Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football: Depth Chart released and gambling investigation update

Starting point is 00:00:00 I'm back from vacation and we have a new Hawkeye football depth chart. We break it down today. Locked on Hawkeye. 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. I'm Trent Condon, and this is the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast.

Starting point is 00:00:35 Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available wherever you get podcasts. You can also find us on YouTube. While you're there, make sure you hit that subscribe button. Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Well, glad to be back with you once again as we go back into full-time mode here on Locked On Hawkeyes. That's right. We're with you each and every day all the way up through the lead-up of the football season.

Starting point is 00:00:59 And for, well, let's see here, the next eight months as we get you covered with Hawkeye football, basketball, and everything else going on in the world of Iowa Hawkeyes. And it was a big week last week with Big Ten Football Media Days in Indianapolis. We have a ton to recap from there. A lot of great conversations, obviously, from Kirk Behrens getting to hear from the head man as he gets ready for another year at the helm with the Iowa Hawkeyes, man as he gets ready for another year at the helm with the Iowa Hawkeyes, along with the three players that represented the Hawkeyes, Luke Lachey, Cooper DeGene, and the late addition in Jay Higgins. We'll get into all of that, but today it is about taking a look at the depth chart. Now, we have to start with this caveat, as we do each and every time when it comes to

Starting point is 00:01:39 Iowa football depth charts, and that is that they're not worth a ton. Kirk Ferentz has had plenty of times where he has been surprised when a guy's name has been brought up on the depth chart. This is not something that is certainly etched in pen. And one of the things that Coach Ferentz mentioned even last week in Indianapolis was this is something that they're going to figure out coming up in August camp. It's such an important time, but we just have a baseline at this point, right? We're just getting at least this leaping off point, getting into camp and seeing where these

Starting point is 00:02:09 guys figure in. And there's a lot of different directions to go. Let's just kick things off though with the offense and start with the most obvious position. That is the quarterback position. And of course, Cade McNamara is listed as the starter. What are the transfers and transfers come in and varying degrees as Iowa hit the transfer portal incredibly well in this offseason, what they brought in in terms of talent, not only solidifying positions, but helping out at depth, they really knocked it out of the park of what they did in the transfer portal, certainly this season. And for the first time, we saw Iowa football kind of jump in headfirst, right? Went in there and found we need areas. We need help on the offensive line. They go out and they get two offensive linemen. We need to call help at quarterback,

Starting point is 00:02:49 no doubt about it. And they go out and get one of the best transfers in the market in Cade McNamara. What they did, the wide receiver position, solidifying the linebacker spot with Nick Jackson. They did really everything that they wanted to short of getting an extra cornerback, but they did an incredibly good job. And not just filling gaps and filling holes, but bringing in guys that seem to fit the Iowa way, doing things the Iowa way, guys that make a whole lot of sense for what they want to do and understand what it takes to be an Iowa Hawkeye. It is not a place that is for everybody. And you heard that talked about a lot last week also with the people.

Starting point is 00:03:23 So we will, of course, have to throw that in there first. This depth chart, it is just that it's on the piece of paper, something Kirk doesn't get into. So McNamara is a starter. What interesting nugget there at the offensive side on the quarterback position. And that is with the backup. Joe Labus is listed as the backup. The third quarterback listed there is the Wisconsin transfer in Deacon Hill.

Starting point is 00:03:45 Now there were wonders if Joe Labus was going to stick around, as the backup. The third quarterback listed there is the Wisconsin transfer in Deacon Hill. Now, there were wonders if Joe Labus was going to stick around, if he was going to continue his career, got the start last year in the Kentucky game. I thought looked at least adequate at that position. They didn't ask him to do a ton. They very much simplified the offense and kept it as simple as possible after the injury to Petras, after the decision that we're not going to see Padilla in the bowl game as he was going to move on. We knew that was going to be the case, and it was going to be one of the youngsters. They went with Labus, and he was fine. And I thought they could have done even more with him,

Starting point is 00:04:14 but they wanted to win the game. They got the win, 21-0, and they move on into 2023. But interesting that Labus is listed as the backup with Hill as the third quarterback here on the roster, because back in spring, there are people that told you they thought that Deacon Hill was going to be the backup this season at this point. And again, it's early still July. We do know that things are going to change and this is going to be, I'm going to guess a pretty tight race going in who is going to be the backup behind Cade McNamara. Another position without a whole

Starting point is 00:04:45 lot of surprise and a whole lot of intrigue, a guy that has a chance to be an absolute star, and that's Caleb Johnson. The combination of size, speed, power. We haven't seen an Iowa running back that has these kind of traits that have shown it on the field behind a bad offensive line a year ago, probably since Sean Green. Tyler Goodson was a really good running back, a really solid guy, but he was not a guy that was built for 25 carries a game. You had to do things different ways for him. Akron Wadley had a ton of talent. We know there's some other things, though, that were a little bit of a concern.

Starting point is 00:05:16 Early in his career, putting the football on the ground, doing the things that were asked of him as a football player at the University of Iowa. We know all those things. An incredible talent, but also a little guy. That's not the case with Caleb Johnson. He has the size. We talked about the speed last year. One of the fastest running backs on his touchdown run

Starting point is 00:05:33 early in the season against Nevada of anybody a season ago. That combination, 6'2", 222 pounds. He has a chance to put together just a monster season. Look at what he did last year behind that offensive line. The sky's the limit. His backup is LaShawn Williams, who comes in for another season. Been a really solid backup running back, and you're happy about that. And then the excitement about Jazzyon Patterson.

Starting point is 00:05:57 We saw Jaz a little bit last year in the bowl game, some a couple times throughout the course of the year. I think there's still something for him also in this Iowa football offense and what he's going to be going forward. Still also a redshirt freshman that we played last year. He only played in four games, allowing him to come back and be a redshirt freshman this season. Excited about that.

Starting point is 00:06:17 No surprises there. Kind of what we thought. Let's go next to the tight end position. Again, no surprise the way that this shakes out. Now we know Iowa is going to run a ton of two tight end sets and even probably some three tight end sets. Again, we've seen this in the past and I think with the way that they're built, it makes a lot of sense that are going to go back to that again this season. Luke Lachey is listed as a starter. Eric Gall as the backup. Both those guys are going to play a ton of snaps this year and it's going to

Starting point is 00:06:42 be a fun race to see who leads the team in catches out of the tight end position this year because both Lachey and Eric Hall are going to be probably their only season in the Iowa Hawkeye uniforms coming up this year, and certainly the case with all. Lachey, though he is just a junior, very well could be it for him. And then you've got Addison Estrenga, who we saw a little bit a year ago. If he was in a different tight end room, probably a guy that would be already out there. Some programs, you probably have 40, 50, 60 catches

Starting point is 00:07:08 already in his career. He's going to be a good one. And even the depth behind that, which is really, really excited. Now it gets intriguing when we get to wide receiver. And I know the question for a lot of people was where's Caleb Brown. We heard about the Ohio state transfer. We heard about this buck guy. He was a four-star player. He's a top 100 recruit from one of the recruiting services. Where's he at? Well, remember, he didn't get to campus until May. He didn't go through spring practice.

Starting point is 00:07:34 And there's no tape on him. Get back to mirror this tape. You can go back and watch what he did in Michigan, right? Nick Jackson, you can watch him in the ACC for the last three years with the Virginia Cavaliers. You have tape on those guys. You know what they are when you're bringing them in. We still don't know with Caleb Brown. And there is also, certainly for younger guys, going to take more of an accelerated process.

Starting point is 00:07:53 They have to see what it is. So this is what they have listed at the wide receiver position. On one side, you got Nico Aragaini coming back for his sixth season, 6'190 pounds. We know about Nico and what he can do. Hopefully after last year's foot injury that derailed what could have been a nice season for him, 100% healthy this year, that's what you're hoping for. Backups is Reese Osgood, that's a name with a lot of speed. Redshirt freshman out of Wisconsin, and Jacob Bostic, a guy that we've heard about quite a bit.

Starting point is 00:08:23 I think the coaches are very high on Jacob Bostic. He also got the number seven. That's something we'll get into later in the week because the former number seven on offense, he is not on the roster anymore in Spencer Petras, though he's sticking around and still rehabbing. We will talk about that certainly in the coming days. But Bostic, now wearing number seven,

Starting point is 00:08:41 he is listed as a third receiver. Good speed, good size, six foot two. And you're looking for that X receiver, that bigger receiver on the outside. Maybe Bostic has a chance to be that. Then the other wide receivers, Deontay Vines is listed as a starter. Remember a year ago in August camp,

Starting point is 00:08:57 he broke his wrist, missed the first half of the year with that broken wrist, came back and acquitted himself, I think, fine in that putrid offense that they had. Not a whole lot that he could do, but he was out there and maybe an opportunity for him to take a step forward and elevate himself this year. Going back to August Kemp, before that injury, a lot of people were certainly singing the praises of what we saw out of him and his backup, Alec Wick, who we saw last year at times out there. Hopefully we don't have to see a whole

Starting point is 00:09:23 lot of Alec Wick and Reese Osgood. Nothing against those guys and the Jack Johnsons of the world. We want to see the scholarship guys out there making plays and helping out this Iowa offense. And then finally, it's the offensive line. And we will dive deeper into the offensive line. But here's it lined up. And a little bit different than certainly

Starting point is 00:09:39 I would have anticipated it was going to be. Now at left tackle, no surprise, it's Mason Richmond. I think you're going to see Mason, after taking his lumps the last couple of years as a freshman and sophomore, really take a step forward here. He's your starting left tackle. That is an absolute lock. Your other lock as a starter is going to be Logan Jones. And though I think we all saw a lot of struggles last year out of Logan Jones,

Starting point is 00:10:02 not just the snapping of the football. That was a problem, but also there were other components of his game where he just was not what we thought about. Now, was that fair? A guy moving in in spring football from the defensive side to play offensive line, taking over for an All-American and Tyler Lindelof, probably not. I think maybe our expectations were too high. The guy's still learning the position, but he's athletic. He's strong. He can do some things. And though we saw at times that pop, we saw a little bit from him overall, certainly think that there is going to be a big step forward. And that's what we continue to hear there. So those are your locks. And this is where it gets a little bit shakier, but let's go to left guard first. We got Nick DeYoung listed as a starter

Starting point is 00:10:45 and Connor Colby as the backup. Now we saw Connor Colby start a ton of games. He was miscast as a tackle. He's an interior guy. He's a guard. That's where he's at his best. And there's a lot of people that believe he's a guy that's going to play at the next level at the guard. A little bit of surprise because when we see Nick DeYoung, he can play inside, he can play outside. He hasn't played either of them very well. It's just being very frank. Nick DeYoung. he can play inside, he can play outside. He hasn't played either of them very well. It's just being very frank. Nick DeYoung, now he's an upperclassman. He's a guy that's had a ton of reps.

Starting point is 00:11:13 Maybe he's another guy that takes that big step forward in his final season. And then over at the other guard position, at right guard, Bo Stevens listed as a starter, Rusty Feth behind him. Another guy, remember, Rusty Feth had to graduate from Miami of Ohio before he was eligible to be a Hawkeye. Didn't go through spring practice. I think you're going to see him out there, though, as a starter this season. And finally, at right tackle, and thinking maybe Nick DeYoung was going to be the guy out there, not the case. De'Jon Parker, he's listed as the backup, the transfer coming in from Saginaw. No, it is Jennings Dunker, newly minted as the Solon Beef Days Hail Boss Toss Champion a couple weeks ago in Solon. He got the job done there, and he is listed as your starter

Starting point is 00:11:54 at right tackle. Just a monster of a man. 6'5", 320. He is a guy that has not been healthy during his years on campus, but they continue to say this is a guy that they really believe in the upside, that he has a chance to take a big, big step forward. That's what we have offensively. We'll jump over to the defense when we continue here on Locked On Hawkeyes. The defensive depth chart, we will get into that, plus an update in the gambling investigation. That's all as we continue here on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Today's episode of Locked On Hawkeyes is brought to you by eBay Motors.

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Starting point is 00:13:30 Exclusions apply. Trent Conant back with you once again here on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. As always, thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We talked about the offense. Let's get into the defense after another incredible performance out of the defense a year ago. It's back and we'll see better this year. That's going to be incredibly difficult to navigate what we saw a season ago and what they were able to put together. But just looking at this depth chart again on the defensive side of the football gets

Starting point is 00:14:00 you incredibly fired up. You start on the defensive line. Left end, Deontay Craig. Limited reps a year ago, tied for the team lead in sacks. This dude is all over the place. He makes plays. He's got that length to him. There's just something about him, his ability to get off the ball. Another year stronger, he is going to have a monster season this year. His backup is Max Llewellyn. And there's past years Max Llewellyn would have been a starter. There's past years that Llewellyn would already be out there and playing 40, 50, 60 snaps a game. Not the case anymore because of the depth that they have built

Starting point is 00:14:35 up at the defensive line, but a bright future. Inside at left tackle, it is Noah Shannon. We know that there is going to be something happening with Noah Shannon as he is part of the gambling investigation. Of course, as we talked about a couple weeks ago, he was set to go to Indianapolis for Big Ten Football Media Days and then decided to pull out because of the impending gambling investigation. He will see. Is it a slap on the wrist? Is he going to sit out a game? Is it going to be a couple of games? We'll see on that front.

Starting point is 00:15:04 We know he's going to be a part, though, of the team. Aaron Graves, though, is his backup. The kid last year came in after playing small school football and was an All-American all over the place, and he showed it right away. I mean, this dude is an absolute bull in a china shop. He is just going to destroy people again this year. I'm so excited what we're going to see out of him.

Starting point is 00:15:23 The other backup tackle, we know we got Logan Lee, another guy that's just a plug and play stud. He's going to be out there making plays because that's what Logan Lee does. But his backup, Nya Black, a guy that again, health has been a concern with him. If he is healthy though, they continue to sing his praises and what he can be. And he's built differently than what we're used to in the middle. At 6'5", 315 pounds, just an absolute monster over there. Joe Evans back for his sixth season of eligibility. Ethan Hercut is the backup there. Again, this defensive line is absolutely incredible.

Starting point is 00:15:55 And then you throw in the guys that aren't listed. So we just talked about the eight guys that are listed on the depth chart, which is really good. I mean, that is a really good group of defensive linemen that you have. Guys, though, that aren't listed, that I think have a chance to see some rotational minutes this year. Jackson Filer coming in from Juco, a guy that can get to the quarterback in a big-time way.

Starting point is 00:16:15 I think he's going to be a guy that's out there. Another Juco guy. And Ontario Thompson, a guy that was an All-American, an absolute stud. We saw Jeremiah Pittman last year in limited reps. He looks the part at a chance to step forward this year. I mean, just go through. How about a couple of young guys also that maybe have a chance this year? Caden Crawford, can he make a jump this year and get some in?

Starting point is 00:16:35 Brian Allen, one of those young guys that are redshirt freshmen this year. Just the depth on this defensive line, it's unlike anything that we've seen before with Iowa football. Moving on to the linebacker group. So the linebackers, well, this one was maybe the most interesting one because I thought, like I think most everybody else, that you were going to see Nick Jackson, the Virginia transfer, as Cade McNamara is listed as a starter at quarterback, that he was going to be a starter at the middle linebacker spot. Not the case. So Jay Higgins is listed as a starter

Starting point is 00:17:05 with Nick Jackson as his backup. What you're going to see is both those guys are going to start. And what they're going to figure out in August camp is what is the best way to do it. Is it Higgins in the middle, Jackson outside or vice versa? We're going to see both those guys out there. In fact, Kirk Ferentz said just that. We didn't bring him in here to be a backup. They certainly know that Nick Jackson's going to be a guy that's going to be out there as a starter. You continue on at the Leo position, and that's where you have another linebacker listed. Well, two other guys. First at the Will, which again, one of the two guys mentioned, either Higgins or Jackson, will be your starting Will linebacker. But it is Kyler Fisher. Been around for a long time.

Starting point is 00:17:45 Big special teams play made that play a couple of years ago against Nebraska and the comeback win in special teams. He'll be out there. And Carson Shire. Carson Shire is a guy that I've heard a ton about. Have friends from the Iowa Falls area that talked about a ton. We've also heard about him. He would be, I would think the next in line, though.

Starting point is 00:18:03 He's not listed as a starter. If you're seeing somebody rotationally. Another guy, Jackson Rexroth, that is also listed in the two deep there. But you have the cash position. And that is Sebastian Castro back for another season. So Castro, yes, he's a safety. But he's a big safety. And anymore, outside of a few teams, Iowa doesn't have to play 4-3 very often.

Starting point is 00:18:27 I mean, they played cash last year. I think it was 76% of the time, I think is the number I heard from Scott Dockerman. They played cash 76% of the time. That number might even get higher because playing Wisconsin now with their new offense, you don't have to do it as much. Minnesota, are they going to look differently with the change in ground game that they have coming up this season? That could be the case. There just aren't many teams anymore that Iowa has to run a 4-3, and certainly with who they have at the cash position. Look, with some different

Starting point is 00:18:53 guys like a Dane Bolton, that was different. But with Castro being either a really big safety or a really small linebacker, he's that perfect hybrid that you're looking for against different kind of teams. So I think you're going to see even more cash this year. I wouldn't be surprised to see that number north of 80% of the time coming up this season. From there, we move over to the defensive back field and the starters. Boy, this team is loaded. At the cornerback spots, of course, you have the All-American and Cooper DeGene. On the other side from him, Jamari Harris, hoping for a healthy season out of him. Your starting safeties on the strong side, Xavier Wampa. We know about his exploits in the five-star and what a stud he is.

Starting point is 00:19:30 And then finally, Quinn Schulte, who came in last year, and he was more than just a Johnny Tryhard, right? He was not your Tommy Soybean walk-on kid that was out there doing the right things, being in the right spot, but maybe not a playmaker. Schulte, that dude can absolute bring it. And his backup, I think is a really intriguing one in Entringer. He is a player that, again, is talked about a lot. Cohen Entringer comes in still very, very young, but when you hear coaches talk, when you hear

Starting point is 00:19:59 talk about the defensive backfield, you talk to people in the know, his name continues to come up and hoping to build a little bit of depth in that defensive backfield. Now you get a little scared when you're talking about the backup cornerbacks. We saw TJ Hall last year. He was thrown into a tough spot against Nebraska, going up against the fastest wide receiver in the Big Ten a year ago, and we saw it. Deshaun Lee, another young guy back there. We'll see. I believe in Phil Parker. I believe in what he does with these guys. And I think ultimately I was going to be in some good shape with those youngsters. You go back, quarterbacks that were, well, just go back to Riley Moss, watching him early in his career and the guy that he developed into later on. We know that quarterbacks under the tutelage

Starting point is 00:20:39 of Phil Parker, you do the work, you put in the reps, you're going to be in really, really good shape. Wrapping up the depth chart, we'll get into special teams, and we also take a look at an update with the gambling investigation. We mentioned Noah Shannon. We'll talk about that a little bit more as we come back here. This is Locked on Hawkeyes. Trent Conner back with you one final time on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast

Starting point is 00:21:06 happy to be back from vacation happy to have you aboard here with us as we go each and every day your team every day that's what we do here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes network and the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast and our network all across

Starting point is 00:21:19 doesn't matter if you're an MLB fan an NFL fan NBA, NHL we got you covered your team every day here on the Lockdown Network. So finish things up and special teams. Now we know who the specialists are going to be. Drew Stevens, after an outstanding freshman campaign a year ago,

Starting point is 00:21:38 he's back as a kicker. You got Torrey Taylor back there as the punter. And then we don't get anything on the return game. Now we saw Cooper Dajin last year as a punt returner. He's going to be a star back there. We saw Caleb Johnson back at times a kick returner. That's going to be an interesting one to figure out. Caleb Brown's also been working with the punt team.

Starting point is 00:21:57 We talked about that a couple of weeks ago. Something that Caleb Brown mentioned there. Something just to keep an eye on. You want to have the ball in the hands though of Cooper Dajin when you have an opportunity. How is kick returner going to shake out? Finally, an update in the gambling investigation. And listening to Kirk last week talk about this, I thought some very pointed things that were coming. But maybe the most interesting part to me was him mentioning that the players that are under investigation have lured up. So what does that mean? Is this going to drag out even further as we await? First of all, the DCI has not come

Starting point is 00:22:31 out with a full investigation on their side. They have not released anything from their side of things. Is that what the NCAA is waiting for? Is getting official word back from them and everything going on? The coaches know the players that are involved. They know how this is going to impact the team. They don't know how many games and maybe that's a part of it too. But I thought that was an interesting part. Kirk talking about that the players also have a legal part of this. Something to keep an eye on? Yeah, probably. The lawyers are involved. Well, we know lawyers are going to get paid. And lawyers also can maybe stretch this thing out even further. Another thing that we do know is that this thing drags into August

Starting point is 00:23:10 and we get ready for the Game 1 opener against Utah State is that these guys are still under investigation. They're not going to play. I was not going to play these guys if there's a potential that they are going to have to sit out. Because if you play the guys and they're ultimately deemed ineligible for the NCAA for a game, two, four games, whatever it turns out to be, and you played them, well, then you're going to go back and you're going to have to forfeit those games. So that is another thing that came out there. I continue to hear the goalposts continue to feel like they're moving

Starting point is 00:23:45 on this front. We've heard for months now, well, there's going to be more that's going to come down. We're going to hear more and it just, it has not happened yet. We're going to get the word. Let's hope it happens before we get to the first game of the season, because that would be terrible for everybody involved to have to have those guys sit out even maybe more games than they did as a baseball team that happened to them just a frustrating and certainly to that this has been fun being back with you we're back every single day on the lockdown hawkeyes podcast had a great time went out to tennessee saw plenty of vol fans hung out in the mountains with the family for the week back at it now with you each and every day here on Locked On Hawkeyes. And we got so much coming up for you.

Starting point is 00:24:27 We're going to talk about that offensive line more in depth. Kirk Ferentz, he is incredibly high on this offensive line. Do we see it? We'll talk a little bit more about that. We'll also talk about the three players that were in Indianapolis, some of the things that they said, some fun quotes, some intriguing things as well. So much football content for you.

Starting point is 00:24:47 The basketball teams, both the men's and women's teams, they get ready to take their trips across the pond. We'll talk about plenty of basketball and a whole lot more. We got you covered every day, your team every day on the Lockdown Network. Thanks for joining us once again here on Lockdown Hawkeyes. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Go Hawks.

Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football: Depth Chart released and gambling investigation update

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