Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa football lands top-25 2022 recruiting class | Iowa Hawkeyes podcast

Episode Date: December 16, 2021

The Iowa Hawkeyes pulled in the best haul of student-athletes in the Kirk Ferentz era with a top-25 class that includes one five-star recruit and four four-star recruits. We run you through this entire class as well as which walk-ons to keep an eye on for the future with this Iowa football team.We also heard from Kirk Ferentz and Tyler Barnes on several players and recruiting situations. We've got you covered with the important things they said as well as what to take from it with today's show.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.PrizePicksDon’t hesitate, check out PrizePicks.com and use promo code: “LOCKEDON” or go to your app store and download the app today. PrizePicks is daily fantasy made easy!NetSuiteOver twenty-seven thousand businesses already use NetSuite and RIGHT NOW through the end of the year NetSuite is offering a one-of-a-kind financing program to those ready to upgrade at NetSuite.com/LOCKEDONNCAA.Omaha SteaksThe holidays are around the corner and finding the perfect gift is tricky. Omaha Steaks makes it easy to send friends and family an unforgettable gift guaranteed to be loved. Go to Omaha Steaks dot com and enter “College” into the search bar to order The Perfect Gift Package. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back Hawkeye Nation to a Thursday morning episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Podcast Network. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade, excited to be back for another show today. And as we've been doing all week, we are continuing our recruiting coverage because Iowa just landed a top 25 class. You wouldn't have thought it back in August when I was trying to tell you all to relax a little bit and that we will be okay. I did not expect to get to top 25.

I thought we'd at least land around like the 35 to 40 range. But nevertheless, you trust in Kirk Ferentz and Tyler Barnes and what the magic of these assistant coaches can do as well. coaches can do as well. Iowa land a top 25 class headed by Xavier from Southeast Polk, five-star safety recruiter who did a phenomenal job the last couple of days of bringing in other big-time recruits to the Iowa Hawkeyes. We're going to be covering all that on the show today. Talk a little bit about the walk-on class and why Iowa was able to land some even more highly touted walk-ons than they typically do. And also talk a little bit about superlatives, who's going to play first, who's some guys to watch out for.

And we'll wrap it up with a little bit of an insight into Kirk Behrens' and Tyler Barnes' press conference and what they had to say about this class as well. But first, I want to thank you all for making the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast your first listen. Every single day, you can find the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast for Your first listen every single day. You can find the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast for free wherever you get podcasts at and also on YouTube by searching Locked on Hawkeyes. And today's episode, this whole recruiting review is brought to you by NetSuite.

NetSuite is the number one cloud financial system to power your growth. Head over to netsuite.com slash locked on NCAA for special end of year financing on the number one financial system for growing businesses. So let's get into it though. Iowa lands a top 25 recruiting class, and it was quite a day yesterday. We had an idea that maybe Iowa could land a few guys, but there was a few surprises. We weren't sure on Brian Allen. We weren't sure on Coding Entriger. Yet, Iowa lands both those guys. Karrion Crawford, a guy who we thought Iowa was going to land, kind of faded away, ended up going to Arkansas State. But nevertheless,

the fact that Iowa, on signing day, from a fan perspective, landed many new guys, five in total on the day, is huge. Landon Van Kiekerix is also a big time get as well. A guy that Iowa kind of came on late and was almost trying to kind of hide it to a degree. It felt like they saw him, they realized they wanted to offer him and they just didn't want a lot of hype to be coming up on him. Nevertheless, they get Landon. He ultimately chooses between a couple other big, not big offers, but FCS offers or the opportunity to farm as well. So nevertheless, a huge day for Iowa getting TJ Hall, Orlando Trader, Brian Allen, Landon Van Kiekerix, and Cohen Entringer, all guys we were not sure of Iowa could land yesterday, and they did.

That bumps them up to a top 25 class, 24th according to rivals with one five-star, four four-stars, and 10 three-stars. From 24-7 Sports Composite, it is a 26th-ranked class, 6th in the Big Ten, and their average rating is 88, which is still the best we've had since 2005. So nevertheless, a very big class for the Iowa Hawkeyes, a class that we were not expecting to get to this point, and yet here we are. Iowa lands their entire secondary of the future and quite a few big-time players across the board for this Iowa Hawkeye athletic team. So when you look at this team and what they're bringing in, there's a couple of things that really stand out to me. I think the first thing

is the Xavier effect is real, right? Xavier, we didn't know if he was going to join the Hawks. And honestly, after hearing from Kirk Ferentz and Tyler Barnes, they didn't know if he was going to join the Hawks either until they kind of surprised him on Monday and said early on in the meeting that he was going to be an Iowa Hawkeye. Until then, they had no idea. But after that, Xavier was doing a fantastic job of recruiting for Iowa. Cohen Ettinger looked like he was going to go to Wisconsin. We're going to get to Cohen here in a second, but Cohen looked like he was going to go to Wisconsin. We weren't sure on Brian Allen. Orlando Trader and TJ Hall, we thought could be leading Iowa, but I feel like Xavier really put them over the edge. And where this really comes back to is the fact that next

year, you better believe this is going to be an impact as well. Now, I loved AJ Epinesa. He is a phenomenal player and a great, great player at Iowa. AJ Eponeza did not have the same kind of pull and gravitation that Xavier did. This is a guy who is, and it doesn't help the fact that, you know, AJ was in the line versus Xavier being a guy who can play skill positions in the secondary, so he can be on those seven-on-seven teams and stuff like that. He has a good relationship with kyler casper he can work on kate and green the four-star tackle who was leaning oklahoma with marco lana's joining the program as well as a four-star

this just helps iowa begin recruiting for the class of 2023 i not going to call my shot yet, but I think we're going to be in for a very, very, very special class of 2023. But I'm excited about 2022 right now. And we're talking all about a walk-on class, like I said, is also phenomenal as well. A couple of guys I want to call out from this walk-on class. Dominic Wiseman had three offers. He's a three-star recruit and chose to walk on to the Hawks. It would not surprise me to see Dominic in the starting lineup someday for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Same for Will Huber, a three-star composite recruit with D1 offers to smaller schools, to be fair, but D1 offers out of Nebraska, chose to walk on to Iowa. Now you might be asking, why are they doing this? doing this? Well, with the transfer portal and with basically the grant or the ability to allow players to play an extra year, a sixth year of eligibility due to COVID, it is going to be a

smaller recruiting class, just like it was a smaller draft class. It all kind of correlates, right? We had the lowest number of people in the draft class. Those people were staying in school. They're still in school this year. Some people can still stay. There's a reason why Riley Moss is having a decision. It's because he could still technically stay. And that really shrinks up the ability of teams to take in new players for these recruiting classes. That's why Iowa has one of the smallest classes they've ever had.

So that funnels down, right? Those five-star guys are going to find a home. Those four-star guys are going to find a home. But what about those three-star guys? Well, now you're looking at a little bit smaller school offers, but a team like Iowa can come in and say, hey, we can give you a PWO spot, a preferred walk-on spot, and maybe you work your way up to a scholarship, we believe you have that ability to do so. And it really played out well in Iowa's favor, having these relationships with guys like Dominic Wisen or Will Hubert, or even Drew Stevens, the kicker, a five-star kicker who had quite a few scholarship offers actually, and chose to walk on to Iowa because he felt like he had a good opportunity to play right away. It does help make this walk-on class even better. And there's quite a few guys

across the state of Iowa who could be impact players in that walk-on class. Coming up on segment two, we're going to talk a little bit more about superlatives. What guys should you be in the know about? What guys need to watch out for? Who could start early? Who might take a little bit of time? And who are guys that people are just absolutely sleeping on. Before we get to that, though, I want to tell you a story. This is it. It is the putt to win the tournament. If you sink it, the championship is yours, but on your backswing, your hat falls over your eyes. Is this how you're running your business? Poor visibility because you're still relying on spreadsheets and outdated finance software? To see the full picture, you need to upgrade to NetSuite by Oracle.

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That is NetSuite.com slash LockedOnNCAA. And again, thank you all for making the LockedOnHawkeyes podcast your first listen every single day. Make sure to check out the ultimate college football playoff preview 2021. Local experts, betting advice, and draft analysis. The most comprehensive college football playoff preview begins tomorrow. Super exciting times here at the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast and the Locked On podcast network. Lots of fun stuff coming up on the show this week and next.

Let's get into it, though. We talked a little bit about the preferred walk-ons. We gave you a little bit of an overview of the class. Let's now talk a little bit about, and actually, let's give you some insight to what Kirk and Tyler said first, and then we'll get into superlatives. Some interesting stuff on Xavier. What I thought was most interesting was the fact that the Iowa staff really didn't know where they were in this process. And throughout the process,

they were constantly worried that they weren't making up ground. So he said, for example, I felt good, pretty good about a month and a half, two months out. There were obviously some bumps in the road there. And Xavier is an incredible poker player because he doesn't give away anything. No tips to anybody, as well as his mom. Once we kind of got into it, me personally, I was really nervous when Notre Dame hired Marcus Freeman. I know they were really close. I thought we were right there at the finish line and crazy coaching changes take place. He did commit to our staff on Monday when they did an in-home visit. Our staff and Xavier and his parents are evil people. They told them not to tell me about it. So they made

me sweat it out for 48 more hours. I got tipped off on Wednesday by a couple of people. It made me feel pretty good. Poor Tyler. I'm shocked they wouldn't tell him. I think that's kind of hilarious, but it does kind of bode well with what we were hearing about Xavier and the fact that there were rumors out that maybe Notre Dame could have a shot with Marcus Freeman. When you think about it, there's a lot of crystal balls kind of coming in for Iowa for Xavier, but even me personally, it wasn't until he said, I'm going to Iowa and then signed the paper a couple of days later that I realized he actually is coming to Iowa. So pretty cool stuff all around. Talked a little bit about, and this is actually going to the Kirk Ferentz press conference. Kirk

talked a little bit about the quarterback situation and about whether or not he would explore the transfer portal. And he said, you never say never. I was just telling somebody the story about Brad Banks over the weekend. When Brad came here, we were looking to get a high school quarterback, and that was our goal, try to build with somebody who was going to be here for a longer period than a year or two years. So in a perfect world, I think that's how you want to build your roster, just in general circumstances. Now, what that means is if they feel like they have a weakness at the quarterback position, you better believe they're going to be looking at the transfer portal. The question is, do they feel like they have a weakness at the quarterback position? And by all accounts, I don't think they do. I truly believe they feel comfortable

with who they have in the quarterback room. They feel comfortable with Spencer Petras and or Alex Padilla. Now we're going to talk a little bit about that on tomorrow's show. There's some rumors that Spencer might not be available for the Citrus Bowl. So we're going to talk about what that means, but I truly don't feel like they think there's better option than the, than those guys in the transfer portal. Now, yes, there's plenty of options. You have a Bo Nix, right? Spencer Rattler just committed to South Carolina. You've got an Adrian Martinez. But they're looking for guys that fit their scheme and can come in and play right away.

You don't go get a transfer quarterback unless you think they can play right away. And by all accounts, Iowa's offense can be somewhat difficult to pick up. It puts a lot of emphasis on the quarterback to make pre-snap reads. It is a very pro-style offense. So you might sit there and on the quarterback to make pre-snap reads. It is a very pro-style offense. So you might sit there and say the quarterback doesn't do much for Iowa. They actually do a ton, and it does make it even more difficult to bring in a transfer quarterback. Now, also to be fair to these transfer portal quarterbacks, if you're looking at a spot, do you choose Iowa because you feel like they have all the pieces and you're the missing piece? Or do you go away from Iowa because you're concerned about how that offense is

generally ran? That's kind of tough as well. But I would be very shocked to see Iowa enter the transfer portal and try to find a quarterback. Most of the times, as they kind of alluded to, a lot of these power five guys already know where they're going before they enter the transfer portal. There's a lot of tampering going on. Iowa likes to stick with what they know, and it is going for those max schools, going for those smaller schools, potentially going the JUCO route. They've had a lot of success in both those areas when they've targeted specific positions. I just don't feel like quarterback is a position they are going to target. Now, Tyler talked a lot about some of the players, and I want to talk about those as well.

Cohen was a really interesting one. He said he's a big kid, all of 6'2", 205 pounds. He runs like the wind, great ball skills, really smart for a second-year football player, a football junkie. Now, this is important. Cohen Ettinger is a guy who has a lot of development left in him, an incredible athlete,

but grew up playing soccer, Very, very good at soccer. Kind of reminds me a little bit of the Kayvon Merriweather situation where Kayvon was a basketball player who started playing football. Phil Parker does a phenomenal job of finding these guys and turning these guys into big time players. Now, if you remember, Kayvon Merriweather came in at the same time Dallas Cradith did. Dallas Cradith was one of the top rated recruits in that class. Kayvon has overstepped him because Iowa saw the potential of Kayvon. Can that be the case for Cohen Entringer and who he's going to be going up against? Phil feels like he's going to be a really good fit. I thought this was an interesting story as well. He said, Tyler said about Cohen, he said that for some reason, Phil, the way we recruit, I think Phil tried to talk him out of

coming here just to see if he's a fit and what we're looking for. Now, I've talked a lot about Iowa's recruiting methodology. And the biggest thing I've kind of harped on is the fact that Iowa is open and honest throughout the process. They're going to tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. And if players don't like that, they don't want you. And I think it sounds like that's exactly what Phil did with Cohen. And Cohen chose to come to Iowa. Another player I want to talk about, Caleb Johnson.

This is a guy who I think could be a very interesting back for Iowa, a power back who has some speed with him as well. Tyler said about this on Caleb. He said, and Caleb, we offered Caleb when Coach Foster was here as our running back coach early on. You can't teach size. Caleb is 6'2", 225 pounds this past week on campus, and still got a 12-pack and a big kid. Very fluid on film.

Some of the stuff he does, he's extremely fast, really fluid for a big guy. Obviously can run through tackles and run through contact and is a good kid. When I was struggling with their offensive line, you need a guy like that who can force his way through, get a few extra yards. And there was a lot of big time programs kind of snooping around Caleb Johnson. I've talked about this running back position. It's clearly going to be Gavin and LaShawn Williams to try to win. In my opinion, I don't think Ivory Kelly Martin has separated himself in the four or five years he's been here. I think it'll be Gavin or LaShawn going into camp. But watch out for Jaz and Patterson and for Caleb Johnson.

Both of these kids could make an impact very early on. 6'2", 225 pounds. If he has good vision, that's the kind of thing you can't teach. That's a big-time running back. Iowa doesn't have a lot of guys like that coming into the program. So that'll be really interesting to see how that all plays out. And I wanted to add this one in on Caden Crawford. I've talked to Caden multiple times.

Caden, a phenomenal young man, really excited to see how his career plays out. But for Caden, he was kind of an interesting kid as well. He has a really good pedigree, right? So his sister is playing volleyball at Kansas, has some D1 blood in his family for football as well. Here's what they had to say about him though. He said he played with an extremely high motor. He's a tough kid. He's productive. He runs well. He's going to be a projection on the D line. The reason why is because he played quarterback and linebacker.

That's how athletic this kid is. He played quarterback and linebacker. He's going to be moving to the defensive line. But they said, we felt good about him. He was excited about us out of the gate. He kind of knew what we were about. He knew we had a history and success projecting kids and developing kids all across the D line.

He was the second guy to raise his hand and jump on board. We're pretty happy he stuck through everything and excited to get him here in January. Now with Caden Crawford, I've talked to him a lot of times. He is very excited to be an Iowa Hawkeye. And I think the projection thing really speaks volumes about how Iowa does a good job of finding the right fit. Look at what they did with Tyler Linderbaum,

moving him to center. He's now a first-round pick eventually. Noah Fant, people are looking at him as either a defensive end or a tight end. Iowa moved him to center. He's now a first round pick. Eventually Noah fan, people are looking at him as either defensive end or a tight end. I will move from the tight end. He becomes a first round pick. I mean, Robert gallery way, way, way back with a tight end. I will move from the tackle. He becomes almost knocked over a glass there. He becomes a first round pick, right? Iowa does a varied job, if not a better job than most schools at projecting kids out. And Caden Crawford realized that it is a tough transition going from quarterback and linebacker

to looking at the defensive line. It's what we saw Joe Evans do. So Caden, can Caden Crawford make that jump? I think he can. So did the Iowa Hawkeyes. And the last one on Aaron Graves, I thought this was just really funny and I wanted to share. He always wanted to be an Iowa Hawkeyes. And the last one on Aaron Graves, I thought this is just really funny and I wanted to share. He always wanted to be an Iowa Hawkeye and just based off his recruiting story, basically when he got offered, he said, how do I commit? And they said, just say, I want to commit. And he did the fact that he basically told his coach, don't let Iowa State come here. I don't care what they have to say. Here's what Tyler Barnes had to say about him though. He said, he's the epitome of an Iowa Hawkeye. We're obviously thrilled to get him here. It's nice to have a guy commit that early, probably the lowest maintenance recruit in the history of Iowa football. Didn't need much, didn't want much,

never post him on anything. Just kind of how he operated. I mean, if that is not an Iowa Hawkeye football player, I don't know what is. So really exciting stuff to get Aaron Graves in the building as well. Coming up, we're going to talk a little bit more about some of these superlatives. Who's the guy who could start early? Who's the guy to watch out for? Who's the guy people are sleeping on and they really shouldn't be? That is all coming up here in a few short moments. Before we get to that, though, you listen to podcasts for the power of knowledge.

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BetOnline is the fastest and the easiest way to bet on all your favorite sports. BetOnline.ag, where the game starts. So we've talked a little bit about this class. We've talked with Kirk Ferentz and Tyler Barnes and what they had to say. Now let's talk a little bit about a little bit about this class. We've talked with Kirk Ferentz and Tyler Barnes and what they had to say. Now let's talk a little bit about what to expect from this class. So I put together some superlatives and I'm trying to get a little bit outside the box here. The first one is who was the biggest sleeper in this class? And I gotta be honest, I think it's Jacob Bostic. Now, the reason why I say that you look at like Landon Van Kiekerix, and there is a lot of talk about him. The comparisons are just too obvious here, right? Very much like a Josie Jewell, a farm kid, a kid who wasn't getting a lot of looks, chose Iowa late in the process after Iowa gave him an offer,

there is a chance that Landon Van Kiekereks could be one of the best players in this class. But for me, a sleeper is a guy who people are not talking about at all, and that is Jacob Bostic. Here's the reason why. First of all, Jacob Bostic, a phenomenal athlete, had several high major football offers, and this wide receiver room is a bit limited there is an opportunity for the taking when you lose tyrone tracy you lose desmond houston you're potentially losing charlie jones right you lose uh quavon matthews there are not a lot of guys left in this wide receiver room there is an opportunity there for him to step up and take a role. Now, it is going to be tough because you still have Keegan Johnson, you have Arlen Bruce,

potentially Nico is still coming as far as we know, and potentially Charlie, but there is a chance to be fifth or sixth on that depth chart and really get an opportunity to play. Jacob Bostic, I would not count him out at all. Now, who was the first player to start? I think it's easily Drew Stevens. The kicker spot is up for grabs. Drew Stevens is the guy who's getting scholarship offers. That is not very common to get scholarship offers from Power 5 schools, yet Drew Stevens was. There were several Big Ten schools that wanted to flip Drew Stevens and said, we'll give you a scholarship offer if you commit right now. He was always loyal to Iowa. He believes he has an opportunity to come in here and win the spot immediately. He could be a four-year kicker for

the University of Iowa. I think Drew Stevens does start as a true freshman. The biggest surprise commit for me was Cohen Ettinger. We had no idea if he was going to join. Now, you could also look at Brian Allen as a surprise commit, but honestly, I just kind of got confused because I just literally kept jumping back and forth. You had no idea. But Cohen Ettinger was a huge get yesterday to be able to grab him. Again, a guy who, former soccer player, not that much experience in football.

His football recruiting experience really picked up as of late. We really thought he was leaning Wisconsin and ultimately chose Cohen. That was late in the game. That was last weekend where I feel like the flip started to happen. So really excited about that. Now, who are the guys who could challenge for playing time early? We talked a little bit about this earlier on the show. I think it was two days ago, but I think obviously Xavier has an opportunity,

especially if Dane Belton goes to the show. I think it was two days ago, but I think obviously Xavier has an opportunity, especially if Dane Belton goes to the NFL. I think regardless, we're going to see Xavier on special teams. Drew Stevens is a guy to watch out for. I think if Sam Laporta decides to leave, we could look at Addison Ostranga. We've seen this happen as well. Sam Laporta played as a true freshman when Iowa was very limited with what they had at the tight end position. Elijah Yelverton has struggled with injuries. Asai Maimon leaves the program. Luke Lachey, he's a guy who's going to be starting

if Sam Laporta leaves, but there's not a lot of depth behind them. Look for Addison or Cale as well to be guys who could potentially start. You don't typically see guys on the defensive line start as freshmen or play as freshmen, but I think you have to be at least on the lookout for Aaron Graves to get some playing time there as well. The running backs are definitely in a position to play early. So that's kind of my five for who is going to be playing early on. Again, we talked a lot about, there's a lot of cool, interesting players in this class. When you look at it across the line, I'm going to go through that list. I think it's important to at least

give everyone their shot. You got Xavier, Aaron Graves, Caleb Johnson, Carson May, Caden Crawford, TJ Hall, defensive back, Brian Allen, defensive lineman who just committed, Jacob Bostic, that wide receiver, Jazzy Patterson, running back out of Deerfield Beach, Florida. Cohen Entringer, again, an athlete who's going to be playing in that defensive backfield. Orlando Trader, a former Central Michigan commit at cornerback. Cale Vanderbush, a tight end out of Indiana. Cale Crow, an in-state Iowa offensive tackle.

You've got to love getting those Iowa kids. Jack Dotsler, a Wannakee, Wisconsin kid who was playing tackle as well. Six foot seven, 265 pounds. Addison Ostrenga, tight end, six foot five, 220 pounds. Jada Montgomery, a legacy linebacker recruit. Watch out for that kid as well. If he has anything like his dad, he is going to be a force for the Iowa Hawkeyes. And then Landon Van Kiekerix at linebacker as well this linebacker group is pretty darn loaded it's honestly I wish we get all these guys in the field because behind Jack and Seth and Justin we also got Jay Higgins as well a kid who I'm really excited about we have some other guys on that who are going to potentially be playing as long as they can get healthy as well but that

linebacker group is very strong and it's going to continue to get stronger. Iowa recruiting the guys that they want to recruit at that linebacker position. And that's what you love to see. Again, Iowa finishing with the top 25 class. You have to be excited about where Iowa finishes, regardless of how they started. You've got to be excited about this.

And let's see if the momentum can carry into 2023. I think it can. It starts with getting Kyler Casper. It ends with getting Caden Green and then rounding out that class with talented players across the state of Iowa. Several of those players, Iowa is high on

and they are high on Iowa as well. So let's see how that all plays out. Again, thank you all for tuning in. We will be back tomorrow giving you a little bit of a preview for men's basketball and talking about the Spencer Petras Citrus Bowl situation.

So stay tuned for that. And just a reminder that if you don't have an Iowa game to bet on but you want to make some bets, you don't know where to go, go to Locked on Bets podcast hosted by your boy Q and handicapping expert Lee Sterling of Paramount Sports. They do a phenomenal job of giving you three to four picks every single day that you can make bets on at betonline.ag,

so look out for that episode dropping every single morning. Again, thank you all for tuning in. Have a fantastic Thursday, and as always, Hawkeye Nation, let's go Hawks.