Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - BREAKTHROUGH: Mark Gronowski's Arrival IGNITES Iowa's Quarterback RENAISSANCE | Can He DELIVER?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Don't look now, but Iowa's quarterback room might actually be good. We break down the upgrades under center and why this fall will be different at QB in Iowa City along with a disastrous weekend for Iowa baseball. 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 Iowa Hawkeyes for over 20 years on the radio in the state of Iowa,

Starting point is 00:00:40 including currently on the Iowa Sports Radio Network. We have stations in Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, the Quad City, Sioux City, and our flagship 106.3 KXNO in Des Moines. You can hear me each weekday from noon to two, talking the world of sports with Ken Miller. Today's episode of Lockdown Hawkeyes is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use the code LockdownCollege atmonarchmoney.com

Starting point is 00:01:07 for 50% off your first year. It is a weekend that was in Iowa Sports. We take a look back at what we saw. We got a lot to talk about. We're going to kick things off with of course a look at the quarterback play coming up this year as we continue our look through post spring. But we got recruiting updates including some things in the transfer portal for both the men's basketball program and the women's basketball program will get you up to date on there where Iowa is looking as the window is still open for Iowa basketball to grab a couple of recruits. The weekend that was for Iowa baseball disappointing to say the least. Opportunities, leads, and an 0-2-1 stretch for the Iowa baseball team against a very good Oregon State team. Still, not to be able to pick up a victory and anything's in a tie? Let me kiss your sister, come on. What a terrible, terrible one there.

Starting point is 00:02:01 We're going to talk about that and what it means for Iowa as they continue to work towards the NCAA tournament on the diamond. But we open up today's conversation with a look at the quarterback position. Of course, the most important position in all of sport is quarterback. It is cut and diced and looked at in so many different ways to simplify things. The last five years, I've had nothing short of a disaster at Iowa at the quarterback spot. And coming out of the heels of what we saw from Nate Stanley at the quarterback spot to think that this thing would crater the way that it has over

Starting point is 00:02:40 the last half decade after Nate Stanley's eligibility expired, there was hope that there was going to be another level because when you look back at his time, you look at the statistics that are immense. But for all of us that were there watching every single game, Nate Stanley still left something to be desired. As good of a quarterback as he was, and he was a good quarterback, he was an elite quarterback. And, of course, the hope is always that you're going to go up a level. Now, as we know, next level does not always mean a level up.

Starting point is 00:03:13 Sometimes it's a level down, or in the instance of Iowa football, at the quarterback spot for the last five years, it is absolutely greater. And it's gone to a level that I don't think anybody could have envisioned From the three years of Spencer Petrus the back-to-back seasons of Kate McNamara And all the other guys that have been taking snaps for the Hawkeyes over this last half decade. It's been hideous Good news on a couple of fronts though number one there's real talent in the building and We'll talk plenty about Mark Gronowski and what he's going to mean to this team Number one, there's real talent in the building. And we'll talk plenty about Mark Gronowski and what he's going to mean to this team.

Starting point is 00:03:51 But you start with the talent part of it. It's a guy that was gonna be drafted out of South Dakota State. This is a guy that had many suitors in the transfer portal. This wasn't just a guy that Iowa picked up because they were the only one that was interested. That's not the case with Mark Gronowski. Gronowski was coveted and Iowa went out, spent the money, and got their guy. Now he has to deliver because the last guy didn't.

Starting point is 00:04:17 Came back to Marrow, didn't deliver. He came in with bravado. He came in with arrogance and he exits with his tail between his legs and a season that ended in head-scratching fashion. You're hoping that this guy is different, that Kirk Ferentz, Tim Lester, and the rest of the crew didn't get their, didn't get the hat pulled out over their eyes like they did with McNamara, because that's what it was. He duped him. He talked a good game, but he couldn't back it up. Injuries were a part of that.

Starting point is 00:04:53 There's no doubt, but I think there was more than just the injuries part that Iowa missed on in their evaluation. The evaluation though begins with Tim Lester. And as we look at just going back to what this quarterback was, room was a year ago. And spring football that had Deacon Hill running the show a season ago to what it is now, even with Mark Gronowski out in the spring because of the shoulders shoulder surgery that he had, you still had Hank Brown slinging

Starting point is 00:05:22 around Jackson Stratton who came in as a walk-on and has already started Big Ten Games. You have a quarterback room that brings in Jimmy Sullivan, a true freshman that Tim Lester looked at and said, yeah, I like this guy. Let's keep him aboard. And they did. Late in the process, Jeremy Heklinski comes in from Wake Forest. This is a deep quarterback room. These are guys that are going to compete. And that's the angle that I maybe enjoy more than anything. As with Tim Lester, the ability of this group and what he wants to do of creating competition. It's not that Iowa was scared of competition, because I don't think that's fair.

Starting point is 00:06:08 But I think more than anything, Iowa became very comfortable in the way they were doing things. And the way they were doing things is, bear a court, recruit a quarterback a year at each class, plug in holes as necessary. But we had an entrenched starter, and I would never want to do anything to upset the Apple cart. It never felt like, and it's crazy because Iowa football, what do you think of? Iron sharpening, iron, going out there and competing, competing in practice every single day. There are no corners cut in Iowa football.

Starting point is 00:06:42 Yet at the quarterback position, it felt like that happened from time to time. Now Kirk Ferentz, he's got a weird thing with quarterbacks. He really does. And as we go back during this five-year drought that Iowa's been at the quarterback spot and his unwillingness and his inability to see how bad the quarterback play was at times to even listen to change. He was hurt in the past. I mean, that's my theory. I don't know if it was Kyle McCann, Brad Banks. I don't know what quarterback controversy it was that broke his brain. But when it comes to pulling the plug on a quarterback,

Starting point is 00:07:21 Kirk Faris goes more leech than anybody, and yet they won't do it at other spots. We talked last week about Xavier Wampa, right? Five-star kid, a starter, he gets benched. Quarterback though, it's different. The hope is that Tim Lester though with his ability to evaluate his background as a quarterback coach unlike the previous offensive coordinator that you're going to have a guy that has the ability to pull that plug quicker. But the competitions that's

Starting point is 00:07:50 in there, six quarterbacks that all feel they're going to play, maybe not this year, but they're going to wear the Hawkeye uniform and they're going to eventually be the guy that's going to be the starter. We know it's Grunowski for this year, and it was great news that they get Grunowski back for the end of spring. And he's starting to throw the ball. He is moving up. It's a guy that is veteran, 23 years old. He'll turn 24 in early October.

Starting point is 00:08:18 It's a guy that is veteran, put up monster numbers during his career at South Dakota State. put up monster numbers during his career at South Dakota State, won the Walter Payton Award which is the FCS Heisman Trophy. Look at the numbers. 23 touchdowns, 7 interceptions last year. That was a down year for him because two previous years he threw for 29 and 26 touchdowns and only 5 picks. Over 3,000 yards two years ago, completion percentage at 65%. He's accurate, but the other thing, he is tough. Not false bravado, he is a real tough guy. A tough guy that will go out there and will compete, not make excuses. That is the quarterback that

Starting point is 00:08:59 Iowa's getting. That is the guy that is gonna be the starter. I think the intrigue coming into the season of quarterback for Iowa is gonna be who's gonna be the backup that is going to be the starter. I think the entry coming into the season at quarterback for Iowa is going to be who's going to be the backup. Now going back to the open practice, Dan Springball, and statistically Jackson Stratton had the better day over Hank Brown. We saw Jackson Stratton. There was a couple of good throws in that game against UCLA made a couple and you could see the zip on his throws and the win out of Maryland that he had.

Starting point is 00:09:27 Still I think Hank Brown has the inside track to it. Statistics aside, the arm talent of Hank Brown, I think is at a different tier than Stratton. Both those guys can sling it, which is crazy. Well, we're talking about our number two, number three quarterbacks. We're actually talking about arm talent. That's something that's a rarity. But I wouldn't bring in Hank Brown from Auburn to be a number three, a number four quarterback. I think this is the guy that they believe they can develop

Starting point is 00:09:55 with a year of sitting, another year of learning that he can be a guy that'll have two years of eligibility and they're hopeful. That's how I believe it'll be. Grunowski won. Hank Brown is the backup. Jackson Stratton is the three. And then you get into the new guys. Jeremy Heklinski coming in from Wake Forest. Had a year of learning under Warren Rogero, who is now an offensive analyst for the Hawkeyes. Jimmy Sullivan, the true freshman. And then Ryan

Starting point is 00:10:20 Fitzgerald, who will come in as a walk-on, but also at that quarterback spot. So those are the six quarterbacks. And just how different that looks compared to what we're used to these last couple of years at the quarterback spot. Now it's time to deliver and it's time to take that step forward to improve what we've seen a year ago. There were a few glimpses but just not enough. You got the quarterback, feels like you got receivers, feels like you got a lot of answers offensively. How many times in the 26 years of Kirk Barron's have you felt more comfortable with the offense going into the year than the defense? I very well could be there. We'll tackle that a little bit more later this week. Lockdown Hawkeyes, your team every day. That's what we do here on the

Starting point is 00:11:02 Lockdown Network. I got you covered each and every day talking all things Hawkeyes. Baseball, basketball, football, and all signs in between. We got you covered each and every day here on Locked on Hawkeyes. We continue speaking of the Iowa baseball team. Ooh, do we call this a disaster? I think we might be there. What happened at Principal Park for the Hawkeye baseball team? Don't get a win against Oregon State and how much trouble is I win now for the NCAA tournament? We'll talk about that as we continue Locked on Hawkeyes. Ever check your bank account and wonder where did all my money go? Between dining out, online shopping, and entertainment, it's easy to lose track. That's where Monarch Money comes in, your personal CFO giving you full visibility and

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Starting point is 00:12:30 Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use the code LockedOnCollege at MonarchMoney.com for 50% off your first year. That's MonarchMoney.com code. Locked On College for half off your first year. MonarchMoney.com code LOCKDOWNCOLEGE for half off your first year. Monarchmoney.com. Welcome back, this is Locked On Hawkeyes. I'm Trent Conda. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. And a shout out to you every dayers with us each and every day. Appreciate all of you. If you can, hit subscribe if you're watching us on YouTube or give us a five star on the audio side. Greatly appreciated and

Starting point is 00:13:09 helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Let's go to the diamond as Iowa can't get a win against Oregon State over the weekend. So, Iowa sits now at number sixty-seven in the RPI. This is from Warren Nolan. A thirty, 17 and 1 record. Straight to schedule at 123. That is a concerning aspect as the Hawkeyes now sit at 3, 2 and 1 in quad 1, a 0, 2 and 1 stretch against Oregon State. And boy, the series as a whole, just an overview of things down at Principal Park. Start with what we saw from the crowd a tip of the ball cap to the Hawkeye fans that made it out there just a tremendous environment made it

Starting point is 00:13:53 really really fun out there and you can see it the way that Iowa was ready to go and the way that they played in this series four stretches, they also ran into some adversity. And when you look at what happened to them on Sunday, Reese Buter was out and they had to turn to Ben Dete. And Dete is a kid that I called a ton of his games in Valley. Really cool to see back in his basically hometown. Yes, West Des Moines. Back home though, to get his first career weekend start and for

Starting point is 00:14:26 Dite to come out on Sunday and do what he did was absolutely tremendous. So that was the tie. Frost hit the home run in the bottom of the 10th inning as they hit the time limit. So speaking of the tie, I know there's a lot of questions out there. How can a game end, how can a baseball game end in a tie? And it's for the first time in 23 years, I believe, that this has happened to Iowa baseball that they've had this happen. Uh this is what Rick Heller had to say after the game in baseball. There shouldn't be a tie. So, it's frustrating and with travel, sometimes it happens

Starting point is 00:14:55 disappointed because it felt like we shouldn't have been in that situation if we made them earn it proud of our guys because they fought hard. So, they had a time limit. They had a play in the clutch and baseball is different than football, right? This would never happen in football because planes are chartered. That's not the case. Most baseball teams, most softball teams, track and field, soccer, tennis, you name the non-revenue generating sport, this is how it goes. You don't have the money to be able to charter

Starting point is 00:15:31 all your flights. And that was the case here. They didn't catch your flight. So at 3.37, they had to get out. They had to jump on a bird and make their way back to Oregon. So that's the reasoning behind it. Love it, hate it, it is the reality. Mentioned it today, great start to the game. He's not going to go out there and certainly with what they have coming up this weekend, the importance of the series against Oregon,

Starting point is 00:15:54 and we'll get into that a little bit later on, you didn't want to stretch him out and a guy that hasn't thrown that many pitches suddenly, go out there and give us 120 pitches. It's not going to happen. Iowa up three, nothing in this one. The Grand Slam and did it on the first hit of the game. Now, walks had led to the bases being loaded and one already being across. But all of a sudden, it's 5-3 after Iowa led three, nothing going into the sixth inning. And you give up one hit, a Grand Slam,

Starting point is 00:16:21 and you're down 5-3. That was frustrating. Still, Frost coming back and getting that one. But back to Friday night, another one, Grand Slam, and you're down 5-3. That was frustrating. Still, Frost coming back and getting that one. But back to Friday night, another one where Iowa battling in there, got it tied up in the bottom of the seventh inning at 6-6, and then give up 3 in the eighth inning. On Saturday, a 5-1 loss to the Beavers. That was an early spot that was put up there, hung around, pitching, I think was solid, but this also shows you Iowa and the gap that's still there. And I know with this run through the Big Ten,

Starting point is 00:16:52 some of the expectations have risen. We still have to realize, kind of Iowa's lot and where they are and where they are specifically to college baseball. Even as great as they were during the Big Ten, this is never a top 25 team. Maybe fringe top 50 type team, top 40, we can argue. But that's not what they were. And you saw it this weekend.

Starting point is 00:17:14 In a series where Iowa played well four stretches, that gap between a top 10 Oregon state team and Iowa is still pretty significant. And here comes to town this weekend the Oregon Ducks. Oregon by the way, one of the hottest teams in all of college baseball. They have been red hot. Over the weekend that Washington team that we just saw the weekend before, they swept them. They swept Michigan State the week before that. Oh by the way they swept Oregon State, yes that Oregon State team that we just saw at the end of April, including winning three games in Eugene, then followed it up with a Tuesday midweek game against the Beavers

Starting point is 00:17:51 in Corvallis and won that one also. That's how well this team is playing. They won their series earlier this year against UCLA. This team is playing at an incredibly high level, and I was going to have to play even better than they did this past weekend to even get a win. Now speaking of that, there is still this also to be figured out. Where Iowa sits in terms of winning their first regular season championship in baseball since 1990. Where were you in 1990? I'm a middle-aged

Starting point is 00:18:24 man. I was in fifth grade at Lincoln Elementary. That was the last time that that happened. It was a long time ago. And now here we sit 35 years later, and Iowa has a chance. Still a one-game lead after the weekend. And boy, Friday night, Illinois had UCLA beat. Didn't happen. M happen mentioned Oregon getting the

Starting point is 00:18:46 sweep they stick two games back. It's as simple as this Iowa you went out you sweep your champions you went two out of three at minimum you're going to get a tie you lose two out of three you're still ahead of Oregon. We'll see what happens with UCLA and then of, it goes the other way. So Iowa-Oregon this weekend will decide a lot. And UCLA this weekend, they wrap up the regular season against Northwestern.

Starting point is 00:19:13 I mean, how about that? Can't we at least have them play UCLA? Are USC, excuse me, at the end? Now, they already played them, I get that. But should that be the last series of the year? Not that aside. Not the case. So Iowa

Starting point is 00:19:25 with the one game lead going into the final week but we get into the nitty gritty. Mention Iowa's record now against Quad One, three, two and one. Their RPI sits at number 67 in the country. That's concerning. That's a big concern for this Iowa baseball team is where they sit. And when you go through and you look at the number of quad four losses that they have, the loss at home to Michigan State, Illinois State, Western Illinois, and the three losses to Washington State, that's the anchor that continues to hurt them.

Starting point is 00:19:59 But also, that strength of schedule. We know Iowa has not played the most daunting schedule in the Big Ten. And when you go through and look at this squad, they haven't had to play many of the heavy heads here until the end with Oregon. But they didn't play UCLA. And the sweeps against Indiana and Michigan, winning 2 out of three against Nebraska and sweeping Minnesota and Ohio State. Those are all great. However, it's not the who's who of the Big Ten. And that is where the concern lies for this team. Look, they could take this completely out of the committee's hands, go to Omaha, and win the whole thing. Automatic bit that's going to be there. And we'll talk a little bit later in the week if you haven't looked this is going to be looking a

Starting point is 00:20:46 whole lot different so they got pool play set up this year for the Big Ten baseball tournament pool play and that's different right and with the pool play you have a tie breaking scenario that will be good for Iowa because if you finish tied in the standings it'll just go to the top team that'll move on to the semifinals. Again, we'll tackle that a little bit more. Here and now, it's Oregon this week.

Starting point is 00:21:09 This is gonna be an incredibly tall task. And you think you were frustrated over the weekend, just wait, this Oregon team is gonna be built to beat ya. We'll talk about that more as the week continues. Also on the diamond over the weekend, we just touched on a little bit. Iowa saw their season come to a close against Penn State. Now I know there was a small hope that the Iowa softball team was going to be able to

Starting point is 00:21:31 get a ticket to the NCAA tournament. What they did throughout the course of the season that they were going to get there. They didn't, they were not selected. Another question that I got from people is, well, what happened to that NIT tournament? Iowa two years ago won that invitational softball tournament, the NIT for softball, if you will. It was called the NISC. This is from their website. The D1 National Invitational Softball Championship will not be held in 2025. An official announcement on the future of

Starting point is 00:22:02 the event and possible 2026 dates will be announced later this summer. So there's your answer, not happening. Too bad. Too bad for the squad that went through a lot of trials and tribulations throughout the course of the year and to see it end like that. After you go 15 and 7 in the Big Ten, again not most daunting schedule, but still having wins against UCLA, against Nebraska. You're left frustrated. You're left frustrated that you don't get in, but you also couple it with, you look around the Big Ten and the other teams that got in. I think Northwestern is one of them. Look, Iowa went 15 and 7 in the Big Ten. Again, without playing the most daunting schedule.

Starting point is 00:22:49 Still, Iowa at 15 and 7 doesn't get in. Washington did. They went 12 and 9. Michigan did. They went 11 and 11. Indiana did. They went 10 and 12. All those teams got in and Iowa didn't. Frustrating. Now

Starting point is 00:23:14 Michigan won the big 10. Of course, they got the automatic bid. So, that was the reason behind it but what could have been? And that's what it is. And we'll see this program. There's a ton of talent in softball in this state. The unfortunate thing, for the better part of a decade, we've seen a lot of that talent leave the state. New coaching staff will be in next year. How that looks we will see, but there is opportunity for the softball program to take a big, big step forward. Wrapping things up here on Locked On Hawkeyes, we've got some updates for you in the transfer portal and recruiting. We'll talk about that as we come back on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast

Starting point is 00:23:55 Back with you one final time on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast I'm Trent Conda. Thanks for being with us and making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day All right couple of a portal news and notes. I've got a couple of things for you. Let's kick things off here first. First, a decommitment in the class of 2026. Navan Shabazz has decommitted from Iowa Quad City product. He played prep school this last year here in Des Moines.

Starting point is 00:24:23 In fact, we talked about him Friday, which was crazy with Tom Kakert, and he has decommitted now over the weekend. Open evaluations coming up this weekend. His dad told Tom Kakert of Hawkeye Report that he had the communication started to dwindle a little bit. I think we could read between the lines. It's usually the case. Maybe the new staff wasn't exactly enamored with him. Also remember, this is a kid that has been to three different high schools, three different AAU programs. He's bounced around a bunch.

Starting point is 00:24:58 What does that mean for Iowa? Look at the dudes, but we knew that. We'll dive in a little bit more to that one. Iowa Wrestling also picked up a commitment over the weekend. Sammy Alvarez from Ryder, he was at Oklahoma State, he was at Rutgers, he's been all over the place. Now the question with him is, does he actually have any eligibility left? College athletics in 2025, right? Yes, we have a commitment from a guy, we don't know if he's gonna be able to actually wrestle next year. Midweight guy 149, maybe 157 for Alvarez. If he is eligible, we're not going to spend a ton of time on a guy that we're still waiting to find out

Starting point is 00:25:37 exactly how he is and how he's going to fit. Two on the basketball front outside of 2026 with Shabazz that we just mentioned. Duke Miles, that's a name that we've been talking about a little bit here recently. He has committed to Vanderbilt. So these off the board, cross him off the list for the, excuse me, the Iowa men's basketball program. On the women's side, Emily Rodriguez from central Florida, that wing score, maybe a fill in for a player like Sydney and Folter is kind of what you're looking at. I think with Emily Rodriguez, maybe down to two taking a visit to Indiana. I believe that visit starts tomorrow on Tuesday of memory

Starting point is 00:26:16 serves very well could come down to the Hoosiers and the Hawkeyes though for Emily Rodriguez. We'll see how things go there. A lot of times the recruiting want to be last and the Hoosiers will get that final visit. We'll see on that front as I was still working that portal trying to find that right fit and close out their rosters for 2025-26. We did a little everything today. Football, talk to quarterbacks, always love that. Talked some baseball, talked some softball and finished it up with football recruiting and portal season continues. We're with you each and every day. Your team every day. Every day as you know we talk about all things Hawkeyes. We will continue football conversation this week finishing up our different position groups that we haven't got to as we do our post spring look at the

Starting point is 00:27:02 football team. Some changes appear to be happening for college football as we do our post spring look at the football team. Some changes appear to be happening for college football as we know it, the structure of it with the 16 team college football playoff era coming next season and it looks like we're getting very close to that. What does that mean for the Iowa Hawkeyes? We'll tackle that throughout the course of the week and of course everything else happening in the world of the Hawkeyes. We'll get ready for that big series against the Ducks coming up this weekend. Lots on that as we preview Iowa's final shot at a Big 10 regular season championship and putting themselves in good position for the NCAA tournament. Win that series. That would be huge but as we just talked about that is going to be very very difficult.

Starting point is 00:27:41 Your team every day on the Lockdown Network, and we got you covered with all fronts, whatever your favorite MLB team, NFL, NBA, NHL, all covered here and a whole lot more. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen today. For your second listen, you can also check out the Portal Show. Brian Smith has the latest rumors, Portal entries, and signings. You can be the most informed fan on the rapid changes to the college football landscape with the portal. Find the portal on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. We'll be back with you tomorrow. Thanks for being with us as always. Until then, go Hawks.

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Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - BREAKTHROUGH: Mark Gronowski's Arrival IGNITES Iowa's Quarterback RENAISSANCE | Can He DELIVER?

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