Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - EXPOSED: Former Iowa Regime's SHOCKING Failures in Receiver Development | Will New Era TRANSFORM Passing Game?

Starting point is 00:00:00 New era in Iowa City, 10 listeners in and the word offense isn't followed by a sigh. The Hawkeyes are moving in a positive direction. We're breaking down what's finally working offensively and what the last regime refused to fix today. Locked on Hawkeyes. You are locked on Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, welcome in.

Starting point is 00:00:35 I'm Trent Condon and this is the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast. I've been covering the Hawkeyes for over 20 years on the radio here in the state of Iowa, including currently on the Iowa sports radio network. We got stations all fanned across the state over Western Iowa in Sioux City on the other side of the state in the Quad Cities, Iowa City, Cedar Rapids and our flagship 106.3 KXNO in Des Moines talking the world of sports each and every day from noon to two with Ken Miller. Today's episode of the Locked

Starting point is 00:01:04 On Hawkeyes podcast is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKDOWNCOLLege at MonarchMoney.com for 50% off your first year. We have a lot to get into today. The Iowa baseball team, a huge bounce back victory against St. Thomas setting up the scene of what a huge bounce back victory against St. Thomas setting up the scene and what could be an epic series against Indiana coming up this weekend at home at Banks Field looking forward to that one. Plus we hear from the coordinators and

Starting point is 00:01:35 that's where we begin today with a lot of football talk. Phil Parker the defensive coordinator some thoughts on this defense and maybe a couple of big names making big steps forward here. And that question we had to de-tackle very well could be answered. We'll also talk special teams with Levar Woods, but we begin with a look at the offense and an Iowa offense that has become a punch line, laughing stock, hard to watch. Tim Lester in year number one made big improvements. Iowa goes from the final year of Brian Ferent's 2023, averaging 16 points per game to averaging 27 points per game a year ago. And they did it with a passing game that still was never able to get on track. A running back who was incredible in Caleb Johnson, but a very pedestrian passing game. And they were able to make those kinds of improvements without being able to throw

Starting point is 00:02:31 the football. And now you look forward, you look at what Iowa is building for this year and just listening to Tim Lester, listening the way that he communicates, that he is able to effectively lay out the reason that this Iowa team is going to be different, that this Iowa team is absolutely going to have an opportunity to do things offensively. We haven't seen in a really long time. You hear him speak and he just gets it. He can break it down in very layman terms for people like me. He can explain it in a way that makes sense for the fans, for the media, but you also know that there's a deeper knowledge.

Starting point is 00:03:11 You also understand and listening to him what exactly it is that he's going for and he's looking to build. You know, a couple notes and got plenty of things to talk about on the offensive side of the football, but it goes hand in hand. So Iowa, just the other day, brings in another quarterback. Jeremy Heklinski from Wake Forest. Redshirt freshman, redshirted last year at Wake Forest, about four years of opportunity at Iowa or wherever his career goes. And he follows Warren Ruggiero, who was the offensive coordinator there,

Starting point is 00:03:45 now an analyst with Iowa. But you know, it got me thinking about this. Iowa, we have seen for a long time now, it's been set up in a way where it feels like they didn't want competition at the quarterback spot, that they were just so nervous about losing their starter That they weren't willing in willing to bring in big-time competition They didn't want to hurt feelings

Starting point is 00:04:14 Go back to last year. We saw it came back to Mara in 2023. He was banked up start of the year Has that hideous leg injury with the quad strain that he suffered in kids day and he was never right and then eventually tore his ACL. But instead of looking at him, looking at his limitations and going out and saying, you know what, we can still invest in this spot. They didn't do that. They brought in last minute, Brett and Sullivan, but they were not actively looking for somebody that really they believe could push. And even Sullivan pushed Kate McNamara in August, and it goes back to before that.

Starting point is 00:04:56 That's not the case here. They lose Brett and Sullivan, congratulations, commits to Tulane for his final year of eligibility, good place to be. New Orleans for your last year. Good work out of him. But instead of just resting on their laurels, no, they're going out and they're looking for talent because this year it's gonna be Mark Grunowski's team.

Starting point is 00:05:14 But then after that, we think it's gonna be Hank Brown, the Auburn transfer, but these young guys coming in, Jimmy Sullivan, maybe it can be Jackson Stratton. Maybe it very well could be. Hecklinski might be the kid. Whatever it is, they're bringing in competition. Cash Herrera, who's the quarterback commit in this class coming up next year for the class of 2026. That's what I love about Tim Lester. Is that about scared feelings and making people nervous? No, go compete. Go with the job. It's just so

Starting point is 00:05:45 different than what we saw in the previous regime. But I do want to go here with you. Here's a quote from yesterday during the press conference and what Tim Lester had to say about the wide receivers. And I think it paints a picture when you're going through this. Look, it's not a call out of Brian Farrantz, right? That's not what this is at all. This is, though, I think something that is very eye-opening for Tim Lester and how these kids were coached beforehand.

Starting point is 00:06:15 How were they coached by the previous offensive coordinator? And hearing just this little quote from Tim Lester yesterday, I think was a huge, huge eye opener. The white-out room, they're just young. But when you know what you're doing, you run. I mean, you run. I mean, we're running, right?

Starting point is 00:06:36 Just fun to watch. So watch that Vandersteen run, we run. Like they're not thinking about what to do. They think about how to run the route. And so there was a lot of thinking going on last year. There's not a lot of thinking going on. It's really just trying to press the issue, especially when you're trying to stretch the field vertically.

Starting point is 00:06:52 The ability to run a route and not look back at five yards and don't look back for 20, you know? And Seth's done a really good job of that. Dayton's doing a good job of that. So it's been fun just because we're a faster team right now. Because they're running faster, the plays haven't changed, they just have run enough times finally. So I think that's really helped us with the courts, because they're getting themselves more open.

Starting point is 00:07:14 Obviously the quarterbacks, the more open the receiver are, it's been really helpful to them to have the tight ends know what they're doing, the wide outs know what they're doing. And they're starting to learn coverage, which is a big part of this offense. I don't know how much it was before, when we started teaching them coverage and why we motion and what information we pick up from the motions. They looked to me kind of funny when I first got here. Now they're starting to answer questions.

Starting point is 00:07:42 I asked Dayton a question the other day, and he let off his answer with, well, I know it's man coverage, it's the motion. I stopped and clapped, and I was like, that was the great start to this answer. You know, like, you know the coverage now, so now you're going to run the system. And so they're starting to see things, so I think they're more comfortable with the system.

Starting point is 00:08:00 I'm excited with where they're at. We have a long way to go. But they're just more confident, and we're able to make nuances, adjustments really quick, and they can go out there on the next route that's fixed. And so we're still a little short on routes sometimes because we get excited and we get a lot of third down red zone situations where there's a lot of little nuances that we got to get better at. But I've been very happy with their progression as we expected that to happen. And it's obviously shown that it was more successful. So there it is as you hear from Tim Lester and the running of routes, the guys beforehand,

Starting point is 00:08:37 not understanding why you're going in motion, not reading defenses, very damning. You know, he went on and he was talking about having people in the room and taking, you know, options, vision, conversations from other members of the staff. It paints a picture of what he is, but it also paints a different kind of picture, I think, of the previous regime. We're ready to move on. The schedule is going to be tough this year. This is going to be an incredibly difficult season on paper for Iowa coming up. But I believe they have the guy. I believe they have a guy in Tim Lester that is going to continue to elevate.

Starting point is 00:09:12 What we saw a year ago was just the beginning. Yeah, running back, it's going to look different. Caleb Johnson was otherworldly. He is a once in a decade type of talent that they had back there, and he certainly showed that. Kamari Moulton has shown flashes. Jazzy M. Penderson solid, dependable. DJ Washington back now full time at that spot at running back after playing a bitter receiver a year ago. The young guys, Brevin Dahl, Xavier Williams, and then they bring in another kid that's

Starting point is 00:09:39 on the freshman class who's going through spring practice for the first time. There's a lot of buzz about McNeil. So overall, they're going to get there. They bring in more talent now, Bryce George, to either take over the left tackle spot or add some depth to this offensive line. I'm excited about the offense. I'm as excited about the offense as I've been in a really long time because I believe in Tim Lester. They got the right guy.

Starting point is 00:10:06 I go back 15 months ago when we were going through the coaching search for the new offensive coordinator and it felt like it was taking forever and it did but they got the right guy. That's the most important. Credit to Kurt Farrance. He went outside of his comfort zone a little bit but I think we're going to see this paid dividends. In order for that to happen though in the win-loss column, not only does the offense need to continue to improve and show something in the passing game this year,

Starting point is 00:10:33 that defense has got to get better than it was a year ago. One specific spot, quarterback. They got guys there, they're looking at some others. We'll talk a little bit about what we heard from Phil Parker, the Iowa defense, plus a look at the special teams. We talk more Iowa football. Take a look at the D when we come back on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. money go between dining out, online shopping, entertainment? It's easy to lose track. That's where Monarch Money comes in, your personal CFO giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money isn't just a budgeting app, it's a complete financial

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Starting point is 00:12:19 we do here on the Lockdown Network. A big shout out to the everydayers out there with us each and every day. Hit subscribe if you're watching us on YouTube. If you're listening, five star reviews helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Continuing the football conversation as we heard from the coordinators and we go next to the defense. I think maybe probably the most surprising, I shouldn't even say surprising, the most intriguing element of the conversation was when yesterday we hear from Bill Parker, a guy that is not exactly, he doesn't lay on a whole lot of superlatives on the positive front. But when he was talking about TJ Hall, we go back three years ago, TJ Hall steps in. TJ Hall didn't go very well for him early in his career. But this was a guy that was a big time prospect.

Starting point is 00:13:18 Iowa doesn't beat Michigan for many guys. They did in this instance. And yet early in his career there were struggles. And last year there were inconsistencies certainly a season ago. And to hear that right now he believes he's probably their best cornerback, that he's made the leap. Because as every dayers know and people that listen to the program every day, you know we talk about guys making the leap late in their career and just the sheer volume of defensive backs that this has happened to, and specifically

Starting point is 00:13:48 at the cornerback spot, and guys that have really struggled early in their careers and then take that step forward and become impactful players in their final go around. And I think TJ Hall has that opportunity. And from the sounds of it, it looks like Phil Parker thinks it's there too. It is Sean Lee, another inconsistent throughout the sounds of it, it looks like Phil Parker thinks it's there too. Sean Lee, another inconsistent throughout the course of this one, but there's a reason. They're looking for depth and I think they want to find somebody else that can come in and push these guys. You look at the rest of that roster in the cornerback spot, there's just not a whole lot

Starting point is 00:14:20 of depth right now in that one. If TJ Hall though ascends to be that lockdown corner, if he becomes that kind of guy, it just it improves so much of what Iowa does defensively. You think back to those great defenses, a lot of times they had one area of the field shut down and go back just to two years ago before the step back that they took defensively last season. And of course it's Cooper DeGene, what he was able to do of absolutely locking things down. So I think that's going to be something that we definitely have to take a big look at what Phil Parker had to say. I also want to mention the defensive tackle position and defensive tackle. When we go back right after last season, right after the bowl game concluded, but as we're looking at the roster in the makeup, obviously we're going to be hearing why a black's name called sometime here during

Starting point is 00:15:09 the NFL draft. And when it comes to why a black, I think you're going to have a whole lot of people that are going to say, maybe kick themselves because I just see him, he's going to be so dependable, so solid. He meant so much these last two years and last three years really in the middle, occupying space, taking on multiple blockers, and allowing behind him Jay Higgins, Nick Jackson, Sebastian Castro, those guys to be able to make plays just because about who he was and what he did. It didn't show up in the stat sheet. It's tough work. Well, how do you

Starting point is 00:15:42 replace that? Aaron Graves is another guy that continues to ascend. And last year we saw a couple of those pot plays and he became more of a consistent guy, play it and play out that you were going to be able to get and you're thinking that there's going to be another level to him certainly this year. So you had that part of it. But you look to Jeremiah Pittman, He was a rotational piece this year. He was fine, but that's about it. And if you're going into the year with that, then a couple of guys that are not highly regarded

Starting point is 00:16:14 had a walk on in there. It was not a position, a defensive tackle. That was awe-inspiring. So they go to the portal, and they bring in two guys. You start with Jonah Pace. So Jonah Pace comes in, 6'5", 285", just plug and play, right? Productive player, good solid player in the Mac.

Starting point is 00:16:30 He's going to come in. He's going to take that jump up, going from the Mac to the Big 10. You know he's going to be solid. Is he going to be all conference? Is he going to be elite? Probably not. But the other guy I want to talk about at DTACL

Starting point is 00:16:42 is Bryce Hawthorne. So this is a kid in Hawthorne, not highly regarded coming out of high school, suburban Minneapolis kid. He ends up at South Dakota State. And so many of the guys that we talk about in the transfer portal, and specifically for football, is these guys late in their career, right? These guys that have a year left, maybe two, and are going to see what you can kind of get out of them and see if they're able to translate what they were doing

Starting point is 00:17:09 to the success. That's not the case here with Hawthorne. He's still got three years of eligibility. And with it, you have a player I thought was going to be more of that kind of developmental piece. He'll come in this year, kind of learn the ropes, and then after pace moves on, after Graves moves on, maybe he'll be a guy in 2026 that'll

Starting point is 00:17:27 be competing for a starting job. Now, that's not to say that I believe Bryce Arthuran's going to be a starter, but I think he's going to be a bigger part of the rotation right away this year. And that's big, because now you're creating that kind of depth. And as we go back through time, and outside

Starting point is 00:17:42 of a couple of hiccup seasons, when Iowa's been at their best obviously being good at the defensive line has been incredibly important but over the last 15 years now it's not just about being good with your top three or four guys. It's about being good with six, seven, eight, nine, ten guys on the defensive line. Keeping them fresh, being able to rotate, not having a big drop off when that is happening. That has been a huge component to the success that I was had out of the defensive

Starting point is 00:18:11 side of the football. So some good stuff there, certainly from Phil Parker. Also, Levar Woods got to hear from him a little bit, Levar's thoughts on the special teams. Brought up a lot of names that we don't talk about a ton. Guys that are a little bit further down the list if you will. Talked about Reese Dakin and Drew Stevens, both the specialists. Now I was in such a good spot going into this year and I know last year if you were with us back during the fall there might have been times that I was a little bit hard to restake it. And it was nothing obviously personal. I never met him or anything like that.

Starting point is 00:18:49 It was more, I think I was trying to have everybody realize what he was walking into. Because I think there were so many people that thought that, yeah, there's going to be some kind of step back from Tory Taylor. But I just wanted to warn everybody it's going to be some kind of step back from Tory Taylor. But I just wanted to warn everybody it's going to be significant. Because Tory Taylor showed up not at 18 years old, showed up in his 20s. Guy had been around the block a time or two. Not only that, remember his freshman year. There was nobody in the stands Tory's freshman season. Not the case for Dakin. And though there were some low moments, it wasn't brutal by any means. And you saw the growth out of him as he became more comfortable. Talking about

Starting point is 00:19:34 him improving leg strength and understanding. He can boom it. That's not going to be a problem, as we've said a lot. This is a buzzword of the day, right? Consistency. And they're definitely getting that. A few other things to mention. And you go to the return game with Coach Woods. Caden Weijon back for another season. Weijon, we know what kind of dynamic playmaker he is going to be, but his running back there, at least in kick returns, Max White is in the portal. Now that's another story. And if you heard the roster limit that we talked about at 105 players, now the judge that is settling the case with the NCAA and former players and what is happening there is she's not so sure about those roster limits. So who knows how this is going to turn out? But over here now, let's play along with me.

Starting point is 00:20:28 Talking about a few guys though, that might be into the returning game. Zach Lutmer, that one a little bit surprised by. Sam Phillips, no. Sam Phillips, the transfer from Chattanooga. We know Lightning Fast, he was brought in for one thing, and that's his speed component that he's able to do. That makes a whole lot. But a guy that we mentioned a little bit earlier, the freshman running back

Starting point is 00:20:50 in McNeil, him along with Kamari Moulton were both mentioned back there. I know that Brevin Dahl, that's a possibility that might see him on that base. A couple other names, KJ Parker, TJ Washington. So overall, a lot of different guys to go with Weechin and with Levar. One thing that I think Bear's mentioning when it comes to that is this year. Yes, schedule tough. It's a Bear. And when the Big Ten slate begins,

Starting point is 00:21:21 you open up on the road at Rutgers, Indiana, playoff team. You go to Wisconsin. You come home for Penn State, playoff team. You get the Gophers in a rivalry game. Oregon after that, playoff team. You go to USC, we know how the West Coast is for Iowa. Return for Michigan State team to beat you last year.

Starting point is 00:21:39 And you wrap up at Nebraska. That's a gauntlet. We haven't been seeing any of those trick plays lately. Maybe LeVar. Something up his sleeve for the back end of things. Lot of football talk today but we can't live just on football alone. Other things going on in the world of Hawkeye Athletics. We'll talk about a commitment for the women's team.

Starting point is 00:22:01 We talked about just the other day. Plus the Iowa baseball team. A monster matchup with the Hoosiers. We'll talk just the other day plus the Iowa baseball team. A monster matchup with the Hoosiers. We'll talk about that and what a series win can mean for the Iowa Hawkeye baseball team. When we come back, this is Lockdown Hawkeyes. Trent Conner back with you one final time on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for being with us and making the And as I told you at the time before the commitment was official, Iowa felt like they were in really good shape and it came to fruition.

Starting point is 00:22:46 So we'll give you a little tip of the ball cap on that one. It's a necessary, a necessity, right? Had to have a point guard. Any deal. I don't think she's ready to be a full-time point guard yet. She can handle the ball, but you don't want to put that in the hands of a freshman with the team like they have next year. Hannah Stolke is going to be

Starting point is 00:23:06 playing more of the four next year and obviously what we saw from Ava Haydn last year, the incoming freshman Leila Hayes who comes in, gonna be ready to go I believe and help out maybe even quicker than what we saw at Haydn this season. You got a couple of fives there, now Stolke at the four, still I think looking for a wing player, a shooter on the perimeter after the loss of Hannah Stolke at the four. Still, I think, looking for a wing player, a shooter on the perimeter after the loss of Hannah Stolke, excuse me, the loss of Cyndia Folter. What she brought to the toughness rebounding. I think they're going to be okay there, but the next level is what she can do with that outside shot. She was also good off the bounce and fighting that kind of playmaker on the wing is something that's going to be important for Iowa. Big get though in getting chit chat

Starting point is 00:23:49 right out of Georgia Tech and already the new coach for Iowa definitely helping out in a big time way. But we wrap up with the Iowa baseball team. So after Tuesday's just dreadful performance, awful. You're left wondering kind of what this is going to look like. We mentioned that it was a pretty important game against St. Thomas, not just to get off the Schneid, but it was a decent St. Thomas team, came out with an RPI in the 125 range. They got the win, got a 10-ending win. So it sets up the series against Indiana. And the Hoosiers with an RPI of 80, kind of in the same boat as Iowa.

Starting point is 00:24:26 They're 12 and nine in the Big Ten, 23 and 18 overall. But the Hoosiers, they're playing better here in the back half. They beat up Michigan State at the beginning of the month. Against Illinois, they dropped two out of three against them before bouncing back and getting a series win against Maryland. Still, this is another one for Iowa because of the hole that has been dug, because of

Starting point is 00:24:53 what the Big Ten is and its pecking order. Even if you win a regular season crown, there is no guarantee that they're going to be an NCAA tournament team. You have to continue the momentum, have to get a victory here. And I really think the way that Oberbühler did not pitch well last weekend against Michigan as they got the sweep. He was the guy that was, I guess, the most disappointing out of the starters.

Starting point is 00:25:13 I don't think you're going to see that twice. I think they're going to get off on the right foot, going to get things started Friday against the Hoosiers in a good way. Get that series victory and just keep piling them up. As Iowa sits in front of UCLA, Oregon, USC, and Washington. Just crazy to think about and the Huskies still coming up on that schedule. Oregon also a little bit later on in the year. That does it

Starting point is 00:25:32 for today. Lockdown Hawkeyes. We got you covered each and every day. Shout out again to you every dayers. Your team every day here on the Lockdown Network and we got a whole lot more. It's not just Lockdown Hawkeyes. There's a whole lot more there. Maybe you're into the portal. And if you are, Brian Smith has been doing a great job with the Portal Show. Brian Smith has the latest rumors, portal entries and signings. Be the most informed fan on the rapid changes to the college football landscape. Find the portal on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. We'll be back with you tomorrow. We will hear from Elliot Kluff from Rivals, some thoughts from Elliot on everything going on in the world of recruiting. We got to get back into the men's basketball front because Ben McCullum, he's not finished

Starting point is 00:26:15 either. We'll talk about that a little bit more on tomorrow's show. Thanks for being with us and making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Go Hawks.

Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - EXPOSED: Former Iowa Regime's SHOCKING Failures in Receiver Development | Will New Era TRANSFORM Passing Game?

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