Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Ferentz's Optimism SKYROCKETS After Las Vegas Trip | Hawkeyes Ready to Shock?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Back from Las Vegas and Big Ten Football Media Days, we got the key takeaways including optimism from the headband. Plus we'll hear from Iowa Safety, Cohen Entringer. 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. I'm Trent Condon and this is the

Starting point is 00:00:30 Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. I've been covering the Hawkeyes for over 20 years on the radio in the state of Iowa including currently on the Iowa Sports Radio Network stations in Sioux City, Des Moines, Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, and the Quad Cities. You can hear me each weekday from noon to two, talking the world of sports and plenty of Hawkeyes. Today's

Starting point is 00:00:52 episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can get $150 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. We got takeaways, some big ones from Big Ten Football Media Days. We'll talk about the Big Ten as a whole a little bit later on in the show today where Iowa fits in the picture. We're also going to hear from Cohen Entringer, the anticipated starting cash position player for this season, an opportunity to talk with him in the media scrum and some good stuff there. We're going to have plenty of that and we're going to talk about obviously the big takeaways from Big 10 media days. Coming up here in the next few days, we will continue to pump out the content as we're gonna be bringing you a lot. No, it's Friday and I know we got the weekend in front of us, but we're gonna

Starting point is 00:01:33 continue to push out the content. Had an opportunity to hear from Beth Getz, the Iowa Athletic Director. We'll have that audio and video coming your way later on in the week. We also had Kirk Farrance, and if you missed it on the live portion of our YouTube feed, you can find it over there. Kirk Farrance for about a half hour, talking a whole variety of different things, and I'll have that up for you as well.

Starting point is 00:01:57 Also had an opportunity to talk to Ethan Hurkett, and talked a lot about the Defense Alliance. We're gonna have that, some more audio also from Kirk coming up, so a lot out there. We're gonna be pumping out the content. We got you covered as we get back from Big Ten Football Media Days. And I'll tell you, very happy to be home and back under my own roof and looking forward to sleeping in my own bed. All right, let's get into it. And major takeaways. And I want to start with Kirk Farrans. You know, Kirk is interesting and now start with Kirk Farrans. You know, Kirk is interesting and now incredibly 27 years of listening,

Starting point is 00:02:38 of reading transcripts of pretty much every one of these. You get to know Kirk pretty well and you have to dig a little bit deeper, right? You have to try to find out exactly where he's coming from. He was pretty open today. He joined my colleague Lucas Strain during his show on the Iowa Sports Radio Network and when he did, asked him about Vegas. And that was one of the questions that I had for him and said, back in college, he played some poker. I mean, how about that? I don't think Kirk was in the poker room at Mandalay Bay and they made their way back Thursday evening as well, got back, and it wasn't a very long trip to Las Vegas. In fact, Kirk said only the second time he'd been in Vegas. So didn't seem like a Vegas guy and saw that, but I thought that was a fun one. But Kirk was pretty funny today. And if you watch the video, I think you'll see some moments where you can

Starting point is 00:03:21 definitely tell that Kirk, you know, one thing he brought up a multitude of different times, different spots, different times talking with him in different locations. And that's another weird thing about media days is there's a bunch of different places where you get an opportunity to talk with him was he kept bringing up a lot of surprises. And it kind of goes to the point and something I want to dig into maybe a little bit more as we get closer to the ceiling, a season, excuse me, it deals with the ceiling, the floor and the ceiling of this football team. And you know, it's something that I see and I look at and I believe that overall this

Starting point is 00:03:59 football team, we've talked about the ceiling, can they get to 10-2, right? Can they pull an upset against a Penn State and Oregon? Can they do that? And if Gronowski is the real deal, I think they can get there. However, maybe the floor is lower than it is most years. I mean, we go into almost every season for Iowa football, thinking that seven and five is there.

Starting point is 00:04:20 And hearing Kirk today, now he also mentioned he really likes this team. And when Kirk says that that makes my ears perk up a little bit when he says that kind of terminology that he really likes this team but he talked about the question marks they have depth in the wide receiver room but who's the guy that's going to step up or the guys that are going to step up there the major question at left tackle still that defensive backfield, the linebacker crew, and on and on and on. There are a lot of questions with this football team and when you lose as much experience as they did a year ago you can definitely understand it. But I sensed optimism from Kirk. I sensed that he liked where

Starting point is 00:04:58 this team is and he really likes Mark Gronowski. He was talking about him as a leader. In the past he's talked about not microwaving stuff and the way you have to do it. The terminology that he was using is when we hear some optimism coming out of him from the group. I want to say one other thing. You're going to hear from Cohen entering or coming up here in just a couple of minutes. Really impressed by him. His parents were there, which is really cool to see. They had a big smile on their faces. I was sitting over on one of the interview spots with him, and you could see they were beaming and how cool it was. A guy with one career start and shows you obviously what kind of person that he is. Hurkett and Jones, they're talking about their weddings. That was a part of it. And hearing those guys and kind of what they are and Jones they're talking about their weddings that was a part of it and Hearing those guys and kind of what they are and what they're going to be going forward and the leadership that exudes but great group guys

Starting point is 00:05:52 at the end I Think it was her kid that got a question into Kirk and asked him about his birthday coming up on August 1st what he's gonna do and he said practice is excited about practice because in the end It's Kirk Ferrets. Let's hear from Cohen Entringer. Couple minutes with Cohen as we had an opportunity to talk with him.

Starting point is 00:06:11 Few other reporters there as well. You'll hear their questions coming in along with mine. I was anticipated starting safety. Cohen Entringer from Big Ten Football Media Days. We'll do that next as we continue Lockdown Hawkeyes. Big Ten Football Media Days. We'll do that next as we continue Locked On Hawkeyes. Summer sports are in full swing. Whether you're all about baseball under the lights, golf on the green, or high-stakes soccer action, FanDuel is the best way to make every game even more exciting. You've already following the action, why not make it a little more thrilling? With

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Starting point is 00:07:12 if your first bet wins. That's right, new customers bet just $5, get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Open the FanDuel app today or visit FanDuel.com to get started. Yeah I'd probably just say yeah probably my sophomore year. So it just feels good to just be 100% healthy. And I'm just excited to do this Starfall camp happy. And I'll be happy. You got the full spring. Yeah. How much does that do for you in terms of your development

Starting point is 00:07:54 and learning both of those spots? Like how important is that? Yeah, no, just being able to be in the spring, I think that helped so much. I was able to build some chemistry. I think that was something I missed out on. And you just kind of start to develop that second nature. I think a lot of times people forget, you know, you're out there on the game, you're thinking about third and long,

Starting point is 00:08:10 who's in the game a lot of times, you know, and your footwork may slip. And I think last year, there was a lot of times where my footwork wasn't where it probably needed to be. And I think that's the best part about having a full off-suit, being able to fine tune, look at things you need to improve on. And I'm just fortunate to be able to have a full off-suit. I'm excited for the season. Okay, maybe a couple positions. A lot of people see TJ Hall as the CB1, and you've got Sean Lee, and you've got Jaden Blomfield,

Starting point is 00:08:34 and you've got Shadi Barrow. What's that competition look like? Obviously, I know you guys are doing a ton of field work right now. What does that look like from your vantage point? Yeah, no, I think the competition's amazing. I think that's what you need in a position group if you want to bring out the best. I think Coach Park, I'm just incredibly blessed to play underneath him.

Starting point is 00:08:51 And he's such a smart man for just bringing in all the help he can get. Sheedan's a great addition. J-Watt stepped up. Bean, he always makes plays. TJ makes plays. So I'm just excited to take the field. I don't know who it's gonna be with, but I know no matter what was out there, we're all just gonna give it our hundred and ten to the network, playing for each other.

Starting point is 00:09:07 There's been a lot of conversation about the defensive backs taking a big step forward in the spring, in the summer. What, how does that look for the group as a whole? But I guess how did that happen? Is it just the fact that you guys have been around for a while and it's starting to click? What, how has that happened? Yeah, I think honestly, just the chemistry we're building, I think once you start to play with some people

Starting point is 00:09:28 for a few years, you start to develop that chemistry. And I think just us hanging out outside the building, playing golf, things like that, kind of just building that true mutual friendship that we have, which I think that just helped propel us on the football field. And so I'm excited for this fall, because I know we got at least double the amount of practice

Starting point is 00:09:44 in the spring to continue to build that chemistry before the first game, so I'm excited for this fall camp. We got at least double the amount of practice in spring to continue to build that chemistry before the first time. So I'm excited. A lot of that conversation has been about TJ specifically. Like you said, you are on official visit with him. So you guys have known each other for a while. In what ways has he taken that? Yeah, you know, TJ, he's just been a guy who just came in every summer day, worked hard. You know, this off season, you know, me and him, we're getting extra work, all the DBS, you know, just getting an extra work. Just trying to find ways we can find some of our skills and just trying to be iron sharp and diamond and try and push ourselves to be the best we can.

Starting point is 00:10:13 Kurt Park specifically about the game, all those hard things on the special. As a second-year guy, has he even been with the program? I guess, technically has been with the program for a whole year now. Yeah. He just kind of seems like a different athlete. He can make a few plays that maybe other people can't. Is that your read of J.Y.? Yeah, you know, J.Y., you know, he's a kid from a good family. He's a tough kid. You know, he's really fast. You know, he's definitely an athletic gift.

Starting point is 00:10:38 And I'm just excited to see just the contribution that J.Y. makes to the team. You know, Coach Parker, such a great coach. You know, if you're making plays, he's going to find a way to put you out there. I think I'm just a testament to that. Obviously, I probably wasn't good enough to start in all the games last year, but definitely Coach Parker found a way to get me out there. Cone, can you talk a little bit about the cash position? It's different. We've seen Phil have a bunch of different kind of type of guys that have played that position and what you bring to that position what maybe you're different then than you know Castro and some guys before and and how you see that position different than a regular if you will defensive backspot yeah I think just a tremendous opportunity to be able to play that position you know you had guys like Castro you know who played the position of Monty Hooker just so many different

Starting point is 00:11:19 legends you know I just hope I can just pay my own way I think those guys don't even realize not even forgot to shout out you know the four before me Dane Bell think those guys don't even realize, not even forgot to shout out the four before me, Dane Bell, and those guys don't even realize, everybody who's played the Caster's in the four watches guys like Castro, watches guys like Dane, Coop, and just tries to learn their techniques. And you kinda gotta put your own little sauce to it. So I'm excited to put my own little flavor on it

Starting point is 00:11:38 and lead the jersey in a better place. See, you're in true, sexy, to your idea today, is that right? Yeah, yeah. Except you're actually sitting over there. Yeah. Wouldn't you like to speak on the defensive a little bit differently? You know, I just think just defensively,

Starting point is 00:11:57 I think I can speak for the back end. I think we just got to get better. I'm eliminating explosive plays. You know, I think we're going to have an explosive offense this year. I think we got a great defensive line who worked so hard for us. And I'm eternally grateful for the big work they put down the trenches. But it's time for us to return the favor for those D linemen, those linebackers.

Starting point is 00:12:14 We gotta eliminate the explosive plays. Can we eliminate those? I think it'll be a good defense. How do you like playing for the coach, Mary? I think it's just a tremendous honor. Just a legendary coach and I'm just etern internally blessed to be a part of that. I understand you got a camp Saturday again. Yes.

Starting point is 00:12:31 What got you into that? You know, I just always was wanting to give back. You know, I just have been so fortunate to have so many people just pouring into my life and I just hope I can just be that person. You know, with NIL and things like that, like that, I've just been blessed beyond measure. And I think they'll just be people who have me not to try and give back and to impact the community. What pulled you to Iowa?

Starting point is 00:12:54 I mean, you basically live next door to Michigan, right? Yeah. Uh-huh. I think what just pulled me to Iowa was just the people. And I was just fortunate to take a visit with guys at Texas and TJ Hall. And I think when I just came on that official visit, I met those guys. I met I met coach Parker, um, met coach parents, and I was able to be around the coaches, definitely on the facility and experience the culture. I realized that this is a program I want to be a part

Starting point is 00:13:17 of this culture. I want to be a part of. And, you know, I just said to myself, I can't see myself anywhere else but wearing black and gold. What kind of offers did you have and was Michigan interesting? Yeah, no, I had offers from Michigan, Wisconsin, Boston College. I had a decent amount of offers, but when it was all said and done, I just spent it myself anywhere else but Iowa. So we heard in the spring quite a bit that offense was getting you guys a little bit. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:13:44 What was it? I mean, is it just improved quarterback play? What was it in the spring? Because I've been covering this for a long time and it's not very often we hear that Iowa offense is getting the defense in the spring. Yeah, no, I think we had a new offensive coordinator come in. I think that first year is probably hard. Obviously I don't work in that side of the department, but

Starting point is 00:14:00 just learning a new system, a new terminology. I bet that can be difficult, especially before a fall camp and having to prepare for a season But I just think you know they had that full year under their belt You know the some of their bread and butter players are starting to feel like second nature for them So I'm just excited you know you know we've always had amazing talented players on offense I'm just excited to compete against members one day I don't know about that. No, but seriously though, we have a great group of receivers who push us to be great every single day.

Starting point is 00:14:33 And I'm excited to compete against them. Every single day they can probably attest to that. I'm excited to go against them. Who's the wide receiver that gives you the most trouble in practice? I'm going to say this to all of them. The message to all of them, I say none of them. Alright. Which one of the players you watched growing up or maybe watched more? So some players I grew up watching, you know, Tyron Matthew, you know, just retired, he was a player I grew up watching. You know, a guy like Brian Dawkins, I've seen some cutups of him. And then just the Iowa legends, someone I kind of was introduced when I came,

Starting point is 00:15:05 Bob Sanders. That's a guy who's just been a staple, a guy who all safe, he's just trying to emulate a tough physical guy like Bob Sanders. That group in front of you, that linebacker group, a lot of turnover, obviously. I guess what do you see from that? Why maybe will that group? How will that group? Forward after Jay Higgins and Nick Yeah, I think first and foremost,

Starting point is 00:15:30 you gotta just shout out Coach Wallace. He's probably one of the best linebacker coaches in the nation. And so I'm 100% confident and whoever's out there and you know, just being a guy who's been out there practicing with them. I'm confident in Carson Shire. I'm confident in Jayden Harrell, confident Jackson Rathra, Jada Montgomery, whoever's out there. I'm confident in Carson Shire, I'm confident in Jayden Herald, I'm confident in Jackson Rathra, Jada Montgomery, whoever's out there, I'm confident in those linebackers. They work incredibly hard, they practice so hard.

Starting point is 00:15:51 And I know that no matter what happens, they're gonna just take the field and play with this role on a separate, every snap. And when you're playing with guys like that, it's pretty hard to not be successful. Who on this team are we overlooking right now that maybe media is not talking about? You know, I think probably, I don't know who it is, but I know there's going to be somebody who's going to step up on special team this year. And whether it's a guy like Jalen Watson, a guy like Rashad Goffrey, Kale Clare, whoever it is, someone's going to step up on special teams and they're going to win us some games this year. And whoever that person is, I just want them to know we're incredibly grateful to have them as part of our team. Cohen, you're gonna see that.

Starting point is 00:16:28 So there's Cohen Entringer from Big Ten Football Media Days. As I said, really engaging, really interesting guy. Very fun hearing him talk about a couple of different players. We'll talk a little bit about more of that. More takeaways from Big Ten Football Media Days as we are back in Iowa. Recapping what we saw in Las Vegas. We'll continue Lockdown

Starting point is 00:16:46 Hawkeyes. Trent Condon back with you one final time. This is the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast, your team every day as we gear up for football season. A boy just being there in Las Vegas for the last couple of days, hearing the the coaches hearing the players from the 18 different universities in the Big Ten Conference really got the juices flowing it did and the excitement level certainly building up for me as we are just outside now a month away from the opening of the football season and open up with that weird game time the five o'clock start against Albany to kick things off of

Starting point is 00:17:23 course Iowa State week number two, and then UMass before Big Ten play begins with Rutgers and Indiana as they'll get going their first five games of the season. As I mentioned at the top, Kirk talked about a lot of the questions that they have, and he's excited to find out. He's excited about this team.

Starting point is 00:17:41 He's excited about this group. And when he talked about some of the different positions, one area that I asked him about, I think is incredibly important. As Kirk likes to go back, and we heard a lot of old stories with Kirk, and that's what you're gonna get from him. And there was the Dallas Clark references

Starting point is 00:17:58 and everything else that you get from normal Kirk Faire's press conference. But I asked him about the defensive tackle position and the defensive tackle position specifically going out and bringing in two guys in the grad transfer market and In the transfer market, excuse me and once a grad transfer and Jonah pace and he said he'll help But then he also brought up Bryce Hawthorne. And Hawthorne, three years of eligibility remaining, South Dakota State, said he wasn't tall. And that was the knock. He said, I've made a mistake not offering out of high school. But you can just tell. Again, reading between

Starting point is 00:18:36 the lines, the response that he has, that he has a lot of belief that those guys are going to help. And it said as much that they're going to help. Another one that you can hear is that is up on the long live portion the 30 minutes that is up on YouTube was Kirk talking about Bryce George and he's kind of the great unknown right you got Trevor loud fighting with Jack Doe. So for that left tackle spot and during that time while spring football is happening they go out and get Bryce George, who hasn't played a ton of left tackle. We already have known the Jennings dunker just isn't comfortable. He is a right tackle and that's where he's going to stay this year. So they're still searching and he bring him Bryce George from Ferris State, but he said all the right things. He was a guy that they

Starting point is 00:19:23 were excited about. And Kirk mentioned when they did the background on him, it was a guy that they had a belief that can be a left tackle. So we'll see when they get the pads on here this week, it will be different. I mean, there's no doubt about it. It's going to be different. And we'll see what he looks like there. But you know, I went from last week when we were talking about the depth chart, we're not going to get a depth chart for a couple of weeks. And you know, what's this going to look like? Bryce George is going to be there. Bryce George is going to be on there. And is he going to be the starter at left tackle? I might have a little more credence to that, that he is going to be that guy. Another thing that Kirk mentioned is they're likely still going to be figuring some guys out in September. And I know specifically with the offensive line, that's something that drives me crazy. Yeah, you want guys competing, you want guys that are working for the job and doing those parts of it. Obviously, that's football, right? You got to have competition. And that's a piece of it. But it makes sense with this many new faces with this many new guys coupled with what they did in the portal and bringing in some new faces aboard there that you're going to be searching you're going to be digging a little bit deeper and it's probably going to take longer to get there. Got to be ready to go

Starting point is 00:20:34 week two. We know that the way the schedule lays out to I mean there's a little more ability for them to tinker a little bit more here during the early portion of the schedule. And that piece of it, again, we'll get more covered your way here in the next couple of days into next week, as we will continue to react. There's just so much to bring to you, your team every day, we got you covered, you every dayers. Thanks for being with us each and every day. Big shout out to all of you out there for doing that. We will be back with you. We got more content coming up this weekend into next week. A lot from Big Ten Football Media Days. We'll hear from Ethan Hurkett. We'll hear more from Kirk Farrance. We'll hear from Beth Goetz. Got a lot of video and audio that we will be sharing with you. If you're saying

Starting point is 00:21:16 video, yeah, you can watch us on YouTube each and every day if you want to see my mug. Or you can listen on the podcast side. If you're listening, five star reviews. Need more of those to help us out and get us in front of more Hawke podcast side. If you're listening, five star reviews. Need more of those to help us out and get us in front of more Hawkeye fans. If you're watching on YouTube, just hit that subscribe button. Just takes a moment. It does really help us out. Back with you again tomorrow with more from Big Ten Football

Starting point is 00:21:35 Media Days. Thanks for joining us, as always. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Until then, go Hawks.

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Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Ferentz's Optimism SKYROCKETS After Las Vegas Trip | Hawkeyes Ready to Shock?

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