Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football: Kirk is back, press conference reaction, PFF numbers & a 4 * Wide Receiver commits

Starting point is 00:00:00 Kirk Ferentz fresh off his suspension back at Iowa. And with the press conference today, we got a different side of Kirk. He was funny. What does that mean for the game coming up Saturday against Iowa State? Plus, the grades from Pro Football Focus all today. 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.

Starting point is 00:00:36 Hey, welcome in. I'm Trent Condon, and this is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available wherever you find podcasts. You can also watch us on YouTube. While you're there, hit that subscribe button. Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Now through September 22nd, all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit Fananduel.com to get started.

Starting point is 00:01:06 Well, Kirk is back and had his press conference today after the one-game suspension, the self-imposed suspension from the University of Iowa and the recruiting violations going back to his recruitment of Caden McNamara. So we had that going on. Okay, all well and good. Some interesting moments, though, of the press conference. A we had that going on. Okay. All well and good. Some interesting moments, though, of the press conference and a couple of bullet points to hit here. I look at the depth

Starting point is 00:01:30 chart, not a whole lot of changes there. One of the biggest ones is it's now listed as an or between Caleb Johnson. We'll get to Caleb here in just a little bit or Kamari Moulton, who got the start there. But Kirk had some zingers. I had some, I thought, some funny moments for him and definitely seemed loose, you know, remorseful of what happened. The suspension talked about just the odd nature of that, watching it at home. I had a zinger about him and Mary about 20 yards away from each other and they got along okay. He was loose. I don't know if you read into that, that that is confidence about what's going to happen on Saturday. If it's just him kind of feeling himself out, uh, coming off the

Starting point is 00:02:10 suspension, he said it was odd walking in to the locker room and getting together with the players on Sunday. And he could definitely understand that this is something that this guy is. He is not a guy that is one that bends the rules. He is not a coach that has been known as one of those people that we see in college athletics, right? That's not Kirk Ferris. It's just not who he is. And I'm sure it was frustrating for him. I'm sure as he looks around the landscape of college sports and realizes and thinks what else is happening in this space, and this is something that he is going to have to do, and there's something that the university and Beth gets in company made the decision to do.

Starting point is 00:02:48 It's got to be incredibly frustrating, but he was loose. He was energetic. And I thought he said some really interesting things. Let's start a couple of the talking points from Kurt Ferentz today, of course, talking about Cade McNamara. And he mentioned the struggles in the first half,

Starting point is 00:03:01 what he saw, Kurt brought it up a couple of different times. And it's bears mentioning because it's something that we hadn't talked about a ton. I mentioned it in the Rapid Reaction podcast on Saturday night, but that was basically it, was the penalties in the first half. And it was impactful. I thought it really hurt a lot of drives. Of course, the punt return, that was negated because of a block in the back.

Starting point is 00:03:21 Boy, Caleb Widge, he continues to just be out there making plays. And he had a couple other big punt returns in that game. Just got to find a way to continue to get the ball in his hands, not just in punt returns, but other ways, because that speed and that elusiveness, it is real. And we continue to see that from him. But that aside, brought up the penalty, six in the first half, just one in the second half.

Starting point is 00:03:42 It really negated it. And as I said earlier this week, every day, or as you know this, you saw it with your own two eyes. That game could have been 17-0, 20-0 at the half. If I would just, those penalties at the wrong time, it was a bad choice, a bad decision, a misplay here and there. That thing could have looked much like the second half of the game did. But Cade started getting getting a rhythm and that's the one thing that kurt talked about him getting into a rhythm missing on some throws but also showing that playmaking ability um also got to chuck a lot of kurt talking about well he's never lacked for confidence talking about kate mcnamara and i think we can all see that that is not something you have to worry about with kate mcnamara but even confident guys

Starting point is 00:04:22 even guys that are incredibly confident when you're working your way back from an injury, there's still a little bit of a learning curve and shaking off the rust, as we've talked about. That's been a big case there. But hearing him talk about Cade, as we talked about throughout August, and even after the Kids Day disaster and just how bad it looked, I continue to tell you, Brendan Sullivan's a nice backup, but that's what he is. Cade McNamara is the guy for this team. It's a guy that these people on the football team believe in.

Starting point is 00:04:51 He has that confidence, that swagger, and he also has the ability. Cade McNamara, at his best, can take this football team to a really special place this year. And during the second half of the game, we saw him at his best. Making plays, going up there, mixing it up a little bit, kind of scrambling around, making plays. Those are the things that you saw Cade McNamara do at Michigan in a season as a starter. Does he have the biggest arm? No. Is he the fastest guy? No. But he's got a big enough arm. He's fast enough. And that confidence, that swagger that comes along with it, the Iowa offense needs that. And he certainly delivers that. Speaking of the running back situation,

Starting point is 00:05:31 Jazzy on Patterson is back after the one game suspension. Caleb Johnson, of course, sat out the first half for a suspension, something that every dayers know as you were listening to Lockdown Hawkeyes last week. We alluded to that last week on Wednesday, so you shouldn't have been surprised on Saturday. Look, I don't get a ton of breaking news. This was not heavily sourced. I didn't have multiple sources. That's not, I didn't run with it, but come on, let's read between the lines a little bit here. And as I told you last year, leading into the opener, Cade McNamara was iffy in that one. That quad entry was much more significant than what was being led on. Doesn't happen often. But if I got something here for you, I'm going to tell you.

Starting point is 00:06:11 I'm also going to tell you if it's just rumblings, if it's just rumors, if it's those kind of things too. But that's why you listen every day. That's why you hit the subscribe. In fact, if you were able to tell your buddies before the news, quote unquote, broke on Saturday about it at your tailgate, getting together, make sure you tell them, listen to Lock on Hawkeyes. How about you do that for me? And we'll keep pass along information whenever we get it.

Starting point is 00:06:28 Let's get back to the running back position though, as we're having a little bit of fun here. We saw Caleb Johnson at his best. I thought it was interesting the way that Kirk put it and saying he's run the football. He ran the football as good as he's ever seen him. And he's had some really good practices because that's what it is.

Starting point is 00:06:43 Look, it's those little things that Caleb needs to continue to do to get back to 100% in the coach's eyes. We know the talent's there. Everybody can see the talent that Caleb Johnson has. And also running a little bit harder, and that was kind of brought up as well by Kirk, and that's a component to this too. It's just not being so easy to tackle when it's just not there.

Starting point is 00:07:03 Fighting for that extra yard. Those little things that we talk about, that's what Caleb Johnson needs to do. Jazzyon Patterson is back after the one-game suspension. He'll be, we'll see, out there. Remember, he was the most impactful offensive player a year ago for Iowa in that game against Iowa State. Ripped off the big run on the short yardage situation. Was that a 50, 55-yard run?

Starting point is 00:07:23 Something like that. Had a touchdown the first score of the game. First touchdown of the game, I should say, to make it 10-0 in that one a year ago before the Sebastian Castro pick six. So that's what we're looking at here. You got two guys back. LaShawn Williams, you saw, he's still not close to 100%. Kamari Moulton added weight this year.

Starting point is 00:07:42 Not a lot of holes for him in the first half. It shouldn't be an indictment. Look, the game plan was really vanilla, especially in the first half of what Iowa was doing. Don't take that, well, all right, throw Kamari Moulton off. He couldn't do it. No, no, no. Don't go that far. Game plan was much different. Holes were a little bit different. What they were just doing schematically was a lot different

Starting point is 00:08:01 in the first half of the game. Really a feeling out process. And remember, they're also going through the process playing without Kirk Ferentz, playing without your wide receiver coach, John Budmeier, who would be either an eye in the sky or a guy on the sideline helping out the offensive staff down there. So you're doing that. You're working from behind on that angle. Plus he had the new communication system in the helmet that has started for the first time in college football this season. So there's a whole lot going on and a whole lot of changes that were happening on that one. Speaking of Caleb, let's go to Caleb Brown. He is back. He's part of the rotation. He's going to be out there. Kirk said, we'll see how much, but he's going to be a part of it.

Starting point is 00:08:37 Look, Reese Van Der Zee maybe changed the equation a little bit. And I do wonder what Caleb Brown is going to be in this offense. Look, Van Der Zee is going to be a guy Caleb Brown is going to be in this offense look if Van Der Zee is going to be a guy now that's going to be seeing 50 60 snaps a game and you see nothing to say that he shouldn't be out there Jacob Gill shown certainly the ability I mean two guys that I think a lot of the summer we didn't think were going to be starters this year and they're thrust in there Jacob Gill shows up from Northwestern in the summertime. Van Der Zee, he was working his way back off injury after playing high school baseball. I mean, that's what we're talking about. And these two guys were both impactful on Saturday. Seth Anderson, we still have to see.

Starting point is 00:09:14 And sounds like he won't be available for the Iowa State game from what Kirk said today. He got that component to it. But Caleb Brown out there, that's a good thing. He was a playmaker for them in that decrepit offense a year ago. They need playmakers certainly out there. I talked about Vander Zekirk did and just talking about how he's very unassuming, a guy that doesn't get too high, too low. What does that sound like? Your prototypical Iowa football player.

Starting point is 00:09:41 He's part of the Army now, and he's going to be out there. And finally, T.J. Hall. I talked about what's been brought up a lot with T.J. He was thrust in there as a true freshman against Northwestern, the fastest guy in the Big Ten run by him, and he said he beat himself up maybe too hard about that. He said that's football, though he didn't say that's football. I know that can be derogatory going back years and years and years when Kirk actually said that's football.

Starting point is 00:10:00 But just talked about coaches, players, you have that moment at some point in football, he had that one but he's bounced back had a great spring after an injury plague sophomore campaign remember t.j hall was a big-time prospect t.j hall i would beat some heavy heavy heads in order to get him to iowa city and that was a junior you're seeing what he can be playing in this defense and this wasn't just a job that was handed to him. You had a guy, Deshaun Lee, that had a lot of starts a year ago, six starts last season. John Nestor was coming on.

Starting point is 00:10:33 He was listed as a starter back in Big Ten football media days. So he earned that job. And I thought you saw some good things out of him. How good? Well, we're going to talk about the numbers, at least the way that pro football focus looks at the numbers from the game and what kind of picture it will paint for Iowa football going into the matchup against Iowa State. Not only that, well, that offense looked so good in the second half

Starting point is 00:10:52 and led to a commitment from a wide receiver. Talk about that as we continue. This is Locked on Hawkeyes. Passion, drive, and patience the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive ebay motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance superchargers roof racks exhaust kits led headlights and more whether into speed power or style ebay motors has you covered with over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die, you'll always find exactly what you're looking for.

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Starting point is 00:11:50 Exclusions apply. eBay guaranteed fit only available to U.S. customers. Trent Conant back with you once again on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. As always, thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Hit that subscribe button if you're watching this on YouTube. If you're listening to the podcast, audio only side, five-star reviews on Apple. Appreciate that.

Starting point is 00:12:14 Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. All right, let's get into some numbers from over the weekend. The numbers from Pro Football Focus as we break down what we saw. Let's start with the offense. The numbers from Pro Football Focus as we break down what we saw. Let's start with the offense. And Cade McNamara finishes as the 23rd ranked quarterback in college football after week one. That continues.

Starting point is 00:12:34 Lookout. Yes, it's going to get much more difficult starting this week against a very talented front for Iowa State. A good defensive backfield, including a trio of safeties that are all outstanding. It's going to be different this week. It's going to be different throughout the course of most of this season compared to what it was against Iowa State. Still, McNamara, as we've talked about a ton there, he grades out with an 89.2 overall, not just a great pass number, but also in the run, excuse me, the run game, did really well there as well. After the slow start, 8 of 17, 13 of 14 in the second half. And if you look at the chart that Pro Football Focus lays out, it shows that really did a lot of work down the field.

Starting point is 00:13:15 As he finishes 2 for 3 for 62 yards and a touchdown. Had another one that easily could have been there if he in the first half would have just got it up a little bit more to Luke Lachey on that one. And really the struggles came kind of in the underneath stuff. And that's where you saw some misses, certainly in the middle of the field early in the football game as he pushed things a little bit deeper down the field. His hot spot was in the middle of the field. And that is a huge credit to the Tim Lester offense.

Starting point is 00:13:44 I mean, how many times over the last half decade have we complained about just their inability to stretch the field, use the middle of the field? They got scared and scared to use it because bad things happen in the middle of the field. That is not the case with Tim Lester. And not only are you doing things on the outside and stretching the defense out horizontally also stretching them out vertically and leading to what that's going to help with in the running game no surprise Caleb Johnson the top rated running back at an 80.5 very good on that front Max White didn't play a ton played late in the game he was second followed by Terrell Johnson Kamari Moulton just a 53 and LaShawn Williams even lower than that, a 46.2 for him.

Starting point is 00:14:25 As we talked about, Caleb Johnson, he is the dude and the guy that can, I think, put together a huge, huge season this year if he's doing everything you need. Let's go to the wide receiver position. Reese Vanderzee with those two touchdowns. He is your top-ranked wide receiver from Pro Football Focus, a 73.1 grade. As good as a wide receiver has been for quite a while it feels for Iowa football going back Jacob Gill finished second on the team with a 64.6 on that one Jared Bowie of course had a drop in there he was down at a 50.6 if you look at the numbers also in

Starting point is 00:14:58 terms of the snap count that can definitely paint a picture as well Kabari Bolton at the running back position played 32 snaps. Caleb Johnson, 21. LaShawn Williams had 19, and then late in the game, TJ Washington with five snaps and then three in that final drive for Max White. And then at the wide receiver position, Jacob Gill played 68 plays in the game. Reese Van Der Zee was right with him with 64. Caleb Weegean with 18.

Starting point is 00:15:24 Jared Bowie had nine. And Alex Eichmann had two at that position. On the other side, Luke Lachey paid 58 snaps. Addison Estrengo at 46. Zach Ortworth, excuse me, with that big reception on the scramble mode. Played for McNamara, played 12. Johnny Pancuzzi with four. And Andrew Lynch, there's a downlink Catholic kid. He had a couple of snaps late in the football game. The tight end position, Zach Ortworth graded out the best, a 92.8 with that big pass play that he had. As a run blocker, your top-ranked guy that played a bunch was Addison Estrengo.

Starting point is 00:15:59 Interesting to see that with a 66 grade in the run blocking game and a 66 also in passing. Luke lachey was big 86.5 in the past game and uh he finishes behind ortworth again limited snaps for him but now we're going three deep at the tight end position no surprise maybe the most interesting thing though in the offense yes we knew caleb johnson was going to be ranked highly and reese vanderzee was going to be ranked highly and kate mcderm I mean, we get all of that. The offensive line, who graded out the best? Jennings Dunker was number one, the right tackle.

Starting point is 00:16:31 He was good in the blocking game, pass blocking grade. Really good for Mason Richmond. Need that. Out of your left tackle, certainly an 83.2 from him. Logan Jones finished second on the team. Logan Jones exited the game, and Tyler Ellsbury came in for him. That was finished second on the team. Logan Jones exited the game and Tyler Ellsbury came in for him. That was a part of it. So you saw that component with Logan Jones going out. Wasn't an injury. It was a cramping situation. Got an IV and he got back in there. Pass blocking

Starting point is 00:16:56 was very, very good for him. Run back blocking a little bit less. 64.5 for the run blocking grade for Logan Jones. The same for Mason Richmond. That's 64.5. Connor Colby was fourth on the team in terms of his grade in the game with a 65. So a couple plays out there. Colby, though, very solid guard. We saw him early in his career. He wasn't a tackle.

Starting point is 00:17:18 Since he's moved to the interior, he's very, very solid. You're talking about a really good road grader there in the middle. And then you get into some of the guys that played a little bit late in the game. Now, unfortunately, the lowest rated guy out of all the offensive linemen that played was a starting left tackle in Bo Stevens, a 58.2 for him. Pass blocking good, not so much in the run blocking game for him, so one to keep an eye on there as they continue to build depth. One other one I want to mention on the offensive line,

Starting point is 00:17:48 Michael Mizulinski, big-time prospect coming out of Florida. Texas was involved, had a bunch of big-time offers. He has been injury-plagued throughout his career. Good to see him out there and at least getting an opportunity. Taking a look at the snap counts offensively along the offensive line, 72 snaps each for Mason Richmond, Stevens and Connor Colby 62 for Jennings Dunker as he saw at one point Nick DeYoung came in for him he played 11 snaps 14 for Ellsbury Jones with that injury or the cramping I should say he played 60 snaps in the game and then late in the game he saw Pieper

Starting point is 00:18:22 Veslinski Trevorvor lock there's a name to keep an eye on uh going forward he's going to be a big piece of the future of the tackle position along with jack dotzler and lincoln jones who will be an inside guy those guys also saw some snaps on saturday let's jump over to the defense and the grades from pro football focus and going through and taking a look at some of the numbers. Would you be surprised that the guy that finished with three sacks in the football game was ranked as the fifth best defense alignment by Pro Football Focus? That's why sometimes we got to take this with a grain of salt.

Starting point is 00:19:00 A guy has three sacks in 30-some snaps, and he's the fifth best. Now, this could be great news going forward, obviously, for Iowa. Will Hubert is the top-ranked guy in limited action. Still, that's good. Need depth on that defensive tackle position. Same for Luke Gaffney, who finished second. Deontay Craig, love to see this. Deontay Craig, I anticipate a big season out of him, a 73.5.

Starting point is 00:19:24 And Brian Allen, he got to the quarterback, of course, but not just that. Brian Allen, speaking of being part of the Army, he was. This was not just limited late game reps. He was part of the rotation, trying to keep Craig, trying to keep the other guys, Ethan Hercut, Max Llewellyn, keeping those guys healthy, keeping them out there and keeping them at their best come the fourth quarter, you need Brian Allen. We know about the ability to get to the quarterback, but if he's playing over 30 snaps in a football game, even like this, I think that shows you that every other angle you're looking for,

Starting point is 00:19:58 doing the boring, mundane things about playing defensive line for Iowa, he's doing those things along with it. Aaron Graves, there he is, shows up with a 70.7. Now his problem was against the run, at least in terms of the grading for pro football focus, a 49 grade there with the pass rush. It was great. 85.3 with those three sacks in the game. Wyatt Black with a 68.6 against the run, 59.9 with his pass rush grade. We know Wyatt Black. He's going to eat up all the blockers and make it a lot easier for Nick Jackson and Jay Higgins to make plays back behind him. Jeremiah Pittman turned out to be the lowest rated. I thought I saw some good things out

Starting point is 00:20:36 of Pittman. Still got work to do, obviously, to become at least that number three defensive tackle going to Dean him. That is a position that you can't get away with only playing two guys throughout the course of the year. And we'll see those guys that graded out pretty high. That's something we're going to see going forward. Over to the linebacker spot, Kyler Fisher. Didn't play a ton, but when he was out there, certainly impactful. A really good coverage on a play.

Starting point is 00:20:59 Came up and made a tackle. He finishes the top-ranked linebacker with an 83.9 grade. Jay Higgins second. Carson Shire finished third with a 71.3 gain, followed by Nick Jackson, 70.8 for him. And then Jaden Harrell, who played late in the game, the Urbandale product, finished fifth out of the linebackers. Your top-ranked defensive back,

Starting point is 00:21:20 Jamar Harris had the interception in the game during the first half. His coverage grade really good. Great to see Cohen entering her out there. Jamar Harris had the interception in the game during the first half. His coverage grade really good. Great to see Cohen entering her out there. 73 for him. Really good in coverage. A good coverage grade out of him. Quinn Schulte, as you anticipate, steady, solid, exactly what you want.

Starting point is 00:21:37 Sebastian Castro right there as well. Really good against the run. Really good in coverage. And Deshaun Lee, and you just go through and you talk about the depth of this position. Man, they were really good. John Nestor and then late in the game, Cole Kolarik are the guys lowest on the list here from pro football focus, but they are deep, they are talented, and they just continue to find ways. Those are the numbers from pro football focus of what we saw.

Starting point is 00:21:59 How does it paint the picture going forward? We'll continue to break down the game against Iowa State. Before we get out of here, though, we've got to talk some recruiting. Yeah, that's right. Iowa has nabbed a four-star wide receiver at the Iowa Hawkeyes. That's right. John Budmeier doing work with the recruiting. We'll talk about that as we roll through.

Starting point is 00:22:18 This is CyHawk Week and the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Today's episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. FanDuel Sportsbook, look, we talk about it a ton here. It is America's number one sportsbook. Well, we have something just a little bit different for you. Now through September 22nd, all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and from YouTube TV.

Starting point is 00:22:53 Then with the YouTube TV base plan, you'll be able to watch every regular season game, afternoon game, out-of-market game in your market. All you need is a Google account and a current form of payment, and you can cancel at any time. We got games coming up this week, week one of the NFL. Of course, looking forward to the opener as we'll get to see the Kansas City Chiefs and their matchup against the team they beat in the AFC championship game a year ago as they knocked off the Ravens. Currently, the Chiefs at FanDuel favored by three in that one. Maybe a little Friday night action with the Packers and the Eagles in Brazil by Bears taking on the Titans. Bears favored by four in that one.

Starting point is 00:23:30 Maybe you're a Vikings fan. Sorry, one and a half the number there. And of course, CyHawk. It remains Iowa, a two and a half point favorite against Iowa State. That money continues to come in on the under as that thing is now dwindled down to 37 fanduel.com your spot to go and set things up and get your opportunity to get that three-week

Starting point is 00:23:51 free trial of nfl sunday ticket just visit fanduel.com to download america's number one sports book back with you one final time. I'm Trent Condon, and this is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for being with us. To each and every one of you, appreciate you joining us here and talking a little Iowa Hawkeye football as we make our way now into September and continue to break things down.

Starting point is 00:24:22 Well, it's not just talk, guys. We got you covered on the big 10 front. I had a great time with Craig and company on our round table discussion, having a good time, throwing some barbs at each other. I told Jay Stevens from lockdown Buckeyes be ready come October. Maybe I shouldn't have said that college football is back and it's not too late to catch up. We got you covered with the big 10, and you can get all the Locked On stable of college football experts

Starting point is 00:24:47 by subscribing to the Locked On College Football Podcast. Who has a chance to make the playoff? The Hawkeyes. What teams are going to cause chaos in their new conferences? Everything you need all in one place. Be sure to follow and subscribe to the Locked On College Football Podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. So Iowa picks up a commitment after the win, and this is one that we've been waiting for

Starting point is 00:25:11 for a really long time. You know, when you go through and you talk about this Iowa football team, we know about the deficiencies at the wide receiver position, just how rough it's been. You go back a couple of years ago where there was times during August camp, they only had one scholarship receiver that was even available because of defections, because of injuries. It's been rough. As good as tight ends and offensive line and defense as a whole has been, this has been a position group that's been a struggle. There's been guys recently, Amir Smith-Marset, Brandon Smith,

Starting point is 00:25:42 but they've been few and far between. Well, hopefully, they found another one here in Terrence Smith. So we found out this summer, back in June, where recruiting was hot and heavy, and we were talking about Terrence Smith. This is a guy that had two major offers. It was Iowa and Minnesota. And you talk about two completely different ways of recruiting. I mean, that's Iowa and Minnesota. On one side, you got Kirk Ferentz. No nonsense. Going to tell you like it is. There's no sugar coating. If you're going to commit to us, hey, make sure you make your decision. We're getting

Starting point is 00:26:15 married, right? We're not dating if you want to make a commitment. And then you got P.J. Fleck. And Phil Fleck, the story of, well, speaking of Amir Smith-Marset, basically being locked in a room and waiting for his commitment before he'd be allowed to leave. I mean, those kind of things, completely different. He's a huckster. He's not my kind of person. He is what he is. Terrence Smith made the right choice, at least from my perspective. Four-star in some recruiting services, three on others. He's a big-bodied wide receiver, which after seeing Reese Vanderzee over the weekend, you definitely like that. 6'4", 185. The one that I've always wondered is why we didn't see more for him. A lot of the

Starting point is 00:26:56 recruiting services really have him ranked high, and the offer list just never really married with him. He's got to get tougher. Our recruiting analyst here on Locked On said that's something he can see. He's a little bit of a flyer. He is kind of a track guy at times, not a guy that always wants to mix it up, being that complete football player. But overall, really excited about this one. It was their number one realistic target at the wide receiver position. And getting a guy like that, definitely big.

Starting point is 00:27:24 Here the rest of the week, lockdown Hawkeyes. We'll dive a little bit deeper into Iowa State, get you the Cyclone perspective, what they're looking at. A very banged up Iowa State team. The announcement today from Matt Campbell that Caleb Bacon, their top linebacker, will be out for this football game and out for perhaps the whole season, if not a majority of the season for Caleb Bacon.

Starting point is 00:27:45 They're really banged up at linebacker. Bousama left the game. Doesn't appear to be anything serious. They're top running back. The offensive line has been really, really banged up as well. So this is going to be a banged up Iowa State team. And that's when you feel like, don't let them hang around, right? There's an opportunity to put them away.

Starting point is 00:28:03 Mentioned last year, up 17-0. Let them creep back into the football game. And Iowa State got the football back down 2013, a year ago, as Iowa allowed them because, well, they just couldn't move the football to get back into the football game. Let's change that. There's an opportunity there. Punch them in the mouth. Take them down right away. End this thing early if you can. Because Iowa State's going to have to chuck it

Starting point is 00:28:25 around. I don't think they're going to be able to run the football very effectively against Iowa. And also think about these guys. You know, this football team, there's been a whole lot of players that have won against Iowa State in Kinnick Stadium. Of course, lost the game two years ago in 2022 in the downpour game. And then there wasn't a game at Kinnick in 2020 because of that. There's a lot of guys on this roster that haven't beat the Cyclones, at least in Kinnick stadium. A lot of them were there of course, last year for the women win at Jack Trice,

Starting point is 00:28:57 but make it happen, make it special. We'll continue to break things down as we do with you each and every day. Again, thanks for making lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Love to have you guys aboard with us. Love to see all your comments as well on YouTube. You can also hit me up on Twitter at Trent Condon, or you can find us on Twitter at Lockdown

Starting point is 00:29:16 Iowa. Thanks for being with us as always. Again, go check out Lockdown College Football and the Lockdown College Football podcast. From NIL deals to the never-ending conference realignment rumors, Spencer McLaughlin gets you ready for the big season that is upon us right now. You can find the link to Locked On College Football in the description so you don't need to search any further. All part of Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

Starting point is 00:29:41 We got you covered on the Hawkeye front. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Until then, go Hawks.

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