Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Brody Brecht commits to Iowa, who's next? | Breaking down key takeaways from Fran's press conference | Analyzing Iowa's biggest what if in program history

Episode Date: May 4, 2020

Iowa lands another in-state commit. We break that down and what is next for the program in terms of recruiting before jumping into our key takeaways from Fran McCaffery's press conference. We wrap up the show with the first piece of our week long analysis of some of the biggest what-ifs in Iowa history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I thank God I was born on the good arms of the Midwest, and not on the battlefields of the U.S. It's a time of panic, and it's intercepted! It's picked off right away! Intercepted by Marty Hooker! Pick six! Eight seconds into the game! Buffen sets up deep in the pocket, goes down the field for Smith!

Oh! He's got it! Smith! Touchdown. 85 yards. High on. Touchdown, 10. Taking a shot in the end zone.

It is caught. No offense. Touchdown. That's either one or you have it. Go ahead and three. Yes. Two-point lead for the Hawkeyes. Welcome to a Monday morning edition of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network.

As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade. Excited to be back after a nice weekend to talk to you about some Iowa Hawkeyes stuff. Some great news happening over the last couple of days. Want to get into some Iowa football recruiting news. And then also, Fran McCaffrey did a press conference, or basically a Zoom meeting where he talked a lot about this upcoming team. Want to talk about some of the takeaways I gathered from that press conference, what I think it means for the Hawks going forward.

And then this week on the Lockdown Podcast Network, we're going to be doing the what ifs. So what are some of the biggest what ifs in the history of Iowa Hawkeye athletics? I'm going to be kind of tuning my focus in mostly to some of the recent history. And on today's what ifs, we're going to talk about what if LJ Scott doesn't score in the 2015 Big Ten Championship game. So that is all coming up on today's episode of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast, which is brought to you by Built Bar, the best tasting protein bar on the market today.

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make sure to like, review, and subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast at, whether that is Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or the brand new Himalaya Podcast app. And make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And as a quick reminder, every single Tuesday, we are doing our special TBT Tuesday episode where we interview one of the players for the Iowa United as they prepare for the $2 million winner-take-all tournament

this upcoming July and August. And as a reminder, that team is comprised of members of Iowa, Drake, and Iowa State, and a few graduate transfers, if you will. On tomorrow's episode, we have former Iowa Hawkeye Nicholas Bayer on the show, so make sure to tune into that episode as well. That being said, let's jump right into the show. Recruiting updates. It has been a fantastic couple weeks in Iowa football news. They have done a great job of making do with the situation that's currently at hand and still managing to land some fantastic recruits. The

big one here is Brody Brecht, a wide receiver out of Ankeny, Iowa, 6'4", 205 pounds, just got clocked at 4.45 seconds in the 40-yard dash. This is a huge win, not just because Iowa needs to continue to build that wide receiver group, which they are doing a great job of. Kelton Copeland really crushing it right there. But Iowa just, you know, to win the in-state battle is huge for the Hawks, and that's what they continue to do. And they continue to steal guys from Iowa State and even Nebraska, for example.

Brody Brecht had offers from Iowa State and Nebraska. He decided he was down to Iowa and Iowa State. He ultimately committed to the Hawks, which was just huge. Like I said, a fantastic playmaker, a guy who was going to be dynamic with the ball in his hands. Given his size and weight, he's already ready for the collegiate level. He has the speed. Imagine playing in the Iowa Hawkeye program and working with Chris Doyle. That speed can even improve on that.

4'4", 5", as a junior is just downright impressive. Throws a 90-mile-an-hour fastball in baseball. Like I said, just a great athlete. Currently, he is ranked the 577th prospect in the nation, the 92nd wide receiver prospect in the country, and the 9th prospect in Iowa. Big win for the Hawks to land Brody Brecht. And this just continues the momentum for this Hawkeye

recruiting efforts for the class of 2021. We saw this last year with the class of 2020. Once the recruits, you know, once the commit started rolling in, it just started to become a flow. Almost like every other day, there was a new commit and it put, you know, the Hawks put together one of the best recruiting classes we've seen in the history of the program. And I think right now you could say that they're doing that right now with this class already. Currently ranked sixth in the nation, second in the Big Ten, 14 commits overall, four four-star commits. So just you got to love what they're doing with this program right now. You got to love what they're doing from a commitment standpoint. And I personally do not think that this is it. I do not think that the train stops right now. I think over the course

of the next month, we're going to see multiple guys commit to the Hawks, and the big one that needs to fall, in my personal opinion, is Thomas Fadone. 6'4.5", tight end, 218 pounds, one of the top 100 players in the country, 97th in the nation, second tight end in the country, first in Iowa. Right now, he is leaning towards Nebraska according to 24-7 Sports, but Iowa is also at the top of his list. And this guy has been very busy retweeting some of these Iowa Hawkeye recruits who are committing to the Hawks. Very active with Iowa Hawkeye Twitter. He worked out with Noah Fant a couple weeks ago. So this is a guy that I think we need to keep our eye on.

I honestly, I know he's from Council Bluffs, went to go into Lewis Central High School. I know that that's pretty close to Nebraska. It's closer to Nebraska's backyard than it is Iowa, despite the fact that he is in the state. But I don't know how you don't go to Iowa in this situation. I truly don't understand how you wouldn't go to Iowa in this situation. It's clear that they are not only one of the best tight end schools in the Big Ten, significantly better than Nebraska by any means, they are one of the best tight end schools in the country.

Some would call them tight end U. I would agree with that. We're going to be talking a bit about that on another segment later on in the week. But how do you not go to Iowa? You're enjoying the bond you have with the current commits that are already there in the class of 2021. You have a bond with another guy, one of your former teammates, Logan Jones, the top prospect in last year's class, the class of 2020. I'd be shocked if he didn't go to Iowa.

If Nebraska gets him, great for Nebraska, but I just don't understand how you wouldn't go to Iowa in that situation. Another guy to keep your eye out on is Skyler Bell, a wide receiver recruit from Taft in Connecticut. This is a guy, the reason why I say keep your eye on him is he's actually going to be announcing his commitment later on in this month. He goes to the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, a wide receiver prospect, 6'1", 185 pounds. But the big thing is he goes to the same school as Devontae Vines, a recruit in the class of 2020.

So he has that familiarity there. Right now, the crystal ball prediction from 24-7 sports has Iowa as the lead for this. A guy who's been recruited by Kelton Copeland and Ken O'Keefe themselves. So, I mean, I think it'd be hard to, I'd be surprised to not see him go to the Hawks. So that's another guy to keep your eyes on. A few other guys that are kind of warm on Iowa's list but haven't made a lot of big news as far as when they plan on committing. So not going to go into details on those guys.

But this recruitment train could continue to roll. And I think, like I said, what's more impressive, the fact that Iowa is doing this in the state and doing this during the quarantine is just fantastic and gets me really excited for the future of this program. I think the fact that they've had so much success having players drafted in the first round and in the draft in general over the last couple years is definitely a huge recruiting tool.

You see the way that Iowa plays football game in and game out. They do not get knocked down by some of the powerhouse programs in NCAA. And that, I think, stands out to recruits. And the fact that they're taking guys that are two-star recruits, three-star recruits, and turning them into NFL players. They're taking guys who want to work hard and making them future pro bowlers. That resonates with a lot of recruits. And the guys who it doesn't resonate with, typically to me, means they're probably not buying into the message that Iowa sells. And what Iowa sells is the truth. And if I'm an Iowa Hawkeye fan, I can really respect and get behind that.

Iowa's not coming in and blowing smoke up someone's dress. They're telling them the truth about what they need to get better at and why Iowa can help them. So the commits that do decide to join the program are the right commits. I think Iowa has really done a great job the last few years of doing that, and I'm really excited to see what happens over the next couple weeks to see if this recruitment train continues to roll for the Iowa Hawkeyes. That'll do it, though, for our recruitment talk on today's episode.

Coming up on segment number two, we're going to jump into some of the takeaways from Fran's press conference. Talked a bit about the roster and why this roster looks like it's pretty solidified for next year. I think he's pretty confident Luka Garza is coming back. Also going to talk about why Iowa is adding their own tournament next year. And kind of what the plan is for the 2021-2022 season. Which I think he did give some insight on or into as well. Before we do that, though, I want to take a quick moment to recognize Built Bar for

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your own Built Bar box. It is LOCKEDON. Use that code LOCKEDON at their website on your first order and you can get $10 off. So go to BuiltBar.com and use promo code LOCKEDON. You'll get $10 off your first order. That is promo code LOCKEDON for $10 off at BuiltBar.com. We are back for segment number two of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. I want to touch on the press conference that Fran McCaffery did last week.

I know it's a few days late, but obviously wanted to make sure I got this out. We had a great interview with Jovan Johnson that aired on a Friday, so didn't get an opportunity to discuss this, but want to make sure we do take the time to discuss this today. And he mentioned a lot of things I take a lot of, you know, put a lot of weight into kind of predicting what the future beholds for the Iowa Hawkeyes. The first is the fact that Patrick McCaffrey is over 200 pounds.

That is huge. We saw in his freshman season there were some concerns about whether or not he would be able to hold up to the rigors of the collegiate basketball schedule. And I would say, to a lesser extent, we didn't get to see that due to the weight concerns. It was more due to recurring issues with previously battled cancer that he won and defeated. But it seems like there were some things that were kind of lingering from that. The fact that he's over 200 pounds to me says that he's able to get back in the weight room. He's able to put on some weight, which is huge for not only next season,

but showing that he might be in good health after dealing with some of those side effects of previously having cancer. So having Patrick McCaffrey would be a huge asset to this team. Having his versatility to cover three, four different positions and the size to basically drive down the court, rebound the ball, shoot the ball, all those things. I think Patrick McCaffrey could be a huge asset that people are kind of sleeping on when it comes to Iowa Hawkeyes next year. So huge news for that, seeing that he is getting some weight on him. Also, it sounds like the Hawks are only looking to add two guys

in the recruitment class next year. And to me, that speaks to the fact that Luka Garza is going to be graduating, and so is Jordan Bohannon. And so if that is the case, that leaves out Joe Wieskamp. It sounds like right now, Fran McCaffrey doesn't expect Joe Wieskamp to leave. And, you know, maybe he doesn't want to say it out loud. Maybe he is kind of actively looking for a third guy. But right now, it looks like they're looking for just two guys

for next year's recruiting class. And they're actually hot on the trail of one guy I want to make sure to make a note of for you all. A guy who is a four-star recruit, could be a pretty big grab for the Hawks. 6'11", 240-pound center, Gabe Witznitzer, the 125th ranked prospect in the nation, 25th ranked power forward center in the nation. A guy who has 16 offers currently, just picked up an offer from Iowa less than a month ago. He's already scheduling a virtual visit with them. This could be a guy who could be a replacement for Luka Garza at that center position.

So they're hot on the trails of him. Obviously, we'll keep you updated on the recruiting news as it continues to happen for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Other takeaways from that press conference, he did say they are not actively looking for any people on the transfer market, which to me means that he thinks Luka Garza is coming back. There also was a report that scouts thought that Luka Garza was almost certainly going to return or certainly should return to continue his development. They felt like he had a lot of things he could continue to work on, but definitely felt like he was a good pro prospect. Again, if Luka Garza returns, that's huge for the Iowa Hawkeyes heading into next season, as long as we do get a basketball season. The other thing he does think the world of Cordell Pemzel understands that he just wanted

to get additional playing time. I think that was pretty logical. Obviously, there's a lot of good feelings and goodwill towards Cordell Pemzel. Even though he had some off-the-court issues, no ill will there towards Pemzel. And I think Fran McCaffrey is obviously going to be rooting for him. As Iowa Hawkeye fans, if you are currently still bashing Cordell Pemzel, I think that's complete crap. I mean, the kid made some mistakes.

Was he the best player in Iowa? Not at all. But he did work his butt off when he was on the court. It's unfortunate that injuries and whatnot kind of derailed his potential career at Iowa. But I am going to be rooting for him next year in his grad transfer season. The other big news is that Iowa is not going to be playing in a tournament next year. They are going to be hosting their own. And I'm not really sure what to think of it. There's a lot of different kind of rumors floating out there as to why. It could be the fact that

Iowa didn't get invited. It could be the fact that Iowa wants to save money and host a tournament at their own place. Maybe they want to bring a few teams in to Iowa City and have them at their own tournament. As of right now, though, there's not a lot of teams that are currently available to have a Thanksgiving tournament. So the question now becomes, how do you get these teams here? How do you get the remaining teams to make a good tournament

that actually gives Iowa some credibility when it comes to some of the voters and whatnot when it comes to tournament time? I think the fact that Iowa played in Las Vegas this past year was really helpful for them. They went against a San Diego State team that they were up in the middle of the second half against this team that ended up going on a huge run, was one of the best teams in the nation. They took down a Texas Tech team that came in ranked. It gave Iowa some momentum. Creighton, one of the best teams in the country this year as well. That gave Iowa a lot of hype and a lot of credibility because they played in that really strong, surprisingly strong Thanksgiving tournament. So to not go to a tournament somewhere else, to me, is kind of shocking.

Again, I think it's interesting, the timing of this to come out. I wonder if it has something to do with coronavirus and the fact that Iowa wants to save a bit of money because of the loss of profits from all the things that are happening this year. Obviously, not getting into the NCAA tournament, not having one definitely is going to hurt schools that had a good basketball program, especially on the men's and women's side. Not having a men's wrestling championship was huge for this team. So maybe it is about saving money.

Maybe it is about the fact they didn't get invited, but I would find that kind of hard to imagine. When you look at the turnout from the Las Vegas Invitational, it was a large portion of Iowa fans. A lot of Iowa Hawkeye fans showed up for that. And you would expect San Diego State fans to be there, but considering they're not that far away from Las Vegas, but not nearly as good of a turnout as the Iowa fans had for that turnout. So I think a fan traveling

thing is definitely not an issue from a tournament inviting Iowa. Iowa definitely has the talent to warrant an invitation to a big-time tournament. So there's definitely something that works behind the scenes. Other than that, I think it is about money. I think it is about Iowa potentially bringing in a few of the, the more, the schools that are kind of closer to them and having the opportunity to gain more money by hosting a tournament at Carver Hawkeye Arena, looking to bring in some additional revenue to that team and, and obviously get the home crowd advantage for that team to win a couple games and kind of get off to a good start. Also, as we know, the Big Ten is a daunting conference to play in, one of the toughest

conferences in the nation. Last year, it was the toughest conference in the nation. My guess is this year, it'll be along those lines as well. So maybe that's kind of what the idea is going into that. That being said, as we get more information on that, we'll make sure to discuss that on the show going forward. We are going to wrap up segment number two. On segment number three, we're going to be doing what ifs for the whole week. And segment number three is going to be,

what if LJ Scott doesn't score in the 2015 Big Ten Championship? What happens to the Iowa Hawkeyes going forward? So we'll be talking about that on segment number three of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. We are back for segment number three of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes. And today's episode, as I have told you a couple times, is brought to you by Built Bar, the best tasting protein bar on the market today. Use promo code LOCKEDON at BuiltBar.com

to get your package of Built Bars right at your door today. So to wrap up today's episode, and for the whole week we're going to be doing what ifs, and on today's episode we are doing what if LJ Scott doesn't score in the 2015 Big Ten Championship game. And the easy one to start off, if LJ Scott does not score in that Big Ten Championship game, I win a couple hundred dollars because I was in Las Vegas at that time,

made a bet on Iowa winning because I always bet on Iowa winning. I just can't imagine not betting on them winning. And they lost. That was unfortunate. My wife screwed up the bet and bet on the spread and ended up covering and winning. So good for her, I guess. But the biggest thing that would have happened is Iowa would have won, and Iowa would have won some money. But had Iowa won that game, they would have been in the college football playoffs for the very first time in the history of the program,

the only time they would have been there so far since it is relatively new. They haven't been that close since that year where they went 12-0. And if they do go to the college football playoffs, I think it would be interesting to see where they're ranked. Iowa was not getting a lot of hype going into that. They played, you know, they had a relatively weak schedule. I'll give, you know, proponents of that

the fact they had a weak schedule. I think, though, going into the college football playoffs, the seeding was Clemson 1, Oklahoma 4, Alabama 2, Michigan State 3. I do think, either way, Iowa wouldn't have beaten Clemson or Alabama. Both teams were superb that year.

I don't think Iowa could have taken down either of those teams. I do think Iowa would have put up a better fight against Alabama than Michigan State did. And I do think Iowa would have put up a better fight against Clemson than Oklahoma did. And purely from the state that I think Iowa, the way they play football, and purely from the stake that I think Iowa, the way they play football, is truly about being fundamentally sound and not giving up any big plays, not getting outside of their assignments. And we saw against Christian McCaffrey in the Rose Bowl, Christian McCaffrey is one of the most dynamic players in the NFL.

I would say probably top five most dynamic players in the NFL. Going against him for Stanford was just devastating for the Hawks. They won 45-16. Christian McCaffrey put together quite a freaking day when you look at it. 18 carries, 172 yards. Receiving-wise, four receptions, 105 yards, a long, a 75. Kick returns, one for 28. Punt returns, one for 63 and a touchdown he was basically the

sole player who did everything for Stanford that day everyone else was pretty quiet outside of Christian McCaffrey who had half of the receiving yards had 95 percent of the rushing yards most of the return yards I mean when you go against a guy like Christian McCaffrey there's just no defending that guy sometimes and Iowa was victim to that. So if Iowa beats Michigan State, if LJ Scott doesn't get that score on that second chance dive into the end zone, I think, you know, clearly we don't have to deal with the frustration of watching Iowa lose in the Rose Bowl, which was very unfortunate. I do think we see Iowa lose to Alabama or Clemson. However, I do think given the seeding that Iowa would have been a 4 seed

in the college world playoffs. I do not think that they would have been the 3 seed as Michigan State was. I feel like with the way the national media perceived Iowa, they wouldn't have gotten in with that 3 seed. They would have barely swung in

with that 4 seed and played Clemson. And Clemson was a fantastic team. They ended up losing to Alabama 45-40 in the national championship game. A very well played game. They were led by, and you'll know this guy, Deshaun Watson as a sophomore. They also had Mike Williams as a junior. A fantastic receiver who got drafted seventh overall by the Chargers. A few running backs that you're all probably going to remember on that team. Wayne Goldman currently with the Giants. We have Ray-Ray McLeod, CJ Fuller. Guys who you definitely recognize from that team.

On the defensive side of the ball, you have Dorian O'Daniel, McKenzie Alexander, J-Ron Kirst, Ben Boulware. So a few pretty good defensive guys. Christian Wilkins, DJ Reeder, Shaq Lawson, Kevin Dodd, Cleland Farrell. All some very talented players on that defense as well. However, I just feel like the way Iowa plays some of these top-ranked teams, they do not typically, I mean, the game against Stanford was definitely an anomaly in terms of the score of that game. Iowa does a great job of keeping games close just by default,

the way they rely on the running game. They rely on a very solid bend but don't break defense, a zone defense that allows or keeps everything in front of them. I think they would have been able to contain Deshaun Watson. I do think they would have lost probably by 14-17, but I think they would have gained a lot more respect than Michigan State did by getting blown out 38-0 against Alabama in the quarterfinals, the semifinals, excuse me. That is personally my thought there.

Like I said, there's nothing you can say about it. you can't do anything to base that off of anything at this point I just don't think Clemson had faced a team like Iowa even going as Oklahoma Oklahoma is not a team that's gonna play smash mouth football they play you know they're they're a more spread based team that's what Lincoln Riley does and I just do not feel like Iowa would have laid down like Oklahoma did in that game. I personally feel like the Hawks would have at least kept it close, close enough to have been in a position to win that game, at least in the fourth quarter. Just my thoughts, though.

One of the biggest what-ifs, though, definitely would have been great for the perception of the program to at least go to a college football playoff, considering it's mostly just the same four or five teams every single freaking year going into the college football playoffs. So kind of unfortunate there, but would have been cool to see Iowa go there. I don't think that team gets as much love as they deserve. Definitely not the most talented team in Iowa Hawkeye history, but when you go 12-0, that's still impressive nevertheless. So it would have been fun to see. Definitely a big what if. I think it would have been a really cool experience for Iowa Hawkeye fans

to see Iowa win that Big Ten championship and get to go into the college football playoffs and potentially play against a team like Clemson to see how they would have matched up against them. I know Iowa fans have been clamoring for a potential matchup against those teams. I'm not going to be ignorant here and think that Iowa is more talented than those teams, but I do think the way Iowa plays could have voted well for them to at least be relatively successful early on against a team like a Clemson or an Alabama.

Let me know your thoughts, though. Let me know what you think would have happened had LJ Scott not gotten in on that final push for the touchdown late in the fourth quarter in the Big Ten championship game. Would be interesting to see what you all think about that. But that'll do it for our Monday morning episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Again, appreciate you all tuning in to today's episode. Make sure to check out tomorrow's episode where we interview Nicholas Bayer on our special TBT Tuesdays as he is a part of the Iowa United heading into his second year with the team

in the $2 million winner taketake-all, the basketball tournament. So definitely check that out on tomorrow's episode. We'll have another regular programmed episode coming at you Thursday and Friday morning this week. If you did like what you heard today, make sure to like, review, and subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast at. And make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We appreciate all the love and support. Trying to interact with all of you as much as we can on there, so make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We appreciate all the love and support trying to interact with all of you as much as we

can on there. So make sure to do that as well. And again, thank you all for tuning into today's episode. I hope you had a fantastic weekend, Hawkeye Nation. Stay safe out there and let's go Hawks! We'll see you next time.