Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa football lands Jaylen Watson, Updated Gambling odds, Hawkeye Hoops Class of 2024

Episode Date: July 10, 2023

Trent Condon is back to kick off the week with a new Locked on Hawkeyes Podcast.Iowa football lands Jaylen Watson, Trent fills you in on the details with his Hawkeye heritage with his uncle being Fred Russell and what Iowa sees from him at the next level. Plus a look at who might be the next to make a commitment in 2024.Then some updated Gambling odds for Iowa football including the over/under win total, odds to win the Big Ten West and point spreads for the opener vs. Utah State, Week 2 on the road at Iowa State and the Big Ten opener against Penn State.Hawkeye Hoops Class of 2024 is starting to shape up with the commitment of Cooper Koch along with some other targets that the Hawkeye basketball team is after.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Hawkeye bloodlines continue. Another former Hawkeyes relative will be an Iowa Hawkeye for the class of 2024. We have the details, some updated numbers for Iowa football from a betting angle, over-unders, odds to win the division, and point spreads available from FanDuel from three different games coming up this season. Plus, what's the latest on the recruiting front for basketball for the class of 2024 with the July evaluation period here upon us? A lot to get into. Well, 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. 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 fans. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, official sportsbook of Lockdown. Make every moment more. Visit FanDuel.com slash Lockdown today to get started. Well, we have some odds coming your way from the upcoming football season.

We've talked a lot about Iowa, their odds to win the Big Ten. We'll get you those latest numbers from Fanduel today. We're also going to talk about point spreads that are available for three of the Iowa games coming up this season. The opener against Utah State. Game two against Iowa State on the road in Ames. And then the Big Ten opener on the opener against Utah State. Game two against Iowa State on the road in Ames. And then the Big Ten opener on the road against Penn State. All three of those games available right now to bet on and at FanDuel. We'll talk about those matchups, plus a little more on the gambling side of things.

But we kick things off today with another commitment for the class of 2024 for Iowa football. And the latest comes from up just a little bit to the north of us in Jalen Watson. So this has been one that has been rumored and anticipated for a long time. This has been one that has kind of fallen into the category of a silent commit, waiting to make it official coming up over the weekend. But Watson is one that, first of all, you look at him making his visit, some of the things that were said afterwards. You read a couple of the columns from the recruiting sites.

You go over to Hawkeye Insider, and the guys over there, with Sean Bach and David Eichold, see what Blair Sanderson, Tom Caker and company are doing at hawkeyereport.com. You read through those recruiting angles, and you can definitely tell that Watson appeared to be pretty eminent. Not only that, you follow along with Jalen Watson on social media, on Twitter, you're going to see him. He's been giving the Hawkeyes a lot of love, though he was not a official commitment. This has been a guy that certainly felt like he was trending that way. A lot of people in the recruiting space believe this was going to be

the end. Kind of an interesting project though, because this was a guy in Watson that a lot of people in the recruiting space believe this was going to be the end. Kind of an interesting project, though, because this was a guy in Watson that a lot of people thought he was going to be a wide receiver. Very fast. Ran a really good time when he was at Iowa camp. Really turned a lot of heads there. But most people thought he was targeted to be more likely a slot receiver, that kind of player at the next level. Well, Iowa, when they had him on camp, also wanted to work him through some

defensive drills. And when they did take him through those defensive drills, one thing that they saw, very fluid in the hips, good turn. He had the things that Phil Parker really looks for, and that's where they said they were recruiting him. And officially, he makes the commitment, and he says, well, who else would you want to play for other than Phil Parker, the way that he teaches defensive backs? It is an incredibly difficult position, the cornerback position, even the safety position, and the ability for Phil Parker to turn these guys in. Hey, have there been misses? Absolutely. But that's recruiting. I mean, that's just the way that it is. And in order for Phil Parker to find the best four guys and get the depth that you need, there's going to be plenty of guys that

you turn through and just aren't going to work out because it is very specific. What you have to do to play quarterback, especially at the University of Iowa, it's special. It's different than a lot of places. And what Phil Parker continually preaches is doing those little things right. It's the defense as a whole. It's this football program as a whole. It's doing all those little things in the correct way, in the correct fashion. That is how you're ultimately going to be a Hawkeye football player. That's how you're going to play defensive back for Phil Parker. You have to do everything from hand placement to hip movement to what you're doing, how you open up all those different things, all those little things.

And you'll see them. It doesn't matter if you go to one of the open practices in the spring or in August that they have. Doesn't matter if you have an opportunity to watch the guys going through warmups before the games. They're doing those little things, time in and time out. And when he went through everything at the University of Iowa during the camp, they saw that Phil Parker believes this is a guy that can help him out on that side of the football. Not only that though, Jalen Watson, he's also got the connection to the University of Iowa and that's his uncle, Fred Russell. So Fred Russell's the uncle and one of my favorite Hawkeyes. You know, a guy that came in here when times weren't very good. You go back, he was committed to Michigan, had opportunities,

could have gone plenty of different places, but he believed in what Kirk Ferentz was building at the time and the season that he put on behind those great offensive lines and being the little guy that he was, 5'7", the Mighty Mouse type out there, and seeing Fred Russell behind those behemoth offensive lines and what he was able to do, he was a game-breaker. Loved Jermell Lewis, him, that one-two combo that they had when Lewis was healthy, which unfortunately was not very often, was just a thing of beauty. Put up some monster seasons and great to see those bloodlines continue here for Iowa football. So the question becomes,

well, as this momentum continues for Iowa football on the recruiting front, they're almost full. What's left? What is Iowa still out there and what they're searching for so two more guys still remain that took their visits to the big official weekend now what we're talking a couple weeks back now three weeks back and a couple of guys that have not yet committed one of them we will see i think xavier lucas is maybe the guy that iowa has the shortest odds remaining only two guys left that took official visits and haven't committed yet to the Hawkeyes. Xavier Lucas got a bunch of Big Ten West teams involved with him. It's Illinois. It's Wisconsin. It's Iowa. I know Florida State continues to be involved. Does he have a committable offer at this time? Again, that's something that people in the

recruiting realm know a lot better than me. But Florida State's going to be there, and even if he doesn't have a committable offer right now, I think they're going to continue to sniff around. I know that coaching staff really likes Xavier Lucas. Plus, he's a Florida guy. That doesn't mean that Florida or Miami is going to get involved late. Or we see an SEC or an ACC team closer to home start to make offers as we get a little bit deeper into the recruiting side.

And that's another piece of this. Though Iowa has all these commitments and you're feeling good about it. As we learned so well a year ago, you always have to be prepared. You always have to have a backup ready to go. You have to keep recruiting and you have to keep recruiting the guys that you have. And hopefully they don't go and take a visit to Oregon when you say that you're not going to and or allow Nick Saban to come in at the last moment in two days before signing day, go out there and get a commitment. That's what you're hoping to stay away from and leaving, obviously, the recruiting in a lurch if you do those kind of things. So that goes for all these guys. I mean, you've got to continue to recruit. That's just the environment that we are in today's college football.

And with the calendar accelerated now and so many of these players making their commitments before their season uh even begins for their senior year that's something that you also have to be very cognizant about of understanding that this yeah it's great to have a commitment but it's not binding there is nothing there is no pen to paper at this point in time you have to wait until december before that is the case and you have to keep recruiting these players and keep them happy and make sure they still want to be hawke December before that is the case, and you have to keep recruiting these players and keep them happy and make sure they still want to be Hawkeyes. Well, that is the recruiting side of things. Who's next?

Mention Xavier Lucas. Also, another name that was on a visit that weekend is Chima Chinecki from down in Plano, Texas. Defensive end prospect. I was done very well with a couple of, I think, multiple defensive ends, guys, that you'd think have a chance, but they're certainly not plug and play. Chemeke would be, I think, the most highly regarded as it pertains to guys that maybe could see the field a little bit early. We've talked a lot about Kennedy, kid from down in Arizona. His opportunity, it's going to take

a while. Same thing last week with the other defensive line commitment. These guys are more ones that are more projects. Guys that are going to take some time to develop both physically, but also two players that just don't have a whole lot of football experience behind them. That's not the case with Chemeke. So that's another guy down in Texas. In fact, if I had to make a guess right now, who would be the next Hawkeye commitment? He would definitely be the one at the forefront. Kansas, Oklahoma State, a couple of teams involved,

a couple of big programs that are involved with him, but Iowa continuing to try to work down there in Texas and get a commitment from Chemeke, and that would be the likelihood of the next Canada Day. When we continue the football conversation here on Locked On Hawkeyes, we get into some betting numbers over-under for Iowa football. They continue to tick up. What does that tell us in the recruiting world? And to win the Big Ten West, I've said now as

these odds have been out there for over a month at FanDuel, I think FanDuel has this wrong. We'll talk about that a little bit more. Northwestern, what kind of impact have we seen with what's happening right now with Coach Fitz? A lot going on in the Big Ten West. We'll get an updated look at those numbers, plus a little Iowa basketball as we continue. It's July. This is the recruiting and evaluation period in college basketball and some potential future Hawkeye candidates starting to emerge. We'll talk about that as we roll through here.

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It's America's number one sportsbook. Sign up today or visit FanDuel.com slash LockedOn and you'll get $200 in bonus bets. FanDuel.com slash LockedOn. FanDuel, official partner of Major League Baseball. Trent Conant back with you once again here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. So spend a little time behind M&E, easy for me to see, enemy lines. This weekend I was up in Madison visiting family up there.

Always great when the Condon crew gets together. Got to see all of the eight cousins that were there. All eight Condon cousins were all together for the first time in a long time. Had a great time. One of my cousins turned 40, so was up in Madison. Talked to a couple Badger fans while I was there. Yeah, we were at a bar. I imagine that the Condon's at a bar. No surprise on that front, but talking to a couple of Wisconsin fans and also my family from Madison. And, you know, the thing that continued to come up is something that I've wondered about in this transition that they're making offensively. Now it's not what they're doing defensively. It's not Luke Fickle, a guy that cut his teeth as a defensive guy. It is really the concern about

what this offense is going to look like and how quickly they're going to be able to adapt and change on the fly from this power-running base team. You knew the identity of Wisconsin football over the last 30 years. They were built on running the football, starting with Barry Alvarez when he got that job and knowing the rebuild that he had in front of them. But right away, that was their identity, and it's been their identity for three decades now. It is power running.

It is big offensive lines. And that's what we're going to do. Now you bring in Mordecai from SMU. You bring in Luongo to run the offense. You have an offense that is completely different than anything that they've done before. And as bad as the spring went, I think that's where a lot of the Yanks is right now.

They tried to do this. Yes, it was very early in the process after 15 practices in spring, but it just looks so bad. And because of that, I know there are a lot of people that are concerned, including some West Wisconsin fans that I was talking to this weekend. So for our viewers on YouTube, you can see the numbers right now from FanDuel. This is to win the Big Ten West. Represent the West in the final Big Ten Championship game between the East and the West as divisions go away next year with the additions of USC and UCLA. And then that season with a new league with 16 teams in it,

just the top two. Top two will play in the championship going forward. So Wisconsin remains the betting favorite. They're plus 130, meaning you make a $100 wager, you'd win 130 bucks. That means $230 then back into your account. Iowa is the second choice of plus 250. They, again, that $100 wager, you'd get a total of $350 back in your account, your initial $100 stake plus 250 on top of it. Minnesota is the third choice, plus $450. How about Illinois at number four, plus $650? You know, that next run, after Iowa

and Wisconsin, out of that next tier, if you will, Minnesota plus $450, Illinois plus $650, and then you got Nebraska next at $15 to $1. I think I'd probably, if I had to make a bet, be most willing to bet on Illinois in this instance, just the number there. You know that Illinois, the likelihood of them getting blown off the field, even with the rebuild after that defense was so good a year ago, and they lost some big pieces last season. I think Illinois and Bielema, I just believe in him so much. Again, Nebraska, they're 15 to one, and then you get the long shots. Purdue at 20-1.

And Northwestern, with everything happening there, the Wildcats sit currently at 85-1. So those are the updated numbers as it pertains to win the Big Ten West. Something interesting also is happening right now in the betting world, and that is the continued tick-up of the total for the Iowa Hawkeyes. So FanDuel is headed at 8. There's been a couple of other betting shops out there though that opened Iowa up at seven and a half and now they are at eight

or eight and a half pretty much across the board. I don't believe there is anywhere at least that I have seen they can still get the Hawkeyes over under at seven and a half. Now hopefully you took my advice early on and you were able to jump on it. But if you want to bet the Hawkeyes over right now, that number is currently over eight and a half at FanDuel plus 110. Meaning you bet 100, you would win 110 back. The under is minus 134, meaning you have to bet 134 just to get $100 back. So that's what those numbers help out for some of the newbies out there. But maybe the most fun part

for me is, well, I'm already heavily invested on Iowa in a bunch of different ways to win the division, to hit the over something that I don't do very often are betting the positive side of the Hawkeyes. Maybe it's emotional hedge that I have. Maybe that's what so many times that I'm betting against the Hawkeyes knowing, Hey, if they lose the game, at least I'm going to get a couple of bucks back in the process. Maybe I'm one of those kinds of people. And I know there's plenty of you out there that are the other way that could never bet against the Hawkeyes in anything. Hey, credit to you too. There's a ton of different ways to bet on it, but here we are. And I'm looking at those over under numbers, invest looking at the division odds invested. In fact, I I got a couple bucks on them to win the

Big Ten Conference this year. And if they get to that championship game, maybe there'll be an opportunity to hedge out of it. But that aside, what I want to look at here is the three games that there are currently lines for. So this was something for years and years. My buddy out at South Point Casino in Las Vegas, Chris Andrews, He put out his top 100 games of the year, and he still does that, but with more and more infiltration from the betting companies out there, more and more of them are getting on top of this, including Vanduul, who's had these numbers up for a long time. So game one, this has been out for a couple of weeks now,

and it's held pretty steady. Iowa, a three-touchdown favorite against Utah State. The line currently sits at 21.5. Iowa favored by 21.5 against them in the opener. Game two against Iowa State. Now, this has been interesting because as we've talked about the Iowa angle as it pertains to the betting scandal and what's going to happen with suspensions for the Iowa football players that are involved, as bad as it could be for Iowa,

sounds like it's going to be a whole lot worse for Iowa State. Well, that meant that I was loading up on Iowa during this, and the information that I continue to get from the Iowa State side of things, I thought this was a no doubt about it. Even though the game's in Ames, you know it's going to be difficult, just what the losses at Iowa State looks to have, I thought this was no doubt about it. Well, then we saw the change in litigation from the NCAA and what kind of suspensions there are. Does that change this equation? We'll see on that front.

So anyway, back to the original point. So Iowa initially was about a two and a half point favorite in the game. And then after about a week, maybe two weeks of betting on FanDuel, suddenly Iowa State was the favorite. And they remained that for about a month where Iowa State was the favorite. And they remained that for about a month where Iowa State was the favorite. Not a big favorite. I think it was anywhere between one and one and a half during the whole time. But Iowa State was a huge, was a favorite in the game. And then it bounced back. And I don't know the exact day that it bounced back at Fan Duel, but I looked again

early last week and I did see that it had flipped back the other way. And Iowa is favored now in this game. And that remains right now as we sit here on a Monday. Hawkeyes currently a two and a half point favored on the road against Iowa State. And then finally, the Big Ten opener and of course the most difficult game on the Hawkeye calendar this year. That is the road trip to Penn State. Every day, as you know, I've been talking about this Penn State team. I think they have a real shot against the two behemoths this year in Ohio State, in Michigan. I think they have the lines to do it. They have some playmakers outside. Really good running game, and I'm so incredibly intrigued to see what Drew Aller is going to look like in his first campaign at the quarterback position. He was a big-time prospect and a guy that,

you lose Sean Clifford and Penn State fans, a lot of them are excited about that just because of what they believe that Allard is going to be. Iowa, though, is a double-digit underdog in this game against Penn State. Hawkeye is currently getting 10.5, but does that seem high? Even as much as I like Penn State, you know the environment is going to be absolutely crazy. It's going to be banked out. There's going to be 110,000 people in there. It's going to be a night game. It's going to be a wide out. They're going to be fired up. I get all that, but 10 and a half in this series? The series comes down to the wire more times than not. This is a one-score game, what, 75-80% of the time over the last couple of decades, and now you think that Penn State's going to win it by double digits? I can't go there. In fact, if I had to take another team in these three games right now, well, it certainly wouldn't be Iowa State with their continued question marks. I don't think it'd be Penn State. Utah State might be the team that I'd take the

points. Now, I'm just taking points. I'm grabbing 21 and a half. I don't think Iowa's going to lose to the Aggies to open up the season. That's not what I'm saying. But if I had to grab a team and take the points or lay the points, depending on where it was on the other side from the Hawkeyes, I think it'd be game one against Utah State. Wrapping things up with a little basketball talk here on Locked On Hawkeyes. It is July evaluation time.

We know one of the commitments for the class of 2024, Cooper Koch is a future Iowa Hawkeye. Who is going to join him? We'll talk about that when we come back. A little hoops talk on Locked On Hawkeyes. Trent Conant back with you one final time here on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day.

So as we wrap things up, time to talk a little basketball. And Iowa for the class of 2024 already have a commitment in Cooper Koch. Now, this is a really fun get. Not only J.R. Koch, Koch's son, but a guy that has some really good offers. You know, Purdue and Indiana and Michigan State and others were involved here. So this is not just a guy that didn't have a ton of options and decided to go where his dad played. No, this is a guy that a lot of programs wanted.

An Illinois kid, a lot of them were after him. There were a lot of Big Ten, Big Ten, big time Big Ten programs that were after him. And good to get that commitment. It's been the case now for a long time. But who's going to join him? So a couple of names have emerged. And I think when you talk about this, you've got to start with the local kid. And the kid from the state of Iowa and probably the one here from the state that has the best chance of getting an offer,

that's Cade Wilkins from over in Bettendorf. Now, he moved programs this year. And how he's playing in the grassroots circuit, he's going to be playing with Minnesota D1. Now, this is a program that Iowa has a long history with. Patrick McCaffrey's played there. They've had a bunch of players that have gone through there. Coaching staffs know each other incredibly well. So this is one that makes a whole lot of sense, and we'll see what Wilkins can do. Heard a couple of things about him. His first go-around this past weekend. Played well at a couple of games. And I don't think he is quite at the level yet where I was going to offer.

But they are keeping a very close eye on him. Combo guard, kind of a 6'5 kid. He'd go out there, fill it out a little from the outside. We'll see how it translates for him. Also playing with a lot more talent on his team now. He's got some big time prospects on that Minnesota D1 program that he's going to be playing at. Right now, Indiana State, Eastern Illinois, those are his offers. Other mid-majors out there, and we'll kind of see where his development goes. But that's a local kid here

from the state of Iowa. A couple other names, and probably the number one likely target on their list, and that is Caden Diggs out maryland three-star kid six seven hundred eighty pounds more of a slasher than a shooter guy that can get to the rim he can defend he's been out to iowa already he's already taken a visit out to iowa city seaton hall st joe's and richmond are the teams involved you know it's not exactly who's who you would certainly hope that fray mccaffrey and company if this is one of their most realistic targets, if this is a guy that they're going after hard, that this is somebody that they can land in a different kind of prospect, a guy with size and that slashing ability,

you know, a six, seven Tony Perkins take one, one of those, certainly at this point in time, if he can turn into that kind of player, a couple other names out there, a one that we've talked about in the past,

and that is Pharaoh Compton out of Arizona. He's got Houston and San Diego State. Pretty good programs there. Two teams that have played in Final Fours over the last couple of seasons. LSU, UNLV. Those are some of the programs involved. He's an Arizona kid. Not a ton of connections, but Iowa continues to remain on his list.

That would be a big-time get. And the newest offer from up in Minnesota, speaking of Minnesota, and that is Isaiah Johnson, Arugu, out of Minnesota, Virginia Tech, Nebraska, Xavier, some of the other programs involved. So we're getting some more names now, probably start to get some more information on that front of what it's going to look like. An important class of 2024 as Iowa kind of reshuffling the deck here.

Some veterans are going to be moving on. You've got the four incoming freshmen. So this is going to be your baseline going forward. If this freshman class can come out there, a couple of guys help out this season. You're hopeful about the future. Those guys kind of building on what they can do here in a campaign that I think is going to be still a little bit down. Best case scenario, a bubble-type team.

That's how I see the team currently with this roster. But they also can't bet against Fran. I mean, we've said this a lot of times, certainly over the last decade. That doesn't look like a tournament team. They turn out to be a tournament team. I think this might be the tallest hill that they have to climb as it pertains to that, just on the surface, and looking at the talent on the roster.

But brain's done it before, and we'll see if he can do it again with this squad. That'll do it for us today. As always, thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Locked On, it is your team every day. We got you covered. Doesn't matter the sport.

From here on the college side with the Hawkeyes, your NFL team, your MLB team, NHL, NBA, we have you covered. Not only that, lots of other things. Hey, fantasy football is right around the corner. Locked on fantasy football. We have you there with Vinny Iyer doing things. Locked on wagering. You have all kinds of different things that you can get involved in here on the Locked On Network, your team every day.

And thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. We got a busy week ahead as we make our way through our final and the most difficult week of conversation. Big 10 media days around the corner. We got Big 12 media days starting up SEC. They're also going to be going. So a lot happening still a couple of weeks away from the Big 10 side of things.

But as always, we are here for you on Locked On Hawkeyes. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Go Hawks!