Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Former Hawkeye Ihmir Smith-Marsette joins the show to discuss his draft prep, his time at Iowa, and how fast he will run the 40

Episode Date: March 9, 2021

We have former Iowa Hawkeye wide receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette on the show today! Ihmir talks about his draft preparation, what he is working on to show NFL scouts, and what he hopes to run the 40-yard dash in. This is an episode you do not want to miss!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 “LOCKEDON20,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.ManscapedGet 20% Off and Free Shipping with the code LOCKEDONNCAA at Manscaped.com.BlueChewTry BlueChew FREE when you use our promo code LOCKEDON at bluechew.com at checkout--just pay $5 shipping. 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 a Tuesday morning 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. And as I've been teasing, we have some awesome content coming up this week. And it starts today. Yesterday, we talked all about the success of the men's, the women's basketball teams,

and the wrestling team as they dominated their respective sports this past weekend. Today, though, we're turning the clock back to the Iowa football team because we have a very special guest on the show today. We are joined by Amir Smith-Marset as he gets ready for Iowa's Pro Day. He's going to join us and talk to us about his draft process and his time at Iowa. So let's actually get into that right now. And then after that, we'll wrap up the show with a little bit of basketball talk, talking about the Big Ten Women's Awards and talking about the latest in the bracketology world for the men's basketball team. But first and foremost, let's get to our big guest of the show today, Amir Smith-Marset.

All right, I am honored to be joined here by former Iowa Hawkeye wide receiver and soon to be NFL draft player, Amir Smith-Marset. Amir, how's it going, man? It's good. It's good. Glad to, you know, be on here. I love it, man. Where are you at right now?

Where are you located at? I'm in Pensacola, Florida, Exos. Having some good weather? Yeah, it's nice and sunny right now. The weather is starting to break. It had a little cold streak for a second, but the sun is starting to shine again. I love it, man. Yeah, I was down actually in Pensacola for a vacation in August and beautiful weather and then a hurricane came. So that was super fun. I hope no hurricane come no time. So I'm here.

Absolutely, man. Definitely don't want that on you. And how did you decide on Exos? It was, it was like a couple of places I could have went. My agent told me that, you know, this is one of the, you know, better places. A lot of people, you know, come out of here, you know, do good and stuff like that. So it was what we went with. I love it, man. And you decided to come back for your senior year as a Hawkeye.

Last year, there was definitely some talk about potentially you entering the NFL draft, being a phenomenal return man. That's something that the NFL always needs, right? But what went into that decision to ultimately come back? And are you happy with the decision that you made? Yeah, so I could have left, you know, potentially my junior year. The fact that me coming back was I had told, you know, I had an interview before, you know, the USC game, you know,

asking me about it. And then I said, you know, I was coming back. I felt like I had a lot more to prove. And it was like I had a lot more left in the tank. So that was basically like the deciding factor, you know, whether I'd come back or not. So I decided to go back. And, you know, I was pleased with going back.

The only thing that messed up was, you know, not having a whole season, starting to stop and starting to stop. And so, you know, without the starting to stop and, you know, that affected it, but, you know, I'm grateful, you know, with the season that I had, I felt like I, you know, showed that I could, you know, be more than just a return, man. I'm actually a receiver too. So I feel like that helped me. And, you know, now I'm here today. So, you know, it's, it's all a blessing. Definitely, man. Now that, that USC game was one for the books. That was a lot of fun.

What was your favorite touchdown from that game? Probably the kick return. Definitely. That was fun, man. And you ended up really well that Wisconsin game. What a game to go out on top with. Going into this NFL draft process, though, what do you feel like you need to work on before the NFL draft?

And what do you feel like are the strengths that you bring to an NFL team today? I know you mentioned the return skills, but also the fact that you've shown that you can develop as a wide receiver. So what are some of the things you're working on right now down at Exos? Definitely, you know, working with, you know, the coaches that they have out here, being more consistent, you know, you know, coming strong off the line, being consistent, and, you know, basically, you know, just working on my speed a lot. That's one of the huge things, you know, in my game.

So I've been working strong on, you know, all those things and getting stronger and bigger. Yeah, and so what are you hearing from NFL teams? What are some of the things they're looking to see from you as it comes up for Pro Day and the combine and whatnot? i haven't been you know discussing you know what they you know want me to do and stuff like that uh it's pretty much all like basic info information right now from you know nfl teams but it's starting it's starting to ramp up uh the most i've, you know, heard from, you know, NFL teams is, you know, like come in, be ready, you know, return kicks and, you know,

do punt return too. So, you know, I got to add that to, you know, the reservoirs, the resume. Yeah. Yeah. Whatever that word is. Yeah. I know what you're saying,'re good i got i gotta get on that get on you know no part return so you know i used to do it you know i'm practicing all that stuff so i could do it it's just i just didn't do it at iowa so

that's the main things i'm hearing right now but i'm you know working on you know getting to like the receiver talk receiver talk too. Definitely. I always wanted to see you on the punt return, but I think the dynamic duo of you as a kick returner and Charlie Jones, the punt returner was pretty fun to watch still this year as well. Oh yeah. Yeah. My man's Charlie Jones. If you don't look out for him, he, he, he real nice work hard.

Just as fast as me.'s awesome man speaking of your speed you don't have to tell me but i am curious what are you thinking you can run that 40-yard dash in man because that's gonna be that's gonna be some fun a fun event for you yeah something real fast something real fast so i don't want i can't say no number but just know something fast all right so I should expect when you run that 40 the twitter world's gonna be blowing up because twitter draft twitter has been been in love with your speed and uh when they see that 40 yard dash time it seems like they might be pretty excited yeah yeah yeah let's hope let's hope they be excited so I'm leaving up to them to be excited and leave it up to myself to just go out there and run and perform

it's awesome man uh and so what are you doing right now to prepare for the nfl draft so you're down to exos but what does your schedule look like on a day-to-day basis uh monday through friday uh we used to we used to go you know monday through saturday um working out two times a day in the morning is you know speed training come back in the afternoon and lift. But now it's Monday through Friday, speed training in the morning, lifting in the afternoon. Do you feel like this is harder or easier than your summer camps at Iowa? Oh, this is definitely easier, way easier.

In the summer at Iowa, you lift condition sometimes you know football work you know a certain day so it's a lot going into that summer work at Iowa let me tell you I can only imagine man I've heard I heard some stories from some of the guys I've talked to and to wrap it up man just uh what was your favorite memory as a Hawkeye if you had to pick one or even you can give me two or three two if you want to just what were your favorite memories as a hawkeye uh one of my favorite memories is uh definitely going out there beating usc team full of five stars that ain't nobody really expect us to you know go out there and handle like that so that that right there being able to raise the MVP trophy and then after that

celebrate you know with the whole team in the locker room just dancing around messing with the coaches that was probably my favorite memory because we wasn't supposed to do that because we are on AUSC so that was definitely one and then you know my freshman year being Ohio State you know getting the field rushed with a packed stadium. That was insane. So those top two memories was like really crazy. Yeah, that USC game was, I think I put Iowa on the map again, right? Just showing that Iowa can do this and Iowa can compete. And you were a huge, huge part of that. My last question for you is, did you know this was going to happen?

You know, four years ago you joined iowa as a three-star cornerback um you know i'm looking at right now the the 1598th ranked prospect in the nation did you know this was going to happen man did you believe in this oh yeah you know whenever i put you know whenever i get into something i put my all into it and i always believe i'm going to get the best out of it. So, you know, my mindset is, you know, continue to grow, become better and, you know, get to the highest level. So I always believed in myself that I get to this point. I really don't know what else I'd be doing without it. So, you know, I'm putting all my all my strength, all my efforts into, you know, this one thing.

It got me here. So I definitely believe in myself that I'm putting all my strength, all my efforts into, you know, this one thing, and it got me here. So I definitely believe in myself that I'm going to keep pushing. That's awesome, man. And I actually have one last question. I apologize. What are your draft day plans? Sit back with my family, you know, whenever I get picked, whenever I get called, just, you know, celebrate with them. And then it's, you know, on to work after that.

That's awesome, man. Well, Amir, I am excited to see where you go. I'm sure you're going to, you know, rock out with that 40-yard dash. Really excited to watch that happen. Any last words for Hawkeye Nation before I let you go, man? Hey, you know, good luck in the future. I'm always going to be trained and go Hawks. I love it, man.

Well, have a good day, Amir. Good luck with the rest of your training. going to be training. Go Hawks. I love it, man. Well, have a good day, Amir. Good luck with the rest of your training. We'll be rooting for you, buddy. All right, thank you so much to Amir and his team for hopping on the show and talking to us. Really appreciate his time and wish him the best as he continues to train for his pro day. Looking forward to seeing what that 40-yard dash time is. But I do have a message for you from rockauto.com. Rockauto.com is a family-owned business serving auto parts customers online for 20 years.

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at. Now let's turn our attention to the women's basketball team because awards were announced for the Big Ten. And are we really shocked here? Right? Kaitlyn Clark gets freshman of the year. She's also unanimous first team all Big Ten. Absolutely cleans up in the awards category.

Monica Shinano also got first team All-Big Ten. Those are the only two Iowa Hawkeyes making the first or second team or honorable mention All-Big Ten teams. And again, Kaitlyn Clark, unanimous first team All-Big Ten, also the All-Freshman team and Freshman of the Year. Unfortunately, she did get snubbed per Player of the Year. And it went to Nass Hillman as if you've heard me talk about this before you know that i felt like it was between those two i thought it was between

naz and i thought it was between you know caitlin clark however i think this might have been a legacy award and what i mean by that is caitlin clark is a true freshman she's going to be around for four maybe five years depending on how she wants to use her eligibility, maybe less, depending on if she wants to go to the WNBA. But four or five years, there are going to be plenty of National Player of the Year awards and specifically, more specifically, Big Ten Player of the Year awards for Kaitlyn Clark. And so to me, this is them saying,, you know, them saying we're going to give this nods, but Caitlin Clark, you're right there. But I do think it's getting a little bit ridiculous

to see the snubbing of Caitlin Clark across the board. If you look at this roster, all big 10, right? Let's look at the Indiana team, a very good Indiana team. They have three people listed in the first team and second team, all big 10. You look at Maryland, they have four people listed in the first team and second team all Big Ten. You look at Maryland. They have four people listed on the first, second, and honorable mention all Big Ten teams. All right, Iowa has two on the first team. It's Kaitlyn Clark and Monica Chinano, and that is it. This team was carried by those two, and more specifically carried by Kaitlyn Clark. Kaitlyn Clark carried this team. I will go to bat for that. This team is not a tournament team without Kaitlyn Clark. I have zero doubt in my mind about that.

Kaitlyn Clark carried this team to an NCAA tournament berth. I do not understand why she continues to not get the love that she 100% deserves. Anyone who disagrees with that, I disagree with you. Kaitlyn Clark absolutely deserves to be in the running for national player of the year. The wooden award. She should have won big 10 player of the year, but nevertheless, we will settle for freshmen of the year. Again, a phenomenal freshman year for Kaitlyn Clark. I hope she can absolutely dominate in the big 10 tournament and make a name for herself on the national stage as the women take on the NCAA tournament here in a couple of weeks.

But again, awards for the women. Did a fantastic job all around Iowa getting two All-Big Ten players, Monica Shinano and Kaitlyn Clark, getting first team All-Big Ten. Kaitlyn Clark getting freshman of the year and making the freshman All-Big Ten team as expected after having a record-setting performance this season. The sky's the limit with this lady. I mean, Kaitlyn Clark, she could be better than Megan Gustafson. And you've heard me talk about Kaitlyn Clark a lot.

Go check out some of our past episodes. I'll talk all about it all day. Kaitlyn Clark, I'll go to the bank with her. She is going to be one of the best players in the history of Iowa basketball when it's all said and done. And I am incredibly excited about watching her continue her career development. A little bit shorter of a segment because we did have the Amir Smith-Marset interview coming up on segment number three, though. We're going to be breaking down bracketology and talking a little bit about the men's basketball team as well.

So that's all coming up here in a few short seconds. I do have another message for you, though, because BetOnline.ag is the fastest and the easiest way to bet on all your sports action. Football might be over, but the NBA, college basketball, and the NHL are in full swing. Betonline.ag even covers awards, TV shows, and reality television. Real-time updated odds and props on almost anything you can imagine. Betonline.ag has you covered for all the news, scores, and odds, and it is the best way to place your bets, and it's free to sign up today. Head over to their website or use your mobile device at BetOnline.ag and use the promo code LOCKEDON.

You'll get a 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit. That's right. Go to BetOnline.ag. Use the promo code LOCKEDON. You'll get a 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit. BetOnline.ag, your online sportsbook experts. On your first deposit, betonline.ag, your online sportsbook experts. There's simply no better place to get all the news on the Big Ten Conference than with Big Ten Ben Stevens and the Locked On Big Ten Podcast. Whether it's football, basketball, baseball, if it's happened in the Big Ten,

Ben's got you covered with an in-depth look at the conference every Monday through Friday. Subscribe to the Locked On Big Ten Podcast wherever you get your podcast at. Now let's turn our attention back to the men's basketball squad and talk in a little bracketology. And the conference odds from betonline.ag have also come out, so we're going to talk about that as well. There's a couple things I want to point out, though. I love all the listeners that are listening to the show.

I appreciate all of you for listening to the show. If you love this show and you love Iowa basketball and you haven't done this already, I highly recommend you check out the standpoint as well. That is one of my favorite Iowa. Actually, that's probably my favorite Iowa podcast out there outside of mine. The standpoint with Zach Cohen and Jordan Bohannon. They do a phenomenal job.

Some of you longtime listeners might remember Zach because Zach was actually on the lockdown Hawkeyes podcast for a bit before we kind of took a break from the show and he went on and started his own thing with Jordan. I came back to the show and we've been doing phenomenal sense and he's also been doing phenomenal sense with the standpoint. So love to listen to that show. One of the things that they talked about though, Jordan Bohannon did mention about Joe Wieskamp, said he thinks Joe will be fine and ready for the Big Ten tournament. Again, as we talked about yesterday, I don't think you risk it. If Joe Wieskamp is not able to go or not 100% healthy and has the ability to re-injure himself or has the ability to come back stronger if he rests, I think you sit Joe Wieskamp. And I'm going to get

to that in a second. Also, Jordan Bohannon talked a little bit about Brad Davison and said the hook rule was almost basically invented because of Brad Davidson. Brad Davidson, as he said, is a dirty player in the big 10. I agree. Any Wisconsin fan who tries to stand up for Brad Davidson is a little bit jaded. In my opinion,

Brad Davidson, probably a great guy off the court. As Jordan said, a bad guy on the court, a dirty player. None the less. Now going back to the Joe, we can't be fine thing and whether or not he will be fine.

Chris hassles. And I know a lot of Iowa fans don't like Chris Hassel, I understand that. He was speaking to Matt Norlander, a basketball expert, and Matt said Iowa has nothing to play for in the Big Ten tournament. He said they could lose their first game to Wisconsin and they will be a two seed. They could win the Big Ten tournament and they will still be a two seed. I have a couple things to say to that. First off, I don't agree. I think if Iowa wins the Big Ten tournament by beating Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan,

I find it tough that they wouldn't at least be up for consideration for that number one seed. Now, does it really matter the difference between a one and a two seed? Not a lot. But there is some opportunity here to move. I think if you beat Illinois, you beat Michigan, they have to be in that conversation. Now, it's always important to note that the committee doesn't necessarily care

about the last game of the season as much. Those shoe-in games for automatic qualifying teams or at-large teams like an Iowa squad, they are not going to care as much about them winning that last game. But the thing here is if you have a chance, you got to go for it. And Iowa wants to win a big 10 title. They do not win the regular season title as they wanted

to, but they can still win a big 10 tournament in Indianapolis. And that is something they are going to be playing for. So you better believe this team is going to come out very hungry and very motivated to show the world what they can do. And I'm excited to watch that happen again. I think if they beat Illinois and Michigan and Wisconsin, you have to think about them being a number one seed. At that point, what is holding them back from that opportunity? I think they should be. Now, again, will they probably be a number two seed?

It's probably 97% likely they'll be a number two seed, regardless of whatever the outcome is in the Bay 10 tournament. But I still think you have to kind of shoot for that if you can. That is my thoughts on that. Again, with the Joe Weiskamp stuff, though, I think it's more important to be able to win a national title than it is to win a Big Ten title if it means you can have Joe Weiskamp back. That's my personal opinion again on that. Also, forgot to mention this, a couple other awards in Iowa Hawkeye Nation. Spencer Lee was named a Big Ten Wrestler of the Year and Tom Brands Big Ten Coach of the Year. Is it really any surprise at this point? I mean, that wrestling squad is phenomenal. I'm so excited

to watch them at the wrestling championships. And also, Luka Garza was named the Bleacher Report National Player of the Year. It is without a doubt going to go to Luka Garza for all the national player of the years, in my personal opinion. Anyone who doesn't vote for Luka is honestly shouldn't have the right to vote. I'll be completely honest. They shouldn't have the right to vote for national player of the year conversations if they are not voting for Luka Garza as national player of the year. That would just be an abomination in my own personal opinion. That's at least my thought on that. Also along the betting odds, the conference odds came out because, well, obviously the conference tournament is coming up, but with betonline.ag being one of the sponsors of the

podcast, I think it's only important I tell you a little bit about what these odds are. Conference tournament lines, Iowa checking in with decent odds. Not where I'd want them to be at is lower on it so I can bet on Iowa and possibly win some money. But the Big Ten, let me pull this up for you all real quick. Where is this at on my... Man, I'm drawing a blank. I can't find the... There we go. All right, the Big Ten. Iowa coming in at a three seed.

Makes sense. They're actually given 13 to 4 odds to win the big 10 tournament. Third best odds in the tournament. They have Michigan at two to one, Illinois at five to two, Iowa at 13 to four, Ohio state at six to one Purdue at 13 to two, Wisconsin at 12 to one,

Michigan state 25 to one, Indiana 50 to one, Maryland 50 to one Rutgers 50 to one. The other ones don't even matter. I mean, at that point, a couple of things here, Michigan doesn't make sense to bet on.

That's just not that good of odds. I think Iowa does have a legitimate chance. They are very hungry. They are very motivated. If Joe Wieskamp is healthy, I think Iowa has just as good a chance of winning as Illinois and Michigan, especially getting the fact that they get Wisconsin first. That's probably the easiest, probably the best matchup for them. I know it was a close game this past game,

but I think Iowa can take care of Wisconsin pretty easily. Almost brought out my Madison accent since I spent four years in Madison with Squanson there. But if I were to make a bet on any other team outside of the top couple teams, I would look at Purdue and Michigan State. Tom Izzo has his team humming right now, and they're not a very talented team all around.

Not the best Michigan State squad we've seen, but this is a team that can do some damage. And we've seen Tom Izzo do some damage with this Michigan State squad. So if you're not betting on Iowa at 13-4, which I am definitely going to be doing, I'd probably take Purdue or Michigan State given the odds there. You put $25 on Michigan State, you're coming home with a lot of cash in your pocket. $500 to be exact. So actually, that's bad math.

It's $625 in your pocket if you put $25 on Michigan State. So check out those odds. Check it all out at betonline.ag. Put some money on the Iowa Hawkeyes to win the tournament. If you listen to the standpoint, you know that Jordan Bohannon and this team is hungry. They want to win a Big Ten title, and they've talked about this. They didn't get a chance to win the regular season title so let's go win a Big Ten title. I'm excited for basketball to start in a couple

days. We're going to be breaking all that down on the podcast and again just a reminder that we are going to be having Bakari Evelyn on the show to break down the games and preview the upcoming games for Iowa. We're dropping episodes all across the week and the weekend. We might have an opportunity to see 17 or

18 episodes in a row on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. And we have some other fantastic interviews coming up as well with Keith Duncan and Caden Crawford, one of the recruits in the class of 2022 for the Iowa Hawkeyes. So lots of fantastic stuff on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast coming up. And just, again, thank you so much to Amir Smith-Marset and his team for coming on the show.

Really appreciate his time as well. And thank you all for tuning in. If you love the show, give us that five-star review and subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast at and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. As always, Hawkeye Nation, I appreciate you tuning in. Have a fantastic Tuesday and let's go Hawks.