Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Former Buckeye & 4 Star Wide Receiver Kaleb Brown is visiting Iowa Football - Do the Hawkeyes have a shot?

Episode Date: May 4, 2023

Just 3 days after entering the transfer portal, former Ohio State wide receiver Kaleb Brown is making a visit to the Iowa Hawkeyes football program.Is it realistic for the Hawkeyes to land the talented wide receiver? Iowa has connections with him dating back to high school where he was a 4 star prospect. Iowa has plenty of playing time to sell. Can they sell an improved offense?The Hawkeyes also picked up a commitment from 3 star offensive lineman Bodey McCaslin out of Illinois. Thoughts on him and how important it will be for Iowa to get offensive lineman and keep them healthy after the injury bug has hit that position group.Some thoughts on Mediapolis (IA) 5 star punter Drew Miller who has offers from Georgia, Michigan and Texas, but nothing yet from Iowa.And on the basketball front, is Fran McCaffery done in the portal?Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Right now, Iowa has its biggest wide receiver recruit ever on campus, at least of the recruiting era, on message boards and the like. Can Portal Kirk seal the deal? Today on Locked on Hawkeyes. Our Locked on Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome in. I'm Trent Condon, and this is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast.

Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Available wherever you get podcasts. You can also find us on YouTube. While you're there, make sure you hit that subscribe button. Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. A very exciting time right now as Iowa, as we speak, has a huge wide receiver on campus from the transfer portal, Caleb Brown, a four-star wide receiver out of the Chicago area, played this past season at Ohio State,

now entered the portal just a couple days ago and very quickly set up his first visit to the University of Iowa. Why does that matter? Iowa picked up a commitment today for the class of 2024 along the offensive line. We will talk about that and a couple of other recruits that are out there plus a little basketball today there is a big name from our neck of the woods that has entered the transfer portal is Iowa involved with Grant Nelson

from North Dakota State an intriguing prospect it's got a sight set on the NBA but it's keeping the portal opportunities open we'll talk about here here today what Fran is doing in the transfer portal. But let's get into the biggest news of the day. And that is obviously right now as we have four-star wide receiver Caleb Brown on campus. So Iowa recruited him very heavily coming out of high school. He's 5'10.5", 195 pounds, really well put together. He's that small receiver, slot receiver as he will, not the X receiver, the big receiver on the outside.

We've been talking about a lot here with a lot of these transfer portal candidates, and it's something that I was certainly looking for at this point in time. But I will tell you, a game-breaker like this, elite-level speed. Now, you look at the numbers. Well, he only caught one ball last year and came when the Buckeyes blew out of course the Hawkeyes a season ago that was his only catch of the year remember this though that wide receiver room is incredibly talented Ohio State and what they've done the last two years three first round picks a great wide receiver coming back in Marvin

Harrison Jr. a number one recruit in next year's class. Has already committed to play for the Buckeyes. What Hartline is doing in that wide receiver room is absolutely incredible. The amount of talent that is in there. And with all that being said, Caleb Brown was the only freshman that played in the wide receiver room a season ago for Ohio State. Four years of eligibility wherever he goes to,

and to set up his first visit to the University of Iowa, I think says something. In today's environment of NIL and the transfer portal, we saw what happened with Cade McNamara. The rumblings were out there, and then very quickly it came together. Let's be honest, though it's not the way that it's supposed to be. A lot of these things happen well before a player even enters the transfer portal. There is communication happening. There are people that are figuring things out. There is the player.

Maybe it's a high school coach. Maybe it's a dad. Maybe it's an uncle. Maybe it's mom. There is somebody, though, that is usually reaching out to different places that would make sense. And when you see this come together as quickly as it has, he enters the portal on April 30th. By May 3rd, he is visiting the University of Iowa. That shows you how quickly it happens.

And I think definitely a leg up here for Iowa. They are all systems go at this point in time. They are going to do everything possible to get him and make a commitment as soon as possible. You know, the Iowa Swarm, the NIL Collective, they're doing their best and putting their best offer forward. This is a different kind of wide receiver than what we've talked about. You know, we mentioned A.J. Henning, wide receiver from Michigan. Now, he doesn't have the same kind of eligibility. He's not the same kind of prospect as Caleb Brown. The speed that he plays at.

You look back at some of his highlight tapes, playing on seven-on-seven camps back in high school. This is a guy that had knee surgery, had a little cleanup, had some cartilage, loose cartilage that had to be cleaned up going into Ohio State, and yet there he was still out there on the field as a true freshman. Don't fall down the path of ugly Hawkeye fan and say, oh, the guy just had one catch. Look, we were excited when we got a walk-on from Ohio State to join our wide receiver

room, and we know how desperate the Hawkeyes are at this point in time. This is going to come down to more than anything. First, here's the sales pitch. You're going to come in right now and you're going to be number one. And there's no doubt about it. Nico Raggini, nice career. We know what he is. He's an underneath guy. He has limitations physically. He also is very injury prone. Seth Anderson, we don't know. The transfer from Charleston Southern, how he's going to translate at a big step forward and not a real big guy himself. Wide receiver room, Deontay Vines.

I'm hopeful. I'm high on Deontay Vines, but we still have to see it, right? Over the course of a season. And then you're talking about Jacob Bostic, who hasn't been there, and three freshmen, plus the walk-ons. And they're just that, they're walk-ons. So when you go down that path and you kind of look at this i think it makes a whole lot of sense caleb brown wants to play

he wants opportunity so that part is an easy sell i think we could all sell that one okay even if you're not in sales this is pretty easy look at our wide receiver room you're going to come in and play secondly you have to sell that what we've seen the last two years from this Iowa offense is not what it's going to be. The upgraded quarterback is huge. And Cade McNamara, he's got to be at the forefront of this recruiting. It can't just be Kirk and Brian and the offensive staff trying to sell him. It's got to be Cade McNamara.

It's got to be a huge part of this as well. And understanding, I need weapons. And we think you're going to be a weapon. We got two elite level tight ends. We got an offensive line that's going to be better. Caleb Johnson, pound for pound, one of the best sophomore running backs in the country. We have the pieces. We need receivers. And what you saw offensively from Iowa the last two years is going to be different, and you sell it that way. Offensive line better means the running game gets going. The passing game, look at what we did in the past when we had

Amir Smith-Marset, when we had Brandon Smith, when we had competent wide receiver play and an offensive line that could block at least at a decent level, there were plays that can be made in the passing game. That's what you also have to sell. I think Iowa can do it. Now they're not going to be alone. There's going to be a lot of suitors for Caleb Brown. Oklahoma has already reached out. Texas A&M, another one. Those are the first two names that I heard right away. Great news is you can go and you can find him on Instagram. He's at the

University of Iowa. He's taking pictures. He is here. And the first visit went to Iowa. This is as optimistic as I have been for one of these wide receivers during the transfer portal, really going back to the aforementioned Seth Anderson. Well, we beat out Kansas and Georgia Tech for his services. This is a little bit different. Now, this is going to be the who's who of college football. This young man had an offer from Florida and Alabama and Michigan

and Ohio State and Notre Dame. He had offers from the who's who of college football, and a lot of them are still going to be calling. Hawkeye Swarm, get it done. Cade McNamara, get it done. Brian Ferentz, stay out of the way. Caleb Brown is currently at the University of Iowa. Will he make a commitment or is he going to go through the recruiting process? That is not quite to be determined at this point in time. More recruiting

news on the football front. Iowa landed another in the class of 2024. We'll talk about the latest on that front and what's happening in the transfer portal for basketball as we continue on Locked on Hawkeyes. Looking for a delicious snack, but don't want all the sugar and calories? Then you need the best tasting protein bar ever, Built. You gotta try this.

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get the big 13-bar box with our hit flavors, brownie batter puff and churro puff. You can thank me later. Trent Conant back with you as we roll through here on the lockdown hawkeyes podcast your team every day that's what we do here on the lockdown network as we move our way into the offseason spring football is over but recruiting becomes incredibly big at this point in time and iowa added another one to their class of 2024 the latest latest is Bodie McCaslin a three-star offensive lineman from Illinois they beat out

Kansas State Minnesota for his services those were his best offers that he had coming out of high school it not one of the biggest offensive line targets that they're after in fact there's a couple of guys with some bigger offers that I was still looking at but now the biggest offensive line targets that they're after. In fact, there's a couple of guys with some bigger offers that I was still looking at. But now the third offensive lineman for this class, big frame, 6'6", 275, recruiting sites really like him, think he's projectable as an offensive tackle. You love that height.

And what Iowa's gone through here the last couple of years, obviously there has been a lot that has been lost for Iowa and what they have had throughout the years at the offensive line position. You think back of what they have had and some of the guys that have left before their eligibility has lapsed. Injuries have been a big part of this. And it's at the point now where Iowa really needs to start hitting on these offensive line targets you need to move away from what we had before I mean think back Ezra Miller

young man that looked like he was destined to be a really good prospect ended up going over to Nebraska injuries derailed his career Tyler Endres no longer with the football program Justin Britt injuries have derailed what looked to be a pretty promising career early in his career on top of it. So you have guys like that, you're going back, those should be your upperclassmen. Noofensky, he came in, went over to Colorado, and then he got Dion and got knocked out there at the University of Colorado. But you had that, and you're left kind of saying, all right, what else can be done? Well, David Davikoff is another one of the big prospects that they missed out on. And this is something that has just been so impactful to Iowa football and what they had. Offensive line right

now, you start at the top of this class. Cody Fox from East Buck, big time prospect. Top 250 player in the country, the number 14 offensive lineman in all the land he is there at the offensive line position also on the offensive line as mentioned the newest one just announced today with Bodie McCaslin from St. Charles East in St. Charles Illinois and then the third commit on the offensive line is Josh Janowski from also in Illinois. More of a guard prospect, 6'3", 270 is his. You know, this offensive line, they won out. They brought in Rusty Fett.

He's a one-year stopgap. He's going to come in for his final year of eligibility after he finishes up in Oxford at the Miami of Ohio. He'll come in. He's going to help the interior of the offensive line. They believe that Logan Jones is going to make the leap this year. And for him, everything that I've heard during spring practice is it is. You saw so many times last year, it just felt like the physical traits are there. Go back to the Michigan game and one of the most BS calls of him blocking too hard and he got the

personal foul. That's what we need. He's got that nastiness inside. Tried to take over for Linderbaum. It was huge step, shoes, excuse me, that he had to fill. It was difficult. The slow snaps getting back to the center. I mean, just everything was so discombobulated a year ago with that offense. It sounds like Logan Jones is going to take that step forward. If that's the case, all right, Rusty Feth, you're going to be at one of the guard positions. Right tackle is going to be Dejan Parker. He had his knee scoped. He's going to be back in June. That positions. Right tackle is going to be Dejon Parker. He had his knee scoped.

He's going to be back in June. That is who they brought in from Saginaw. The worst thing about the injury there is not just the injury and him having to rehab it and get everything right, but just the developmental time, not only making the jump up from D2 football to the Big Ten level. I mean, that's going to be a transition for anybody, making that kind of jump regardless of what the position is.

But we know the importance of Iowa and how much, probably more important than it is in almost every other place of the country, are the continuity that you need along the offensive line. What Iowa does in the zone blocking scheme, everybody has to work together. You have to know what the guy next to you is doing. You have to know what really the whole rest of the offensive line is doing. Without those reps together, that can be impactful. I think

they're going to be better. I think it's a pretty easy thing to say because they can't be much worse of what they've been up front the last couple of years. Young guys that weren't ready. A guy like Connor Colby, out their way too soon. Mason Richmond, who I think is going to eventually be a star. And I think he's going to be a guy that is an NFL draft pick. I think that continues to build up. Some of the young guys now is a Jennings Dunker, somebody like that are going to start to hit. So there's plenty of options here.

The depth has been built back up. These injuries really have hurt this Iowa football team. Guys that were anticipated. I mentioned David Davidoff. He was a guy that a lot of people thought was going to come in when the aforementioned two young guys were in there, and he was going to be the one that played right away. They can't afford the misses and the injuries

that they've had the last couple years. Look, injuries are nothing that you can really anticipate what's going to happen. Yeah, if a guy's injury-prone at the high school level, I guess you can read into that. That didn't seem to be the case for most of these guys. Their best prospects have ended up getting hurt. Can't afford to have that happen anymore.

10 recruits in the class of 2024. June is a big recruiting month as well. I will have their big tailgater and invite some of their top prospects in. Trying to really finish up the class outside of a couple of spots uh going into august camp that's what they work to do every single year it is accelerated and really push forward what iowa football has been working to do to get those classes even before they begin their senior year pretty much wrapped up and it appears that i was on the track right now to do that currently iowa 15th in the country in the class of 2024 with those 10 commitments.

Pretty good look there for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Well, let's take a look at the basketball team. What is happening on that front? We'll talk about that. A couple more recruiting notes I did have here. One that I'm intrigued by most is five-star punter Drew Miller. Now, he's a local kid. He's from Minneapolis. He's from the state of Iowa. He's taken a visit to NC State. Okay, that's interesting. You don't see NC State very often,

obviously, recruiting inside of our state borders. And the defending national champion, the Georgia Bulldogs, have also offered Drew Miller, and he set up a visit there. Iowa has not offered at this point. There are some people that believe that they want to see Drew Miller punt in person. They've invited him to their specialist camp coming up here in just a few weeks. Is he willing to do that with those offers in his back pocket? Oh, it's not just NC few weeks. Is he willing to do that with those offers in his back pocket? Oh, it's not just NC State and Georgia where he has visits, also has offers from Texas and Michigan. We got a five-star putter in our state. Of course we do because we're Iowa, right? Torrey Taylor likely will depart after this season and give it a go at the NFL level.

I understand it. Iowa, the way that they recruit the punter and kicker position is different. LeVar Woods has done a great job with his special teams, kicking coaches, getting everything figured out. I get it. Not very often do you have a guy like this. Not very often does anybody from the state of Iowa have an offer from Georgia and Texas and Michigan. And yet here we are. Let's hope this goes well. No, Dad's a big Hawkeye fan. We're rooting for the Hawkeyes to give out that offer.

And they know a little bit better than we do as well exactly what is happening on that front. Look, I'm not a scout by any means. I call high school football games every single Friday night during the course of high school football. I watch a lot of it. Punning, a little bit more difficult. And how many times have we seen guys that just don't translate? Very success story for every Nate Kading that is out there.

There's a Trent Mossbrooker that doesn't go that way. So we will be confident that I will get this figured out. That's one certainly rooting for though, that I was going to be able to find a way to make that happen with Drew Miller. That's right. A five-star punter, Hawkeye football, Hawkeye basketball coming up next. We'll talk about Fran McCaffrey, the latest big man from a North Dakota state. Grant Nelson has entered the transfer portal.

Is Iowa involved? That's next on Locked on Hawkeyes. Trent Conner back with you here on the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks as always for making Locked on Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Every dayers, tomorrow on the show, we got LaShawn Daniels stopping by. We'll talk Hawkeye football with the former Hawkeye running back, break things down, and talk a little bit more about those guys trying to break through and get into not just a training camp,

but make a roster. LaShawn went through the process as he was undrafted, coming off the heels of the NFL draft and made a go of it for a couple of years. We'll talk about that process with LaShawn Daniels. Well, wrapping things up on the basketball front, Brad McCaffrey, I think he's done. I think he's done recruiting. I could be dead wrong. And again, this is not any sources.

This is reading between the lines. So just a couple days ago, Grant Nelson, North Dakota State kid, enters the transfer portal. I mean, this seems like a pretty good fit, right? Kid from here in this area. I was recruited out of the Summit League before. That's where Phillip Rabracha came from, North Dakota. Makes sense.

Iowa needs help. They were recruiting another big to go along with Ben Kricke. Didn't go their way with B.J. Mack. But I see this. And this very well could not be a full list. I get it. This is from 24-7 High School Hoops. North Dakota State transfer Grant Nelson has heard from these schools since entering the portal per a source. Kentucky,

Gonzaga, Kansas, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Texas Tech, Houston, St. John's, LSU, Central Florida, Miami, Florida State, Villanova, Nebraska, Georgetown, Cal, Baylor. Now, it's a who's who of college basketball. And for everything that is out there, Grant Nelson is going to go to the NBA, where he very well could be a second-round pick. Going to go maybe to Creighton. Connection's there.

Here's some other big landing spots. I get it. Iowa likely is not going to be able to compete with those schools. But to not even try? Again, according to this, and it's just a tweet, but Iowa's not amongst the teams that even reached out. See what the temperature is. See what you can sell. Can you sell? Hey, you come in here, you're going to be our Keegan, our Chris, our Luca. You've got a pretty compelling cell. Now, the NIL space at Iowa for the basketball front is not what it is for the football front.

It is not at the same level as a Gonzaga or a Kentucky or a Creighton and on and on and on. But it's not worth a phone call. I mean, is Fran McCaffrey this beat down by the transfer portal that he's not even willing to try to make the call, to make the contact. It's a scary spot. Iowa needs help. This Iowa basketball team, currently Bart Torvik is a website. It's an analytical-based website. Maybe you've heard of Ken Pomeroy. Every day or so, if you went with us going back to basketball season, you certainly know I use Bart Torvik,

I use Ken Palm, I use a lot of the analytic base states for what I do on the gambling side of things, and also I think it gives you a real good sense of some different numbers that come out there. Iowa right now, in the returning, along with the transfers that are coming in, is the

ninth best team in the Big Ten. Are you talking Bubblicious once again in that realm? More needs to be done. You can't go into the season, I don't believe, with this roster and have a realistic expectation to be an NCAA tournament team. Could they surprise? Sure. Could it all start clicking for Patrick McCaffrey?

Absolutely. Could Ben Kroenke come in and be some instant offense inside and settle what they've been searching for? Could Tony Perkins take that next step? All things that, yes, could plausibly happen. But top to bottom with four freshmen coming in,

I think more needs to be done to supplement this roster. And on top of it, you have two open scholarships. And you're not going to try. You can't make a phone call. Doesn't sit right with me. Every dares, we'll be back with you tomorrow. LaShawn Daniels is going to stop in.

We will talk with him. And coming up next week, it's a trip to Las Vegas. That's right. I'll be at Circa downtown Vegas. Hey, if you're happen to be out there, or if you are one of the people that maybe live in Vegas and we know we got a couple of listeners and watchers out there in Las Vegas, stop on by. I will be there Sunday through Wednesday next week, doing my radio show from well Pacific time,

nine to 11 AM 11 one here in the central time zone. Miller and Cotton is where you can find it on KXNO. You can catch me there each and every weekday and doing the show from Vegas next week. We'll have podcasts for you as well out in Las Vegas next week at Circa Sports. That does it for today. Thanks, everybody out there for checking in.

We'll talk to you again tomorrow along with LaShawn Daniels. Go Hawks.