Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - CONCERNS? Are Mark Gronowski's Preseason STRUGGLES Real for Iowa's Offense?

Starting point is 00:00:00 You can tell Hawkeye fans are ready for the season. The infighting is happening on message boards. Are there real concerns about Mark Grinowski and how he's going to look at the beginning of the year? We break it down today. Locked on Hawkeyes. You are Locked on Hawkeyes. Your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Starting point is 00:00:24 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. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. I've been covering the Hawkeyes for over 20 years on the radio here in the state of Iowa, lifelong Iowa, and a proud Hawkeye fan. I'm glad to have you aboard with us here today. We're going to talk a little bit about the Leadership Council that has been awarded for this season, some of the players on that list, some veterans, some new guys,

Starting point is 00:00:55 and we will get into that a little bit later on in the show. We'll also be joined by Elliott Clough from 247 SportsHawkeye Insider.com. Elliot will join us with the latest intel that he has on what's happening. And Iowa football fall camp will break things down with Elliot coming up here a little bit later on. But speaking of Elliott, speaking of Hawkeye Insider and speaking of message boards in general, the fighting is happening. And you can tell definitely Hawkeye fans right now are ready for this season to begin. Now, this is kind of a right of passage each and every year.

Starting point is 00:01:28 I personally have been somebody that's been on message board since 1997, the first one that I came across, as I show my age here. Yes, that was a very, very long time ago, kids. And the old Big Ten fan forums, the first time I ever saw a message board. And it was, well, just that. Big Ten fans going back and forth, a different looking Big Ten that it is certainly today. But at that time, this is what's going to happen as you get closer and closer to the season. And now, the information on those message boards, sometimes there's reasoning behind it. Other times, there's nothing at all.

Starting point is 00:02:03 But over the last few days, there's been a couple of things out there about Mark Grinowski maybe having some issues, having, not being as sharp as maybe Hawkeye fans would be hoping for. And you can take that a myriad of different ways. Look, if you were watching preseason football on Monday night, and you saw Joe Burrow and heard from Joe Burrow and talking about what they're working to do and ironing out the kinks. I go back to Sunday night

Starting point is 00:02:33 and what you saw from the Bears and Caleb Williams, who at times looked dreadful during camp. And then went out there and played an incredible game. Yes, preseason game, but played incredible on that first drive of the season for him that he had. It's still preseason.

Starting point is 00:02:49 And though that's preseason football in the NFL, this is preseason here for these guys. And when you hear these reports, because I mentioned it to you guys here a couple of times over the last few weeks since there's been a few of those moments that certainly out of the gate, Mark Grunowski was a little bit slower than maybe some people thought. And it takes me back to my expectations, my expectations for him, and why I do think I need to pump the brakes a little bit. And I talked about this last week and every day, you know, we've had this conversation. but what I look at what this is going to look like right away, what it's going to look like this season, getting this passing game up and running at an even C plus level,

Starting point is 00:03:33 B minus level, you go through the numbers. And I also got a kick as there was a report today. It wasn't really a report, and it's not to knock on Pete Nacos over at On 3, one of their national reporters, and he does great work himself, breaking all kinds of news happening and is deep into the recruiting world. But he puts out a tweet today, Iowa expected to tap South Dakota state transfer QB

Starting point is 00:04:00 Mark Grinowski for week one. And I said, Pete, tell us something we don't know. I mean, this is not news. We all knew this. And even with what we've heard from Tim Lester, that Hank Brown had an incredible camp, that Jeremy Hecklinsky, the Wake Forest Transfer, has done a great job of acclimating himself into it. This is not a surprise. We know that Mark Grinowski is the guy. But what is a baseline? And as I was going through that article, Iowa hasn't had a quarterback throw for more than 10

Starting point is 00:04:32 touchdowns in a season since 2019. Since that time, Iowa quarterbacks have thrown 38 touchdowns and 37 interceptions. And even with the shortened season of 2020, we're still talking about five years of football and those are the numbers that they've trotted out. Is it going to be better? It has to be. I mean, it just absolutely has to be better. However, what does that look like? What does that mean? What is better? And I think a big component of that, just being able to do the little things, the things that you take for granted on almost every other level of football. But it's been so difficult for Iowa. And what? we've seen and how snake-bitten Hawkeye fans have been at the quarterback position.

Starting point is 00:05:25 I think for the people that go down the path of Mark Radowski, we got damaged goods. We went through this again. We went through this whole song and dance with Kate McNamara. And he came in after a bunch of injuries at Michigan, which he did. He gets injured in that first Kids Day practice in 2003. He comes back. He wasn't ready. And then eventually he tears his ACL and he's out for the year.

Starting point is 00:05:49 And then he comes back and he's not able to go through spring practice. He's not able to make everything that you want in spring and summer because he's coming off an injury. And we saw last year, he was bad. And he's banged up again. And then he quit. I mean, all these things happen throughout the course of the season a year ago. You get it. You have this damage.

Starting point is 00:06:08 We all have this scar tissue as Hawkeye fans of the quarterback play and the bottom barrel that we've had. And I get the trepidation when it comes to. Grinowski and then you couple it with these reports that are out there concerns a lot of it could be BS I mean this a lot of these they're just that they're rumors nobody is sourcing it just what we're hearing and the same thing that I do like I don't have sourcing on this it's not people that I can throw out there because people will get in trouble if I attach their name to it that's not what we do but we pass it along to you and with Grinowski it leads me back expectations probably got to a level that were fair.

Starting point is 00:06:52 He's not going to throw for 3,500 yards. He's not going to throw for 25 touchdown this year. But can he throw for 2,000? I mean, that's been a mark that Iowa hasn't been able to get to. And if he's healthy for 12 regular season games, and he doesn't get to 2,000 yards passing, we've got another set of issues. Can he throw for 18 touchdowns?

Starting point is 00:07:12 Like one and a half a game. Get the completion percentage up over 65%. No, approaching that 67, 68%. And now we're talking again. But re-evaluating where we are. Re-evaluating what this is going to look like. The excuses, they need to be done. It's year number two of the offensive system.

Starting point is 00:07:35 Now, a quarterback that was wanted. A quarterback that absolutely Tim Lester, Kirk Ferrence, I mean, the praise that Kirk has thrown out to Mark Radowski. This is different, much different, even though what we heard with McNamara, and he was very highly talking about him also when he was brought in. But it's there, the opportunity's there, but now re-evaluating what it's going to look like. We're going to talk to Elliott Club. He's got some reports coming in from what he has seen out of the front of Iowa football,

Starting point is 00:08:10 what he's heard about. We're going to get into that a little bit deeper on who is going to be the left tackle. What's his report on Mark Radowski? about that and a whole lot more plenty of Iowa football talk with you here today on this edition of locked on hawkeyes this episode is brought to you by prize picks the daily fantasy platform that lets you turn your football predictions into real rewards preseason is already heating up and college football isn't far behind whether you got your eye on a big name quarterback breakout running packs. Prize picks makes it easy to get in on the game. Look, I absolutely love my bears. I haven't

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Starting point is 00:10:52 Stock up now before the heat hits hard. Trenkana back with you once again on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for being with us and making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day as we are joined by Elliott Clough from 24-7 sports. Let's get to Elliott Clough. He covers Iowa for 24-7 sports, Hawkeye Insider.com. Elliot, Trent and Ken, thank you again for joining us this week. Appreciate you coming on. I want to start with kind of a question and I've been asking most of our Hawkeye guests over the last little while.

Starting point is 00:11:32 When it comes to the Hawkeye football schedule, you can't say Penn State or Oregon. But what's a potential game that seemingly everybody's looking past? but in your mind, for whatever reason, right or wrong, that this game thinks might deserve a little bit closer look. What would that game be, Elliot? Yeah, Ken, the five games on this schedule, those two that you mentioned, Oregon, Penn State are definitely the headliners when you first look at schedule. After that, I look at three separate games. First one's going to be probably USC because California has never been kind to Kirk Farrant. or really the Iowa football program in the last, like, but 50 years.

Starting point is 00:12:18 That's one game that sticks out. I almost look at that one. You know, we still have a lot to learn about, well, one, this Iowa team, but USC, too. And I almost look at that one as an automatic lot. Like, UCLA was not that good last year. And Iowa went out there and laid an egg in that game. Of course, Jay Higgins getting hurt didn't help. But then you look at Indiana, which last time they came to Kinnick, Iowa just crushed them, even with Michael Pennex at the helm.

Starting point is 00:12:48 But this is a different team with Kurt Signetti. I think, I mean, Fernando Mendoza is very legit coming over from Cal. And then lastly, I mean, Iowa State, like obviously Iowa State hasn't beaten Iowa under Matt Campbell in Ames since Campbell took over. but we're about to release our season predictions on 24-7. We're doing that tomorrow, myself, Dave, and Sean. And I think I'm probably going to be the only one picking Iowa State in that game. But that's one that could definitely dictate the season. I mean, we saw that last year.

Starting point is 00:13:21 That team was looking to hopefully make the CFP and then losing that game. Well, the air kind of went out of the stadium in a way, even though it was early on in the season. And they lost that game to Ohio State, Michigan State, UCLA. I mean, it just was a season that kind of ended up. up being a disappointment. So I would say in order of import, Iowa State probably up there, but Indiana, I feel like Indiana is a game in terms of just overlooking it. Indiana's got to be up there because, yeah, they lose their starting quarterback. They had a really easy schedule last year, but they bring back a really solid defense. They got a really good quarterback coming over

Starting point is 00:13:58 in Mendoza. So it's got to be Indiana to me in terms of a game that I think people are overlooking. Offensively, deep running back room feels like they have a bunch of receivers, not sure if they're top end, but there's at least competent guys out there. The one question remains left tackle. Is this Trevor Lauks job? I mean, would it take a monstrous upset to not see him go out there and not get the opening snaps of the season out at left tackle? At this point, that's my read of it. That's kind of what we're hearing behind the scenes is that it's Laoq's job to lose at this point. That and, and, you know, conjecture around Laos being the more high-end guy, the guy with more potential, I think is pushing him up there towards the top, too.

Starting point is 00:14:41 It also, something that is kind of a secondary story on that front is it probably, I mean, it may very well push Jack Dothler to be in the backup at right tackle and getting him some, maybe some reps this year at Jennings Dunker's, you know, injury, or his injury this offseason, it continues to linger. And that also preps Jack Dotsler to takeover, right tackle next season with Lauk, presumably is your starter going into next year as well at left tackle. So to me, it's Lough's jobs to lose at this point. And he kind of fits the mold of what Iowa is right now and more or less what they have been.

Starting point is 00:15:19 Their strength is going to be running the ball. Their strength is going to be the play action pass. And he kind of falls into that mold alongside the Jennings Dunker, the Logan Jones, of both Steven. So not only, not only the high end point of, you know, him being a four-star recruit who had offered from Ohio State and Michigan, but also the fact that he just kind fits the mold right now of what they want to do. He's not a prototypical left tackle size. And of course, he's going to have his struggles being in his first year starting. But it is, it is lous job, at least from what I can tell right now.

Starting point is 00:15:52 What have you heard, and I don't think you guys have an available, coach availability this week. So where's Moulton and Patterson, both of whom were nicked up as far as their availability for the Albany game? Do we expect both of them to play? For right now, I would say so. Patterson, as far as I know, he's good to go. Washington was the one that sat out for kids' day. And he's been one that's been banged up a little bit. We might see, you know, a good chunk of those young running backs just so the guys that are upper towards the top can get a little healthy.

Starting point is 00:16:24 Like I said, as far as I know, Jazz Patterson is going to be good to go. But if they do sit out, if they do, you know, rest, it wouldn't necessarily surprise me for that first week because Albany is terrible. If we're being real, they've been a program that has been good in recent memory, I guess, in the SBS, but with the amount of turnover that they've had as far as the roster, new head coach. Like it should be just a win based on talent and size and ability to recruit alone for Iowa, one of those games. So it wouldn't shock me if, you know, Moulton and Washington just stay sideline for that first game. As far as the timeline, I'm not entirely sure. But, but, yeah, I mean, it wouldn't be that much of a surprise to see some of those younger guys,

Starting point is 00:17:11 like Xavier Williams, who we've heard good things about, like Nathan McNeil, who may very well burn his red shirt in year one. but but having jazz patterson out there probably to lead the group if that you know scenario does come to fruition will will provide a little bit of confidence in a guy that's been there done that and that we know is really hard to tackle so yeah yeah like I said I don't really know the timeline with with those top two guys but it also wouldn't surprise me if they're they're back and ready to go some of those injuries and offseason nicks and bruises can can be a little tricky but yeah it would you know not season ending by any means at all for those top guys all right elli

Starting point is 00:17:52 it's time to have the mark ronowski question um it's a prerequisite as we talk about the quarterback position at iowa kids date saw some good things also some things that maybe kind of leave you scratching there's been some reports that are out there including you guys at hawkeye insider this hasn't been 100% right it hasn't been perfect by any means him coming off the injury understanding the new offense all the things can he tell us kind of the latest and give us the latest that you have on the camp that we've heard from Mark Rodowski. Yeah, you know, like you said, it hasn't been perfect, and I think expecting it to be perfect isn't, you know, really rational.

Starting point is 00:18:29 I mean, bringing a guy in from the FCS and considering, you know, the difficulties of the Cade McNamara era and having those high expectations, it's just not fair. Now, you know, something that I've said to you guys multiple times is that it is a different situation. Mark Rennowski is a different leader in that respect. and he's got the experience. He's done a lot of really good things

Starting point is 00:18:50 and did a lot of really good things to South Dakota State. But right, I mean, it's practice in the middle of August. I mean, I don't know how much you guys have heard about the scrimmage that happened this last Saturday, but supposedly Mark didn't play all that great, but it was also 120 degrees on the field. So I'd be surprised if anybody played all that great. So, you know, the offense has been really focused.

Starting point is 00:19:16 on the passing game. So, you know, more reps, more opportunities to make mistakes. So it's going to look less perfect, even in that respect. But they are really focusing on that because the run game has been so solid and so good under Tim Lester. And they've got these guys, these young guys with experience that have been playing well and picking up the offense. So the focus has really been in the past game.

Starting point is 00:19:38 And it's provided a lot of opportunity for Mark to continue to grow in the respect of building chemistry. And I have heard he's starting to sharpen up a little bit in terms of minimizing the turnovers, minimizing the botched snap, minimizing those type of things, and hitting more throws with a more consistent basis. Is it perfect? Is it, you know, the greatest offense than, I don't know, the run and gun of 2002, probably not.

Starting point is 00:20:08 Like, that's a safe bet to say not at this point in time. But they are starting to work some kinks out. and I do still have relatively higher expectations for Grinowski as opposed to maybe other quarterbacks of the last decade. But yeah, it's not going to come, you know, it's not going to come without its issues. Like, Mark Grinowski is going to throw an interception. There's going to be fumbles this year. Like, it's not going to be perfect.

Starting point is 00:20:35 But it will be better. And there are going to be struggles at this point in the year. They're really just figuring things out still. And they've got a couple weeks to continue to figure it. figured out. And I do think that the offense is going to get progressively better throughout the fall. So you're going to see, you're going to see some rust, I think, to start the year. But as long as they can get past that Iowa State game and make it unscathed, I think they have a real opportunity to have some serious offensive success this year, particularly in the passing game once they get

Starting point is 00:21:08 some of those things worked out. If he throws a pick in that first series, it's all putting, oh, my gosh. The grumbling. Yeah. Hey, last thing for you, but we got about a minute left here, Elliot. When we do get a depth chart, I guess that'll be Monday, right, of next week.

Starting point is 00:21:23 Is there an or between Brown and Heklinsky, or does Brown, does he outright win the backup job? Because I keep hearing good things about Hicklinski. And if he was here in the spring, this thing would be a real fight. Yeah, yeah. I would say if he was in the spring,

Starting point is 00:21:41 I would be more inclined to say that there's an or between those two but right now it's brown i mean he's been taking reps for one too they've been splitting reps with him and mark renowski so um and obviously he didn't look great with the ones at kids day but um brown is really impressed like i'm sure you guys have heard the quote from tim leicester saying he had an unbelievable camp um i mean he's he's legit like we'll probably be talking more about the or or who you know takes over the starting job between those two next year. But for right now, I think it's, it's Brown as the backup. And I think he's pretty firmly the backup. Um, with Heklinsky having basically just arrived, it's, it's just

Starting point is 00:22:20 different, right? Like, and there's the age difference. So, so to me, it's pretty firmly that, pretty firm rather, that, that Hank Brown is, is QB2 for the Hawks. There he is. He is Elliott Club 24-7 SportsHawkeye Insider.com. And a big thank you to Elliot, as always, for joining us here on the program and talking to all things Hawkeyes as we break down camp. and get ready for football season. Well, speaking of getting ready for football season, one of the biggest things that Kirk Farrants talks about is leadership. The player council, it is just that.

Starting point is 00:22:50 Who are the players that were named to the leadership player council? We'll talk about that. And in its importance to Iowa football, as we continue, this is Locked on Hawkeyes. If you're running a business, every miss call is money left on the table. Think about the last time you needed a service. the first person didn't answer, did you wait? Probably not. You moved on. That's why you need open phone, so you never miss an opportunity to connect with your customers. Open phone is the

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Starting point is 00:24:11 Lockdown College. They'll even port over your existing numbers for free. Open phone. No miss calls. No miss customers. Trekan and back with you one final time on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for being with us and making Lockdown Hawkeyes

Starting point is 00:24:31 your first listen every day. Big thank you to Every Dayers with us each and every day. And if you're watching us on YouTube, hit that subscribe button as we continue. Try to push towards 5,000 subscribers here on the channel. If you're over on the audio side, five-star reviews, all of that helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Let's get into the Leadership Player Council.

Starting point is 00:24:54 Now, this is something that is important to Iowa football. Kirk Farrant, so this program is built. And yes, Iowa football is built much differently than a lot of programs out there. And I think there's a couple of interesting names on there. So overall, what is it, 15 players that were, named to the player counselor. These are the people that get together at different times throughout the course of the year, make a lot of decisions on different things that they need, different things that they're

Starting point is 00:25:20 doing. And this is kind of that soundboard that Iowa has. And this dates back to a number of years now and something that has been implemented and something that Kirk Farrantz, I think, enjoys something that he believes is incredibly important. So names on the list that aren't a surprise, guys that we know going to be there. out of the guys that have stuck around for an extra season. Jennings Dunker, of course, Aaron Graves,

Starting point is 00:25:44 Jaden Harrow, Ethan Hurkin, Logan Jones, Hayden Large. All right, those are all guys, not a surprise at all. Another guy that isn't a surprise is Cohen-entry because he was at Big Ten Media Days after one career start, something we've never seen in the Kirk Perrin's era. Here's a big one, though, is Mark Grinowski. And Grinowski being on this leadership group, I think, is important. He has acclimated himself incredibly well.

Starting point is 00:26:07 And as we've talked about Grinowski and maybe trying to even out those highs that we've hit and what we're talking about the season that he can have in front of us, being a real leader. Not the false bravado that we saw from Cade McNamara, but having Grinowski that gets it. And being the kind of leader that Iowa football needs. Look, they've had good leaders at the quarterback spot that are different. Nate Staley was not a rah, raw guy. He was not a guy that really said a whole lot. And then he got goofy guys like Ricky Stansy.

Starting point is 00:26:39 And then he got red asses like Drew Tate. And he got somebody that everybody loved and Brad Banks. You could be a good leader and he could do it a myriad of different ways. And we've certainly seen that at that position. But for Iowa football, Mark Grinowski is the type, I believe, that works best. A couple of her names on the list. Some young guys on there. Jane Montgomery also showed up who's battling Jane Harrell for that starting job

Starting point is 00:27:03 at the Mike linebacker, middle linebacker spot. Sophomores, Zach Lutmer, another name, shouldn't come as a surprise. We've heard a ton about him. Kamari Moulton, hopefully Kamari's getting back healthy and close to 100%. Then a couple other guys on the list, veterans, Addison Estrangea, Jeremiah Pittman, and Jackson, Rethro. So that is your list of 15 guys, but I think the one that certainly jumps out as Grinowski, the short time on campus, being around and being named to that. August 30th, we are counting down the days.

Starting point is 00:27:34 We are getting closer and closer. and on tomorrow's edition of lockdown Hawkeyes, we got something a little bit special. For you long timers, you everydayers who have been with us for a long time, you remember my buddy Biz. He is going to be back for the first time for this season and hopefully something that we can make happen weekly.

Starting point is 00:27:51 Biz is going to join us, breaking all things down. Hawkeye will get his perspective and his opinions. And you know, you don't have to go very far to get an opinion from Biz. That's coming up tomorrow. Hope everybody enjoys that one. A busy week here in front of us as we continue. to try to get that information mentioned last week,

Starting point is 00:28:09 getting a little bit tighter around the edges, trying to find any little glimmer that we have. I also want to talk a little basketball later in the week as well as we come to you each and every day. That's what we do here on the lockdown network, your team every day. I got you covered on the Hawkeye front, all the Hawkeye news,

Starting point is 00:28:24 all the conversations right here on Lockdown Hawkeyes. As always, thanks for being with us and making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Until then, go Hawks. Thank you.

Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - CONCERNS? Are Mark Gronowski's Preseason STRUGGLES Real for Iowa's Offense?

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