Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - How good is Iowa's defensive backfield and is Iowa Hoops doing enough in the transfer portal?

Episode Date: April 13, 2023

How good is Iowa's defensive backfield and is Iowa Hoops doing enough in the transfer portal?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 “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND 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)HelloFreshSkip trips to the grocery store and count on HelloFresh to make home cooking easy, fun, AND affordable – that’s why it’s America’s #1 meal kit! Go to HelloFresh dot com slash college60 and use code college60 for 60% off plus free shipping! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our positional breakdown continues today on Locked On Hawkeyes. Today, a look at the second best position group on the Iowa football team. We'll get into that. The latest in the transfer portal, Hawkeyes making a mistake. All today on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Our Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, welcome into the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast.

I'm Trent Condon. 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. You can see the video. You can see me sitting in the work studio right now. And you can check us out each and every day on YouTube. While you're there, make sure you hit that subscribe button.

Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Well, a lot to get into here today. We got spring football. We got the transfer portal for both the men's and the women's basketball teams. Of course, the transfer portal also opens on Saturday. On the football side of things, we will talk plenty about that in the coming days and weeks as Iowa will look to bolster their roster even more after what we saw them do going back to the wintertime.

We'll get into all that Iowa baseball, Iowa softball also with a big weekend on tap. They will all talk about that, but today we continue our positional breakdown. So if you missed it, and for you everydayers, thanks for being with us every single day and being a part of what we do here on Lockdown Hawkeyes and Lockdown Network, your team every day, well, you definitely know that the number one positional group was a pretty easy. It was defensive line. And we talked about the depth of the position and what sets it apart. Realistically, 12 deep.

I mean, you're talking about 10 guys at minimum that you feel and have seen at a Big Ten level that have been able to play at a high level. You're in good shape. And the drop off from there, well, then we're going to get into some semantics. And it's going to take a while, probably before we're going to get into any of the offensive spots. And that remains the problem here

about this football team and the way that they are constructed. Defense is going to be elite. We will see offensively. But speaking of our second positional group, it is defensive backfield. So I put all the defensive backs together. I could have broke it down and gone a little bit deeper and did safety as one position group.

Cornerback is another. It kind of throws a little bit of a wrench into things, though, the way that I was doing things. So take a look at the depth chart that came out here this spring. This is what they have listed with your depth chart, starting at the cornerback spots. Of course, Cooper Dijon, he is an All-American. He is possibly going through his final season in a Hawkeye uniform. This is a guy with his measurables, along with the playmaking ability that we've seen from Cooper DeGene. It feels like definitely another guy that could be leaving early for the NFL.

The thing I love about Cooper DeGene, too, as you think back to when we first saw him two years ago, and he was played a little bit during his true freshman campaign. We saw him come in. If you watched him in high school at Odebelt Arthur, Battle Creek, Ida Grove, you saw just what an immense talent he was. It was a man amongst boys

seeing what he did on the football field, playing the quarterback position, running around, making plays there. What he did defensively, what he did on the basketball court, just drop step dunking on people at 6'1". We knew that he was a special athlete even for a two-way sports back then. But to come in to get a role right away in special teams

and helping out and being a depth piece in that defensive backfield. And then right at the end of the season, he is thrust into the lineup because of injury and said, Cooper DeGede, you're going to play cornerback for us. What problem? Cooper DeGede, you're going to play cornerback for us. What problem? Cooper DeGede never played cornerback before. He'd been practicing it during the course of the year. He'd been going through the work, but growing up at the high school level,

he was never a cornerback. And this is not some positions that are kind of plug and play, right? This is a very different kind of position than most any position. We're not talking about a guy going from defensive end and moving him inside the defensive tackle. We're not taking a guy from middle linebacker and moving him outside. We're going from a guy that was a safety

and playing corner and the hip turn that you need to do. And just the coverage ability that you had. What did he do? He played really well. Then we saw what he was a year ago. Playmaker all over the place, becoming a shutdown quarter. He has a size, 6'1", 209. That is one hell of a building block right there with Cooper Dijon. On the other side, Jamary Harris. Harris, another big body,

6'1", like the size that they have on the outside at the cornerback spot. He has been a playmaker himself. Health remains the biggest concern for him. And then their backups, TJ Hall, thrust in a year ago against Nebraska. He was not ready for prime time, but we have seen this happen so many times in the past. Guys that have put in the lineup for one reason or another, usually it is because of injury. And yes, there's been the Desmond Kings that show up and are just a stud right away. Bob Sanders going back over 20 years ago. Yeah, those guys, they showed up and did the position incredibly well. TJ Hall, they are still very high on him

and it was trial by fire. He's going to be better going forward. He's going to be another one of those guys I think we're going to talk about. Remember what he was early on compared to what he is today. I think a bright upside there. The other backup cornerback listed

is Deshaun Lee, a registered freshman out of Michigan. Then you go to the safety spot. Quinn Schulte, he's surprising. You see, walk-on safety for Iowa, and you kind of roll your eyes at times and say, oh, another one of these. Quinn Schulte's different. That guy's got some pop to him.

There's physicality to his game that we have not seen very often. He's listed as a starting free safety. On the other side, of course, is Xavier Wampa. Wampa, we saw show up in the bowl game. How well he played there. Castro is listed as his backup. We know he will also be part of the cash position. Sebastian Castro, I think he played that a bunch a year ago.

Linebacker, safety type of hybrid kind of thing. That is what you have listed out there. And then your backups at the other safety spot is Cohen Entringer, linebacker safety type of hybrid kind of thing that is what you have listed out there and then your backups that at the other safety spot is cohen entringer another redshirt freshman from out in michigan heard a lot of good things this spring it's been difficult to be honest to get a whole lot of information to this point in time but a lot of good things there and then you look at the depth you know what else is out there how do you make this group i think the starters alone make this the second best position group for iowa but what else is in there what else are we looking

at here who are some other guys to maybe get excited about what they can be another intriguing name is brendan de fernandez a guy that came in a couple of years ago he was very under-recruited it was somebody that caught their eye i know he's been banged up at times can he give them anything devin hilsen kid from out of here in Des Moines, out of Des Moines North High School. More than anything, just rooting for him. Haven't been a whole lot of guys from North that have got on to play D1 football. He's a possibility. Maybe something that can pop for him. He's been a running back. Now he's over at defense. That's where you're looking at. And then we get ready for some of the incoming guys that are going to see. I think more than anything,

though, when you go through this group, starters are great. A backup or two you're feeling okay about, they still need depth. And either safety or cornerback, I wouldn't be surprised. We know they need help with wide receiver. That's going to be a big part of the portal. But I think they also need help at defensive back, just adding a depth piece.

Now, the problem is when you're trying to build that kind of depth piece and you're telling a guy, hey, sorry, you're probably not going to start. We'll give you a great opportunity to do it. But these guys are dumb. I mean, they can look at depth charts. They can look at returning starters and experience coming back and those kind of things. And they certainly understand what Iowa already has. And that's what's going to make this a little bit different.

But defensive backfield, it has been very good. You have one of the best teachers in the game in Phil Parker, of course, the defensive coordinator, but his background also on that side of the football, being a defensive back coach, and you know, going to be well-schooled, they're going to be playing at a really high level. We continue on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast.

The transfer portal, is Iowa doing enough right now on the hoop scene? We'll talk about that, both the men's and women's team, and set the scene for the weekend with baseball and softball. That's as we continue here on Locked on Hawkeyes. Looking for a delicious snack but don't want all the sugar and calories? Then you need the best-tasting protein bar ever, Built. You got to try this.

If you're like me, you want to make healthier snack choices, maybe you got some Easter candy sitting around, get rid of that, and set yourself up with Built Bars. Healthy and amazing tasting. So amazing, you won't even think they're good for you. What makes them so good? Well, for starters, 100% real dark chocolate and great flavors. Churro, peanut butter brownie.

I love the cookies and cream. I'm not sure how Built does it, but these bars taste like a candy bar while maintaining amazing macros. And what's even better is they're healthy. Only 130 calories, 4 grams of sugar, and 70 grams of protein. And now you don't have to wait around for a box for years. We've been talking about Bilt Bars at Bilt.com. You can still go there, but now head to your local Walmart or Sam's Club while you can get our specialty flavors at Built.com. Head to your nearest Walmart. Go to the pharmacy section. That's where they are.

You can get yourself a four-bar box of cookies and cream, double chocolate, or coconut puff. And if you're close to a Sam's Club, they got you covered as well with the big 13-bar box of our hit flavors, brownie batter puff and churro puff. You can thank me later. Trent Conner back with you again here on Locked On Hawkeyes. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day.

Every dayers, tomorrow on the show, we got a lot more coming your way, including LaShawn Daniels, a breakdown of spring from a former Hawkeye running back. LaShawn back in with us here. We'll talk some spring football with him. Well, the transfer portal. So this week, there's been a lot of conversation about what Iowa is doing, what they have done. Ben Kricke already on the fold for the men's team.

A scholarship comes open on the women's team. And we've broke things down. And you can go back and find all those podcasts on the feed. But I'm left wondering today, is Iowa doing enough? Is Iowa doing enough in the portal at this point in time? Now, there's a piece of this that is frankly all about the financial aspect.

I mean, who can pay the most? Who can give the most money to whatever player it is that is ultimately going to decide what they are going to have and what they are going to be if they're going to go to a particular destination.

There's also ones that worry about fit, what Iowa does. I mean, it's very easy sell for Iowa basketball right now for big guys after what they did with the Murray Twins, what they did with Luka Garza. I mean, you go back even further than that. There's plenty of things that you can point to. If Ray McCaffrey and the staff can point to to say, hey, you come here, you're going to score, you're going to have an ability to play at the next level.

That's another piece that I was done. But for your everydayers, you know this. It sounds like it's just down to BJ Mack. He's a Wofford guy, under the rim type of player, can step out, hit three pointers. He's another post presence. I think coupling him and Kriki together, I think that could work incredibly well. I think you're in good shape. Not a good defender.

Neither is Kriki. This team, offensive incredibly well. I think you're in good shape. Not a good defender. Neither is Kricke. This team, we'll get to that defensively. We'll get to it in a moment. There isn't anything else on the horizon. Reading Brad Heinrich, some of his posts over at Hawkeye Report, he said that this is it. This is what Fran has set up.

You're going up against four other schools. I mean, just take NIL out of the equation. What? 20% just doing the simple math. And even if he does understand what you're selling. To go into still this early in the process, and there's still, I think I saw the number the other day. There's still over 1,200 guys in the portal currently that haven't committed. 1,200. And this is all that you have set up. I know some of their targets have moved on. The Cohen kid, Jordan Miner, there's been a couple others. We see Rick Massey shows up in Nebraska, and that's where he's committed. I understand that they had some names out there.

But now for it to be down to one visit, coming up this weekend with BJ Mack, out there. But now for it to be down to one visit, coming up this weekend with BJ Mack, and if you don't get him, closing the door, that's just too short-sighted. That's, it's frankly lazy. There needs to be more there. Maybe, and I could be dead wrong, Iowa could feel like they're in great shape, that they had this for all intents and purposes. They're going to get him on campus and they're going to lock this thing up. And if that's the case, I'm dead wrong. I don't believe that's the case. And to not be kicking the doors, you listen to people that are in the recruiting world. They're not hearing anything else that is out there. This is problematic. This is definitely problematic if this does not go the way that the Hawkeyes hope. They don't get a commitment from Mack because there's nothing else. All right,

so Evan Braun, Iowa City kid coming back home. He played at Belmont. Look, he's not an impactful player. There's a reason that he's being talked about right now as a guy that's going to come in as a walk-on. Can he help? Sure. Can he give you six, eight, ten minutes a game?

Maybe. That's fine. But you have two open scholarships right now. And to go into this season and not make the determination that we need more andy katz comes out with his power rankings of the big 10 the current rosters in the big 10 yesterday he's got iowa 13 there's only 14 teams he's got iowa 13 now you can play the other side joe lenardi came out with his bracketology the other day and he has i was one of the first team outs. So, it's

two people's opinion, but my opinion right now, this team is not close to an NCAA tournament team. Brandon's taken this team to five straight tournaments, something that hasn't been done since the 1980s. You gotta go back a long ways since the last time that they put together this kind of run.

The success we want in the tournament, I get that. But this team, I'm not seeing it. You start with question marks at the point guard spot. DeSante Bowen, have you seen anything from what we saw a year ago? 30 minutes a game, here's the keys to the card. No. Tony Perkins at the point?

We tried that. I know he can do it in a pinch, and I like when he's out there and he's kind of a combo guard and he's running things along with playing the two-guard position. I'm fine with that. I know he can do it in a pinch, and I like when he's out there and he's kind of a combo guard and he's running things along with playing the two-guard position. I'm fine with that. But a full-time role? Absolutely not. In the frontcourt, Kricke, a minus defender.

Sanford, McCaffrey. I mean, that's probably right now your starting five. That's where we are right now. Perkins and Bowen in the backcourt. Sanford, McCaffrey, Kricke. That team stinks defensively. I mean, that is an awful defensive team. And it was bad this year.

Of all the average or better Iowa teams under Frey and McCaffrey, this was by far the worst defensive team this past year. And this team that we talk about, the roster for next year, is going to be even worse. Are they going to be able to outscore teams again? Whew. It's short-sighted. It's frustrating. It needs to be even worse. Are they going to be able to outscore teams again? Whew. It's short-sighted. It's frustrating.

It needs to be better. On the women's side of things, we told you it was going to be incredibly difficult for Lauren Betts. We've talked about her. Every dayers will know that. You understand what we've talked about there. There are other names out there, but more than a lot of programs,

Lisa Bluter, Jan Jensen, Fitz, the whole staff, it is going to be incredibly important. This is not just going out there and finding the best talent. It is finding the best talent that fits in to the Iowa system and the way they want to do things. That is a huge piece of this. And that's something I think we have to sit back. Every time somebody enters the portal, you see somebody, you get excited about it, you go on Twitter and underneath there, you put a Hawkeye gif underneath it.

I get it. Get excited. But also realize this is also a process. It's going to take a while. You want to get players on campus. You want to meet the team. You want to find out all those different things. And this is going to be a process

that probably is going to drag over the next couple of weeks. Things not over, but it's not as quick as a lot of people hope for. Wrapping things up, we're talking about the weekend ahead for Iowa baseball and softball. This is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Try counting back with you one final time on Locked On Hawkeyes. So Iowa this weekend, they get ready for baseball to take on Minnesota. And not only is this a must-win series, I mean, this is a must-sweep series. They're going to start things up on Friday with a doubleheader against the Gophers.

Starts at 3 o'clock on Friday, followed up 40 minutes after that one, game two. As we know, Brody Brecht will get the ball in game one. He comes in with a 2.43 ERA, 66 strikeouts on the year in 40 and two-thirds innings pitch. He'll go up against Tucker Novotny. So Minnesota, you look at the Big Ten standings, well, how can you say this is a must-win series or a must-sweep series, which I believe it is? Yeah, Minnesota, they're three and three. In fact, they're a game ahead of the Hawkeyes right now in the Big Ten standings. Minnesota started off the year 0-11. They are right now 9-22. In non-conference, they went 6-19. Their RPI is 242. Yes, it's a road

series. I get that. But Iowa, after losing both the opening series of the season to Maryland and Indiana, two of the better teams, no doubt, in the Big Ten, if not the top two teams, many people would argue, in the Big Ten. You're in a little bit of a hole here. You want to dig yourself out. A couple of the teams have already played three series. Iowa's just played two at this point in time. And what still waits ahead of Iowa

with what they have on the schedule. Next series, next weekend against Nebraska. That's going to be tough. After that, they go out to Penn State, who's okay. Ohio State after that, pretty good. Michigan State, the best of the bunch of the remaining. And then you finish up at Northwestern, who's terrible. But these are the kind of series that not just win,

you got to go out there and you need to sweep. They got to set up up it'll be brett getting the ball in game one they will go in game two to marcus morgan and then on saturday and sunday depending on weather it'll be ty langenberg have to get it done no doubt about it it is a huge one for iowa to go out there go up to minnesota and get things done on a positive level on the the other side for the Iowa women, huge series for them last weekend as they went to Michigan State, got the sweep as they needed to run their record up. Then they get a nice win this week in midweek against Drake, 5-2 on that one. Now they got Maryland coming up. This is a home series, should be some pretty good weather, it looks like,

certainly for the game tomorrow. We'll see over the weekend what it looks like there love to see some great weather for this team and people start to show up they're playing at a high level you know they played well and they kind of got our attention earlier this season lost that tough game to number one ucla two to one back in february and and certainly gained my attention at that point in time they sit at 26 and 15 7 and 4 on the season they got a-game winning streak now going. They played well away from home. Opportunity for them also to build their way up.

Still a lot of work that needs to be done, but there's still plenty that is out there for them in order to get up to not just being solidly in the Big Ten tournament, have a chance to make a run there, but getting back to the NCAA tournament. It's been a long time, but it looks like Coach Gillespie and company are certainly doing

some good things. Hey, thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Always appreciate everybody out there for joining us and making this your first listen every day. Every day or tomorrow, again, LaShawn Daniels will stop by. We'll talk to a former Hawkeye. What's spring practice like? We'll talk about that here on Lockdown Hawkeyes.

Have a great day. Go Hawks.