Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - D-line and Cash get shake up in latest depth chart | The new path to the Big Ten Championship game | Young Hawks ball out in NFL

Episode Date: October 27, 2020

Iowa releases their depth chart for the game vs Northwestern and there is a shakeup on the defensive side of the ball. We cover all of that and then break down why Iowa's season is far from over after opening the season with the loss. The West might be tougher top from bottom, but every team has questions, which means the division is up for grabs still. We also do our weekly segment breaking down Iowa Hawkeye performances across the NFL.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order.BuiltGoVisit BuiltGO.com and use promo code “LOCKED,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back, Hawkeye Nation, to another episode 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. I'm excited to be back for another episode of the show today. If you haven't listened to yesterday's recap of the Iowa vs. Purdue game, please check that out. We had Matt Vandenberg on.

He's going to be joining every single Monday going forward to give us his insight as to what happened during that game. I thought it was very helpful. Hope you all enjoyed that. Like I said, every single Monday we'll have Matt Vandenberg back, so make sure to tune into that. Today, though, we're taking a look ahead to what is to be expected for the Northwestern game. That's right, we're going to talk about the depth chart, the little few changes on the depth chart, what does that mean for Iowa football going forward. We're also going to be talking about why the season is not over.

I've seen a lot of panicking based off of that Purdue game. Obviously, starting the season with a loss is not ideal. based off of that Purdue game. Obviously, starting the season with a loss is not ideal. However, Iowa football is not dead, and we have many opportunities to still make the Big Ten championship game. Although Ohio State looks fantastic, the road to the Big Ten championship game is not impossible. I would even border on not incredibly difficult.

It's always going to be difficult going through the Big Ten, going through that gauntlet of play, but each individual game is not a 100% chance Iowa loses. So we're going to cover that on segment number three. Before we get into either of those things, though, we're going to be doing our weekly review of this past week's NFL action and how the Iowa Hawkeyes did there. So we're going to get into that. But right now, starting with the Broncos

Chiefs, as anyone who listens to the show knows, I am a huge Broncos fan, so that's the game I'm typically going to be covering first. It was a bad game for the Broncos. Chiefs beat them pretty easily, but defensively, Denver actually did pretty well. I was actually pretty impressed with how they did. Michael Ojemudia, relatively quiet day, but two tackles. Josie Jewell, also a quiet day, two tackles. On the offensive side of the ball, Noah Fant playing injured. You could tell he's a little bit injured. Still, the fact that he gutted it out in a key divisional game meant a lot to me as a fan, definitely. Seven targets, only three receptions, 38 yards. He's going to be back and playing better as he gets healthier, but clearly it did not look like he had his full explosiveness back there. With the Chiefs, Ben Neiman, two tackles on 42% of the defensive snaps,

primarily playing in pass-covered situations. Anthony Hitchens primarily playing in run situations, 58% of the snaps, four tackles. The Cowboys versus Washington. I did not get a chance to watch this game, and honestly, looking at the box score, it was pretty terrible. But when I did some review of the game, Redskins' offense has been pretty darn, and I say good, I mean relatively good the last two weeks compared to the previous couple weeks.

And a lot of that, I think, has to do with the offensive line and the fact that Brandon Sheriff is back and is stabilizing. And I've confirmed with a few other of the folks on the network who are closer to that situation, it does seem like Brandon Scherr's presence is definitely helping the Redskins' offensive line. Bills vs. Jets, lots of Iowa play in this game. Ike Bucker got his first start of the season, and honestly, he struggled. Quinton Williams, last year's No. 3 overall draft pick from the Jets, dominated him. Bucker was getting pushed back quite a bit, also had a key holding penalty down at the goal line that really hurt the Bills. Buffalo not able to capitalize and score a touchdown.

So struggles in his first start of the season. Micah Hyde, two tackles, a huge hit on Brashad Perriman. A lot of people are on Twitter talking about how Hyde is a dirty player. I disagree. I don't think he was ever intentionally trying to hurt Perriman. He did lead with his shoulder. It is tough to hit a dirty player. I disagree. I don't think he was ever intentionally trying to hurt Perriman. He did lead with his shoulder. It is tough to hit a running player. It's kind of the name of the game. I would understand if they were to

call a penalty on that one. I didn't get to see if they did call a penalty or not, but huge hit there. A.J. Pinesa, though, he really stole the show. I thought he had a fantastic day. The rookie has slimmed down a little bit. He's playing at around 260-265. Three tackles and a half a sack. Had a couple really nice plays at the end of the first quarter for the Buffalo Bills.

In the Packers-Texans game, Josh Jackson playing every single snap on the defensive side of the ball as Kevin King is out. That's huge. Josh Jackson hasn't got a ton of playing time, and honestly, when he has, he hasn't really played well. Played alright, four tackles, one tackle for a loss. I still think the question remains, what position is great for Josh Jackson? I think he probably projects more as a safety. He could be playing a little bit out of position, not really translating well to the Packers scheme. Christian Kirksey also still out. Moving on to another defensive back, the Steelers vs. the Titans.

Monty Hooker comes up with a key interception in the end zone for the Titans vs, the Steelers versus the Titans. Imani Hooker comes up with a key interception in the end zone for the Titans versus the Steelers. Ends up finishing with three tackles, one interception, and two passes defensed. Another guy who we have high expectations for him, and when you talk to Tic Tac Titans, the host of Locked on Titans, he was really excited

about the potential of Imani Hooker, and watching him grow this season so he could possibly take over a starting role next year, and I think we're seeing that the evolvement of Imani Hooker. He's getting better and better each week. Browns versus Bengals. Adrian Claiborne didn't get any stats according to PFF. Played a very average game, 54.1 grade according to PFF. Some of the snap counts aren't out for that game, so I did not get a chance to see how many snaps that actually was in. counts aren't out for that game, so I did not get a chance to see how many snaps that actually was in. 49ers versus Patriots.

C.J. Beathard did not play. Again, shouldn't be expected to play. He's also listed as the number three quarterback. Again, I believe Nick Mullins is back at number two. George Kittle, five receptions, 55 yards. James Ferencz, not playing in this game. He was put on the COVID list a week ago. The Bucs versus the Raiders.

Tristan Wirfs, again, this is pretty much going to be a common thing here. Another great game for the rookie. He also got a target in the passing game and had one penalty, but it seemed like there was some mix-up on the snap count there. Anthony Nelson got into the game as well, had three tackles, one of his better days from a statistical production perspective in his brief Buccaneers career. Jaguars versus the Chargers.

Brian Belaga did not play again. Desmond King, four tackles, one sack. Lions vs. the Falcons. Matt Nelson, no snaps on the offensive side of the ball, but did get six snaps on special teams. And TJ Hawkinson put together a very impressive performance. Finished with five receptions, 59 yards, and most importantly, the game-winning touchdown catch.

Definitely check that clip out if you can. He was absolutely jacked up and pumped up to get that touchdown catch to beat the Atlanta Falcons. I know the Rams are playing tonight versus the Bears, but with James Daniels out, obviously Austin Blythe is still playing for the Rams. Wasn't going to hold off on recording just to get my take on Austin Blythe. I can make sure to give you that on Wednesday, but that does it for our

NFL review of this past week and how the Iowa Hawkeyes in the NFL did do. Coming up on segment number two, though, we're going to break down that depth chart. There's been a little bit of movement along that defensive line, a little bit of movement at the cash position, and also what is the expectation for linebacker.

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All right. We are back for segment number two of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. And as you may know, the Iowa depth chart is released every single Monday in anticipation for the game. And I want to break that down because there was definitely quite a bit of movement. So let's start with the offensive side of the ball where there wasn't nearly as many movement or changes. Offensively on the line, we saw some movement around the backups. Mark Kallenberger switched over to the backup right guard position.

And Nick DeJong, a Pellaella native I might have said his name wrong if I did please let me know how to say it again I'm not best with names but I do try all right I do try my hardest here he switched over to the backup right tackle position you might remember Nick DeJong he came on as a strong side defensive end from Pella the fact that he's in this list is fantastic. I love seeing some Iowa guys there. But again, not a lot of movement along that offensive line. I thought they actually played pretty well. They're opening up a ton of holes for that Iowa running back committee, that trio of running backs.

Defensively, though, let's get to what actually is kind of important there. Because there's a lot of changes along that group. And we're going to start with the defensive line. Joe Evans moved over to the backup left end position. Jack Heflin is now listed as the starting defensive right tackle. Dallas Jacobus made the backup defensive right tackle spot. John Wagner moves over from backup defensive tackle to backup right end. And Logan Lee is no longer listed on the two deep depth chart. A couple things to take away here. Jack Heflin played an all-right game.

Davian Nixon was definitely the guy who stole the show from the defensive line perspective last week. I did see Joe Evans a couple times drop back in coverage. I think the beauty of having Joe Evans in those pass-rushing situations is not only that he can get to the quarterback, but he can also drop back, and he can be kind of a chess piece that Phil Parker can use along that defensive line. Again, we weren't really sure what to expect from that interior defensive line. I could see that the starters kind of fluctuating throughout the year. But most importantly, Phil Parker likes to rotate guys along that defensive line.

So the fact that there's the two deeps and the fact that you have Dallas Jacobus, you have Joe Evans there, John Wagner, those guys are going to get some playing time. You're going to see them rotate in and out. That's why it's important, especially the defensive line to see those two deeps come out and see if you guys move in and out of that two deeps. But not a lot of other changes there at linebacker. Nick Neiman is listed as the starter at middle linebacker. Again, no surprise with Jack Campbell out for a few weeks for an undisclosed injury or illness. Not really sure what the situation is there. Seth Benson is actually listed on the depth chart,

despite the fact that he was not expected to play last week. I don't know how long he was expected to be out. At weak side linebacker, Justin Jacobs is listed as the starter, with Barrington Wade listed as the backup. It's fun to see Justin Jacobs is listed as the starter, with Barrington Wade listed as the backup. It's fun to see Justin Jacobs. I know last year he was one of the highest-rated recruits, if not the highest-rated recruit, and I was really looking forward to seeing him. He's actually one of the guys I projected to get some playing time last year,

but that ultimately did not happen. He's a guy, though, to watch out for this year. That linebacker group, we saw the run defense against Purdue struggle, and that's why when you look at that interior defensive line, you see Jack Heflin inserted into that defensive tackle spot. Maybe the coaches saw something that they were doing a little bit better in run defense with him in the game at that spot. I'm wondering how we can see the linebacker group improve in the run defense as well. Again, they got gashed by a Purdue team that's not known for running the ball very well. Would love to see Jess and Jacobs kind

of break out and solidify his spot at that weak side linebacker spot. It's always a good problem to have fantastic linebacker depth, so it would be good to see him there. Barrington Wade, the fact that he is listed at that weak side linebacker spot, we saw him a lot more than I thought we would against Purdue. Coming with that very key interception in the red zone as well was fantastic. Moving on, though, to the cash position, because this is one that I really think is interesting. And one of the things we talked about coming into the season with that cash position was I think Phil Parker's ultimate goal is to get the best players on the field. And I think the best group of players comes from that cornerback group. Now, we saw

Julius Brent struggle a little bit in coverage. They were clearly targeting him. They had David Bell line up on Julius Brent's side quite a bit in that game against Purdue. But I still think Julius Brent has a lot of potential, made a few nice tackles as well. So did Riley Moss. Right now, the cash position is listed as Dane Belton or Matt Hinkins. And at the safety position, Kayvon Merriweather slid over to take over that backup spot behind Dane Belton and

Quinn Schulte slid over to take up that backup free safety spot behind Jack Corner. I think this is a sign that Iowa wants to get the best players on the field. I think Matt Hankins, the leader of that secondary, in my opinion, playing that cash position, he's a guy we've actually talked about playing that cash position for the last year and a half since we're trying to replace Imani Hooker. It'll be interesting to see who gets more playing time

at that spot coming up against Northwestern, a team that put up a ton of points against Maryland. And I didn't get a chance to watch the Northwestern-Maryland game as much. I was watching Minnesota versus Michigan. But they were a relatively explosive game. Again, Maryland sucked defensively. Let's just call it is what it is. They were absolutely terrible on the defensive side of the ball. But Northwestern did do a good job of being explosive.

Also got that running game going. So that cash position is going to need to be very vital in this game against Northwestern did do a good job of being explosive, also got that running game going. So that cash position is going to be very vital in this game against Northwestern because Northwestern is likely going to spread the ball and then run the ball. And we need a guy like Matt Hankins to play that slot spot who can come in and make tackles. So that to me is huge. Again, we also could see Dane Belton a little bit more physical of a player, a guy who knocked the ball out of a Purdue wide receiver's hands by just laying the wood on him. Kind of reminded me of a young Bob Sanders.

We could also see Dane Belton go there and Kayvon Merriweather play that safety position if Iowa wants to go kind of a big nickel instead of a traditional nickel where you have two linebackers, three corners, and two safeties. And then at the return position, we see Charlie Jones slide into that spot, overtaking Max Cooper. I thought Charlie Jones was one of the biggest surprises and welcoming, good sights to see from a special teams perspective. Iowa is known for having good special teams, and I thought Charlie Jones performed very well. If you can get 9-10 yards every single time a punt comes down to you, that's going to really help that offense. So if Iowa's defense can hold the opposing team's offense to the 20, they kick the ball 40, 50 yards, and then Iowa returns it 10 yards, that's a net game of 30 to 40 yards.

Now you're almost at half field or the middle of the field. Wow, I cannot speak today. You're almost at the middle of the field. That's how important that punt game is. And we haven't seen that explosiveness the last couple of years in the punt return game since Matt Vandenberg really left. So it's good to see that come from Charlie Jones,

a relatively unheralded guy. I mean, last year he came in as a transfer from Buffalo, a walk-on. Everyone was super, super excited about the Iowa City West player who is really slipping my name today. Oliver Martin, excuse me. That was so terrible of me.

But he kind of flew under the radar because Oliver Martin was the big hoopla coming into last season. Oliver Martin is gone. Charlie Jones has really balled out on camp from everything we heard. And now we're seeing it on the field in that punt return situation. Love to see that. Honestly, it looked like he almost could have broke one against Purdue. We're going to see that a couple more times, especially as special teams breaks down, and as he becomes more acclimated and familiarized with his blockers

and becomes more comfortable with his blockers, something that Matt Vandenberg mentioned on yesterday's show. As a punt returner, you need to be very comfortable with catching the ball in crowded situations and also being able to trust your blockers that they're going to do exactly what they need to to break you open to get big returns. Coming up though, that'll do it for our depth chart review. Coming up on segment number three, we're going to talk about the schedule and why Iowa is not out of it. Why we're still very much into this game or into this season, especially with the news coming out of Wisconsin that's really going to hurt the Badgers.

That's all coming up, though, on segment number three. All right, we are back for our third and our final segment of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. And as I alluded to before we took a quick break, Iowa's season is not over. I saw a lot of that on Twitter. You know, I was even pretty upset. You lose one game, especially in an eight-game season, and especially a conference game. That first loss is always the toughest to stomach.

Last year it was against Michigan. This year against Purdue. It's never easy to stomach that first loss, especially when you lose late in the game, especially when you lose because you had so many mental mistakes that you typically don't see from an Iowa football team. However, as we talked about Matt Vandenberg yesterday, there's a lot of positives to take away from this game. I actually thought Spencer Petras played pretty well.

Yes, he overthrew a couple balls. Yes, he gave me flashbacks to Nate Stanley, which I got. God, I got to tell you about this, guys and girls. I got a bad review on Apple Podcasts because I supposedly threw Nate Stanley under the bus when all I said was that Nate Stanley was a solid quarterback, but he never won a big game against Wisconsin. I think that's fair because he did it. But anyways, the point of that is Spencer Petras played, I thought, a pretty solid game. He did miss a couple throws. He didn't have spring camp. He didn't get that familiarity with

his wide receivers. I know he was still throwing to them quite a bit, but when you get into the game, you get a little excited, get a little trigger happy, and clearly that was the case. I think we're going to see a much more composed Spencer Petras in game two against Northwestern. But other things, the running game was going. I mean, that was a fun sight to see the running game. I thought Brian Ferenc did a great job with all three running backs getting them in. I would have, again, liked to see Tyler Goodson play a little bit more in the fourth quarter, do a little bit more scheming to get him the ball. You want to get your playmakers the ball.

We need to get Amir Smith-Marset involved as well. But outside of that, let's look at the Big Ten because that West Conference is a little bit more winnable now than I think we all thought it was. And, for example, let's look at the Wisconsin football team schedule lot it was. And for example, let's look at the Wisconsin football team schedule because Graham Mertz, as of right now, is going to be out for at least 21 days due to a positive COVID test. Now, I hate Wisconsin as much as the next person. I never wish ill will on anyone. I don't wish injuries. I don't wish sickness. Honestly, it sucks. I would love to see the Wisconsin Badgers play a slate of games with their starting quarterback.

Because when you look at it, if Wisconsin loses two or three games, there's always going to be a what-if. From an Iowa perspective, I always want to play the best team at their max. So when we beat them, we can say, yes, we beat that team. Now that being said, from a conference perspective, they get Nebraska, Purdue, and Michigan. All right, Jack Cone's out for the foreseeable future. Graham Mertz is out. That leaves Wisconsin with their third spring quarterback. Outside of Graham Mertz, who looked like a freaking Heisman candidate

on Friday night in Brazil, Illinois, Wisconsin doesn't typically have very good quarterbacks except for Russell Wilson, who was a grad transfer. That makes this Nebraska game a lot more interesting. And I hate saying it, but Nebraska did not look that bad against Ohio State. I mean, some of the penalties were a little bit ridiculous against them, but I actually thought they played pretty well, and offensively, they looked good. I wish they would have done a little bit more with Luke McCaffrey.

I thought they just were kind of putting out a tell there. He was going to run the ball every single time they gave him the ball in the first half, but I thought they did pretty well, all things considered, against an Ohio State defense that will be good again this year. Purdue, clearly we saw them look pretty darn good. Aiden O'Connell, I thought, looked pretty solid. And David Bell is a beast. Imagine once Rondell Moore returns.

And then Michigan, that final game that Graham Mertz would be out, Michigan looked on a mission. I've been talking a lot of crap about Michigan, but what they did to Minnesota was darn impressive. And I'll get to Minnesota in a second, but Wisconsin had the easiest schedule coming into the season, and now it looks like they could possibly go 2-1, 1-2 in their next three games. I mean, that's not out of the question. I have a good buddy who's a big Nebraska fan, but also a very realistic Nebraska fan.

That spread came out at negative 9.5 for Wisconsin. He's actually taking Nebraska to cover. He thinks Nebraska has a chance here, and I do too. That's an upset pick that I'd be willing to consider. I mean, I really liked what Wisconsin did against Illinois, but the running game wasn't nearly as potent as we typically have seen Wisconsin be. Illinois, a team that I actually thought was going to be a tough opponent this year, really sucked. I mean, they could not do anything once they got past the midfield part of the game.

Not worried about them at this point. We'll see what we see this weekend. Northwestern, I thought they played outstandingly. We're going to talk more about that over the next couple days. Again, let's not get too overhyped on Northwestern. They do have a new coordinator. Peyton Ramsey is definitely a nice breath of fresh air at that quarterback position that really struggled with Hunter Johnson under center last year. But they also played Maryland,

and Maryland was expected to be one of the worst teams in the conference this year. But Northwestern, another tough team. Again, I don't think they're going to out-talent Iowa, so that's why I'm not as worried about that. But let's look at this Iowa football schedule. Because they get Northwestern at Iowa. Not as huge of a deal because you can't have as many fans. But that should be a win. Michigan State looked like they looked so trash against Rutgers. Kind of what we expected.

I think Michigan State should be a win. Minnesota didn't look as good. Tanner Morgan looked like the quarterback I kind of thought he was. I mean, last year he played superb for a college quarterback, but couldn't pick up a blitz, got destroyed quite a bit. Minnesota's kind of struggling on that offensive line. Two of their tackles dealing with some stuff right now, and it could show it against Michigan's defense. They were all over Minnesota all night. I am not as concerned about Minnesota going forward. And then Iowa gets Penn State, and I will say the Penn State lost to Indiana shouldn't have been a loss.

Penn State should have won that. That was a bull crap call on the goal line. But Indiana is a good team as well. So that's not taken away from Penn State. But Penn State's running game did not look that good. I thought Sean Clifford did not look that good in the first half. And Penn State's missing Micah Parsons. That's huge on the defensive front too.

So a lot is going on with the Penn State team. They don't look as scary as they used to. So, those are the three, you know, that Minnesota game, that Penn State game are really concerning to me. Nebraska, Iowa, I think it's always going to be a tough game, regardless. It's a rivalry game. Whatever you want to say, it's going to be tough. Illinois, not bad. Wisconsin, they will get Wisconsin at full strength most likely, whether it's Jack Cohn or Graham Mertz. But Wisconsin's running game did not look that good. So whoever Wisconsin decides to go with, the quarterback,

definitely will dictate how I feel about that game. Obviously, we're going to know a lot more going into that game. But at that point, Iowa still controls its destiny. You win seven games, you beat all of these other teams. Purdue is not going to win out this season. I will guarantee that they are not going 8-0. They are going to lose a game or two. I would argue they're probably going to lose three games. For some reason, they just have Iowa's number, especially from a passing game perspective. They do a really good job of getting some of their main guys open, a la David Bell. Iowa, if they win out, they go 7-1. They beat a Wisconsin.

That gives them the Big Ten West title. So the season is not over. Obviously, it's not the way you want to start it out. You want to win the games that you should win, and you want to try to break even on the games you shouldn't win. But what we saw from some of the other teams across the Big Ten was a little bit more encouraging for Iowa's chances. So I want to talk about that on segment number three. Let me know your thoughts. Let me know what your predictions are. At this point, if I'm being really transparent and realistic, I project 5-3 for Iowa. I still think you either lose two of the three games,

Minnesota, Penn State, Wisconsin. I do believe Iowa beats Northwestern, Michigan State, Nebraska, Illinois. But that is my thoughts this season. Let me know what your thoughts are coming into the Northwestern game. As a reminder, tomorrow we're going to be breaking down the press conferences for Kirk Ferentz and Pat Fitzgerald, also giving some of the matchups that we want to watch in this Iowa versus Northwestern game.

And on Thursday, we're going to be doing the crossover episode with the Northwestern Insider from Sports Illustrated. So we're going to be covering that on Thursday and then Friday, giving you our betting predictions and what to expect from this game. Thank you all for tuning into the show. If you loved this content, if you loved the show yesterday with Matt Vandenberg, please make sure to like, review, and subscribe. Give us that five-star review if you loved it. Let us know what you love about the show and make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. As always, Hawkeye Nation, I appreciate you tuning in. I appreciate you listening. Have a fantastic Tuesday

and let's go Hawks.