Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Former Iowa football player James Daniels makes interesting comments about Kirk Ferentz

Episode Date: January 11, 2022

Former Iowa football player James Daniels spoke to the media after his 4th season with the Chicago Bears and had interesting comments to say about Kirk Ferentz and the Iowa Hawkeye program. We discuss that before diving into the recruiting talk for the day. Iowa is now back in the mix for a 4-star TE recruit and has been taking a hard look at a former Last Chance U prospect in Chance Main. We wrap up the show with a quick look at the men's Iowa basketball season.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 “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% 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.NetSuiteOver twenty-seven thousand businesses already use NetSuite and RIGHT NOW through the end of the year NetSuite is offering a one-of-a-kind financing program to those ready to upgrade at NetSuite.com/LOCKEDONNCAA. 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 Podcast Network. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade. Excited to be back for another episode today. And we have some interesting controversy surrounding a former Iowa football player, James Daniels, makes some very interesting comments in relation to the Chicago Bears and the Iowa Hawkeyes.

We're going to be breaking that down first on the show. Then we're going to get into some recruiting news for the Iowa Hawkeye football team and wrap it up with some Iowa basketball talk. Iowa falling to Wisconsin. Is this team able to go to the NCAA tournament? Is this an NCAA tournament team? We're going to be talking about that later on in the show. But first, I want to thank you all for making the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast your first listen every single day.

You can find us wherever you get podcasts at and also on YouTube by searching Locked On Hawkeyes Monday through Friday. We have special guests joining a lot quite often. Last Friday, we had actually our assistant who kind of runs all of our social media and a former Iowa football player in that, Jake Fisher, on the show. So we have lots of special guests as well coming up as we get into the new year. And also this episode, a lot of conversation about James Daniels today. This episode is brought to you by Sonos.

Experience the game like never before with Sonos Arc, the premium smart soundbar for TV, movies, music, gaming, and more. Visit Sonos.com to learn more. So let's get into it. The big news from yesterday. James Daniels spoke to the media. James Daniels had some interesting things to say about the Iowa Hawkeyes again. So if we want to talk about history, James Daniels is really the catalyst, you could say, for what came out of

those racial bias allegations for the Iowa Hawkeyes. He was the first one to kind of tweet and started a movement among a lot of Iowa Hawkeye football players. Now, I'm not going to go into details and rehash all of that outside of what I will say is at the time, I respected James Daniels for doing that. I think he created a positive change and positive momentum within the Iowa football program for years to come. There were some, you know, obviously some very controversial things that happened and are still kind of going out the lawsuit and whatnot.

But from my point of view, there has been a very good amount of change and a lot of positive change for the incoming Iowa football athletes. You can see it in the guys like an Ivory Kelly Martin, who was a fantastic steward of the program, a Tyrone Tracy, a Kayvon Merriweather. These are the guys who are up there advocating for the Iowa Hawkeye program, talking about how the changes have went, what they've seen from these changes, and how it's gotten better. We've seen Iowa loosen up some of the restrictions that felt like maybe they

were a bit too drill sergeant-like and a bit culturally insensitive. And we've seen Iowa put together some impressive back-to-back seasons, regardless of what you feel about this offense in this year. Iowa has managed to turn a corner and really play some very good football. Now, again, I go back to James Daniels. He started that movement, and I can, I will always appreciate that. I think what he did was put some things to the surface that needed to be there. The Iowa Hawkeyes needed to address that. Kirk Behrens needed to address that within the locker room. That was good. Now, as we turn our attention to the Chicago Bears comments, I start questioning why he felt like he needed to have the Iowa Hawkeyes in his mouth in this regard.

And I don't mean that in a rude way, but what was the point of throwing out Kirk Ferentz's name? What was it? Here's the quote. Coach Nagy did a really good job of helping us have fun. Dance-offs on Saturdays, club dub. I come from the University of Iowa. We never did that, so it was really cool to see that. Okay.

He said, I came from the University of Iowa, and Coach Ferentz is just as basic as it comes. Coach Nagy puts a huge emphasis on that. And then he got into some arguments about winning versus losing. Mark Patash asked James if a more serious approach was needed since the fun approach resulted in losing. And James Daniels said define winning how do you define winning and then he told them about the fact that Iowa Mark said some Iowa winning plenty of games when James was there and he said I only played a couple seasons there I feel like you're trying

to compare apples to asparagus I'm honestly confused as to why James feels the need to, and I know those are not damning comments by any means, right? Those are not insinuating terrible things by any means about the program, but it just seems unnecessary to do that. Now, as you all know, if you've listened to my show before, I'm joined actually by LaShawn Daniels Jr., James's older brother, every single Sunday after a game. I'd like to say that I know LaShawn. He's a friend, I guess you could say at this point. I do like LaShawn and I love our conversations on Sundays. I don't know if he thinks of me as a friend, but I would like to think of LeSean as a friend at this point.

And I do want to be sensitive to that, right? I'm not going to be rude or ridiculous about what James said, but I just don't understand what the purpose of those comments were and why you feel like Iowa did you so dirty. It just doesn't. I understand you felt like there were a lot of issues within the program, but at the end of the day, you were winning games. You were, I would hope, having fun with your brothers and your teammates.

And when I look at the stats, Iowa was winning. You were playing on a 2015 team that won 12 games and went to the Rose Bowl as a true freshman. You played on an 8-5 team the next year, and you played on an 8-5 team the next year. Those are 600 winning percentages. For the Bears, your first season, 12-4, a 7-50 winning percentage. Then 8-8, 8-8, 6-11. So I define winning with wins and losses. I define winning by looking at the winning percentage than 8-8, 8-8, 6-11. So I define winning with wins and losses. I define winning by looking at the winning percentage. I don't know how there's an argument to be made against Iowa winning.

And if I'm looking at this from a Chicago Bears fan perspective, I'd be a little annoyed. Yes, I'm glad you were having fun in the locker room. I'm glad Coach Nagy made it more fun for you. But the biggest thing when you hear and you talk to players who played at the collegiate level and then played at the NFL level, the NFL is a business. You are there first and foremost to conduct your business and to win and keep winning and to play well. Fun is second to that.

To disregard winning in that sense is a little bit ridiculous. And to throw Iowa and Kirk Ferentz under the bus, to me, is a bit ridiculous. I really am hoping that these comments are maybe taken a bit out of context. And even if we're being honest, again, these comments are not incredibly mean or mean-spirited or just wrong, but they don't make sense to say. It felt like a passive-aggressive jab or kind have a backhand towards the Iowa football program yes I'm if I'm being honest Iowa their program probably not the most fun program in the entire country but would you rather be Nebraska and having lots of fun, I would rather be winning and having fun after that.

And you look at the way Kirk Ferentz cares about his players. Yes, Kirk Ferentz is not dancing in a locker room. Kirk Ferentz is not getting down like Mike Tomlin and dancing with his players like he did with the Steelers after they won yesterday or on Sunday. Kirk Ferentz is getting up. He's giving speeches. He's getting emotional. He's crying, and the players love that too. It is different.. He's giving speeches. He's getting emotional. He's crying,

and the players love that too. It is different. Yes, it is not your normal kind of fun, but I would rather win, and the fun can come after that. So the comments just to me were incredibly weird. I'm not really sure what to make of it at this point. Let me know what your thoughts are. I know a lot of Iowa fans really upset about the comments. A lot of Chicago Bears fans upset about the comments. I'm wondering if we'll hear more from James after this, but definitely an interesting thing to say in your press conference with no reason to throw any sort of jabs at Kirk Ferentz at this point. Coming up, we're going to talk about Iowa football recruiting. Iowa looking at some transfer portal targets and another legacy recruit they could be in on as well. We're talking about all that here in a few short moments.

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the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast your first listen every single day. I appreciate each and every one of you. And if you are listening for the first time, make sure to find us by searching wherever you get podcasts at and also on YouTube by searching Locked On Hawkeyes. We are here Monday through Friday. Now talking about Iowa football recruiting, a couple of things kind of popped off the last week or so that I want to make sure I cover.

Let's start with the fact that Mack Markway, a former Florida commit at the tight end position, a four-star recruit out of Missouri, his dad, a legacy Hawkeye. We thought we had a chance to them initially. It turns out we didn't. He did commit to Florida, but after they fired their head coach, Mack Markway decommitted. And that recruitment is wide open at this point. Now, Iowa was in his top five, but did not seem like they were really in the running at any given point. Things are changing and things are trending upwards. He's visiting Iowa in January. And you have to consider the fact that Iowa just landed X.

Now, I don't want to say all momentum is attributed to X, but when Iowa lands a guy like X, a five-star recruit like him who can do recruiting, you land a guy like X, you're looking at some high, high recruits that Iowa is very heavily in on, and those recruits are very heavily in on Iowa, like a Caden Green, a Caden Proctor, or a Kyler Casper. You start looking at that landscape of recruiting. If you're Mack Markway, you think, maybe this is the home for me. Maybe there's something I missed. Maybe Iowa is building something that other schools can't say they are.

And then you look at the pedigree of tight ends in the NFL from Iowa, you have to be pretty impressed. You look at the way Iowa uses their tight ends, like a Sam Laporta or Luke Lachey, especially Sam in that Citrus Bowl, having a phenomenal day. You have to be very excited about your prospects of going there, playing well, and making it to the NFL, which I can only assume is the ultimate goal for four-star recruit Mack Markway. So as we get more information on that, we'll make sure to cover that. But that is big news going into the class of 2023 as Iowa really picks up their recruiting emphasis on that class. A lot of big-time targets.

This could go down as one of the best, if not the best, classes Iowa has ever landed. A lot of positive momentum going in favor of the Hawks right now. Now they're also looking for immediate reinforcements as well. They're looking at incarnate word, defensive end transfer Chance Mayne, a 6'3", 6'4", 255-pound guy, appeared on Last Chance U, a big time, not big time, but a big defensive end, as Iowa looks to reinforce their defensive line. He's already received a North Texas offer.

Sounds like Iowa's digging around a bit on him. As we get more information on that, we'll make sure to let you know. What I find interesting about this is despite the fact that Iowa is only losing one guy in Zach Van Valkenburg, they are not stopping there. They are still looking for potential reinforcements. And Iowa has done a really good job of finding grad transfers and transfers in general at that defensive line spot, getting a Zach Van Valkenburg. That was a phenomenal pickup by the Hawks. Could they go in and grab a chance main? Could be an opportunity as well to, again, provide a bit of a spark at that defensive end position. The final recruiting piece I want to talk about is Kai Thomas, the Minnesota running back.

Now, Iowa was a little bit in on this. They were not heavily involved. They're not going to be landing Kai Thomas. However, they did reach out. They made a connection. They were interested in Kai Thomas. And you might be thinking, why? Well, let me tell you why. Iowa has

zero scholarship running backs that have been in the program for longer than a year. Zero. That's this number. Zero. Zero. Zero running backs.

That is not going to get it done. And I should actually clarify, two years, technically. LaShawn and Gavin have been in the program for two years. Those guys are going to be juniors, or should be the third year in the program this upcoming season. But there is no guys that are going to be redshirt juniors,

redshirt seniors, true seniors. So two guys, less than two years, with the most experience. Not exactly the kind of experience you want in a running back room. I think LaShawn Williams and Gavin Williams are going to be forming a very, very solid one-two punch, but it does, it is interesting as Iowa looked at Kai Thomas. To me, I look at it as more of a two things. One, there isn't a lot of experience in that running back room. And two, Kai Thomas is a pretty big and good running back. I guess Iowa this past year, 126 yards on 29 carries, averaging 4.3 yards per carry. You have to at least get a feeler out there. Maybe he's interested in coming in and competing

against a Gavin Williams and a LaShawn Williams and a Devin Hilson, right? Let's not forget about Devin Hilson, the recruit out of the Des Moines Metro area last year, coming in as a running back. You also have Jaz and Patterson. You know, we got guys in this running back room who can and will be very talented. Caleb Johnson, another one. We have very talented running backs,

but not a lot of experience there. So I appreciate Iowa reaching out. I appreciate them trying to see what is out there in the transfer portal, potentially grabbing a guy like Kai Thomas, bringing in a guy with experience. I think all indications with that, Ivory Kelly Martin was planning on returning. At least that was the expectation.

He ultimately decides to go to the NFL. Had a bit of a struggle for this year. Wasn't really able to step up and be that number two guy. Also, the emergence of Gavin and LaShawn definitely helped that. So if I'm Kai, I look at Gavin and LaShawn, I think they probably have it covered. But if I'm Iowa, I think a three-headed monster wouldn't be bad. Remember, a couple of years ago, we were thinking Ivory, Kelly Martin, and Torin Young were the guys for Iowa. You know who showed up as a transfer? Makai Sargent. You know who came out through Makai Sargent? Tyler Goodson.

Mekhi stuck around and had a very formidable career and is now getting carries in the NFL. So it was very interesting to see Iowa in on Kai Thomas. There's not a lot of fire to that smoke, I guess you could say. Iowa not going to land Kai Thomas, but it was interesting to see them poke around a little bit there for sure. Coming up, we're going to talk about the Iowa basketball team. What is going on with this team? It's very interesting. We want to make sure we're covering all that for you, especially after that Wisconsin loss that I wasn't able to cover.

Also, before we get to any of that, I want to quickly remind you that I'm recording this at 4.30 Central Time, which means if any news comes out after this, I am not covering it because I did not see it until after I recorded and I'll be recovering it or covering it, excuse me, on tomorrow's call. So just as a heads up there or not tomorrow call tomorrow's podcast, just as a heads up there. That's why you're not seeing anything like that today. today if anything pops off. Before we get to all that, though, I want to remind you that BetOnline remains your number one spot for all the sports action and sports wagering this season in 2022. BetOnline would like to personally wish you all a happy new year and a happy new year betting year as we continue our march to playoffs and beyond in all sports you can imagine. With a new year and a new updated desktop and mobile website, you can sign up today and receive a 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit.

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And it has been an interesting season so far. A lot of exciting things. A lot of very concerning things as well. What to expect from this Iowa basketball team. You have good games where they almost beat Purdue. Then you have games where you get blown out by Iowa State. Or you get beat pretty handily against Wisconsin where it could have been even worse than what it was. What is Iowa actually doing?

Can Iowa make a run to an NCAA tournament? At this point, 11 wins, 4 losses. No bad conference losses. I think that's really important to call out. No bad conference losses. Wisconsin looking like a very good team, especially with Johnny Davis taking that next step. Illinois, still a very good team.

Purdue, still a very good team. Purdue, still a very good team. Iowa's not a bad team, but they definitely need to take care of business these next four games before they get Purdue again. Iowa at 11-4, currently ranked 26th, according to Kempom. Coming up on Thursday, they have Indiana, they have Minnesota, Rutgers, Penn State.

Should be four wins. Indiana, a very solid opponent as well. The away games, Minnesota and Rutgers, Penn State. Should be four wins. Indiana, a very solid opponent as well. The away games, Minnesota and Rutgers should be wins. But Iowa cannot afford to lose these games. When I was talking about this season a couple days ago, I said Iowa has to go 5-1 in these next six games. At least 5-1. Ideally 6-0.

Well, they already got their loss. It was where we expected it to be, which was Wisconsin. They need to win these next four games. Not only for that, but when you look at their net ranking, Iowa's still up there. They're doing a good job. They're 27th in net ranking, but you want to bump that up quite a bit. They still don't have major quality wins under their belt.

You obviously want Virginia to keep kind of moving up and doing a little bit better. Virginia has struggled a bit. Now they're up to 84th in that ranking, but having six losses is not exactly the quality win you were looking for there. But why is Iowa struggling? Well, the easiest thing to point to is rebounding. Iowa can't figure it out.

They lose a Luka Garza. They lose a very strong rebounding wing in Joey's camp, and they cannot get it figured out. We knew going into this season they would be light at the five position, but I thought the way they would make up for that is quickness and athleticism with their wings. When you have a Patrick McCaffrey, a Keegan Murray, and a Chris Murray, all six foot eight and can guard and defend one through five,

you would expect them to figure out other ways to make that work. You can still crash the glass at six foot eight and get rebounds. It is not all about size. Yes, Phillip Abracha is undersized, but he's not getting a lot of help. We are not doing a good job of crashing the boards, and that is continuing to be an issue every single time Iowa loses basketball games. They are getting out-rebounded. They're giving their opponents second-chance and third-chance opportunities, and these opponents are capitalizing on it each and every time. Iowa is a transition basketball team.

They are not going to be the number one defensive basketball team in the nation in any given year. It will just not happen under Fran McCaffrey. What we're seeing is guys leaking out a lot quicker. They take a shot and they just leave. Another team takes a shot, they're out and running. Right? Iowa is wanting to get out and transition as quick as possible, but you can't get out

and transition if you can't rebound the freaking basketball. And then not only that, their guys are leaking out and you're leaving other guys wide open. So that's when you see Iowa move to man. They're doing that for two reasons. A, I think Iowa plays better man defense at times unless there is a just revolutionary type of player. Johnny Davis can be a bit of a matchup issue for Iowa at times. A couple other guys in the Big Ten can be matchup issues. But when you man up, it allows your defense to know exactly who they need to guard and defend

and box out in order to get the rebound. When you're in zone, it makes it a little bit different, a little bit more difficult for the Iowa Hawkeyes to do that. But nevertheless, that's not an excuse. There are plenty of very good rebounding teams that are zone teams. Iowa just not getting it done at this point. You need more minutes from a big man. At this point, if you cannot get those rebounds, maybe you do try a Josh when he's fully healthy. Maybe you do put Riley in there a little bit more. Now, I think Phillip Abracha is doing a phenomenal job,

but we could slide Phillip to the four and try to put a little bit bigger lineup in there if we are really going to struggle that much at rebounding the basketball. We also need a more consistent, complimentary piece to Keegan. We've seen Chris light it up at times. We've seen Chris light it up at times. We've seen Patrick light it up at times. But we do not have a true number two option that I could say in any given game when Keegan doesn't have it going, this guy is going to do it.

Last year it was Joe Wieskamp. That was easy. The number three was Jordan. It was those three. This year it's Keegan, blank, blank, blank. Chris, Patrick, Jordan, kind of name those three. This year, it's Keegan, blank, blank, blank. Chris Patrick Jordan, kind of name your three. Tony Perkins at times. We're just not getting – Phillip Roch had a good game once.

We're not getting a consistent complementary piece. Like when you look at Wisconsin, Johnny Davis, they have Brad Davidson. I strongly dislike Brad Davidson, but he is a fantastic complementary piece. Now, the one interesting thing is when people think about Jordan Bohannon, the fact that he's not getting enough shots up, he's not making a lot of shots. He's not getting a lot of shots up. He isn't making a lot. He's not taking a lot.

Jordan Bohannon is taking up a lot of defensive presence from other opposing teams. Look at what they did against Wisconsin. He was basically eliminating Brad Davidson from playing defense against others because they were so worried about Jordan Bohannon getting hot. But that's why you need a Patrick McCaffrey or Chris Murray or a Phil Barbrotche to step up and score more points consistently. It cannot be just Keegan Murray. We've seen this dog and pony show before with Peter Jock.

You cannot have one guy being the only guy. You need other guys to step up and consistently play better basketball. Now, again, the season is not over. There's a lot of season left. Rebounding is just as much skill as it is effort, or just as much effort as it is skill, I should say. And Iowa needs to put more effort into getting the rebounds and focus less about getting out in transition.

If they can't get the rebounds, you can't get out in transition. You're not going to win some of these basketball games. The next four games are huge. Iowa needs to go 4-0. If they do not go 4-0, I do have concerns about this team making an NCAA tournament. I really do, especially if they lose the way they've been losing, by getting out-rebounded and playing lackadaisical defense. As we get closer to the game, so it's Tuesday when you're listening to the show,

we'll be giving you a preview of the Iowa-Indiana game Thursday morning. We'll be breaking down the results of that game on Friday, so stay tuned for that. I want to remind you that when we're not talking about Iowa games, you can go to the Locked On Bets podcast. They have you covered for all things betting. They'll give you three to four games between your boy Q and handicapping expert Lee Sterling of Paramount Sports. They've got three to four games you can bet on every single day at betonline.ag to put a little money in your pocket to check them out as well.

Hawkeye Nation, I appreciate you tuning into my episode today. Have a fantastic Tuesday, and as always, let's go Hawks.