Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa basketball's Joe Wieskamp draft stock update plus 2022 Iowa football recruiting breakdown

Episode Date: June 14, 2021

People noticed that Iowa basketball player Joe Wieskamp was no longer listed on the site's roster. We break down why that's a non-story and what his current NBA outlook is before breaking down the most recent commitment in the Iowa football recruiting class of 2022, Jayden Montgomery. What does he bring to the Iowa football team and who is next from a recruiting standpoint?Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back, Hawkeye Nation, to a Monday 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, and today's episode is brought to you by RockAuto.com. Amazing selection, reliably low prices, all the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. And on today's show, we're going to talk a little bit about the Joe Wieskamp news that

came out. Not really news, honestly, it's kind of an honest story, but I want to talk about it and his draft projections. We're also going to talk about an Iowa football commit. Jaden Montgomery didn't get a chance to really dive into his tape last week. We're going to talk about that, and then we're going to wrap it up with some recruiting tidbits around Iowa football. That is all coming up on segment three. There's a guy who could be going to the MLB, a guy we've had on the show before, and he is supposed to be a big-time recruit for Iowa. So we'll talk about that all on segment three of the show today.

And I know you all don't care about this, but this is the last day I'm going to be recording an episode without a specific office to be recording it. You might have heard my cat in the past. You might have heard my dogs. Over the last couple months, I have been kind of transitioning homes. We sold one, bought one, and my office, therefore, has been wherever I could find a space. So it has not been the most ideal conditions to be recording a podcast. But going forward, this is my last episode not having a dedicated office with a dedicated recording space. So great stuff on the horizon for the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. And we will be back every Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

Again, we are on off-season schedule. So Monday, Wednesdays, Fridays, we've got episodes for you. Unless something major happens, we will only be back on Monday, Wednesdays, Fridays. That being said, let's hop into the news. Again, Joey's camp, the non-story, in my opinion, Joey's camp is not listed on the Iowa basketball roster. Now, there has not been an official decision of whether or not he's returning or not. Frank McCaffrey has said they will welcome him back with open arms, but they are supporting him in every way to achieve his dream, essentially.

Now, I noticed, so actually last week, legitimately, I had been looking up some of the Iowa basketball stuff and trying to project out what positions Iowa basketball needs over the next couple of years from a recruiting perspective. We talked a lot about that, I believe, on our Friday show after DeSante Bowen committed to Iowa. I want to talk about what positions really Iowa needed. So I did some analysis on the roster and I did notice that Joey's camp was not listed. I didn't think much of it. He's not on the team.

He's technically in the NBA draft right now with the opportunity to come back. I don't think this is really foreshadowing anything specifically or directly, I should say. I don't think there's a direct correlation between him being on the roster or not and him deciding whether or not to come back. Now, that being said, I do not expect him to come back. The big kicker is going to be the combine, which takes place June 21st, so next weekend, starting Sunday for a week.

That is going to take place. Around 100 players are going to be there between prospects and G League guys, prospects including international players as well. And that's going to be a big indicator of whether or not Joey's camp should really stay in the NBA draft process or not. If he does not get an invite, I do not think it's trending towards him coming back if he doesn't get an invite. However, from everything it sounds like, he is going to get an invite. The Athletic had him ranked in the top 60.

USA Today has him ranked as a 97th player. It's honestly all over the board. But a guy like Joe Weiskamp who can shoot the three ball play a little bit of defense can attack if needed and doesn't need to dominate you know possession of the ball those are guys you can get in the second round or as a free agent and carve out key roles for them you look at maybe even a danny green in a sense so that he has really carved out a niche of being able to be a three and d type of guy joey's camp is a guy i think people envision looking like that as well. Not necessarily as great of a defender, but still the ability to play solid defense.

We saw Kyle Korver carve out a role in the NBA with his three-point shooting prowess as well. So there is definitely an opportunity for him, but I think the fact that Joe Wieskamp is not on the roster is not something to look into too significantly. He does have until July 7th to withdraw from the NBA draft and still maintain eligibility. So we're coming up on a decision. Again, it's likely going to depend on an invite to the combine, what teams are telling him at the combine when he does get there, if he does get there. And we will find out by July 7th

if Joe Wieskamp will be a member of this team. From everything that sounds like Fran McCaffrey is expecting him to not be a member. Everything from this team perspective is expecting him to not be a member. However, if Joe Wieskamp returns, that is going to be phenomenal for this Iowa basketball team. If he returns, I think they should be a top 15 team,

if not a top 10 team going into the season. If he doesn't return, I think they have the ability to get there, but it is going to be a little bit difficult. But again, I saw this floating around Twitter. If you love looking at some ridiculous stuff, you can always check out Hawkeye Heaven as well. Sounds like there was some interesting banter going back and forth in that courtesy of Z

Hawk or felt as we as we him, on Twitter for pointing that out and helping me go down a rabbit hole of looking at some really just ridiculous takes about Joe Wieskamp and whether or not he should go or not. Let me be very clear here. I don't think Joe Wieskamp has much to gain from going back to Iowa. I've had a few of you in my DMs about this. Joe Wieskamp does not have a lot to Iowa. I've had a few of you in my DMs about this. Joey's camp does not have a lot to gain. He could come back and unless he leads Iowa to a national title and scores 35 points a game

on 50% three-point shooting and just truly dominates, I don't believe Joey's camp has a lot to gain from coming back to Iowa. You know what he is. You know what he brings. He wants to get to the NBA. His wife has already graduated, or his fiance, I think, has already graduated. And don't be confusing her with her sister who's going to Drake. But this doesn't make sense. I just don't see really an opportunity for Joey's camp to come back. I think there just isn't much to gain. He can start his pro career now.

Even if it does end up being in EuroLeague, that's some pretty darn good money. He could definitely carve out a nice little niche there as well. But as we get more news and information on that, we'll make sure to cover that. One thing I did not want to bury, I didn't mean to bury the lead on this, but the Iowa track and field team did finish in 12th place with 19 points, their highest finish since 1967. So congratulations goes out to all those guys. Another phenomenal season and just another marking on the Iowa Hawkeye athletic program or programs, I should say this year and having probably the best year of Iowa Hawkeye athletics in the history of Iowa Hawkeye athletics. So kudos to the track and field team putting together an impressive display up in Oregon.

Coming up on segment two, we're going to talk about Jaden Montgomery, the son of Jerry Montgomery, an Iowa football commit who just received an offer as well. So we're going to talk about all that on segment two of the show. Before we do, though, I want to tell you about BetOnline.ag, the fastest and the easiest way to bet on all of your sports action. Baseball season is in full swing, and you can track all the action at BetOnline.ag. You can also get in on the action on the nba playoffs the nhl playoffs any ufc or mma fight or even if you want to bet on some tiktokers or some youtubers i know those fights took place this weekend you can do that as well at bet online.ag so get all the latest news odds and info for all of your sporting news or sporting needs including mlb n, NBA, NHL, and UFC, MMA at betonline.ag.

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and receive a 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit when you use the promo code LOCKEDON. BetOnline.ag, your online sportsbook experts. All right, y'all, and we are back for our second segment of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. And as I talked about, we didn't get a chance to talk too much about Jaden Montgomery, who is Iowa's most recent commitment. And I would argue a pretty unexpected commitment

considering he did not have an offer until last week and he committed on the spot. So let me give you some details about this. Jaden Montgomery visited on an unofficial to Iowa. Him and his dad, Jerry, visited alongside Kevin Kasper and his son, Kyler Kasper. Kyler already has an offer and is a very highly touted wide receiver across the country. Would be a huge get for Iowa. Those four visited the Iowa Hawkeyes together and

from everything it sounds like it was truly a phenomenal visit and just a really memorable situation for both fathers and for the sons. Chatted a little bit with Kevin and he said just as much. So pretty cool stuff to see Legacies getting into the program. And obviously we know how close Iowa is with their former athletes and especially with Kirk Ferris having such a long tenure and having coached both Jerry Montgomery and Kevin Kasper. You know he's continued to really foster those relationships, I should say. So anyways, Jaden Montgomery comes to Iowa.

He gets an offer. He commits on the spot. Said he always wanted to be an Iowa Hawkeye. Those are the kind of players Iowa wants to get. They know the Iowa way. Obviously growing up under his dad, Jerry, who played at Iowa and is now a defensive line coach for the Packers. He understands what he needs to do.

He understands how to come in and make an impact quickly. And this is an interesting offer. So Jerry Montgomery has not really had a very high profile recruiting to this point. He's currently unranked a 5'11", 205 pound linebacker out of Green Bay, Wisconsin. So some, you know, obviously would be like, well, why is that a big deal? Again, Iowa does a great job of recruiting linebackers. This is a legacy type of guy who is not getting in here because of his dad. But it definitely helped with Iowa getting the commitment because of his dad. And again, he's a three-star prospect, currently unranked though in terms of national rankings by the composite rankings. At 5'11", 205 pounds, it'll be interesting to see how much room he has to grow on that frame.

Obviously, as a linebacker, you're expecting him to probably gain about at least 30 to 35 pounds, be able to play that position a little bit short. But what I see on tape is pretty impressive. He was able to really line up all over the field at Bayport. A lot of tape and him lining up outside the edge, so having some blitz packages with him would be fantastic. Solid pass rushing tape overall. One of the things I liked about him as a linebacker is he was quick to attack the hole,

but could also work his way down a defensive line. So Iowa's defensive line is predicated on filling up blockers, allowing the linebackers to make plays and get to the running back. And you need a linebacker who's able to work through traffic. Jaden Montgomery, there were several times I saw him kind of put his hands on the guy and keep moving down the line, keep moving down the line. There was even a couple times where I saw him attack in a hole, realized he couldn't get in that, that wasn't the hole he was supposed to go to. Or the running back made a move and was able to back out of the hole and then continue to work his way down.

So even when he was in the trenches, able to get his way around traffic, which I really like. Did have a couple interceptions on his tape, but overall didn't see a lot from a pass coverage perspective. You know, most of the pass plays we saw were him in zone. And honestly, the interceptions were more so from poor quarterback play than him reading and reacting to the ball in my personal opinion. But also saw some really good special teams play. So that's an opportunity for him to get on the field very, very quickly.

We saw that this past year with some other linebackers as well for Iowa. So that's an opportunity for him. I do expect Iowa to try to get another linebackers as well for Iowa. So that's an opportunity for him. I do expect Iowa to try to get another linebacker possibly. I know they're typically going to be doing a two linebacker set and an occasional three linebacker set, but I do expect them to get a linebacker here. Even though they got two linebackers last year as well, they have 12 offers out right now to linebackers. So again, Jaden Montgomery, a fantastic commitment. I'm very excited for him.

And as I've been saying all along, I think Iowa is about to start getting a ton of commitments. They have a lot of official visits coming up. They have a big day in two weeks where we're going to see, I think, a decent number of Iowa players commit. Once they all start talking, they start realizing this is the place they want to be at. It becomes kind of a fun thing for all of them to start committing one by one. And we've seen this happen over the last several years. So again, we're just getting started. Iowa

has several commits now and will have a lot more, honestly, in my opinion, by the end of this month. Currently that recruiting class though, the 2022 recruiting class, has four commit Aaron Graves, Caden Crawford, Jack Dotzler, and Jaden Montgomery, ranked 51st nationally and 11th in the Big Ten. But again, this class is going to start blowing up very, very soon.

We do want to talk a little bit about Caden Crawford, though, because there was some interesting news about him taking an unofficial visit. Want to talk about that as Iowa has some very interesting rules on that as well. That's going to be coming up on segment three of the show alongside our conversation about

Brody Brecht and a guy out of Ballard who could be committing to Iowa very soon. We're talking about all that on segment three of the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. Before we get to that though, you know I got to tell you about the best tasting protein bar on the market today and that is a Bilt Bar. Bilt Bar is the phenomenal tasting protein bar that the market today, and that is a Bilt Bar. Bilt Bar is the phenomenal tasting protein bar that has everything covered in 100% chocolate. They have so many awesome flavors, whether you want sweet, salty, or fruity,

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Use the promo code LOCKED15 for 15% off at BuiltBar.com. All right, y'all, we are back for segment three of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes in the offseason, only Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays. But I did want to talk a little bit about recruiting. A couple things to note. Again, I've talked about this. Iowa is going to have quite a few commitments by the end of this month,

in my opinion. We're at four right now. I can see us getting to ten by the end of the month. The next guy up on that month, in my opinion. We're at four right now. I could see us getting to 10 by the end of the month. The next guy up on that list, in my opinion, is probably Cale Crow from Ballard. Just recently received an offer. Iowa is competing with Minnesota, but he's a guy who is very, very high on the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Grew up an Iowa Hawkeye fan. I think it's only a matter of time before he commits to the Iowa Hawkeyes. Sounds like he's also kind of weighing even going to Minnesota's campus. So that, to me, speaks volumes about what Iowa Hawkeyes. Sounds like he's also kind of weighing even going to Minnesota's campus. So that, to me, speaks volumes about what Iowa is currently doing. And when you look at his crystal ball, which we're going to be doing for a couple other players as well, that is high for him.

I'm going to try to actually pull it up while I continue to talk through a few things. Another guy to watch out for, not watch out for, but Caden Crawford. He is a guy who actually I have Cale Crow up right now. Let me pull it up. So yeah, right now there is a crystal ball in for Cale at an eight to join the Iowa Hawkeyes, a six foot six, 265 pound offensive tackle. Currently a three-star commit has 14 offers. Again, the big ones are from Iowa and from Minnesota. His official visit is June 25th. He has an official visit next weekend to Minnesota. If he doesn't take that official visit to Minnesota, I expect him to commit very soon.

If he does take that official visit to Minnesota, I expect him to commit to Iowa probably at the end of the month. So a really cool opportunity that Iowa's going to be able to get another Iowa player in there. As far as other crystal ball projections go, Iowa has quite a few guys kind of on that list. And I'll get to Caden Crawford here in a second. I know I was talking about that and then kind of segwayed back to Cale. But Iowa does have several crystal balls in the mix right now and i'm gonna kind of

walk through them and what it means again iowa with kale crow is a big one micah riley ducker as we know iowa did not get their tight end last class we've seen them have a lot of success with tight ends which we're going to talk about when we do our position you segment either this week or next they need to get a couple tight ends in this class. They cannot afford to have a gap. And if they do, they need to have multiple guys who can come in pretty quickly. And right now, there are two tight ends that have some pretty high crystal balls for Iowa. Andrew Keller, the tight end out of Wisconsin.

And then also Micah Riley-Ducker, who has a crystal ball. Let me pull it up right now. It's actually not super high. Let me see. Yeah, so Andrew Keller's 6'6", 210 pound. He is a nine on crystal ball, according to Evan Flood. And Micah Riley Ducker has a little bit lower, but I expect that to change.

He has a four right now by Parker Thune, Oklahoma insider. So that's huge. Iowa will get two tight ends very soon. We also have Cody Fox, who also received an offer pretty soon, or pretty recently has a five for a crystal ball, which would be huge. A guy out of Iowa as well, 6'4", 265 pounds. His recruiting has not really taken off to this point.

But again, these are all guys who could be commits in this June class. So that's what I'm talking about right here. We also have Alex Moda, another athlete who has always been very high on Iowa. He's a class of 2023, but that's how much of an impression Iowa has made on him to this point. Those are kind of the big ones. There could be more as we see these official visits pop up, as we see official visits take place over the next couple weeks. I expect us to see a lot more crystal balls come in, a lot more actual commitments. But speaking of Caden Crawford, so as we all know, Iowa tries to be as fair as possible through the recruiting process.

They're very open with athletes. They're very open with the players they're recruiting. They're very open with the parents as well about what they like, what they don't like, who they're recruiting, how many offers they have on the table, that kind of thing. So when Iowa extends an offer though, it truly to them means that there is a spot for them and they want that player. When, but they also don't want guys to just commit unless they're truly committed to the Iowa Hawkeyes. So when a player commits, Iowa does not want to see them taking unofficial visits or official visits to other universities. So when the news came out that Caden Crawford took an unofficial visit to Kansas State, you have to get a little bit concerned.

Now I've spoken with Caden before, had him on the show. Caden is a phenomenal young student athlete, and I'm really excited to see what he does for the Iowa Hawkeyes. He is jacked up and pumped to be an Iowa Hawkeye. If he were to switch to Kansas State, it would truly shock the heck out of me because he loves what Iowa brings to the table. Just go back and listen to our interview with him. It also sounds like this Kansas State unofficial visit was not intentional either. He was there to visit some friends, and they made it into an unofficial. So I think it's almost kind of a non-situation situation,

but definitely something worth talking about. Also, another guy, Jalen Peoples, a corner out of Texas that Iowa was a bit late into the game on. I have no chance he's going to Iowa at this point. I believe he canceled his Iowa visit and appears to be committing to Kansas at some point. There's some crystal ball offers in there. The other guy I want to talk about, though, from a 2020, well, 2021 recruiting perspective, excuse me, is Brody Brecht. He's a guy who I've also had in the show.

Brody was a great kid to talk to. And he, you know, I talked about, you know, the MLB versus playing at Iowa. And he said he was really excited to be an Iowa Hawkeye. He was very excited to play college baseball and college football and have the opportunity to do so. I don't think any of us saw the explosion of his draft stock for the MLB. Obviously, he definitely showed some signs last year, but the guy has a fastball touching high 90s as a guy who hasn't really had a lot of skill development in baseball.

There's a lot of untapped potential there. And when you see his size, he has the ability to add additional weight onto that frame. And he could probably get up into the triple digits from a fastball perspective. He has a very tough decision weighing on him though. Does he go to Iowa or does he go to the MLB? And it sounds like at this point, he's being very open about the fact that it all comes down to numbers and he has a bit of leverage as well. He has the ability to go play college football and college baseball on a scholarship. He has the ability to go play college football and college baseball on a scholarship. He has the ability to do that. And if a team wants him bad enough, they got to show him the money.

So the way it all kind of works, obviously the draft is crazy for MLB, the fact that you have 50 rounds and whatnot. But right now it sounds like he's projected to go anywhere from like three to six, round three to round six. His signing bonus could be significantly higher than a lot of guys who go in that range just because they want to convince him to go the MLB route. When that money shows up, it's hard to pass that up, especially when you're a guy like Brody with so much potential. And we've seen a lot of guys in the past go play

MLB or go play the minors and struggle. And they end up going back to college and being, you know, good or good college players and even getting a chance in the NFL. As a young kid, he could go play a couple of years. And if he decides it's not right for him, he could go to Iowa, play a couple of years and enter the NFL draft at the age of 24 or 25.

Not ideal, but not the worst thing we saw happen with Hayden Hurst as a tight end as well. Similar frame when you, if you were to put some meat on to Brody, but so that's very interesting that we're watching. Obviously the wide receiver group at Iowa is, and is probably at the strongest it's ever been. And we've seen two freshmen already dominate, not dominate, but outperform expectations at this point, Arlen Bruce and Keegan as well. We've seen some really good work out of them. So losing Brody would be unfortunate.

Don't get me wrong about that. Losing Brody would be absolutely terrible. However, the fact that Iowa has two other wide receivers who are performing quite admirably in spring ball is pretty phenomenal. Keegan Johnson and Arlen Bruce, both four-star recruits. They are showing why they deserve to be at the Iowa Hawkeyes and why they deserve to be at the collegiate football level. So if we were to lose Brody, that would be unfortunate. I think they all kind of three-play different types of positions or different types of wide receiver positions. But nevertheless,

the draft is coming up here soon, the MLB draft, and we will know a lot closer to that day what is going to be the decision for Brody. I do expect him to be drafted. Depending on where he is drafted and what that signing bonus is could mean that we lose a commitment in that class of 2021. So we'll be talking all about that once we get that news

right here on the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. Again, I appreciate you tuning in this Monday. I hope you had a fantastic weekend. And if you want to listen to more Locked on content, you can check out the Locked On Today podcast today. Get all the sports news you need in under 20 minutes with the Locked On Today podcast. Host Peter Bukowski updates you on the latest news in every major sport with the help of our local experts. Follow the Locked On Today podcast on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast app.

Now, that does do it for our show. Please make sure to give us that five-star review if you like the show. Follow us wherever you downloaded this episode at, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, Hawkeye Nation. I appreciate you tuning in and listening. We'll be back on Wednesday. Have a fantastic Monday, and let's go Hawks.