year. Logan Jones, K. Piper, and Preston Reese. I'm thinking to myself, okay, you got this wrong. There's no hot guy by the name of Preston Reese, but there is. And he's already freaking, he's never played it down in college football.

Is that what I'm like to believe? Absolutely. He's breaking records over there, weightlifting. So I want to ask you, Elliot, because you were covering recruiting at the time, one of your duties. Tell me about this kid. What is he done? And he's caught Bruce Feldman's eye, and there's some players on this list. And Preston Reese, without either seeing the field, has come in at number 50 on the list.

What do you know about him? Oh, yeah. I'm pretty sure I've talked about him on this show, Ken. Okay, my bad. Well, Preston, a kid from Monticello, part of that in 2024 class with Cam Buffington and Derek Weiskept. All three of those guys probably could have found a spot on that list. Wisecop was a state champion in two-time state champion in high jump, obviously state champion at football, also played in shot and disc his senior year at a state track meet.

Cam Buffington, a kid from eight-man football, played some really good football. I mean, he'd be out there with kids that it looked like they're 12 standing next to him and he's going to play at the Big Ten football. But with Preston, he just set the linebacker squat record at Iowa, not the first. freshman squat record, the linebacker squat record. So he's up there above Jack Campbell, Jay Higgins, Josie Jewel,

Kristen Welts, like, name. So he's done some freaky stuff already. He's another kid that is right there with Weiskopf and Bufington as far as high school accomplishment. But he's one of those kids that was, well, he was also a Max Prep's.

He was the Max Prep's Iowa football player of the year, his senior year too, and that's in the mix with him and, and, and, of course. But he's a guy that, from what I've heard from behind the scenes, he doesn't necessarily know a ton about what's going on right now with the Iowa defense because he's so young, right? It takes a little while to figure out. And that's part for the course. But he's a guy that you put on the field and good things happen, right? Like, he just finds a way to make a play where you're like, holy crap, how did Preston do that?

So he's a guy that I have my eye on in that linebacker group of young guys that could possibly see the field this year with how many question marks are around that group. It would not surprise me if he, you know, carbs out a role either. Maybe it's a Leo spot. He's definitely going to be playing on special teams. I can tell you that for sure. But again, a local kid that's been committed to play for the hawk for a while, played quarterback in high school too, dominated on both sides of the ball. He's a name to watch. And maybe it doesn't all come to fruition this year.

But in the coming years, like, he's going to be a part of that Iowa defense that people are going to know. Of those three that you mentioned, of course, Preston Reese is getting the headlines today. But Cam Buffington and Weisskoff, of those three, is there one that they are targeting of the middle linebacker of the future? We know they're all kind of in the mix and a backup role because of the veterans. But if we look maybe two years down the line or even a year down the line, of those three, is there one that they think is going to be able to fill that role at the middle? spot. Yeah, that'd be Cam. Cam is that, that classic thumper that you look for at that mic spot. Did a little bit of everything for Mount Union out of high school, played running back

too. Just a little bit, you know, thicker is what they shoot for for that guy who plays that mic spot and can be the quarterback of the defense. But yeah, Cam's that classic thumper that that'll hit you and you stop moving. And that's kind of what they shoot for for that mic spot. I want to ask you about Price Hawthorne. He's a guy that keeps coming up in conversations or in articles that I read. He's going to play on a position that, like, I read some accounts. I read one that I was got the eighth best defensive front in college football. I think I read that over the weekend.

Hawthorne, what do we expect from him in South Dakota State transfer? Yep, registered sophomore coming over from Brookings along with Mark Renowski. He, I've heard a lot of good things about Bryce so far. Obviously, we're going to learn more. We're going to get to know more over specifically this week and then for kids day, of course. But Bryce is a kid that I've heard a little bit about him being kind of a freak, whether it's in the weight room or on the field.

One of those guys who's super twitchy, despite his size standing at 300 plus pounds. He's a guy that a fire off the ball. Might not start just for the sake of Jonah Pace being a guy who's a little bit older. been there, done that on a defensive line. But Bryce is definitely going to be a really, a really solid part of that rotation on the defensive line. And a reason why the defensive line looks to have reloaded as opposed to, you know, scrapping for parts to fill that back end,

especially at the defensive tackle spot. But, yeah, I'm really high on Bryce. A lot of things that I've heard from behind the scenes are that he's definitely going to be impactful this fall. over to the cornerback spot. We know T.J. Hall, after the spring he had, felt like he really wrapped up one of the spots over there, even as inconsistent as he's been throughout his career. You go out to South Dakota, you bring in Burroughs.

It got to Sean Lee who started, what, 12, 15 games in his career. Yet Jalen Watson, anytime I talk to somebody, and I think it's the same thing for you, Elliot, his name continues to come up. Phil doesn't care about playing young guys. He's played young guys a whole lot. Could we see redshirt freshman Jalen Watson be a starter? sometime in the month of September. Ooh, not going to rule it out.

I'm definitely not going to rule it out. I've been high on Jaylen since he picked Iowa a couple years ago. But I would probably venture to guess that Deshaun Lee is going to be the guy who gets to start to start the season. Whether that continues throughout September, putting the timeline on it is what makes it hard. Like Jaylin, it would not shock me at all if he starts this season. at any given point, but by September, that's a good question. I think Deshaun Lee will have had to struggle specifically against, like, Iowa State for that to happen.

Or, I mean, if Shaheed Barros is, you know, among the better corners on the team through fall camp, maybe he locked down that position, too. I definitely will not count out Jalen Watson as to being a starter. In September, that's a really good question. Maybe by the back end of September, like I said, I'm really high on him. He's a guy that, you know, Trent, you and I were both there when Kirk mentioned him at Big Ten Media Day.

And it's like, oh, that's one to take note of because Kirk won't go on a big, long rant about a player, but if it's a guy who's up and coming and he makes a note of it, like, okay, all right, that's one to keep in the back of the brain. And his play on special teams last year definitely earned him some of that respect from Kirk. But, yeah, it wouldn't shock me if it's by the end of something. September. But I would say, probably more so by October, just based on timeline. Either way, I do think there's definitely a strong possibility he starts this season. Elliot, you can't say left tackle. What's the seemingly as everybody's concerned?

What's your biggest concern when it comes to this roster? Oh, I would probably say between that corner spot, that second corner spot, and the linebacker spot. And that's nothing, particularly Mike linebacker. That's not necessarily something against Jaden Harrell when I mentioned that. Right. He did circle against UCLA last year. But we just haven't seen him, right?

I mean, it's the same conversation we were having about Jay Higgins a few years ago. I mean, he was playing that, but we hadn't seen him play. The Mike linebacker spot, arguably the most important position on the defensive side of the ball. And with Jaden, it's the same thing. He's been on special teams. He's been around. He's learned the defense. He's got the knowledge.

Can he play at that Uber high level? And maybe he doesn't have to. He doesn't have to be Jay Higgins. He doesn't have to be Jack Campbell. And I think expectations like that are unfair. But can he be a guy to lock down the Mike linebacker spot? Because I've heard a little bit about linebacker by committee this coming year, mentioning guys like Cam Buffington, mentioning guys like Jane Montgomery,

Landon-Van Creek, even, at that Will linebacker spot. And, of course, like I mentioned, Buffington, Reese, and Wisecoff. But to me, that would be, I don't know if concern is necessarily the right word, but a big question mark right there at Mike Linebacker. Otherwise, yeah, if I can't say, if I can't say a left tackle, probably Mike Linebacker or that CB2 spot. Good stuff, Elliot Clef, from 247 Sports, Hawkeye Insider. com. Elliot, thank you. We will reach out to you as early as next week, if that's okay with you.

Appreciate the contribution, pal. Thank you. Yep, that sounds good. Thank you. Yeah, good to talk to you. Elliot Clef is we check in on the hogs. Bruce Feldman with the Freaks list. Good talk on Preston Reese and the rest of that linebacker group of those red shirt freshmen and what they potentially could be pushing forward for Iowa football. Those are the potential future stars of Iowa football. We got a pretty good group of them right now. Lockdown. We have released our first ever top 100 list. We got a couple of Hawkeyes on the list. We're going to talk about that as we continue Locked on Hawkeyes. Time to fuel up and turn it up with five-hour energy transfusion. It brings the bold grape,

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Hit subscribe again if you're watching us on YouTube or a five-star review on the podcast. side as we come to you each and every day and thank you again to you every dayers locked on top 100 now i will tell you as somebody as all of us compiled this list together it's a difficult exercise it really is and putting together figuring out with what about 140 now teams at the fcs level even if you say you know what i'm not going to do anything from the non-power group even if you say i'm only going to do it from the power two group the big 10 of the SEC even that is difficult to do you because how do you measure a offensive lineman, a center against a quarterback? Look, we know quarterbacks.

We know so many of the quarterbacks in the college game. And how do you measure that out? But we did the exercise. And it came, at least we got a couple of Hawkeyes into the mix. Now, I voted for both these guys in the top 100. If you're watching us on YouTube, you see the screen right now. Logan Jones, he comes in at number 82, the All-American Center for the Hawkeyes. And then at number 98 is Jennings Dunker.

So you get both the offensive linemen there for the Hawkeyes. I take a look through the list. Here is that list 91 through 100 where you see Jennings Dunker checking it at 98. And it's so interesting because he sandwiched in between two top 100 players from the Big 10, Darius Taylor, the finding running back for Minnesota, who I really like. And Dylan Rayola at number 99, the Nebraska quarterback. So we sandwich in between both of those two guys. And we take a look at the list that has Logan Jones that is involved.

in it. He comes in at number 82. He is between Eli Snowers, a guy that was on my list from Vanderbilt. He's at number 81. And then Bryce Bocher from Oregon. Josh Hoover's at 84. I had him a whole lot higher on my list. Haines King's 89 on this list of this group of 10. I had him a whole lot higher. It is an incredibly difficult exercise to put this together. Also, if you're interested,

here is the top 10 players in college football from our lockdown top 100. Number one, Jeremiah Smith, and we saw that a year ago against the Buckeyes. Number two on the list, Caleb Downs, also of Ohio State. Dylan Stewart, an absolute stud off the edge for South Carolina. Jeremiah loved the running back for Notre Dame at number four. Ryan Williams, who is no longer 17, the wide receiver from Alabama, Kate Klubnick, and number six, Anthony Hill, linebacker out of Texas at number seven. There's Garrett Nussmeier way too high for my liking at number eight, Colin Simmons of Texas at number nine, and then Keldrick Fall defense alignment from Auburn at number

10. So that's how the list is comprised. We all put together. We have, what, some 80, 90 podcasts overall on the college side of the lockdown network. We all put our list together. And then it just spit this out. Good that we got a couple of Hawkeyes there with Logan Jones and with Jennings Dunker. The one missing piece, though, the Iowa quarterback Mark Bernowski. In fact, we're going to talk about that on tomorrow's show. I think a swing and a miss and I think college football is missing this. But I think those are both fair grades. Because, again, when you look at Logan Jones,

when you look at Jennings' Dunk, you look at both of these guys, they're offensive alignment. And it's hard to measure offensive alignment in a list like this. Just to be nominated, just to be in the top 100, I think shows you the potential of both of those guys and what they're going to be, certainly coming up

for this college football season. Again, tomorrow, we will take a look at the snubs. The guys that maybe should have been on the list for the Iowa Hawkeyes, including, I'm going to say it, the quarterback, Mark Radowski, Bernowski should have been there. Thanks for being with this and making lockdown Hawkeyes, your first listen every day.

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We got locked on Big Ten. We got you covered as we count down to kickoff. August is here. Football season is here. We got Week Zero games that really matter for us with Iowa State, obviously facing off against K State. It's going to be a different week zero, certainly for us here as we get ready for that matchup

and get ready for Iowa State for the Hawkeyes in week number two. Friday, Big Ten, check that. Iowa Football Media Day. We'll have you covered from that. We will also have you covered from Kids Day on Saturday. Lots of content coming your way this week as we continue to ramp up to football season. And don't worry, we have not forgot about basketball. We got basketball conversation also coming up this week.

We're going to take another look at the Iowa basketball team and some of the roster things that we're hearing. What's going on? Fool, Garris is now back in town on the men's side of things. Of course, we have Hannah Stolke back on the women's side. After both of them were involved with their national teams during the course of this summer and getting them back, changing what we talk about. about with both of those squads. Your team every day, that's what we do here on the lockdown network.

I got you covered on the Hawkeye front, but that's not all. Mention the college football side of things of what we have going on. But there's a whole lot more. Your favorite NFL team, your favorite MLB team, maybe you're a Twins fan and you're fired up and upset like I am. We got you covered here on the network. Packers, Vikings, Bears, Chiefs, and a whole lot more. Every NFL team, every MLB team, NBA, NHL, all here under the lockdown umbrella.

And I got you on the hawk-eye front. Hit that subscribe button if you're watching this on YouTube, five-star review on the other side. Shout out to you, Arbidators. Big thank you to all of you. We will talk to you again tomorrow. Until then, go Hawks.