Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football: Can we believe Kirk Ferentz when he says the offensive line will be much better?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Kirk Ferentz believes that the Iowa offensive line is going to be good this year. Should we believe the old ball coach? Today on 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. 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

Starting point is 00:00:49 fans. Well, plenty to get into here today. The Iowa offensive line is in the spotlight and some interesting comments from last week at Big Ten Football Media Days from Kirk Ferentz. The belief that this offensive line is going to take not just a step forward because there's nowhere to go but up from a season ago, but a significant step forward. We will talk about that. If it doesn't go well this year for Iowa offensively, who are we going to blame? A lot of different ways that you can point the finger. We will get into that. And some trouble for a former Hawkeye basketball player.

Starting point is 00:01:24 Potentially, we will get into that here today. Well, let's kick things off and get into the Iowa football conversation of the day and its offensive line. And offensive line is something that is so important. I talk about offensive line so much as it pertains to football. It is one of the most underrated aspect, I think, of any sport. Yes, you know you have to have a quarterback. You have to have players all over the place, but the continuity of your offensive line, and it doesn't matter the level that you're talking about from peewee football all the way up to the pros. If your offensive line isn't good, it's going to be very difficult for you to have a competent

Starting point is 00:01:59 offensive team. Yes, there's ways that you can get around it, but for the most part, we know that. And over the last two seasons, Iowa's offensive line has been absolutely deplorable. It has been an awful, awful offensive line, which is confusing for a couple of reasons. First, well, who the head coach is, Kirk Ferentz, where he cut his teeth as a coach at Pitt, University of Iowa, off to the NFL with the Browns and the Ravens. He was an offensive line coach. He came in as an offensive line guru.

Starting point is 00:02:29 He has put tons of guys into the league. Offensive linemen. You think, well, if there's anybody that can fix a bad offensive line, it's going to be Kirk Ferentz. Well, when you're playing young guys, and that's what they had to do the last couple of seasons, the reason that it was bad is because there were youngsters out there. There were guys that normally would not be playing for Iowa

Starting point is 00:02:47 and normally would not be put in that kind of spotlight. But because of departures, be it play amounts academically, guys that didn't cut it, guys that got injured, they had a whole lot of veterans that moved on, guys that they normally count on, and there's some recruiting misses in there also. You put all that together, that's why we've seen Connor Colby last couple of seasons as a starter. Mason Richmond out there a ton. In fact, you look at what Iowa has coming back this season, and you

Starting point is 00:03:14 take a look at these offense alignment, there's a ton of starts coming back. Mason Richmond has already made 25 career starts in his career. Connor Colby couldn't be a junior as Richmond is. 24 starts in his career. Nick DeYoung was 17. Logan Jones, who started all 13 games a year ago at the center position after not playing the position until March of last year. That's what you had up front. Bo Stevens has made 10 starts. Tyler Ellsbury has made a couple of starts. Jennings Dunker, who is listed as a starter in the first depth chart release, he has also made a start in his career. These guys are out there earlier than they normally would be. They were thrown out there, and the hope is that they're going to develop and get better. The question is, though, this offensive line getting better and some of the praise that's

Starting point is 00:04:00 been thrown out by Kirk Behrens, talking about first Logan Jones. We saw the struggles a year ago. Yes, the snaps were a big part of that. There was no doubt about it. You can just see the little bit of a hitch that was getting the ball back there. Maybe trying to move too quickly, leaving the ball short. We saw fumbled snaps. We saw issues all over the place or the rest of the line getting off and ball still not getting back there to the quarterback.

Starting point is 00:04:23 It was a big time issue last year, but it wasn't just that. It was not just the snaps that were a problem last year. It was the blocking part of it, not only the blocking part of it, but also making the right calls up front. This is a guy that had a lot thrown onto his plate, taking over for an all-American, one of the all-time greats in a Hawkeye uniform in Tyler Leonard Baum. We knew it was going to be big shoes. He wasn't ready for prime time. Well, they continue to sing his praises, and they believe that Logan Jones is going to make those big strides. And I can certainly believe that coming into the season.

Starting point is 00:04:53 With all the accolades that have been thrust upon him from the Iowa coaching staff, what we've heard from Coach Barnett, the offensive line coach, what Kirk Ferentz has had to say, I think you're absolutely going to see that kind of ascension this season. Another part of this is looking at these numbers. And I had a pushback from somebody when we talked about the depth chart yesterday, talking about the offensive line. And I was talking about the surprise that I saw with Connor Colby listed as a backup behind Nick DeYoung at one of the guard spots. Well, here's something to jump out, and it's not a huge difference. And it's really eye-opening and I think pretty concerning still

Starting point is 00:05:30 when you look back at those numbers a year ago and the grades for these players that came from Pro Football Focus. So PFF is a site that grades every single snap, and they grade every single player on every snap of the game. And they're graded, the scale is of the game. And they're graded. The scale is negative two all the way to a plus two. So that's the grading scale. It's a half point sliding scale.

Starting point is 00:05:56 So if you basically do your job, do okay, you get a zero. You do something pretty good. You're a plus 5.5 up to a plus 0.2. You make a big play. You're plus two on that category and all the way down to a negative 2 that aside the grading scale goes 0 to 100 and it's very rare you're going to see a guy in an individual game

Starting point is 00:06:14 as a 0, seen it, seen single digits and you know it's bad it's really bad here are the grades though from last year in the Iowa offensive line knowing that in order to be considered a really an all big 10 starter caliber type of player now a guy that's going to be really good you're talking about an 80 plus average is 70. Well Iowa last year did not have a guy

Starting point is 00:06:38 that graded out even at a 70 on the offensive line last year we're all talking about below average guys Mason Richman was the best of the bunch he was a 66.2 last year. We're all talking about below average guys. Mason Richman was the best of the bunch. He was a 66.2 last year. I mean, that's like a C plus we're talking about. We're grading a little different curve than he would maybe in school. Tyler Ellsbury, he was listed as a backup at the center position. He was the second guy last year at a 64.4. Right behind him was Logan Jones at 64.2. Connor Colby after that at 62.7. There's Nick DeYoung.

Starting point is 00:07:09 He checks in with a 60.4 last season. Bo Stevens, he was a 56.8. And Jennings Dunker, we didn't see a ton of snaps last year because of injury. He was down at a 46.3. That's not good. Any way you slice it. Those numbers, maybe they're swimming around in your head and you're saying, what does that mean?

Starting point is 00:07:24 I'll tell you what it means. It was bad last year. It was bad the year previous. Well, here's another way to look at this. It was incredibly bad a season ago, and the numbers certainly strike out. Last year, Iowa gave up 38 sacks a year ago. That was 105th in the country. And we talked about all the woes of the offense. That was a huge part of it. But when you dig a little bit deeper into those numbers too, I would love to see the number of what Iowa's sacks allowed last year were in comparison to per offensive snap. We know Iowa plays at one of the slowest paces in college football. We know they don't drop back as many teams do in college football. I'm going to guess that that sack rate number would look even worse when you put those kind of numbers in there and you dig a little bit deeper into the numbers.

Starting point is 00:08:10 They have to get better. Will they get better? We will see. But the optimism is there. Another interesting nugget. Kirk Ferentz, he said, George Barnett is a great coach. We haven't seen it certainly in the first two years at Iowa. We can blame youth, inexperience, all those different things. We have not seen it. Will it

Starting point is 00:08:29 play out this year? We will see. Mention those numbers. 38 sacks a year ago. They allowed 32 sacks also in 2021. It harkens back to another time that Iowa had offensive line troubles and what turned into a great run for Iowa football. Is this a little bit of forbearing about maybe the future ahead for Iowa football? What we have in these young guys finally getting the experience that we hope for. We'll talk about that as we continue. And if it goes wrong, who are we going to blame? That's as we roll through here on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Who are we going to blame?

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Starting point is 00:10:19 So we're talking offensive line. We're talking about the woes. And it goes back to a conversation that I had earlier with Scott Dockerman. He was on my radio show on Monday. And one thing that Doc brought up, I was talking about the offensive line and some of the concerns that still linger for me, even with the newcomers, a rusty Feth coming in last year. You look at his numbers from pro football focus. They're not pretty either. In fact, he was better as a junior than he was last year as a senior. He's got the bonus year that'll be used in this year with the Hawkeyes. We don't know what the numbers are for Dejan Parker

Starting point is 00:10:50 because he was playing D2 football last year and missing the spring and getting up to the speed that he's going to have to play with this year, moving to the Big Ten. That's something that you have to look at. Look, I know experience matters, and that's going to be a huge part of this. These guys take you to their lumps and the improvements that you're going to have there,

Starting point is 00:11:08 pushing those right buttons. But I was talking about 1999. And for you old-timers, you're going to remember certainly that time, Kirk Ferentz's first year and just how awful the offensive line was. You had Bruce Nelson out there, fresh out of beating up on my high school in the playoffs. And a couple years later, he's out there as a registered freshman playing center at like 255 pounds. I mean, he was little out there.

Starting point is 00:11:29 Robert Gallery was transitioning and making his way from the tight end position moving over to the tackle position. You had Eric Steinbach, who was the best of the bunch, and he still was a pretty guy that was pretty light overall. This line was as bad a year ago as that 1999 line. The good news is by 2001 and 2002, it turned into one of the best offensive lines in college football in 2002. There's no doubt they had the best O-line in college football that season. And that's what you're hoping that they're building to that point. So what I brought up that year,

Starting point is 00:12:00 I'm just kind of joking around a little bit. Scott Dockerman of The Athletic, he mentioned it reminds him a lot of the 2007 into the 2008 transition. Now, again, I love to go back in the Wayback Machine and take you guys down memory lane a little bit. I'll refresh your memory a little bit. So 2007, that was the year as we were seeing the transition as the first year Drew Tate moved on. It was Jake Christensen, but the offensive line was bad that year.

Starting point is 00:12:27 They lost three starters, including amongst them an absolute all-timer and potential Hall of Famer in the NFL in Marshall Yanda. Two other starters also departed. I think Mike Elgin was a part of that group. And one guy I can't remember off the top of my head. But those guys moved on. 2007, it was terrible. And the reason is they played a ton of young guys. And they came back in 2008. They were trying to find the right

Starting point is 00:12:49 pieces. And that's a little bit, what still concerns me here because we know Kirk Ferentz, he loves to tinker, right? He loves to tinker with the offensive line, trying to find those right matchups, finding those right guys. And I just don't believe that this is a season for that. I was got to get off to a good start. This is not a start of the season where they're going to be able to tinker. The Iowa State, and we'll see what their suspensions look like with the gambling investigation. Week number two, it's a road trip out to Ames. Never an easy place for Iowa.

Starting point is 00:13:18 Yeah, they've gotten a couple of wins here recently, but we know how close, obviously, those games have been in Ames. That team is going to have a defense. Will they have much of an offense? Maybe not, but you still got to put points up on the board. You still have to be able to move the football. You still need to be able to pick up that third down and four carry. You still need to be able to protect and complete the pass to score.

Starting point is 00:13:37 You need those kind of things. Obviously, it goes without saying. So that's going to be a tough one. And then we know what the Big Ten opener is with Penn State. You can't afford to tinker too much this year just because of how difficult the Iowa schedule is for them in the month of September. Find the right guys. Coach has mentioned, Coach Ferentz has talked about, he has nine guys that are really vying for positioning in the starting lineup and the guys that are going to get those reps. That is why August camp is just so important right now for this Iowa football team, getting the offensive line right,

Starting point is 00:14:09 getting the guys in the right spot, in the right fit. Maybe it's Rusty Fett playing inside at the center position. Maybe it's better at a guard. Is De'Jon Parker your starting right tackle? Can he get acclimated that quickly? Whatever it is, it is imperative. Number one for this Iowa football team this year, if they're going to have the success that I believe they can have, is to figure

Starting point is 00:14:31 this thing out early in the season, get it right up front, and this Iowa team has a chance to have a really good season. But that 2008 team, so they come back after losing, giving up all the sacks that year. 46 sacks they gave up that season. That was 114th in the country out of back then 119 teams that were playing at the FBS level. You had Seth Olsen at guard. You had Rob Bruggeman, who ended up beating out Rafael Eubanks. Eubanks came back then the following season, and he was the starting center for his final campaign.

Starting point is 00:15:05 Bruggeman, though, was the guy that really solidified things. And by the end of the 2008 season, that's when they upset Penn State on the green-out game. We know the running game was Sean Green, and we give so much credit to Sean Green, and he should because he was an absolute stud, and Iowa's got a stud in their own right right now in Caleb Johnson. But it was Bruggeman in the middle that solidified things. Eubanks played a little guard.

Starting point is 00:15:25 It was him. It was Seth Olsen. You had Julian Vandevelde. That was also a part. You had outside Brian Balaga. We know what NFL player he turned out to be. Kyle Calloway on the other side. That offensive line, by the end of the year, was playing at such a high level.

Starting point is 00:15:38 And Iowa at that point, as they were ripping off wins at the end of the season, the finale of the regular season, 55-0 against the Gophers. The last game, college game played in the Metrodome and how beautiful it was to be up there in the Metrodome for that one on that final night. In fact, here in the man cave, still have the newspaper from the Star Tribune that says, turn out the lights of Sean Green

Starting point is 00:15:59 running in for another touchdown. And one of my favorites that I have up here down in the Hawkeye man cave. But that aside, this has the potential to be very similar to that. I believe, though, Logan Jones is going to be a big component of that. If he can make the leap forward, I'm confident that this team is going to be good. If it doesn't go well, though, who are we going to blame? Do we blame Kirk Ferentz for continuing to stay with an offensive system and line play that just not many people run anymore not at this level at the collegiate level

Starting point is 00:16:32 it is so rare to see teams that run what Iowa does with the zone blocking scheme you see in the NFL teams across the board still run the zone blocking scheme you look at Kyle Shanahan obviously what they do in San Francisco Minnesota for a number of years on and on and on tons of teams still run the zone blocking scheme. You look at Kyle Shanahan, obviously what they do in San Francisco, Minnesota for a number of years, on and on and on. Tons of teams still run zone blocking scheme. And you can do that at the NFL level. At the collegiate level, not many people do it. Continuity is key.

Starting point is 00:16:56 Getting those guys in the right spots, moving in transition, and also knowing and the knowledge of what the guy next to you is also going to do when they're coming off a block, when they're moving, when they're shifting, whatever it is, you have to be able to have the confidence in those players to be able to do that. Do we blame Kirk Ferentz if it doesn't go well? Definitely part of the blame. We know a ton of the blame is going to go to his son, Brian. I mean, there's no doubt about it. Brian Ferentz, if this offense does not turn out to be competent this year,

Starting point is 00:17:26 we're talking, what, top 75 in the country. I think that's a realistic goal for a team that has the kind of expectations that this Iowa football team does. That is a pretty easy benchmark. Yeah, we got the 25 points per game and getting seven wins and he gets a contract extension. Wank, wank. I mean, come on. That one, I know it's going to be fodder for the national media and even the Big Ten media and probably Iowa media. It'll be talked about. It'll be a talking point. I think it's going to kind of fall by the wayside

Starting point is 00:17:54 because this team is going to score points, and they'll probably put up 42 or 51 against a Western Michigan or against a Utah State. They'll be off and running on the race to get to 25 points per game. All right. I get it 25 points per game. All right. I get it. Ha ha. Funny joke. We don't care about jokes here. Not those kind of jokes. We're talking about our football team, right? And finally, George Barnett. You can't bring back an offensive line coach if this offensive line struggles this year. And if

Starting point is 00:18:20 the offense struggles because of him, you just can't. In today's day and age, when we see so much recycling, I understand there is immense pressure on this offensive line to be better. And it's not his fault. The recruiting misses from three, four years ago, the guys that should be upperclassmen that are playing, the redshirt seniors that should be out there playing at that high level. It's not his fault that those guys haven't developed. How about strength and conditioning? That's another one. Here's my clap back on people that bring up strength and conditioning

Starting point is 00:18:51 and not having Doyle anymore. Look on the other side of the football. Look at our defensive line. Yeah, I think that says enough. What? Raymond Braithwaite right now is only, he's only working with the defensive lineman. He's not working with the offensive lineman.

Starting point is 00:19:06 It's not that. It was that they were young. That's at least my hope. Not young anymore. Excuses are over for the Iowa offense and certainly for the offensive line. We wrap things up here with a little basketball talk and not even a current Hawkeye,

Starting point is 00:19:20 a former Hawkeye from a year ago in some trouble. Maybe that's what it looks like. We'll do that as we continue here on the Locked On Hawkeye, a former Hawkeye from a year ago in some trouble. Maybe that's what it looks like. We'll do that as we continue here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Trent Conner back with you one final time on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. As always, thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Every day as we've got a lot more coming your way this week. More from LaShawn Daniels. He's going to stop by later in the week.

Starting point is 00:19:48 We're also going to continue our summer series. Look back at some of our favorite Hawkeye teams. A throwback Thursday coming up on the Thursday episode here of Locked on Hawkeyes. But as we wrap things up here, Iowa basketball. You know, Iowa hoops, I know my expectations are not very high for this basketball team this season. And because of that, I have not talked nearly as much Iowa basketball as I normally would during an offseason. If you're an everydayer, you know, and you've heard my story before about growing up a Hawkeye fan.

Starting point is 00:20:20 And though I loved Hawkeye football, and I still do to this day, Iowa basketball was my first love. It wasn't even close. Iowa basketball, there was something special about it being on television all the time, growing up in the eighties, knowing that that was going to be the only sports that I could watch during the week. It was Iowa hoops. And that is all. I love Iowa basketball, but the lack of buzz this season, I think is warranted. I look at the roster. I wonder how they're going to get any roster. I wonder how they're going to get any stops. I wonder how they're going to get any rebounds. It just, I haven't talked about it a ton. And maybe that's on me just because I don't want to talk about a team that

Starting point is 00:20:53 I just don't think is going to be very good this season. But that aside, Aaron Uless departs the program, starting point guard from a year ago. And I know I left a lot of people scratching their heads. Well, he ended up transferring to Nebraska. Nebraska needed a point guard. And though they don't play traditionally, they don't need a traditional point guard in the style that they play with Hoiberg. It's a guy that at minimum was going to be a guy that you could go out there and you know, play 15, 20 minutes a game. We saw Uless had some good games a year ago. The inconsistency would drive you nuts at times. There were times that he was saddled to the bench for long, long

Starting point is 00:21:28 stretches, even as a starter a year ago because of those inconsistencies. He departs and it was kind of a shoulder shrug. It was okay. That's how I took it. Now we saw last year, DeSante Bowen doesn't look like he's ready. Is Tony Perkins going to become the lead guard and become the point guard that he was at times during the run to the Big Ten Tournament Championship a couple years back? That is my hope. I think that is Iowa's best path to have a potential, even bubble team this year, is with him being in the point for 20, 22, something like that, minutes a game, with Bowen and Brock Harding being the backups. That's something I definitely think that you could see but when he departed you still scratch your head right why is he leaving he's a starter he's probably going to be a starter again it didn't look like Bowen was going to push him out and he wasn't going to be a starter anymore that wasn't going to be the case so what was it I think maybe know, or at least we have the potential to know. So Nebraska

Starting point is 00:22:27 is over on their foreign trip right now. They're getting ready to play. And all of a sudden, Aaron Uless is not playing. Now, it has been very cryptic from Nebraska. But as we know here in the state of Iowa, there has been an ongoing investigation in gambling. And we've heard wrestling is going to be impacted heavily. Football we know at least one guy Noah Shannon not going to be is a part of this investigation what is is his suspension going to be we're still waiting on that front but men's basketball was also talked about we saw the impact of baseball baseball and Keaton Anthony and a few other players of course we've talked about. Track and field was also amongst the sports that was listed, but basketball was one that we really haven't heard anything. Connecting some dots here. Now, this is not information. Do not go and say that Aaron

Starting point is 00:23:15 Uless was the Iowa basketball player that was gambling a year ago, and that's why he departed, because that is just absolutely speculation that I do not know about. And don't go blabbering that to your friends. But we connect dots here. This is no tinfoil hat. This is not me crazy conspiracy theory. But it's pretty easy when you see what Nebraska put out, Uless not playing, going over there.

Starting point is 00:23:43 Maybe they got a little more information as we hopefully get closer and closer to some kind of conclusion to this. Look at this point. I think we all just want to know. We want to know what the suspensions are. We know the coaches want to know the same. We all understand that. But to see Aaron Uless going over there and suddenly not playing, just left you questioning

Starting point is 00:24:01 exactly what it was. Thanks as always for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We'll be back with you tomorrow. A lot more on the Iowa football front as we continue to go back and find some things from football media days. Of course, Cade McNamara, he was at the forefront

Starting point is 00:24:17 and his Michigan Wolverine teammates, former teammates at Michigan. A lot of praise. That will be coming up tomorrow. LaShawn Daniels is going to join us. We got a throwback Thursday. Busy week as we are back with you each and every day. We are back getting ready for the football season here in the month of August.

Starting point is 00:24:34 That's what we do on the Lockdown Network, your team every day. We got you covered here on the Hawkeye Front on Lockdown Hawkeyes. Make sure you hit that subscribe button on YouTube. Helps us out immensely. If you're on the podcast side, five-star reviews, that's what we're looking for. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Go Hawks.

Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football: Can we believe Kirk Ferentz when he says the offensive line will be much better?

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