Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Cooper DeJean Joins the Show, Iowa Football Sell Outs, Iowa Basketball Nonconference Schedule released

Episode Date: July 21, 2022

On today's episode, Trent Condon is joined by Hawkeye football defensive back Cooper DeJean. They talk about the upcoming football season, where we'll see him and the possibility of him being a holder for field goals and extra points. And his NIL opportunity with saturdayscount.com.Trent also talks about 3 games already being sold out at historic Kinnick Stadium, the new NIL Collective for football and basketball players, a look to the future with the College Football Playoff and the nonconference schedule in basketball. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at Linkedin.com/lockedoncollege Terms and conditions apply.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cooper DeGene stops by for a conversation about Iowa football, a new NIL collective for Iowa men's and women's basketball and the football side of things, changes and transfer rules, new college football playoff system, maybe around the corner, single game tickets available for Iowa football and the non-conference schedule is out for hoops. All come your way today on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Our Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Well, welcome in. It's another edition of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Glad to have you aboard with us and making your first stop on all things Hawkeyes. A busy show today as I come to you live from Iowa City. That's right. Not in Des Moines here today. I am in Iowa City. Well, actually, Coralville, to be exact.

Getting ready for some state baseball later today as I'll be broadcasting the Class 4A state semifinals and then the championship game tomorrow night. So, well, as you can see behind me, a little bit different look. We are in a hotel room and we'll be talking with Cooper DeGene coming up here in just a little bit. Looking forward to our conversation. Talking about him as he gets ready for his second season with the Hawkeyes played cornerback last year maybe the cash position a spot where he can go and certainly special teams with just what a high level athlete he is what a playmaker he was going back to his

high school days a possibility of that also being there so we'll talk to Cooper about that and a whole lot more coming up here a little bit later on in the show. While we got a moment before we get to Cooper and everything going on in Hawkeye Athletics, want to talk a little bit about some of our great sponsors here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast and making us your first listen every day, free and available wherever you get podcasts. So want to kick things off here and talk a little bit about what we are seeing and the changing world, certainly of athletics and college sports as a whole.

Iowa launches the new NIL Collective as they go out and they make the decision and need a little bit of help to get there, but ultimately that the new collective, it's called Iowa Swarm, Hawkeye Swarm, iowaswarm.com is where you can go for all the details about this. And it's a great website, looks beautiful. They've done it right. And you look at certainly the way that this has come down and the way that this all came together here over the last few months. And it's been a conversation that's been happening for quite a while right now. How is Iowa going to get involved? You see the big things.

You see the Lamborghinis. You see the cars. You see millions of dollars being thrown around. And how is Iowa going to compete? It was a big question, I know, for a lot of the fan base. Iowa is in a really good spot. State school, the University of Iowa, great attendance, great crowds, great fan base. But in comparison to what you see at a place like Texas A&M or what is happening at Miami,

I know it was concerning for some people to look at that and say, how is Iowa going to compete? I never believed it was going to be that big of a deal. Now, is Iowa ever going to get into the waters that we see at places like mentioned A&M, Miami, even Alabama? I don't think so, but they never were. When you look at recruiting and the guys that they competed for and went up against. He had Xavier Wampa last year. He had big time offers. And of course, Caden Proctor, what he committed here a few weeks back, that was a big time

get him beating Alabama for his services. Those guys, though, were in-state guys. And when you look at it, NIL opportunities are going to be there just because of that. You go to Alabama, frankly, you're just another guy. You stay in-state and you become a Hawkeye. That is where some opportunities are going to come. But what Hawkeye Swarm, Iowa Swarm is looking to do is at least give Iowa, you know, that step up in competition where they are competing, where they have a chance at a high level. And you can join right now. Just go to iowaswarm.com. You can pay $100 a month, $250,000, $500,000. You can be billed monthly as low as $19.58.

So there's a lot of different ways to get involved. You don't have to break the bank. If you don't have a ton of money that you want to throw at this each and every week, you can do that. You can be billed yearly, $200,000, up to $10,000. So there's a lot of different benefits that are also available with this. If you do the $200 a year, you get a Hawkeye Swarm decal, membership card, a t-shirt, annual fan festival, and access to the private marketplace. So there's that available. And then you just jump up at different levels. But regardless of where

you are, if you want to help out, if you want to be a part of this collective iowaswarm.com is the way to go it's an opportunity now for Iowa to compete to be at that same level that some of these other teams are you look at in places your brethren the Wisconsin's the Minnesota's the Illinois's of the world more than anything you want to be able to keep up and that certainly looks like it's going to be the case now with this in place just a a week and a half before that, we also saw the launch of another collective for players only. Not everybody had signed up for it, but it was through a different company. So there's a couple of different places out there, a couple of different opportunities, certainly for you to get involved and see if you can help out these student athletes and make a little money.

They're out there each and every Saturday for you and doing it throughout the course of the basketball season, wrestling, field hockey, doesn't matter what it is, but just an easier way to get involved. Now, Iowa Swarm, right now, this is for men's and women's basketball and football only. Down the line, could that expand? Could wrestling be a part of it? Softball, track and field, whatever the sport may be, that's a possibility. But for the here and now, it is for those three teams, men's basketball, women's basketball, and also, of course, the football team. IowaSwarm.com, again, where you can go for that to find out a little bit more about the Iowa collective. Well, as mentioned, we got Cooper DeGene coming out here in just a little bit, excited to get him on with us. And we will talk a little bit excited to get him on with us and we will talk a little bit more

about everything going on with Hawkeye football as they gear up next week it's media day and after that of course really practice is going to ramp up in a big time way and certainly looking forward to that that's coming up here in just a little bit we also got to talk about some basketball today non-conference schedule is upon us. A very difficult slate for Fran McCaffrey's squad, and we'll get into that a little bit later on. One other place I wanted to go with you here in our opening segment, and that is single game ticket sales that just went on sale today. So you're a Hawkeye fan, and you're not going to be able to get season tickets. You're somebody like me, got kids, it's a little bit more difficult not being able to make it

each and every Saturday to Iowa City. Completely understand it. Well, if you want to go to the Michigan game, you're going to have to go to a secondary market. You want to go to Iowa State in week two, same thing. And now it was announced earlier today, also week three. Yeah, the third matchup has been announced to sell out the game against Wisconsin. So already three of the five games have been announced as sellouts. Game one, Labor Day weekend against South Dakota State. Tickets available for that one. The night game against Nevada after the Iowa State game at week three. Tickets available for that.

Northwestern, that'll be on October 29th. You can get tickets for that one. And then finally, the Black Friday matchup against Nebraska. So they're going incredibly quick. The anticipation certainly there. Coming off a championship season, winning the Big Ten West for the second time. No surprise that that is the case. You would anticipate that people are going to be fired up. And we have certainly seen that so far with people getting involved with the tickets. So if you're looking right now,

Hey, get your tickets. I'm going to tell you right now, going to be close to a sellout and maybe trending towards a direction. They're going to be very close to selling out all these games even before the season begins. I've heard that the student section has been sold out for a while. Those tickets went very quickly. So, hey, it's a great time. Come to Iowa City. Have an opportunity. If you're somebody that can only make a game or two a year, that's absolutely understandable for me.

I try to make three games a year. That's where I am. I love to come over. Wish it was more, but I have a two and a seven-year-old, right? That's just not likely to happen anymore for me. Making the drive over from Des Moines, it's a couple of hours, but the time investment that goes into it. So just saying right now, if you have that opportunity, certainly want to do that as three games now have already been sold out. Iowa State, Michigan, and the Wisconsin game earlier today announced as a sellout.

When we come back, Cooper DeGene is going to join us. We're going to talk to him about everything going on as Iowa gears up for practice next week. It's media days for the Big Ten. Cooper will not be there, but three Hawkeyes will be there. Jack Campbell, KVON, Merriweather. And also we will hear from Sam Laporta next week in Indianapolis at Big Ten Football Media Days. Coming up next, we're talking with Cooper as we continue on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. For the people who invented healthy and tasty comes the latest gift for your taste buds.

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Again, use promo LOCKED15 for that opportunity. Certainly good stuff there. And right now, getting ready to welcome in our guest. He is Cooper Dejean. He is the outstanding defensive back for the Iowa Hawkeyes as Iowa gets ready for practice. And Cooper, hey, good to see you. Looks like, what, getting some lift in? What's going on with you today? Yeah, we just had our workouts uh this month um got another little little workout in on the field um here um now i'm watching some film doing things like that so you know a season into it you go through your first spring practice and an opportunity a year ago

to kind of get your feet wet to get out there on the field see a lot of playing time on special teams got to play a little defense play play some cornerback. Take us back going through that first year in the Hawkeye program and what it was, getting that opportunity to go out on the field on top of it and not having the full red shirt. Yeah, it was great. I mean, obviously the beginning of the year, I didn't get on the field for those first five or six games, but I was just trying to learn as much as I can, even without being on the field, just from the older guys and things like that. Then I got in on some special teams, and some injuries happened.

some injuries happened. Um, and then I, I saw some playing time, time on the field, but I think, I think as far as you're on the same page, I was, I was ready to get out there and,

um, and help the team in any way. Um, and then, um, unfortunately, a fortunate injury happened in the bowl game. Then I came,

I had to step in there. So that was my first real action on the D. Overall, I think my first year was great. I learned a lot. Learned a lot from the older guys that are gone now that I'm trying to help here. Let them know the same things they taught me. Well, you obviously had an opportunity to play last season, but playing cornerback, going back to when you were being recruited by Iowa, was that much of the conversation?

Of course, you played quarterback. I mean, you did it all back in high school, and you were doing a little bit of everything. A lot of people, I think, anticipated you were going to be a safety. Was quarterback ever part of the conversation, at least early on? Actually, never. I mean, we never played quarterback. It was always safety. I was just happy to fill any role I could on the defensive side. I mean, multiple positions in high school really helped me be able to play corner. I've never played corner.

Some older guys helped me out, and I learned pretty quickly. It was actually during the bowl week is when I started, or not the bowl week, the bottom, is when I first started practicing at corner. So it was kind of a shock. It was really different, but I got used to it pretty quick. I think it was a good situation for me. Well, you got that opportunity, got to be out there on the field.

And now, as you go, getting a season underneath your belt, you're certainly anticipating you're going to see some more playing time. A lot of people talking about where you kind of fit with this defense, playing that cash position that has become a big part of the Iowa defense, safety, quarterbacking. You kind of do it all out there. Let's go to that cash position. Is that the place that you've been practicing the most?

Where have you been getting your most reps going back to spring and now getting ready for the season? Spring, I played a lot of the cash position. At first, it was a lot of learning because I hadn't played there yet, but it really helped me both as a safety and playing that catch position and the different things that go along with both positions. But yeah, the spring really helped a lot, as it does for many young guys. I understand the playbook better. You can see things

on the field. I think spring was really big for me. I feel like a better player coming off a spring ball. With that, we get ready for the season. Anticipation certainly through the roof. A lot of people talking about you guys, one of the best defenses once again in the country.

When you go and you play for somebody like Phil Parker. Now, Phil's known as a guy that'll holler just a little bit out there on the practice field. Tell us a little bit, though, playing for Coach Parker, not just being on the defensive side of the football, but also having a guy that knows defensive backs about as well as anybody. And if you're going to play Iowa, you're going to play defensive back, you're probably going to have an opportunity also to play at the next level.

Yeah. I mean, Coach Parker's a great coach. I think he expects excellence when you're in. It's something that we strive for. Obviously, you're not going to get that all the time. There's picks on the little things, and that's great. That's what I like about him. That's what many guys like.

We've had so much success with defensive backs here at coaches. He gets after us. He makes sure we're ready to go. I don't know. So it's been a pleasure to learn from him thus far. I look forward to continue to learn from him. We learn something new every day with him. So far.

Another part that we heard going back to spring is you're playing around back there as a holder. Now, LeVar Woods, I mean, as respected as you're going to find special teams, you think of a holder, a backup quarterback, punter, kicker. Those are the kind of guys that do that. A, what led you back catching some snaps back there and being a holder? And is that something we're perhaps going to see this fall? We'll see what happens here, whether I end up back there or not. But I think the whole past football season and in the spring because I was a, I was a high school quarterback. So that kind of, I did that a little bit in high school too. Just came natural,

natural to me. So I'm, I'm still getting, still getting used to, we'll see what happens with that here, here this season. Odabelt, Arthur, Battle Creek, Idagrove. I think I got the alphabet all right there, going back to your playing days. So remember watching you play at the Unidome, just the incredible performances that you had. Then it goes to the hardwood.

You're dunking on people. It's not like you're 6'6". You're out there just drop-step dunking on kids. Just the athleticism. Who did that come from? Is that your mom? Is that your dad? Is that a grandparent? Whereism. Who did that come from? Is that your mom? Is that your dad? Is that a grandparent?

Where did this ridiculous athleticism come from? Both my parents played college sports. So you could say it might have came from them. But other than that, It might have came from them. But other than that, it always tells me that he was never as athletic. I'm not quite sure. It might have been a little bit of both sides of the family there.

That's awesome. Well, it's been fun to watch you. Certainly going back to then and very excited to watch you in the black and gold and see more of you coming up this football season. Cooper, a lot going on in the world also as college athletics are changing. You're going through this now for the second year. New collective in place, iwaswarm.com. About a week and a half before that, another collective was involved with you guys on the football side of things.

Where are you right now? We're going to talk a little bit today about an NIL opportunity that you have with some shirts, but fill us in a little bit just what it's been like as a college athlete and and kind of having all kinds of different people coming at you different levels as it pertains to NIL yeah yeah it's really since this this whole first year of NIL not many not many where it's going obviously it's not going to go away, but obviously there might be some, some little, but it's, it's, it's been, I think it's been a cool experience just to be able to connect with some of the, some of the different people around,

like our community here, back home, things like that. Yeah, I mean, I think you got to be careful a little bit who you're getting yourself into. Make sure you trust because obviously when money's involved, not everybody has your best. So you kind of got to be careful with that. But, yeah, it's been great so far this first year, and we'll see where it goes here.

Well, we'll get out on this. And speaking of NIL opportunities, you're working with the shirt company right now. So fill us in a little bit about that and what you have going on with the shirt company. Yeah. How many Saturdays make them count? I think you can buy shirts at dot com.

Mike's a great guy. I've been working with him. We got a bunch of athletes. I think most of us are from the Midwest, and we're all at different schools all over the country. I think if you're a college football fan, no matter what team, I mean, we got any kind of – the same goes great. There's only so many Saturdays that we have during the advantage of every single one.

But it's been great just being able to connect with the guys that we have on our team, if you will, where this thing goes. But yeah, I'd say definitely go out and buy a few if you love college football. Can you give us that website one more time? Saturdayscount.com, I believe. Saturdayscount.com. Well, great stuff. Hey, Cooper, thank you for your time. Saturdays count.com. I believe. Saturdays count.com. Well, great stuff. Hey Cooper,

thank you for your time. I know it's going to be even busier going forward here and we're excited to see out there. Kiddick stadium for Saturday in September, as you guys take on South Dakota state. Thank you so much. Thank you. Cooper to she joining us here on Locked on Hawkeyes podcast.

Great stuff from Cooper. And again, a lot of fun stuff going on there in the world of NIL. We're going to come back on the other side. Still plenty more to get into. We got a little more football conversation. Maybe a nugget drop this week at SEC Media Day about what the future of college football is going to look like. We will get into that coming up here in just a little bit. Also, Iowa, the non-conference basketball schedule has been released. We'll talk about that when we continue on the Lockdown

Hawkeyes podcast. Which NFL stars moved the betting line the most starting July 18th? Lockdown's giving you the 50 most valuable players in the NFL from the oddsmakers at BetOnline. Those are available right now on lockdown NFL, wherever you get podcasts or on YouTube or the NFL stars and lockdown looking forward. Certainly to that one should be a whole lot of fun. Well, as we continue on here on the lockdown Hawkeyes podcast,

thanks for joining me. Trent Condon, as we talk a lot going on, certainly in the world of Hawkeye athletics. Yes, it is the offseason, but tons going on. Let's talk a little basketball here today. The non-conference slate is out for Iowa Hoops. Duke, of course, the headliner. That was announced a while ago and a lot of excitement about that game.

In fact, I already talked to the wife and see, is there any way we could go out to New York that weekend? Might be difficult. It is her birthday weekend. We'll keep working and see if we can make our way out to MSG. Wish it was on the weekend. Certainly not going to be the case. So they kick things off.

A couple of cupcakes early on. Bethune-Cookman, that'll be the first game Monday, November 7th. Isn't it crazy how early basketball seems to be starting year after year? November 7th for that first game. Then the following Friday, November 11th, they have North Carolina A&T coming to town. Then it ramps up. Seton Hall after that. That is on Wednesday, November 16th in the Gavit games. They'll be taking on a very good Seton Hall team and some names that you might remember from a year ago. Of course, the great run from St. Peter's. Well, now they're had coaches over there and a player also made over there, but they've been very busy

in the transfer portal. So some people have Seton Hall, maybe not a top 25 team, but certainly an NCAA tournament team, say a top 40-ish type team on the season. After that, they come back home for Omaha coming to town, and then it's down to the Emerald Coast Classic. They take on Clemson in the first game, pretty good Clemson team. Brad Brownell, one of the more respected coaches in college basketball. And then they will take on either Cal or TCU. If Iowa wins that game against Clemson, I would anticipate it'll be TCU. TCU comes into the season preseason top 15, even top 10 some places. Remember, they pushed Arizona in that round of 32 game. Probably should have won that basketball game. But ultimately, Arizona moved on to the Sweet 16 before getting knocked out of the tournament. TCU returns basically everybody. They are going to be

absolutely stacked up this coming season. That would be the second game then on Saturday, the 26th. That's Thanksgiving weekend. If you're planning to go down to the beaches, have fun down there. Georgia Tech then in the ACC Big 12 Challenge. That'll be in Iowa City. ACC Big 10 Challenge, I should say, on Tuesday, the 29th. Then the next scheduled game is Tuesday, December 7th. That's that big one against Duke in the Jimmy V Classic. I will tell you, more than likely, you're going to see probably a Big 10 game in there in between as they play those late November, usually early December games in the Big 10. I'd anticipate you would see probably one of those.

Then it's the Iowa State game. That'll be back at Carver in Iowa City against Iowa State Thursday, December 8th. Then a little bit of a break, December 17th, Southeast Missouri State, and then the final non-conference game against Eastern Illinois. Big step up in competition. I think that tells you certainly Fran McCaffrey believes that this is going to be a very good team this season. It's got a team that's got a going to be a very good team this season. It's got a team that's got a chance to make a run.

Look, you don't schedule this way unless you anticipate at minimum you're going to be an NCAA tournament team. You're going to put yourself in good position, opportunity for a lot of good wins in there. Duke, Clemson, possibly TCU, all chances of good wins. Seton Hall, even Georgia Tech should be pretty decent this year. So, yeah, the cupcakes are there. They're going to be there. That's just the way of the world. What I wish that some of these teams against the dregs of college basketball, you know, teams ranked in the 300s, you're taking in teams, you know, more in that 175 to 225 range. I would, it's not the case. And anymore, the big change. I used to be a big complainer about that with Fran's scheduling. And when he would play

just these bottom, bottom tier teams, everybody plays by games, Duke plays by games. It's not about that. It was more than anything that those teams would really hurt you as it pertained to the RPI. Well, that's no longer. And because of that, you play these teams and you do what you should not just win, but club them. It actually does help you. So that's not the deal that it once was, and I like the way that has been and what they have done with that. So happy certainly to see that on that front. One final thing. I mentioned the college football playoff.

Now we're talking down the road. We still got the four-team structure going forward, but remember last summer the talk was about this becoming a 12-team playoff. It was Greg Sankey of the SEC, Bob Bowlesby of the Big 12. Notre Dame was involved with Jack Swarbrick. And also you had Craig Thompson from the Mountain West. They were involved in putting together what the future, what the structure was going to look like in college football.

That went away. The ACC, the Pac-12, two conferences now that are struggling and wondering about their future. Them, along with the Big Ten, decided against it, weren't ready to go, wanted to learn more. Well, now those conferences might be in trouble. And Greg Sankey this week at SEC Media Days, he talked a lot about that and what the future is going to be. Is it a 12-team structure?

Is it going to be what we saw at that point? Not so sure on that front. The other conversation that is out there right now, what it's going to look like is the automatic bids. At the time, it was going to be six automatic bids to get in. So you had, of course, the power five and then one other automatic bid. Sankey said, maybe not. We're going to reevaluate. Does this turn into an eight team structure? Does it turn into 12, but you don't have those same amount of, excuse me, automatic bids or no automatic bids and making more spots for the SEC or the Big 10.

A lot of conversations there, but just something to keep an eye on going forward. Well, thank you so much to Cooper Dejean for joining us. It was great catching up with him, talking a little bit about what's going on with him as they get ready for practice. And did you notice that wry smile when we were talking to him about holding, being a holder for field goals and PATs?

Something might be up their sleeve. Know what your team is up against across the Big Ten with Locked On Big Ten. Every day, host Nate Dickinson and local experts on Locked On take you across the Big Ten in 30 minutes. Make Locked On your second listen. Locked On, take you across the Big Ten in 30 minutes. Make Locked On your second listen. Locked On, Big Ten. Tomorrow, hopefully, we'll be able to track down our man. He is LaShawn Daniels.

We'll talk to him, hopefully, tomorrow a little bit more. I'll be back with you also on Monday before my vacation starts. But when we get into August, it'll be all systems go. We'll be back with you each and every day. Hope to have some content for you, though. While I'm on vacation, have a couple of podcasts set up. That'll be coming out to you in your feed. Thanks for joining us on the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast.

Been fun. Thanks to Cooper. Thanks to everybody out there for listening in. We'll do it again tomorrow.