Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football Depth Chart deep dive, Kinnick Stadium is completely sold out for 2022, Big Ten Media Day story lines

Episode Date: August 3, 2022

Trent Condon is back from vacation and ready to bring you your daily Hawkeye podcast with the Locked on Hawkeyes Podcast.A look back at last week's Big Ten Football Media Days and the take away from an Iowa perspective along with an overview of the conference as a whole and Kevin Warren.Next, a look at the Iowa football depth chart for 2022. Spencer Petras is listed as the starter at the quarterback position. How does the offensive line shake out? And the defense looks absolutely loaded again this year for the Hawkeyes.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 “LOCKED15,” 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! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm back from vacation. The Iowa football players have reported to camp. The new depth chart is out. And all seven games inside historic Kinnick Stadium are sold out. Coming up on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. You are Locked On Hawkeyes. Your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team, every day.

Welcome in once again. Glad to have you aboard with us here. It's the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast, and I want to say thank you for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're free and available wherever you get podcasts. Let's get into it today. And so much to talk about as I am fresh off, sunning, funning, rejuvenated after a long summer of Culling High School baseball. I am now off vacation and ready to go each and every day with you leading up to the kickoff against South Dakota State for the Iowa Hawkeye football season. So much to talk about. Last week it was Big Ten

football media days. Next week we'll get to see from the football team for the first time Friday, August 12th. That'll be football media days at Kiddick Stadium. The day after that is kids day where you, I, we all get a chance to see the team practice for the only open time before we get to that kickoff game to open the season against South Dakota State. 31 days away, the countdown continues before we'll see this year's edition of the Iowa Hawkeyes. The players, they're in their hotel. We talked about it last week with LaShawn. they're in their hotel. We talked about it last week with LaShawn. As he mentioned to us what it was like,

the anticipation getting ready for football season, what it was like day to day as you're going through camp, you're going through practices, you're in a hotel, you're not in a dorm, not on campus, you're not in your apartment, you're not in a house, not none of that. You are locked into football for all intents and purposes 24-7. That is what it is like for these guys right now when they're going through that. LaShawn, he'll be with us on Friday this week and we'll catch up with him

and go a little bit deeper into kind of what these guys are going through, but still plenty to get into here today. Want to start with Big Ten Football Media Days and something from an Iowa perspective for the people that I read through that were there and reading through the stories, honestly, there's not a ton of takeaways, right? The great thing is we get a depth chart. We're going to talk about that depth chart here in just a little bit. We're going to break down some of the big position battles that are going to be upon us.

But short of that, first of all, it's Kirk, right? It's Kirk Ferentz. You're going to get not the same responses. Kirk at his older age has gotten a little bit more, let's just say, irritable. There are some things that certainly have bothered him. There are some coaches that have bothered him. I think we've seen that plenty throughout his tenure and certain guys that just rub him the wrong way.

And we see more and more of that. But in a situation like this, in a setup like this, you know what you're going to get. It's going to be Kirk talking about the positives. He's going to talk about some things that frustrate him, but you're not going to get a ton. The three guys that he takes with him every single year, same kind of thing. The headlines that come out of this that are frankly aren't a whole lot that come their way. This was more of a big picture viewicture view. And there's Harbaugh doing his thing.

And, yes, it's the Ohio State-Michigan part. All well and good. Hey, lockdown Big Ten, you can get all that information. But the conference as a whole. Kevin Warren, we talked about this last week. Just the importance for Kevin Warren, the commissioner of the Big Ten, to have his first time that he's kind of strutting around, right? He's got his head held high and said, hey, look what I did.

Bringing in USC and UCLA. We're going to sign a billion-dollar TV contract. We are going to have gobs and gobs of money for our member institutions. We are looking forward. And I love the way that he put that. He talked about Sears Roebuck. All right. Was it exactly the correct

phrasing that you'd want to use? Maybe you could have put something a little more relevant. Blockbuster at least a little bit closer to the generation. I'm sure younger people are listening. What are you talking about, Blockbuster? Maybe I'm missing too because I'm an old dude. But regardless, Sears and Roebuck are saying they weren't going to be

left behind. That's what you have to think. And when you think of the future of college football, that is also the way that you have to think. This is something that is moving forward. This is something that is evolving every single day. And if you're not evolving, you're dying. That's what the Big Ten is realizing. That is what is happening in this sport.

Ultimately, it is going to be two power conferences. I believed that for a long time. I'm not alone in that thinking, but that is the ultimate endgame for this whole thing, a separation of the power programs and what they do compared to everybody else. Iowa is in good shape to be a part of that. They're in good shape financially, revenue,

and we see with the sellouts, certainly the fan base showing up. It's not a year-to-year thing, but you understand what I'm saying. But Kevin Warren had that opportunity to do that. I thought he did an incredibly good job. We saw later in the week, Pac-12 media day, a little bit different. George Klayakloff, their commissioner, he had some different things to say and a different way to put it, and he started chirping a little bit

and going after the Big 12. And look, they have their own circumstances, big 10, be happy where you are, what you've done, what you build. And now looking forward to the future. What does that future be? Is it getting to 20? Is it 24? What is the ultimate end game here? What is the structure of college football look like? That's another component here that I don't think is getting enough.

What is this going to be? 12-team playoff, 16-team playoff. Who gets into the playoff? Automatic bids, buys, all these different components that more and more, I think, are getting pushed to the background when you're looking big picture at this sport. What we know is Iowa's in a great spot. They're in a great spot certainly this year, too,

as every single one of the games has now been a sellout. 69,250 will be there each and every week inside of historic Kinnick Stadium. The game day environment improvements have been made. Is it completely great? Not there yet, but you can get beer. You don't have to sneak it in. You don't have to bring

in a whiskey bottle of Old Crow or Hawkeye vodka. Now you don't have to worry about that anymore. You can actually legally buy something. No more Boda bags. Don't have to worry about any of that stuff, right? We're good. But the game day experience has got better. We have certainly seen that play out inside of Kinnick.

It's a better experience. Is it perfect? No. Wi-Fi be better? Sure. Not even Wi-Fi. Just give me a G. Let me check his score. Can we put more scores up? Those are other things, right?

Those are other things. We're all well and good. But each and every game now sold out as the announcement came. Black Friday, the last game to sell out against Nebraska. Hey, it makes sense, though. That's the last sellout. I mean, South Dakota State, they're good. They have winning records.

Nevada, they had a winning record just two years ago. Nebraska, whew, got to go back. Cornhuskers are struggling. When we come back, mention the two deep. We'll go inside the depth chart, see what we can find out. What do we pull out? What little nuggets? That's what you're looking for here.

We're just paying it for some gold. What does that depth chart tell us? We'll talk about that when we continue. It's a Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. BetOnline.net is the fastest and easiest way to check in on all your betting needs. I love gambling. I do it every day. And I'll tell you, great place to go to get sources on odds, lines, games, everything going on. BetOnline.net. You can find reviews and news for every league, MLB, NFL, preseason games starting up on Thursday. Looking forward to that.

NBA, NHL, esports, golf. I'm a weekly golf bettor. Great place for information. BetOnline.net. Head to BetOnline today or use your mobile device and you can learn about the action that is happening today. BetOnline, where the game starts. So as mentioned last week, Big Ten Football Media Days press release comes out.

So as Big Ten Football Media Days were going on last week, we also got our first look at the depth chart released from the football program. Of course, no surprises at a lot of the different spots. Anticipation, kind of what we thought we were going to see. Starting at quarterback, the most important position, Spencer Petras is listed as a starter. Alex Padilla as the backup behind him. No or, nothing like that.

It is Petras first and then Padilla. Running back spot, you see both Williams is there. Gavin, the starter out of Southeast Polk High School and Donnelly Catholic where he finished his career. And his backup is LaShawn Williams. Of course, saw both those young men a year ago during the bowl game against Kentucky, and both of them put on good performances.

A couple of takeaways, though, starting at the wide receiver position. Keegan Johnson, he's a starter on one side. No surprise there. Alec Wick, though, is the backup. A redshirt freshman from Iowa City, Regina. Some buzz going starter on one side. No surprise there. Alec Wick, though, is the backup. Redshirt freshman from Iowa City, Regina. Some buzz going back to last season. He was doing

some good things and already here. Redshirt freshman, walk-on as a 2D player. He wears number 18, a new one to keep an eye on this season. On the other side, Nico Rigetti. He's listed as the starter with Arlen Bruce IV behind him as the

backup. You know, Arlen Bruce, he's going to be in the slot. They're going to use him a whole bunch of different ways, and he's going to be all over the field getting it on runs, on catches, trying to get him more and more involved. He's just such a good playmaker out there. What I'd be interested, though, is if they listed three receivers, who would those other guys be? That's something that I think is going to be a question we're going to be looking to find out after those four, who else is in the mix at wide receiver. It's not a very deep room, certainly this season. You get over to tight end, no surprise there.

Sam Laporta, preseason All-Big Ten, All-American candidate. He is your starter, followed by Luke Lachey. But the offensive line is really where I wanted to go here as we look at the two deep from the offensive perspective, starting with something that shouldn't come as a surprise if you listen to me at all, and that is Logan Jones being listed as a starter at center. He was on his way to being a big-time player defensively. He was going to help on the defensive line. They moved him over. You know when Iowa does that, very rarely does that not work out well, right? When they make that kind of move for a guy that is already on the path to getting playing time, you know what's going to happen here.

Now, the intriguing part about this, though, is who's listed as the backup right now behind Logan Jones at center and Michael Malinsky, who comes in with great fanfare out of Florida. He was a big-time prospect. He was a four-star player, Had a bunch of big-time offers. Texas was one of his finalists. He chose Iowa. Offensive line factory that they are.

My question is, though, Logan Jones, is he just too good at center, and does that mean Malinsky has to move or vice versa? Who has the most position flexibility? Neither of these guys are huge. Again, still early in their career. Sophomore for Jones, redshirt freshman for Malinsky, position flexibility. Neither of these guys are huge. Again, still early in their career, sophomore for Jones, redshirt freshman for Malinsky, but 283 is the listed weight for Logan Jones, 287 for Michael Malinsky. How much flexibility do they have? It looks like I was getting at least a little bit better, bigger at the guard position. What does that mean? So something

to keep an eye on there, certainly. Tackle spot, you feel good at left tackle. Mason Richmond got his feet wet a year ago. I thought he was really good at times during his freshman campaign. We saw Connor Colby start as a true freshman a year ago from Cedar Rapids. He's in the mix. He is listed as the starting right guard. Then you have David Davikoff, who is the more highly regarded guy coming in for the offensive line a year ago.

Injuries derailed his chances of playing last season. Finally, left guard, Tyler Ellsbury. He was in the mix of that center position. He is listed as a starter at left guard. Figure out the combinations, whatever direction it ends up playing out. From your home, watching TV, or even watching in the stadium, it is incredibly difficult to measure offensive line play. I don't know, I don't care how well you played it at the high school, collegiate level, whatever it is.

When you're watching it from that fashion, it is so difficult. And so many people grade it different ways. I look at the pro football focus numbers. More than anything, I look at those numbers just to see, do they match up with what I'm seeing? Don't take them as gospel. They're, again, one person that's grading film. It's their opinion of what they're seeing, and people grade things in a lot different way, but ultimately, you have to be better here, right? You just have to be. This offense needs to be better than what they were, and it starts with the offensive line. It starts with those five guys. Finding the right combination and then going with it, and not a whole lot of moving parts.

With the new young offensive line and different pieces here, I'm not so sure they're going to be able to do it. Your two veterans out there are both at right tackle right now, Jack Plum and Nick DeYoung, both listed there. Do they have flexibility? Can they go inside? How good are they inside? Do they have the necessary punch?

Just a lot of different factors of play in. But with the zone blocking scheme that Iowa employs, you have to be able to have that work together. The continuity of your offensive line is paramount if this team is going to take a step forward offensively and certainly with the running game this year, even with new running backs. One final one on the offense, and that is the kicker spot.

We have been absolutely spoiled with some great kickers that have come through, including the most recent one in Caleb Shudak. He was excellent. He was great. He had the powerful leg, kickoffs, touchbacks, all those different things that he was able to do, but you also couple it with what he just did consistently. He went in there and he didn't have to worry. I always had that for the better part of 25 years now under Kirk. I mean, it's a long time since he got to go back to the disappointment of 1995 and those games that were lost late against Wisconsin Northwestern when kicking was a big, big problem there.

There's been a couple of moments, but not many of them over the last quarter century. You got Aaron Blom listed as the starter, a sophomore from Oskaloosa. The true freshman walk-on from South Carolina, Drew Stevens, is the backup at this point. If you're there in the spring, it was not pretty with field goal kicking. It was a windy, ugly day, and the kicking was windy and ugly itself. It was not pretty there. Iowa, a team that wins in the margins, wins the close games. If they're not going to be able to win those games in this fashion,

ooh, look out. We're going to be in big, big trouble. We wrap it up on the other side. We go to the defense as we're searching for those nuggets. That's right, trying to find a little bit of gold here. With the black and gold, we continue on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Trent Conant back with you, finishing things off on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast for Wednesday, August 3rd. Let's go to the defense now as we're talking about the two deep and what we have seen.

Surprises, anything that made your eyebrows go up a little bit? Let's start with the defensive line up front. John Wagner on one side, Joe Evans on the other, a couple of seniors out there. Ethan Hurkhead, who we saw a year ago, I think made some plays out there before an injury derailed his season. And then Devontae, Deontay

Craig, who I really have some high hopes for. I think he's got not just the size, but the push to be a big-time playmaker on the outside this for. I think he's got not just the size, but the push to be a big-time playmaker on the outside this season. I think he is one to certainly keep your eye on inside. Noah Shannon, Logan Lee are two starters, but two young guys that impressed at times. Y.A. Black and then Lucas Van Ness. Van Ness a year ago had seven sacks. He got to the quarterback. He played inside. He played outside.

He looks like Hulk and he plays like it too. That dude's going to be out there a whole bunch. They're going to move him around. They're going to use his physicality, his speed, his size, everything to get him out on the field. But think of the depth that I just talked about. I just named eight guys and there's a couple of more that you can throw out there and get excited about with this team, starting with Aaron Graves, who comes in as a true freshman after his high school accolades, a guy you think is going to be in the mix, the depth of this defensive line. Every coaching staff and program, they go out there, they talk to different staffs, coaches, different ideas, and I remember, boy, this is going back six, seven, maybe eight years ago, and one of the things as Iowa went, they went down and they watched Georgia. And they hung out with the coaches there and they talked. And they talked about

in the SEC and to compete at the highest level. And obviously for Georgia culminating this year in a national championship. They talked about how important depth was on their defensive line. And now look what Iowa's done. You go back to 2010 and that disappointing year that had all the close losses after a year before where they won all the close games and the difference. The team was that much worse. It was late in games and making plays. And the defensive line was so gassed.

Adrian Claiborne, just hands on his hip, gasping for air, trying to just get another play as he's out there for 60, 70, 80 snaps in games against Northwestern and the like. Well, I will listen. And now you look at what they're able to do and the amount of players, high level players that they can throw out there. Then you go from there and you go to the defense. Okay.

Again, no surprises here. Jack Campbell's your starter. Seth Benson on the other side. And Justin Jacobs listed as a starter at Leo. You got Cooper DeGene at the cash position. Jay Higgins, Kyler Fisher. I mean, these are all names that we know. There isn't a whole lot of intrigue short of one spot.

And that, to me, is both free safety and then a new name at cornerback. So, starting at free safety. Quinn Schulte, he is the next on the line of guys that have come in as walk-ons, worked them way up. We saw it a year ago with Jack Kerner, former Dowling Catholic grad. Now we got it with the Xavier kid in Quinn Schulte who's been out there. He's made plays a couple of times when he's been put out there and he is just another smart guy,

knows the system. He's right there, ready to go. Reggie Bracey, though, also in that same class from Alabama. We haven't seen much of Bracey outside of special teams. Intrigued to get a look at him. But finally, Brendan Diaz-Fernandez, who comes in another one of the Phil Parker specials, a guy that liked in the recruiting process, wasn't overly valued with the rivals in the 24 sevens of the world,

but there was something about him that he really liked. Good size, good frame. He is listed as the backup to Riley Moss at one corner spot. On the other side is Jamari Harris and Terry Roberts. And look out because TJ Hall, he's coming. He's going to get an opportunity, I think, this year at the cornerback spot. A lot of depth there. Depth up and down this team.

This is going to be a fun one, no doubt, this season. A great defense looks to be there for the Hawks. Know what your team is up against across the Big Ten with Locked On Big Ten. Every day, host Nate Dickinson and local experts on Locked On take you across the Big Ten in 30 minutes. Make Locked On Big Ten your second listen. Locked On Big Ten. Depth chart, we got it figured out.

We're rolling through here. Position battles, we will talk about that tomorrow. Kids Day again, Saturday, August 13th. As of this recording, though, they have not announced a start time for that. Hopefully, that will be coming to you in the coming days. Media Day, the day before that on Friday, August 12th. So much going on. All the games are a sellout.

It's a great time to beat a Hawkeye. Thanks for joining me again here today on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Until next time, this is Trent Condon. Go Hawks!