Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Hawkeye Football Mailbag questions, Iowa baseball adds another transfer portal recruit

Episode Date: July 18, 2023

Trent Condon returns for the latest edition of the Locked on Hawkeyes Podcast.It's a mailbag edition as Trent takes your questions on Iowa Hawkeyes football. Some thoughts on the Ferentz family business, wide receiver leaders for this year, which freshman may play this year and more.Iowa baseball has added a new pitcher from the transfer portal via TCU and Swarm Golden Ale beer will be in Kinnick Stadium.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONCOLLEGE. Terms and conditions apply.eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit. eBay Motors dot com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to TWO HUNDRED 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

It's a Hawkeye mailbag edition here of Locked On Hawkeyes. We answer your questions about the upcoming Iowa football season, the family Ferentz business, and a whole lot more. Plus, Iowa baseball lands another transfer, and Swarm Beer, available in the best place possible. All today, Locked On Hawkeyes. You are 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. We're available wherever you get podcasts. You can also find us on YouTube. While you're there, hit that subscribe button. Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. If you're on the podcast side, five-star reviews, that's what we're looking for as we bring you Hawkeye fans. If you're on the podcast side, five-star reviews, that's what we're looking for as we bring you Hawkeye Talk

each and every day. Glad to have you aboard with us here today as we take a look at some of the questions that you have had. You've heard me throughout the spring and summer for the everydayers go on and on about this football team. The anticipation that I have for Iowa football certainly is high as it's been in a really long time with this program.

I am at an excitement level 10 coming into this season. The schedule sets up incredibly well. The transfers, the additions that they went out and got this year, along with the returning talent, I think there is a real chance to take a step forward. So we're going to get into that here today. Rick Heller, he has also been incredibly busy in the transfer portal on the baseball side of things. We'll talk about that as the Hawkeyes add another former prep athlete from the state of Iowa that was out of state and is coming back home. Plus, Swarm Beer making its way into Kinnick

Stadium. Well, let's kick things off here, excuse me, and dive right in to the podcast. Easy for me to say. There we go. All right. We're all right. So let's dive into it here today. As we get ready for this football season, I know a lot of questions, a lot of angles that sometimes you just forget to attack. So why don't I give an opportunity to people that have been chiming in. A lot of comments here from YouTube today.

You can always leave your comments there. I see each and every one of them, the good, the bad, and the ugly from time to time, and we'll have some fun with that. Also, you can always get a hold of me on Twitter at Trent Condon, and that's where this first question comes. This is from Tyler, who asked me this. This is what he said. Big fan of the podcast, Trent. Any chance you can address offensive scheme changes in a future podcast? We're doing it right here today, Tyler. And let's start right there. And I think there's a little bit of a misnomer out there that we're going to see some kind

of change in the offense this year. Look, Brian Ferentz, when he has been talked to the media going back to spring football, I think he was very forthright that you're not going to see a lot of change. Has Iowa evolved? Have they tried to do different things? I think so. I think you're certainly seen during the Brian Ferentz era that the reliance on the zone blocking scheme has not been a complete what they've done. You've seen a lot more of the straight up blocking. You've seen a lot more of those kinds of things. You've seen some more traps in those kind of plays. Now, would I like to see that be a bigger part of the offense? Absolutely. Another component here we just don't see a whole lot is just running the ball out of shotgun. It

was just so many times throughout this tenure, and this is not changing up skiing. It's not them going into some kind of zone read, but if you're believing that this is going to be a completely different look to the Iowa offense this year, that is not going to be the case. It is going to be very much what you're used to. The improvement will come twofold. Offensive line has to be a whole lot better. We've talked about that a ton. And secondly, just the upgrade of the quarterback position.

I mean, that's going to be a big, big part of it too. Tight ends are still going to be really good this year. Even with the loss of a guy that was taking the first 35 picks of the NFL draft in Sam Laporta, bringing in Eric Hall, the emergence that we saw this season out of Luke Lachey, you're going to see a big step forward and they're going to be really solid at the tight end position, but wide receivers are going to be better. And we got a question coming up on a little bit more, but to think that the offense is going to look a lot different this year, it's just not going to be the case. It's going to be based on the zone blocking scheme. It's going to be a pro style offense. Will they be able to do more things? Absolutely. And if they block, you can do a whole

lot more offensively. And that is the hope there. Another one from Tyler, is this a statement year for the Ferentz family? I don't think there's any doubt about it, Tyler. I think this is one where absolutely this is a statement season. I think this is one they haven't been building towards, but they understand the circumstances. Kirk and Brian coming into this year certainly understand the pressure that is on them. And at times, does it feel like they're a little bit myopic? Are there times where you feel like, boy, these guys just have their head in the sand and they don't understand the outside noise? And I think we saw that last year after the Ohio State game and just how negative that press conference was or after the Illinois game a season ago that at times it feels like

they're in their own bubble over there, both literally and figuratively in Iowa City. And that bubble leads that outside noise staying away. And that's a good thing for a football program in general. But there are times where you feel like they don't have a complete feel of the pulse from outside the area, that they don't know how upset the fan base is. And that's a part of it, I think, in a lot of different sports areas. I think you see that a ton out there. But definitely in this one, that is one that I think you're going to look at there.

This is a statement year. They understand what is at stake here. Brian keeping his job as offensive coordinator or putting himself in a position to move on. And if he ultimately wants to become a head coach or needs to work his way up the ranks, do it somewhere else outside of Iowa City. Absolutely. I think this is a statement year, and I think they're going to answer that statement. Let's get into some more of your questions here from Twitter. Again, you can find me on at Trent Condon is where you can hit me up there on that

one. Let's see, what else do we got? Freshman most likely to play. Now this is one we get every year and as we get into August camp, it will become a little bit more clear of some of the names that you're going to be hearing and the guys that are going to have those kinds of opportunities. Look, they're just working out now. And yes, there were some guys, some freshmen that came in and they were part of the spring practice and got some run there. You know, we saw the running back who came out from Texas. He was a Purdue commit and he was out there right away doing some things out there. So at least he's got his feet wet, right?

That's one that I think you look at. And is there going to be a role? And that's one that I guess I would start with him. It was a season where the running back emergence that we saw last year out of Caleb Johnson. I mean, he has solidified his stop at the top of this board, just how good that he is. And I think the opportunities are going to be difficult

for Terrell Washington Jr., and that's who I was looking for. He comes in with a different kind of skill set. You got the big bruiser now. You got your every down back in Johnson. You got a very competent backup that's done to the Big Ten now and LaShawn Williams. We liked what we saw out to Jazz Patterson last year. Can he carve out a role as a third down back, a little slot receiver? Those are some of the things that have been talked about with Washington.

So that'd be a place that I'd start. Another place people love to go is Ben Keeter. Ben Keeter obviously is a guy that has immense talent. He is as good of an athlete as you're going to find. What he's done on the wrestling mat already in his career at the junior level and world champion, this guy is absolutely unreal. And I do wonder if they didn't get Nick Jackson in the transfer portal, if we would have saw more Ben Keeter this season. Now I've said before, ultimately I could very well see that Ben Keeter, especially as he gets deeper into wrestling, is that a year, two years down the line, whatever that is. And if he's continuing doing both sports, that might ultimately end up with his hand on the ground and be a defensive end. But that's a conversation for another day.

In the here and now, at minimum, Keeter's going to be out there, I think, on special teams. I think you're going to see a ton of him on this season, Keeter's going to be out there, I think, on special teams. I think you're going to see a ton of him this season. A couple other names to throw out there. I think they have a chance. And we talked a lot about the defensive backfield, and not the deepest position group overall for Iowa football this year is defensive back. We feel great about the starters. You're in really good shape with those top four and top five when you're throwing the cash position in there. Keep an eye on Khalil Tate. That would be the one that I'd look at. Six foot out of Chicago.

He was a guy that, you know, was pretty highly regarded out of this class. I believe it was on three had him as the sixth best prospect coming in in this class. And I think Khalil Tate is a guy that just early on some people have been talking about. There's a little bit of buzz going there. Jon Nestor, another kid, another safety prospect from the Chicagoland area, also heard a couple of things about him. So those would be a couple of names I think that you'd have to take a look for. Look, defensive end, it's going to be incredibly difficult.

It just is. Defensive line in general, just because of the depth that we've talked about in the past about how deep this defensive line is, it's going to be incredibly difficult for somebody to go out there and get any kind of opportunity same thing on the offensive line you hope now that this veteran group that we don't see true freshmen that have to play along the offensive line anymore so there'll be a couple of spots that I would go a couple of names that I would throw out there at this point in time and finally the wide receiver position I haven't heard anything yet about the three incoming freshmen. Jarrett Bowie, who comes in from Florida.

Also, Alex Mata from up in Marion and Dayton Howard from Kansas City. Those three guys come in. Opportunity still could be there. Now, likely, luckily, it's not going to be as a number two or number three receiver. It'll be number five or six in the rotation, something like that. Admittedly, though, haven't heard anything of those three. Maybe who has the best chance to play at wide receiver this year. So good question there, freshman.

And again, as we get more information, we get into August camp. We'll talk plenty more about that. We got more questions coming your way. Questions that you ask, you can hit me up on Twitter at Trent Condon at LockedOnIowa. Also is where you can find us on the Twitter sphere. We'll continue with your questions. We'll talk some Iowa baseball. Swarm beer coming to Kinnick Stadium.

We'll do that as we roll through here on LockedOnHawkeyes. Take your first swing at betting MLB on FanDuel and get 10 times your first bet amount in bonus bets up to 200 that's right just bet 20 bucks and you're gonna land 200 in bonus bets win or lose that's right you don't find the right bet it's coming right back into your account you have to love that that's 200 you can spend on betting anything. Money line, over-unders, who's going to hit the first homer? So many props out there on FanDuel. Just page after

page after page. I get lost sometimes. There's so many props out there. Take a look at the Tuesday slate in Major League Baseball. One game jumped off the page to me. It's the Padres at the Blue Jays. Manoa, who made his first start over the weekend on Friday, coming back after that disastrous start, was sent down to AAA,

going up against Musgrove of the Padres. I like the pods in this spot. I got to see more from Manoa to get on that one. I'll be jumping aboard with that one. And you can jump aboard with FanDuel. All on an app that's safe, secure. It's super easy to use. Plus, when you win, you get paid instantly.

There's no better place to bet on MLB than FanDuel. It's America's number one sportsbook. Sign up today and visit FanDuel.com slash LockedOn to get up to $200 in bonus bets. Again, that's FanDuel.com slash LockedOn. FanDuel, official partner of Major League Baseball. Trent Conant with you once again here on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day.

We continue here on the mailbag edition of Locked On Hawkeyes. Coming up later in the week, we've got a throwback Thursday. LaShawn Daniels set to join us on the Wednesday episode. It's a busy time. I'm on my way to Iowa City. Probably as you're listening right now, getting ready to call four baseball games from Dwayne Banks Field in Iowa City as we get ready for the 4A field getting started over there in the state baseball tournament.

Some future Hawkeyes will be on the field. We'll certainly have firsthand reports from that as the week continues. Let's get back into the mailbag. And I really like this question. So most catches by an Iowa wide receiver this season. We talked earlier, Lachey, All, one of those two guys I would anticipate would be your betting favorite. They would be the guy that if FanDuel was able to put props up here on Iowa guys, those would be the betting favorites to have the most catches

this year. But that's not the case. So we have to do it here on the podcast. And we will because I like to, as much as I like to gamble, I also like to play bookmaker, at least here on the pod. So I would put out of the wide receiver group, your betting favorite, Edniko Ragaglini. After what we saw last year, the injuries that he went through a year ago, the reliability, six-year veteran presence,

the way that he plays, the ability to go outside and line up inside. I think you're going to see him out there a ton and catch maybe 40, 45, 50 balls, something in that range. Again, if the line can protect. Here's a more intriguing one though to me. I think Ragaini is your favorite.

Who has the most receiving yards though? And that's when you get into the excitement of a Caleb Brown. I don't think Caleb Brown is going to catch 50 balls this year. Look, we're still talking about a redshirt freshman, the transfer from Ohio State. And though the buzz is there, and I was never had a wide receiver in the recruiting era that has this kind of background and this kind of at least recruiting acumen making his way to campus in Iowa City. I don't know if he's going to be a guy that catches that many passes in year number one. Could he catch, though, 35, 40 balls, an average 15, 16, 17 yards a catch? Absolutely. That could be the case. And ultimately, that might lead to him having more receiving yards

coming up this year. Another guy we got to talk about is Deontay Vines. You know, we didn't get to see him until the second half of the year. He had a broken wrist back in August camp a year ago and wasn't able to get out there on the field. Look, we're talking about a wide receiver trying to catch a ball with a broken wrist. That's not an easy thing. It took a long time for him to get back. Obviously, he was able to still run and do those things.

His lungs were still there, but ultimately, he was just not able to completely get into the mix, though he was out there a ton. He was working behind that putrid offense and the bad offensive line and the play calling and the quarterback play and on and on and on. We saw that a year ago, but keep an eye on Vines. In fact, if I had to put that prop out there,

I'd make Raggini the number one. I would probably make Vines number two ahead of Caleb Brown. So that is a good one on the wide receiver ranks. This one comes in from YouTube. What's the latest on Yosei Epinesa? If you don't know, Yosei is a class of 2025 recruit. Now, Iowa already got their first commitment in the class of 2025. And Van Wetzelga from over in the Quad Cities, that one's in the bag. Number one is in the books. Yose is A.J.

Epinesa's little brother. He is also Epi, his dad, well, the son. Okay, easy to do. We're doing the math here. Come on, Condon. Let's keep up. So yes, Yose is at this point more highly regarded than AJ was. And you remember his recruitment and some of the big wigs that came calling. Now, I do wonder, because of the family connections to Iowa, if some of the big dogs are staying away because of that. They just believe it's not worth the recruiting effort to go after Yose at the same level because they think ultimately he's going to be the Hawkeye. But there hasn't been a ton about him here during the summer camp. And that's been very interesting to see. This is a guy that you'd think maybe would be a guy that'd be making an early commitment,

but haven't seen a ton out there. Haven't seen a ton from the recruiting websites or anything like that. Good question. I'll do a little bit more digging there. Appreciate that one. And definitely a one that we will keep an eye on on that front. All right, let's continue here on the YouTube comments. Let's see what else we have here. So this was a weird one. I mentioned last week.

And all of a sudden, I don't know if this is a bot. I don't know if this was Nebraska fan. I don't know. Being bored over there i'm not sure what it was but i after one of the episodes last week it was after the thursday episode in fact there were like 12 comments that all said the exact same thing please what's the over-under on fake cooper dejean injuries in 2023 and then it was asked by a bunch of different people. Let's see. Who are these idiots? Life is too short. Matt O'Ferrari.

Atlantis Watts. Sweet Lady 333. You're not too sweet on that one. Ukraine is a hoax. Oh, great. Art Shell 33. I'm going to guess that this is some kind of bot, that all these questions that were all the exact same thing,

what are they talking about? Do they believe that Cooper De to Jean was not hurt last year in the Nebraska game? That's the only thing I could think of. I don't understand that one. And that was a bunch of the comments after that one. Uh, here's a comment. Thank you from by YouTube views. Oh, okay. Uh, maybe just a butter me up a little bit. Your channel is a breath of fresh air. Oh, thank you so much. I appreciate that. Bye, YouTube views 1017. Then a bunch more on the Cooper-Degene. All right, let's see what else we got here.

This one came a couple of weeks ago, and I think it's interesting. Talking about Titus Cram. And Titus Cram still has not made a commitment. He talked about here, this comes in from, let's see here. Manowar1904, talking about the possibility of him maybe becoming a Wisconsin Badger, saying, I like running back recruits,

but Cram looks like a man amongst boys on tape. At one point, he was as close to being a Hawkeye, guaranteed, but now with two running backs in the class already, he is cool on all schools right now. And kind of talking about his situation going forward. You know, Titus Cram is an interesting one because as a young man, accolades certainly academically are there. You're right, physically. And seeing the first time, seeing him, his freshman campaign, he just looked completely different out there. The size, the speed that he has at

Bondurant-Ferrar. He's a really, really fun guy to watch. Iowa's got their two running backs in this class and they appear to be set. Now there's also people to believe that Titus Cram can play on the other side of the football that might be ultimately a safety or even an outside linebacker type of prospect. That's to be seen, but you're exactly right. It feels like Iowa certainly has cooled on that one. I want to keep an eye on where he's ultimately going to end up. Here's another one. This one comes in from Charles. Why did it take KF so long to know he was so stupid not to change offense? He only changed when fans got mad.

Well, again, as we said earlier, I don't know how much change there's going to be. But hey, a lot of fun there. We'll try to do this a little bit more during the summer months and go through the mailbag. There's some other ones in here that we didn't get to today. And as we're always looking for content, we'll definitely be doing that going forward. We got more coming your way here on Locked On Hawkeyes. Iowa baseball has added another transfer,

this time a big-time prospect here from the state of Iowa that went to TCU and is going to be a Hawkeye once again. Plus, warm beer coming to Kinnick Stadium. Love the sound of that. That's as we roll through here. Locked on, Hawkeyes. Trent Conner back with you one final time on the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. As always, thanks for making Locked on Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Well, Iowa baseball has done it again. After this past season, a very fun one for Iowa football.

I mean, we saw a ton last season out of this Iowa baseball team, what they were able to do, making the run in the Big Ten tournament, what they did in the regular season, the win against number one LSU, the team that ultimately won the national championship, and not just winning, but winning in huge, huge fashion. So one thing that we saw, though, in the NCAA tournament,

coupled with the suspensions that happened with the gambling investigation, is they started to run out of arms. Well, it feels like Rick Heller does not want that to happen again. And what he has continued to do here in the transfer portal, bringing in guys with backgrounds from the state of Iowa, guys that were big prospects that were outside the area and are coming back home to either finish up their college eligibility or maybe help themselves out a little bit more for the draft.

So we talked about from Oklahoma State, Brant Hogue, a kid from up in Iowa Western is where he started his career, a healing kid from Sioux City. He is a guy that is coming off an injury, but good size. He's got 6'4", 225, big kid, live arm, sounds like he's going to be ready to go maybe December, January, something like that, but he definitely had some really good numbers at Iowa Western, an intriguing piece. Another one from Kirkwood originally,

and then went down to Dallas Baptist, a very good program that plays baseball in the Missouri Valley Conference, is Reed Puter. And that's one where he put up some big numbers for him. Another guy that feels like he can fill out. He's got a strong arm, probably a bullpen arm at this point. We feel good about that. And with the top of the rotation that they have in Brody Breck and Marcus Morgan,

you feel like, hey, you're looking for one more starter, but bullpen arm and depth in that bullpen is going to be important. Anthony Watts, a guy that I saw pitch a lot at Waukee and Waukee Northwest before he finished his career, went over to Creighton, played in the Big East, had a pretty good freshman campaign for himself. Got to work on control, but a guy that I think has the upside you're looking for. And then the latest in Justin Hackett. So he's from Winterset, was down at TCU. And what is it with TCU? Taking our guys, right, from Max Duggan. They got the Bomber kids from Dolly Catholic. TCU, you know, you got enough down there in Texas. Can you just leave us alone up here?

I mean, it's like what Alabama's been doing to us too. Just leave us on our island here. Can we just stay away from our Iowa guys? Well, Hackett saw the light and he's coming back home. Didn't pitch a ton this year for TCU, but a TCU team that made a run once again in the NCAA tournament. Appeared out of the bullpen six times through six in the third innings. Struck out nine and not too shabby for Hackett. A very fun one.

Had 125 strikeouts his senior campaign with Winterset and helping out that bullpen. Rick Heller is not going to be caught with a bullpen that struggles this year. It doesn't feel. And certainly if these guys hit, it's going to be another fun season of Iowa baseball. One other transfer, speaking of that, we're talking about the arms here, but this is what I don't think we mentioned on the podcast, and that's the addition of Davis Kopp.

Kopp comes in from Utah, put up back-to-back 300 seasons, batting over 300, but he also has versatility. He can catch, he can play first base, he's got pop in the bat with that catcher help. And Cade Moss last year, Johnston Kidd, he, because of the suspensions, he was all that was left. The two backup catchers for him were not available. And because of that, he had to be out there every single inning. And I don't think Davis Kopp is going to come in and is going to be a full-time starter or anything like that, but an ability to give Cade Moss a day off, that takes a foul ball off him.

Somebody else that can go out there and give you, maybe it's 10, 12, 15 starts, whatever it is, behind the plate this season. That's going to be really important. Keeping those miles off the legs of Moss. A really good defensive catcher. A guy that frames pitches as well as anybody you're going to find. Just understands the game so well. You know, he's a number nine hitter.

He's going to be at the bottom of your lineup, but a guy that can still flip it over from time to time there. But getting Kopp in there, a guy with that versatility, and then also taking over at first base after what we saw from the Wofford transfer this season, that's going to be a big help there. One we hadn't mentioned, but it's going to be a big bump up there. And finally, it is official. Swarm Beer is coming to Kinnick Stadium. I've been teasing it. I'm pumped up for it. Continue to be a big bump up there. And finally, it is official. Swarm beer is coming to Kinnick Stadium.

I've been teasing it. I'm pumped up for it. Continue to try it. Haven't got my hands on any vodka yet. The Swarm Vodka. Not to be confused with Hawkeye Vodka. And anybody that's had Hawkeye Vodka, put that kerosene down your gullet.

You certainly know what I'm talking about. That's not the case here. This is good vodka. Swarm Vodka. At least what I hear. We'll try it. We'll give it a swig and we'll see on that front. But the big news, swarm beer coming to Kinnick Stadium. Now, are they going to be able to have enough of it? I'm not so sure. We've been there before. I remember being at the first Orange Bowl in 2002 into 2003 and remembering at the Hawkeyeuddle where it felt like there were tens of thousands

of Hawkeye fans there and they ran out of beer very quickly. Heck, at the Final Four this year in Dallas, they were absolutely baffled about these Hawkeye fans, the way they drank. 2015 in Indianapolis for the Big Ten Championship game. You know I like our beer. Now we have beer that can actually help the student athlete. Hey, you don't have to tell us twice. Those things will be sucked down at Kinnick Stadium. Swarm Golden Ale, making its way to Kinnick. Thanks for making your way to the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Each and every day, we'll talk to you again tomorrow. A lot going on.

LaShawn Daniels still with us. Coming up this week, we got a throwback Thursday. Coming up on Thursday, you got a team you want to see spotlighted. Hit me up on Twitter at Tranktona. That does it for today. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Go Hawks!