Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Hawkeye football land huge grad transfer | Three Hawks transferring out | Multiple 2021 commits

Episode Date: May 22, 2020

Hawkeye football recruiting was busy these last few days. Three guys left the program. Three guys committed, and the Hawks extended an offer to another 2021 QB. We break down what all of this means on today's show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I thank God I was born on the good arms of the Midwest, and not on the battlefields of the U.S. It's a time of panic, and it's intercepted! It's picked off right away! Intercepted by Marty Hooker! Pick six! Eight seconds into the game! Buffen sets up deep in the pocket, goes down the field for Smith!

Oh! He's got it! Smith! Touchdown. 85 yards. High on. Touchdown, 10. Taking a shot in the end zone.

It is caught. No offense. Touchdown. That's either one or you have it. Go ahead and three. Yes. Two-point lead for the Hawkeyes. Welcome back for a Friday 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. Excited to be back for another episode of the show today. And we have a ton of content to cover. I haven't had an episode since Monday covering the Hawks. Obviously we had the Tyrus McGee interview. Tyrus is going to be playing for the Iowa United. He was on the show Wednesday for a fantastic hour long interview. So didn't get to a lot of Hawkeye content this week. And there has been a lot that has happened. Today's episode though is going to be entirely focused on the recruiting front. We've seen a few surprise transfers, some incoming transfers, some incoming recruits, so

some big stuff happening on the Iowa Hawkeye recruiting front. On Monday's episode, we, I guess, no, let me phrase this. We're going to be doing an episode Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday of next week, potentially a Monday episode as well, where we're going to be covering a few other pieces of news, specifically the fact that the NCAA has cleared a return to voluntary workouts June 1st and what this means for Iowa. We're also going to be talking about the Gavit games, which means the Iowa Hawkeyes are going to be playing a crossover game against a Big East opponent.

We're going to be talking about which opponent we would like. And then we're going to be talking about the volleyball team and the vacated wins due to some inappropriate benefits handed out by the coach. That's going to be coming on Monday's episode of Next Week. I've decided we're doing a Monday episode. On Tuesday's episode, we have former Drake Bulldog, Josh Young, coming on the show to talk about his time in European basketball, his time at Drake, and also playing for the Iowa United.

And we have a great interview next week as well with Josh Ogundeli, one of the recruits in the class of 2020 for the Iowa men's basketball team. So a loaded week next week and a loaded episode today. And today's episode is brought to you by the great folks at Built Bar, the best tasting protein bar on the market today. Low in calories, high in protein is what I use before and after my workouts if I have enough to go around. I actually just got a new shipment today.

And lucky for you, we actually have a fantastic promo code that gets you $10 off your first order of Built Bars. Just use the promo code LOCKEDON at BuiltBar.com for $10 off your first Built Bar. And if you are tuning in for the first time and you do like the content we are providing you today, make sure to hit that like button, subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast at, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. That's how you can get some of the latest news and our reactions on things before the show actually comes out. But that being said, let's hop into it.

So first, a few different transfers, a few different guys from the Hawks have transferred. I'm going to go through the list first, and then we're going to touch on kind of how big this is. DJ Johnson, cornerback, had a few starts last year, is transferring. Samson Evans is also transferring. He has not played yet. He is from Crystal Lake, Illinois. Three-star recruit two years ago. Came in as a dual-th threat quarterback, but really moved to

running back pretty quickly. And then we're talking about Ezra Miller, who is also transferring. You might remember Ezra. He is one of the biggest recruits Iowa's had on the offensive line in the past couple of years. Big time guy who was really excited about playing for the Hawks, went to a ton of Iowa Hawkeye games on unofficial visits. He is also transferring and had some interesting news to share as well along with his transfer. So those three guys are gone. And I do think it is worth noting kind of why and how it impacts the team. Let's start with Samson Evans, though. He was a guy who we expected to transfer a while back,

mostly because he didn't even make the 90-man roster last year coming out of spring camp. A guy who fell really behind on the depth chart. Tons of talent. Sounds like a great kid, but just wasn't going to get any playing time at Iowa. The running back position is really, really, really busy. Right now they have three guys who've made starts on that team with a bunch of guys coming in as well. A couple guys who have redshirted. I mean, this roster is loaded at the running back position and it starts with Tyler Goodson. It goes down to Makai Sargent and do not

forget about Ivory Kelly Martin. And then there's some recruits as well coming in for the running back position that they're likely going to jump over Samson Evans. So we expected that he did decide to transfer. I will say I am shocked that it took him So, expected that he did decide to transfer. I will say I am shocked that it took him this long or that he waited until this time to actually transfer. I really thought that he was likely, I mean, I thought he was gone earlier when he didn't make that 90-man roster. So, I'm shocked that he actually decided to wait until now to actually transfer.

But good for him. I'm hoping he finds a good spot for him. Sounds like he's a good kid. And like I said, lots of players coming in, in addition to Tyler Goodson. We have Shadrick Bird from last year, another guy who kind of was turning heads as well. In the class of 2020, another freshman to watch out for. We have a couple, actually. Gavin Williams, a three-star

recruit out of Dowling Catholic, one of Iowa's bigger running back recruits. They also have LaShawn Williams out of Oak Lawn, Illinois. So lots of running backs in that room. Makes sense why he is heading out. A couple other guys now. Let's get to the more difficult ones. DJ Johnson, a guy who actually made starts last year is now leaving. And it sounds like playing time was not the issue. So I'm curious to understand kind of what the issue actually was. Obviously we're not probably going to know that information. I do wish DJ the best kind of had an unfortunate break, you know, came out, started as the dime backer last season, lost his job, only played his job. Only started in a few more games going forward.

So, obviously, unfortunate turn of events for him. The fact that he has decided to transfer. When you look at the two deeps, he was the second guy on that two deep. One of the bigger recruits, though, in that class of 2019, when I look at him, he was the 488th ranked prospect in the nation. It goes by Donald Johnson out of Indianapolis, Indiana. The fact that he has decided to transfer, though, again, a big loss for the Hawks. We've seen they have a lot of depth there, but they also have a lot of injuries. We saw this past year, guys were rotating in and out and in and out.

You had Matt Hankins as a starter, Michael Ojemudia as the starter, but you also had guys like Julius Brents coming in occasionally, Riley Moss, Terry Roberts, Devonta Young didn't really play defense back, but he was definitely there. But Kayvon Merriweather started as safety for a bit. Jamari Harris got a lot of really good looks early in camp. Sebastian Castro is a guy people were pretty high on as well. I mean, this defensive back group is pretty loaded. And then you also have Dane Belton who kind of came along as a true freshman who really took that dime backer position and locked down on it, which kind of moved DJ Johnson back

over to the traditional corner role as well. But again, on the two deeps, you know, he could have fought for a spot. I think he could have, you know, saw time as a starter at some point. He only has two years of eligibility left, though, which is kind of an interesting thing considering the fact that he was a true freshman just two years ago. But he has left for whatever reason. Definitely hurts that defensive back group. He wasn't going to be a starter, so that isn't a concern from that angle. But just from an injury perspective, you would like to see him stay on.

Obviously, a talented kid, worked hard. When you can start at Iowa as a true sophomore, regardless of how long you started, that is a big deal. That's a testament to his strength to play and whatnot. Moving on, though, Ezra Miller, another guy who is transferring. This was probably the biggest shock because a lot of things dropped with this. But I'm going to touch on why that was a big shock and what that means for the Hawks and what that means for Ezra Miller on segment number two of the show. Before we jump into segment number two, I want to take a quick break and give you a few messages from our sponsors, including the guys at Built Bar, the guys and girls at Built Bar, the folks at Built Bar, I should say, a company producing the most fantastic tasting protein bar on the market. Like I said, I use this protein bar before and after my workouts because it is low in calories, high in protein, and delivers a fantastic punch of taste.

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Again, that is promo code LOCKEDON for $10 off your first order at BuiltBar.com. All right, we are back for segment number two of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. And before we took a quick break, as I said, we have some news about Ezra Miller, the former top recruit for the Hawks has decided to transfer from Iowa. When he came into Iowa, he was a four-star recruit, 6'6", 305 pounds, ranked as the 354th best prospect in the nation. And this was a big time commit. One of the first commits, I believe, for the Hawks. A guy who I thought could actually see playing time as a true freshman. And that is unfortunate, obviously, to see him go.

But what was most interesting about this is the fact that he had previously retired from football due to a back injury. And what makes that interesting is the fact that he now came out and said it was no longer a back injury as to why he decided to leave football. And I'll get to that and how that makes a big deal going forward. But I want to read his note because I think it's really important to hear what he said. To start off, I must commend Iowa, the coaching medical staff, and my teammates as being amazing mentors and caring people. I have nothing but the utmost praise for every single one of them. It was not due to back issues that I left the program. Iowa simply worked with me to make that the public statement. I left on my own accord due to major depression and anxiety amplified by a series of events. A close friend and mentor passed away from cancer.

God bless you, Mr. Quickle. Shortly after, my father was diagnosed with cancer and is now thankfully recovering. My brother was in a nasty car accident as well. These events combined with the stress provided by school and football led to some very poor self-treatment and mental health struggles. After two long hiatuses and intense therapy, I believed the best solution was to leave football as I did not think I could be a good teammate with all this going on. Now I believe, along with my support system, that I am in a state where I can play ball again. And with saying that, I am entering the transfer portal. So again, a big shock. Obviously, a guy who loved the idea of playing for the Iowa Hawkeyes, even if he did return, you would have expected him to maybe play for Iowa. And so when I read that, I initially

thought maybe there's something wrong. He wasn't adapting well to the culture at Iowa per se. However, he came on to say another thing, which actually kind of clarified a ton and makes a lot of sense. He said, I wanted to rectify one thing. I misspoke when I said Iowa worked with me regarding the back injury. That is what I told people personally. They had no part on that. It was all on me. I apologize to them for that. My decision was based on my mental health condition at the time and working with Iowa. They allowed me to keep my scholarship, but change it to a medical waiver scholarship. The one downfall to that was that I would never be allowed to play Iowa again due to NCAA

regulations pertaining to that type of scholarship. So that's where it gets interesting. That's where it becomes a little bit unique of a situation. Ezra Miller, a guy who really wanted to play for the Hawks, who unfortunately dealt with mental health issues. I think it's a really important thing to articulate the fact that these people do have mental health issues as well. And it's not an uncommon thing. A lot of people go through mental health issues. And I'm really happy that he was able to get the help that he needed and deserved and wanted. Now, the fact that he did get that medical redshirt though, as he said,

I think he probably actually wanted to come back to Iowa, but because of that redshirt, or because of that scholarship thing and the medical waiver, he is not able to. Unfortunate for him. I hope he does land on his feet somewhere else though and does really well. Obviously, I'm hoping first and foremost that his mental health is in a good

spot. It is a blow to Iowa's offensive line depth. If he was able to come back, that would have been a fantastic guy to learn under Coy Cronk, a guy who I think could have been a multi-year starter at Iowa, but some other program is going to be getting a fantastic potential starter on the offensive line. So, unfortunate there that he is going to be gone as well. Wish him the best. Let's move on though to a couple other bits of news on the recruiting front.

We'll get to some of the good stuff here in a second. But another person to keep in mind is Skyler Bell. I've been teasing the fact that he is probably going to be committing here shortly to the Iowa Hawkeyes. And right now, the crystal ball still has him as committing to the Iowa Hawkeyes. However, he did decide to push his commitment phase back. And why that's important is we've seen a few guys do this. We saw Jordan Oladukun push his, you know, basically decommit from the Hawks and decide

to open up his commitment again. We see Skyler Bell pushing it back. What I wonder about this is if the amount of wide receivers Iowa has brought in over the last couple years has any impact on this, or if he's deciding that maybe he does want to actually visit a few other schools first. I mean, the kid has 14 offers, and Iowa is not the only major school offering him. He has offers from Northwestern, Rutgers, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Georgia Tech.

When you look at this Iowa roster, I mean, he does have a guy who he's familiar with on the team, Deontay Vines, but that doesn't mean he needs to go there. It just means he has a little bit more comfort on there. But when you look at some of the other teams, there's a little bit quicker path to playing time. I'm looking at like a Rutgers, even a Wisconsin, Northwestern. Georgia Tech with the new offense is definitely looking for some more wide receivers. So I think this could actually mean that he might not be going to Iowa.

I know they had him as originally committing to Iowa, and I thought when he was going to commit around this time frame that he was going to commit to Iowa. But at this point with him reopening, not reopening, just extending his recruiting period, I think that means that bodes pretty poorly for the Iowa Hawkeyes. So interesting stuff there as well. We're going to take a quick break, and then we're going to jump into some of the good news. Iowa has received one grad transfer, one walk-on, and one general recruit. So I'm going to talk about that on segment number three,

specifically the fact that one of these recruits is going to be a huge impact to the Hawks right now, right away. So that's coming up in segment number three. Stay tuned after a few messages from our sponsors. All right, we are back for our third and final segment of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast today. And as I teased, we have some good news after talking about a few guys who are transferring out

and one guy who has pushed his commitment back. Now let's talk a little bit about some of the good things. And let's start with one of the easier ones first. Iowa signed a long snapper. Now, most programs, that doesn't make big news. At Iowa, special teams is key, and that does make big news. They signed Luke Elkin out of Nino, Wisconsin. He is the ninth-ranked long snapper, according to Kohl's Kicking.

He is walking onto the program. Obviously, Iowa does a good job of developing long snappers and finding guys to be long snappers for the program. They have Casey Creeder in the pros right now. Tyler Kluver was a guy who was looked at as a potential professional prospect. Jackson Serbert, a guy who is trying out right now. Who knows if he's going to get a spot at all. Casey Creeder took a few years before he landed with the Broncos.

So long snapping is a good tradition at Iowa. Congratulations to Luke as he joins the long snapper group on the Iowa Hawkeyes. We also got a commitment from a defensive lineman out of Arlington Heights, Illinois, Jeremiah Pittman, a 6'2", 255-pound defensive lineman. He is now committed to the Hawks, which is very exciting for the Iowa Hawkeyes as they continue to build on both sides of the line. They built a ton on the offensive line. Now they're adding to that defensive line along with Justice Sullivan, Griffin Little,

Jeffrey Bowie. Now they have Jeremiah Pittman. I also got to add Max Lewin as well, depending on whether he plays tight end or strong side defensive end. But Jeremiah Pittman, the 595th ranked prospect in the nation, a three-star recruit, again, out of Arlington Heights. He is a guy who I'm really excited about to watch his development. He's a guy who has a lot of room to grow and get some weight on him,

and he's definitely going to do that with Chris Doyle. But a guy who comes with some good offers, 14 offers as of right now. And the big news is he had offers to Michigan State, Minnesota, Missouri, Northwestern, Syracuse, Texas Tech, Wisconsin, and Illinois. And Iowa State, I can't remember if I mentioned that already.

The fact that he committed to Iowa over those schools though is huge. Obviously you want to get a guy that's talented. You also want to take guys away from other programs like in Iowa State or like the in-state school Illinois and Minnesota. Even though Minnesota literally offers everyone in the nation big-time recruit for the Hawks to get Jeremiah Pittman and to commit right now really excited to break down some of his film and talk about that on the show at a future date the big news those I want to talk about on today's show is the fact that we just got a commitment from

yesterday. We have a grad transfer for the second year. We have Jack Heflin out of Northern Illinois joining the team. He makes 85 scholarship players and he's joining a spot on Iowa that is desperately needed or needing talent at this point. He is joining the defensive tackle position as a former second team All-Mac defensive tackle. A guy who is 6'4", 319 pounds. A huge acquisition for the Hawks. And like I said, this is a position of need. When you look at that defensive line and career starts, Iowa lost Cedric Lattimore 19 starts. A.J. Paneza 13 starts.

Let's call it probably 39 if you really count the fact that he played a lot. Brady Reif 10 starts. Some of that was due to the fact that he had some legal issues and whatnot and injuries. So now Iowa returns Davian Nixon, Chauncey Golsan, and Austin Schulte. Austin Schulte, excuse me. That is a combined 16 starts between the three. Chauncey Golsan plays the defensive end position. Davian Nixon is a guy I'm really excited about at the defensive tackle position.

And then you have Austin Schulte. And then now they are bringing in Jack Heflin. And that is some much-needed depth. I think he could actually be a guy who also starts for the Hawks this season. Not a guy who is going to be a huge penetrator, despite the fact that he did have nine sacks over the course of two seasons. And not the best tackler, but a gap filler. A guy who lets Iowa's linebackers make plays on the ball,

which is what Iowa expects from their defensive tackle. He's also got that feel for Iowa. He's a huge Iowa fan. Sounds like his family grew up being, he grew up being Iowa fans as his family were Iowa fans. He's a hard worker. He walked on to Northern Illinois as a two-star recruit, the 2,573rd ranked player in the nation in 2016, and built himself into a 6'4", 319-pound beast, added 70 pounds in the weight room, became a second-team All-Mac and Northern Illinois' Defensive Player of the Year as a redshirt junior, third-team All-Mac the previous season.

I'm really excited to see what his potential is with the Iowa Hawkeyes. And again, Iowa getting a big-time grad transfer out of position of need. He makes 85 scholarship players, which matches up perfectly with what is needed for the Hawks. And I'm really excited about that. As we get more information or as we find out more about how Iowa plans on using him, we'll obviously break that down on the show. But I fully expect him to be contending for a starting position, if not at least in that defensive line rotation next season for the Iowa Hawks.

You know, as Phil Parker does like to rotate defensive linemen in and out quite a bit. Again, a big gap filler for the Hawks. Also in news for the Iowa Hawkeyes, just adding this in as well, Iowa did extend an offer to another quarterback, Joey Labosse. Might be Joey Labus. I'm not sure the name. There's no really pronunciation on 24-7 sports. But Iowa did extend an offer to Joey Labosse might be Joey Labus. I'm not sure the name. There's no really pronunciation on 24-7 sports. But Iowa did extend an offer to Joey Labosse. He is a guy who already has a strong commitment to Ball State. A 6'3", 185-pound pro-style quarterback. for dual threat quarterback Donovan McMullen,

who has actually recently listed the Iowa Hawkeyes as one of his top five schools. And so what I think is interesting about that is the fact that does this mean that Iowa is either hedging its bets, or does it mean that Iowa doesn't think they're going to get McMullen? Or does it mean that they just found a guy who they feel like fits their system better? Again, a dual threat quarterback, Donovan McMullen, is not a guy who Iowa traditionally tries to recruit. They, like I said, they don't typically get dual threat quarterbacks. When they have in the past, these guys have either transferred or they've changed positions. I'm looking at, I believe, Marvin McNutt.

Also, Kevontae Martin-Manley might have been a quarterback coming out DJK was a quarterback for sure AJ Derby was a quarterback tried moving to linebacker, he ultimately transferred so that is interesting to me for what that bodes for potentially getting Donovan McNally like I said, I do think it's important to note that

Iowa doesn't have any other quarterbacks that have not already committed so they've extended offers to 7 other quarterbacks outside of McCauley and LaBosse. All those guys have already hard committed to their schools. Again, Donovan McCauley has decided to add Iowa to his top five, the last I checked. But it's interesting to see, does that mean that he's not going to Iowa anymore does it mean that Iowa is not really on the the list for him I just think that's a really interesting thing to keep in mind but another nevertheless it sounds like Joey LaBosse is a guy

that the folks expect to commit to Iowa pretty quickly there's already multiple crystal ball predictions in that he's going to Iowa including from 24-7 sports very own Sean Baca guy you must follow if you like Iowa Hawkeye news. So I think at this point, we might as well assume that you know, Joey LaBosse is going to be Iowa's quarterback in the class of 2021. And it's not going to be Donovan McCauley, who obviously, I was pretty excited about as a dual threat quarterback would have added an interesting wrinkle in Iowa's offense, but that will not be happening as we typically or as we expected. So that being said, though, that will cover all of our show today. That does it for the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast on this Friday morning.

I hope you all enjoyed the show. Obviously, you have a long weekend coming up. I hope you have a fantastic long weekend. Stay safe out there, Hawkeye Nation. And as a reminder, make sure to like, review, and subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast at. And give us a follow on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

And again, thank you all for tuning in to today's episode of Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast. Check out all of our great content coming on the show next week as well. Stay safe out there. Have a fantastic Memorial Day weekend. And as always, let's go Hawks.