Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - How bad was the Hawkeye basketball loss to EIU? Iowa Football recruiting with John Garcia, Jr of SI

Episode Date: December 22, 2022

Trent opens the show talking more about the Hawkeyes bad loss to Eastern Illinois including what it did to Iowa in the metrics. How much work does Iowa have to bounce back before Big Ten gets going again next week.Then John Garcia, Jr. from Sports Illustrated stops by to talk about the Hawkeyes recruiting class including some gems.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at Linkedin.com/lockedoncollege Terms and conditions apply.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!NHTSADrive high, get a DUI. Click HERE to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A day later, just how bad was the Iowa loss to Eastern Illinois? We react, and I'll tell you, I maybe even woke up more upset. The numbers are not good as Iowa falls dramatically in the NCAA net rankings. We get into that. We also talk with recruiting analyst John Garcia, a breakdown of the Iowa recruiting class from a national perspective, and a battle of cold all today on Locked On Hawkeyes.

Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome in once again. This is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen each and every day. Available wherever you get podcasts. And you can also find us on YouTube. Hit the subscribe button while you're there. Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans.

And if you're on the podcast side, five-star reviews. That's what we're looking for as we talk Hawkeyes with you each and every day. Your team every day on the Lockdown Network. Glad to have you aboard with us here today. As you can tell, my voice is still a little bit rough. Even after yesterday's terrible performance now. Yeah, it very well could be that I was yelling at my screen too much. It wasn't a TV.

I was watching it on my phone yesterday. It's just the absolutely despicable effort that came from Iowa basketball yesterday. So the numbers are in. We found out yesterday, but now we're after the game, Ken Pomeroy. If you don't know Ken Pomeroy, you're going to hear that name a lot here on Lockdown Hawkeyes. I have been a longtime subscriber to Ken Pomeroy. If you don't know Ken Pomeroy, you're going to hear that name a lot here on Lockdown Hawkeyes. I have been a longtime subscriber to Ken Pomeroy and his metrics and went to a pay site, oh, probably seven, eight years back. And just so much good analytical information here for somebody like me that's a gambler,

it's incredibly important to have that kind of information in front of you. In fact, the point spread is very, very close, seemingly every single time to what the Vegas point spread turns out to be. So Eastern Illinois yesterday came in ranked 356 in the country. Today, they're 349. Again, this is an awful team. This is an embarrassing loss for Iowa from the national perspective and people talking about it to the drag that this is going to be all throughout the season.

This is an anchor that is going to be incredibly difficult for Iowa to pull out of. It's just the reality. You lose to a team that even after the win is ranked 349th in the country. This is as bad of a loss as anybody has had in college basketball. Anybody trying to fight for an NCAA tournament bid. So the projections also. Iowa, in fact, just a couple weeks ago, going into the week where they played Duke, Iowa State, Wisconsin,

they were projected at that point to be the second best team in the Big Ten. That's what these computer numbers thought of this team. We know Chris Murray's injury has something to do with it, but they were well-projected, well-thought-of from the analytics community. There's another one. I can't think of the guy's first name. Haslam, though, is his last name. Iowa dropped just a huge, huge percentage in his rankings,

and they went from being ranked as one of the top 20 teams in the country. Still even after the loss to TCU and Duke and Wisconsin. His metrics still really like this Iowa team. After the loss to Eastern Illinois. They dropped to number 49. 36 spots they plummeted. But the biggest numbers. And the biggest thing to be concerned about for Iowa.

After this awful loss is the NCAA rank net rankings this is what the selection committee uses as it pertains to selecting at large teams and and seeding teams and everything else for the NCAA tournament Iowa was 27th yesterday today we wake up after the loss to Eastern Illinois. They're at number 60. That shows you just how bad this loss was. There's no two ways about it. But now for Iowa. To be an NCAA tournament team, you're going to have to be, at minimum, have a winning record.

And then probably have to do some work in the Big Ten tournament. That means going 11-9, which means going 11-8 the rest of the way. We talk about when things get started again next week on Thursday at Nebraska, at Penn State. You're home for Indiana, and then you go on the road again for Rutgers. I mean, you're talking about three road games here. When things get started, three of the next four of those games, they're only projected to win one of them. That is the Nebraska game. They're projected to win by a point against Indiana. Yeah, you come for home after that, but you got a lot of work to do and it's not only getting to 11 and 9 i don't know if that'll be enough even at 11 and 9 i think there'll be work to do

that put i went 19 and 12 going into the big 10 tournament but then on top of it it's got to be who those wins are against you can't just be be beating Minnesota and Northwestern and the dregs of the Big Ten this year, Nebraska. I mean, that can't be your wins. It has to go even deeper than that. So a huge, huge component here of this and what we have is these numbers and we have the official numbers today that just shows you how ugly, how bad this loss was. Not only losing, but losing the fashion that they did. Just how tough, how bad this loss was. Not only losing, but losing in the fashion that they did. Just how tough, how physical they want to.

The second half, just seeing Eastern Illinois get any shot that they wanted. How about this? If you like statistics. Win probability. When Iowa jumped out to that 18-4 lead, 14-25 left to go in the first half, their win probability was 99.9%. Was still 35 minutes left in the basketball game.

Their win probability was at 99.9%. This was the 1%. Not even the 1%. The.1% is the way that it happened. I was up 22-8, 12.56 to go. And then here we are today. Phil Fabraccia, he was working hard. His four free throws.

Tony Perkins, fighting, clawing, trying to get it done. Shooting performances. McCaffrey, Patrick 0 for 7. Uless 0 for 7. You repoint yourself, right? And this team right now, they have a lot of soul-searching. This is awful. Phillip Rabrachi after the game, talking about,

we probably didn't respect him enough. You think? Just absolutely unthinkable. Even as Eastern Illinois got back into the game, Iowa was still a huge favorite. Iowa, in fact, was still favored in the game when they were down by 10 with just over five minutes to play. And yet, here we are. Devastating, no.

But your margin of error got a whole lot slimmer after that one. That means, yes, take care of business. Beat Nebraska on the road. Come back, you've got to beat Indiana. You're going to have to have a winning streak in there. There's going to have to be a stretch now where Iowa rips off four in a row, six out of seven, something like that. They have put themselves in that situation now.

Will this team be different and better? Will they get Chris Murray and Connor McCaffrey back? No doubt about it. But to lose like that, to lose in that fashion, it's scary. It really is. And Iowa, boy, they got a lot of work to do to get this thing figured out. We're going to jump over, talk a little football. We got John Garcia coming up here in just a moment.

We will talk with him about Iowa football recruiting. Of course, the biggest story from an Iowa perspective is losing Caden Proctor at the last hour as he flips his commitment to Alabama, what that means for Iowa. We talked yesterday about the offensive line recruiting class, still a class that I really like, and I think there's good things with that recruiting class. We'll talk about that just a little bit. And some of the other weapons that are coming in, you know, how likely we're going to see these youngsters be able to come in right away

and help out. We'll talk about that more as we continue here on Locked On Hawkeyes. BetOnline is your number one source for sports betting information, stats, news, and analysis. Get the latest odds and trends for every professional and amateur league out there. From pro football to college bowl season, basketball, they have it all at BetOnline. And if you love sports podcasts, you can find those also over at BetOnline. Always the fastest and easiest way to get your sports betting information.

Head to the website today or hop on your phone to learn more. Bet online where the game starts. Joined right now on Locked On Hawkeyes by John Garcia as we talk a little Hawkeye recruiting. Hey, John, good to catch up with you. Our first time speaking here, connecting. Iowa football recruiting, overall, it's kind of boring of boring you know you kind of get what you get it's gonna be a class ranked anywhere from 25 to 40 you're gonna get hard working kids but a little bit different this year with caden proctor obviously uh that's where the news starts

and his decision to decommit some interesting comments that came from him yesterday in the signing period but first of all thanks for joining us. How are you doing? I'm doing well, Trent. Thanks for having me. Yeah, it's been a bit of a whirlwind like it is for everyone in the college football community this time of year. But yeah, Iowa was in the news more than we usually see. So I think that's a good thing overall. But yeah, we'll see how it looks going forward. Yeah. And a year ago, of course, got his teammate in high school, Xavier Wampa uh who made his commitment beat Ohio State and a bunch of other big schools LSU was involved for him and uh he'll be playing a lot more in this bowl game with Kayvon Merriweather uh opting out but let's get back to Caden Proctor um you know just such an

interesting circumstance so being here in Central Iowa where he's from I've called at the high school level probably a dozen of his games over the last three years. Interesting prospect. I mean, just the size. There's times he's out there going up against kids 180 pounds. So the translation in Iowa, you know, we anticipated he's a day one starter. He's going to jump in there right away. There'll be a learning curve, no doubt.

But at Alabama, I mean, is that realistic that Caden Proctor? Yeah, he's the number one offensive tackle, but just the different kind of competition that he faces that he's going to step in there and be a day one starter. Yeah, it's obviously for any recruit, it's hard at any position to jump in there and have that type of success at Alabama. I will say though, and Caden said as much, they've had a little bit more offensive line turnover than we are accustomed to seeing down in Tuscaloosa. Even starters hit the portal there. So there is a bit of a fluctuation going down in T-Town. But look, there's still a lot of talent there, right?

There's a lot of returning starters. Even if you look at the younger linemen, J.C. Latham, Tyler Booker, the fellow elite linemen that have played early and often there more recently, they've had to kind of battle it out just to get on the field on this end. So yeah, I think there's going to be a learning curve there for Proctor. I think he'll probably have to start on the right side as a right tackle, maybe even on the interior. He reminds me a little bit of Jedrick Wills, another Midwesterner who went down to Tuscaloosa to play his college ball. He had to start on the right side and he ended up staying there. And I think he's still playing there in the NFL. So I do think that the versatility or we'll see how versatile Caden could be. I think that could get him on the field a little bit sooner

in Tuscaloosa. So it's not easy, but there is a little bit more room than we're used to seeing from a Nick Saban coach team. So we'll see. I mean, they've signed a great O-line class the last couple of years. A lot of those young guys are going to have plenty up for grabs in the near future. But from a size, physicality, and floor standpoint, not many better than the Caden Proctor. Yeah, we saw a lot of these young guys out there on that offensive line the last two seasons, really, as they had a lot of recruiting misses in 2018-2019 and kind of leading to having to play at times four sophomores and a freshman this year at the offensive line. I do want to talk about this offensive line group because even minus Caden Proctor, I really like this group

offensive linemen they bring in. Of course, it starts with Trevor Lauck, the four-star from Indianapolis, had Ohio State, had Michigan-star from Indianapolis at Ohio State, had Michigan after him, came down to Michigan State, Tennessee, also for his services. What can you tell us about the big man who is up to 295 already? Again, maybe a learning curve here,

but if they do need some young help up front, how ready is Trevor Locke? Look, if this offense is going to make some movement towards what I would imagine your entire audience wants to see, you need these type of tackles, guys who are longer, leaner and able to mirror these smaller, faster pass rushers that you're going to deal with.

And Trevor provides a lot of that very, very easy movement skills relative to his massive frame. I love his length. He can redirect very well as well. I know when we talk about freshman linemen, we're like, hey, can they run block? Can they drive? Can they play low leverage? Trevor can do those things, but I think I'm encouraged by the balance and anchor he has as a pass protector. That can help him see the field a little bit sooner because we know this thing's going to start to slowly unravel offensively for Iowa at some

point, right? It has to. So these are the type of players that you do have to bring in. Look, Midwestern kid definitely has room to grow. I'm encouraged. I didn't know he was up to 295, so I'm happy to hear that because he is a little bit lean. But that's usually what we worry about least with these linemen coming in

because when they get to the Power 5 level, they're able to just assimilate with the weight program, the nutrition program, all that food and availability. They can pack it on pretty quickly. So it's really going to be just about that transition. He's an Indianapolis kid, not necessarily the greatest competition in the world. How does that look early in his Iowa career? That's really where it's going to come down to. But I think just from a length, a physicality standpoint, the balance he has is going to get him an opportunity sooner rather than later. But like you said, this whole offensive line group, exterior and interior, is a typical Iowa O-line class, and that is a great thing.

That's what you want every single cycle. It's like that's how you draw it up, even without a Caden Proctor, you know, when you look at any cycle, much less 23. One other guy, well, Leighton Jones, another Indiana kid. He's more of a guard, interior guy, maybe even a center. A lot of people like him. Peeper, the kid from Nebraska, he was committed to North Dakota State. Another road grader.

Now he's only 240 pounds. He's going to take a while to develop. But an intriguing guy, not highly regarded. Cannon Leonard, 6'9", 265. Again, developmental, but that 6'9 frame, it just gets you excited there. You ever get a chance to see Cannon Leonard? I haven't seen him in person. I've seen a little bit of tape.

He's towering. He is a towering prospect. When you see anything above 6'6", you're like, okay. As an evaluator, you're like okay as an evaluator you're like really you know is this is this real or is this hey you know he plays basketball so we're just gonna see if if we can tack on a couple inches no no he's at worst six eight i mean this is a towering player that you're like why aren't you playing basketball but look that weight will come on um and i think that's again that's a thing. You want to do that in college as opposed to having a guy that's too heavy that you now have to strip

weight off of when they do get to the next level. So I think from a tackle perspective, sure, it's going to take time. You don't need him to play day one, but year two, all of a sudden, now your clock is starting. And I think if he can physically get there, that athleticism and length, my gosh, how do you get around 6'9", that will translate, even though, again, it's going to take a little bit of time. And a big thank you to LinkedIn, who is our official college football and basketball recruiting sponsor here on the Lockdown Network.

These days, every new potential hire can feel like a high state's wager for your small business. That's why LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the right people for your team faster and for free. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash lockdowncollege. Terms and conditions apply. All right, John, I want to ask you about a couple other guys here before we let you run.

I want to start with a local product. Ben Keeter, a world champion wrestler. He is in rarefied air. Just a couple of people ever have done that as a high schooler, Spencer Lee among them. And one other guy just a few years back. I mean, he is rarefied air as a wrestler. He's going to try to do both at Iowa. Middle linebacker.

I got to see him this year in person. Got to see him last year in person. I called a couple of his games from the other side of the state, but he is a very, very talented just athlete in general. How does it translate? And we haven't seen this in a long time. Somebody trying to both wrestle and play football. That's where I was going to start. Like, how how can you do this when you talk about two sport guys in college? First of all, any two sport player is rare, right? It's very hard just to navigate that type of schedule. Typically, there's a very clear priority level when there are two sports.

So you're almost moonlighting in the second sport. But when wrestling is the other sport, you can't moonlight. You can't limp into that. Obviously, there's a weight situation that you have to deal with. Your body has to absorb within those parameters. So just physically and almost mentally curious to see how that's even possible. But yeah, look, as a linebacker, how many boxes you want this kid to check? He's compact. He plays with unbelievable leverage, snap quickness. The instincts are absolutely there. And the wrestling

background tells you when you get to the contact point, he's going to win. He's going to win. Whether it's leverage-based or functional strength-based, Ben's going to win there in the phone booth at the end. So I like him as an interior linebacker, off-ball. He can certainly fit in that Big Ten style. When you're playing Illinois and Chase Brown, you got to stop the run first. But it's about yeah what else what else can he do athletically how is he going to develop as a coverage player can he work underneath and be a three down linebacker we know he can rush the passer as a blitzer is that what he is on third down or does he develop into a guy who can drop and or maybe mirror a running back a lot of things that you're not asked to do at the high school level because he's the best player on

the field so you're just like hey go get the ball go go win the game for us so that's really where you start to wonder athletically um what you're able to do situationally and then of course yeah the wrestling thing is is going to be a storyline to follow throughout because it's fascinating, it's rare, it just doesn't happen, especially when you're this good at both, right? Usually there's a big drop-off from one sport to the next. I mean, he's a better wrestler than a football player, and we really like him as a football player, right? So that's going to be fascinating in and of itself.

But at the same time, what's more Iowa than that? No doubt about it. All right, John, we're wrapping up here skilled position players and quarterback Marco Linas I know there's been a bunch of different opinions on him not the strongest arm can move around played at the Hunts school Iowa got a couple offense alignment from there a few years back playing the prep school ranks you know not exactly the toughest of competition what do you think of Marco Linus? I like the movement ability and the frame. I think he's got that ability to compensate for maybe not being A, the most

athletically gifted or B, the most rocket shipped on his right arm compared to some of these other quarterbacks that we look at in this class of 23, but that's okay. I mean, look at who Iowa just brought in, in a Cade McNamara. Same kind of situation there where you're not blown away by the arm, but how steady he is, how opportunistic he is, and I think that experience will pan out really well for the Hawkeyes. So I think Marco's got a little bit of that in his game because oftentimes with these guys with great arms, you're like, well, can he go off speed? Can he take some off of it? Where's the touch? I think touch and timing are just as important. It looks like Marco's throwing motion has improved from the junior year to the senior season. It's coming off his hip a little bit quicker. I do think in the pocket, he's got good

enough movement skills to keep a defense honest. He can make that first guy miss and then be functional enough outside the pocket to extend plays. And really, at the end of the day, those are the traits that you're looking for. And then he's got the physical size and durability to hold up thereafter. You're not going to ask a lot of him early in his career. McNamara's got a lot of time left from an eligibility standpoint. But in a pinch, could he be a guy that can steady the ship if you need him in the next year or two? I do think that answer is yes. And look, the Hunt School, very well-coached program, very notable football program.

They're not going to trot any guy out there. So I do think this is an advantageous get for Iowa to supplement the depth because we know at that position in college football, you need as much depth every single year as any other spot because it can turn over very, very quickly. John Garcia Jr. joining us here on Lockdown Hawkeyes. He's the director of football recruiting for Sports Illustrated. And finally, quarterback, we go to skill position,

something that Iowa is desperate for. Their last commitment kid from Wiley, Texas, Eternell Washington Jr., kind of a slot guy, can play running back and play some slot, that Iowa is desperate for their last commitment kid from Wiley, Texas, internal Washington jr. Kind of a slot guy can play running back and play some slot, maybe something they can do with him and jet sweeps wide receivers. You got Jerry at buoy along with Dayton Howard, anybody jump off anybody that you're excited about. As I was always looking to try to find some skilled position talent.

Look, I really like buoy. He's got length. He's got speed. He's got third level juice as a receiver that again when you talk about what you want to see from iowa taking that next step that's a big part of it right i mean i remember um watching oh gosh what's his last name the receiver from mississippi that iowa starred with a couple years back brandon um i remember watching

him brandon smith i remember watching him in Louisiana. He's going to Iowa. They pulled him out long, a little raw at the time, but long, explosive wide receiver who once he got there, he really was able to hit the ground running. I think Bowie, who's bigger at the same stage, has some of those same traits. Then I'll keep it in the state of Florida. I love Kamari Moulton. I think he's such a sleeper. I've seen him in person a bunch. He's a grinder.

He's a guy that plays all over the field when asked for a state championship level program. But if he's going to be able to focus on just running back at Iowa, where it's valued more than at other schools, I think he's got an opportunity to really blossom and be that true tackle to tackle guy, lower body dominant, contact balance is there, the physicality is there, and the consistency is going to be there as well. So I think he pairs well with the Texan that you just grabbed. If you make that your sort of running back combo of the future, I like both of those guys. And obviously, like you said,

from a skill position perspective, you need some variants and some, some different types of athletes. And I do think in that regard, Iowa has checked some boxes and taken some chances, but check some boxes in this class. And maybe those guys don't have to sit very long to see it come to fruition. That's awesome. Hey, John, this is a lot of fun. Really appreciate it. We'll have to do it again soon down the line.

Sounds good, Trent. Thanks for having me on. You bet. John Garcia, find him on Twitter at John Garcia Jr. And he is part of Sports Illustrated and helps us out with recruiting here on the Locked On Network. Well, that will do it for today.

Thanks to everybody out there for checking in with us on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks to LinkedIn helping us out with our recruiting conversation with John Garcia Jr. A lot of great stuff there and a guy that we haven't really talked a whole lot about and Kamari Moulton from Florida, an intriguing one, certainly interesting getting John's perspective here and about Marco Lainez. And again, yes, it sucks that Caden Proctor will not be part of this class, but still rivals had them 27th, the top 35 class. I believe it was at 24-7.

And that offensive line class still is good. It's going to take a little longer as a ready-made guy. We'll see if Trevor Lau can be that, but plenty to be excited about. On tomorrow's podcast, our Christmas wishlist for the Iowa Hawkeyes. We got it here. Hope to also track down LaShawn Daniels, former Hawkeye running back, all coming up here on Locked On. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen each and every day.

Make sure to check out Locked On Sports today for the biggest stories around the sports world in 20 minutes or less. Instant reaction, game recaps, Locked On's take of the day. Locked On Sports today, locked on sports today, available on YouTube or wherever you get podcasts. Make sure to hit that subscribe button. If you're on YouTube five-star ratings, if you are out there on the podcast world,

I'm Trent Condon. This is a lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. We'll talk to you again soon.