Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa football loses another top recruit plus former Hawkeye Jake Fisher joins the show!

Episode Date: July 16, 2021

The Iowa football team lost out on another top recruit so we break down what that means for the Hawkeyes and why it is not the end of the world. For the final two segments, we are joined by the newest member of the Locked On family., former Iowa Hawkeye walk-on Jake Fisher as he discusses his recruitment, why he left football, and what his future goals are.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.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.Made InGo to MadeInCookware.com/LockedON, and use promo code LockedON for 15% offyour first order. 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 Friday morning episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade. Excited to be back for another episode today. And on today's show, we have some more recruiting talk. Iowa lost out on a top running back prospect they were trying to get out of the state of Illinois.

We also have our newest member of the Lockdown family and former Iowa walk-on. We have Jake Fisher on the show today. Jake Fisher is going to be joining us as kind of an assistant, kind of a do-it-all type of person, helping out with social media, helping out with the audio-visual side as we move into YouTube, which we are moving into YouTube soon. He's going to be helping out with all that.

He's also going to be guest-starring on a few shows and potentially hosting a few shows if ever I'm on vacation and whatnot. So Jake Fisher is going to be on the show for the last two segments as he talks about his journey to the University of Iowa, why he committed to the University of Iowa as a preferred walk-on, and ultimately how his career ended. And then he gives some of his takes on this year's football team. That is all coming up on segment two and three.

Before we get to that, though, we've got to get into the recruiting talk. I saw, I heard, I agree, I understand. There's a lot of concern in Hawkeye Nation that though we got to get into the recruiting talk i saw i heard i agree i understand there's a lot of concern in hawkeye nation when we saw a running back prospect that had a crystal ball to iowa crystal ball six had a very good you know official visit aiden lowry a three-star running back recruit he commits to the university of illinois now the hits just seem like they keep coming for the iowa hawkeyes recruiting class of 2020 and i get it uh on the surface it looks rough right this is the third or fourth kid in a row who has had iowa in the top two and chose not to go to i, that's tough.

That's a tough pill to swallow. We have talked about this several times in the show, so I don't want to beat a dead horse necessarily, but I want to give you even another perspective. So on the show, I've talked a little bit about why I think this is concerning, the fact that Iowa has gotten into the top two and missed out so many times. I think a lot of you are probably feeling that. I don't need to go into the details of that, but I'm here to tell you it's not all bad. Again, the people we

do have in this class are very strong student athletes, and I'm very excited for them to play. There's only a few positions that we really need to fill, really need to fill. Obviously, we'd love to bring in a guy at each position, but there's only a few positions we really need to fill. Obviously we'd love to bring in a, you know, a guy at each position, but there's only a few positions we really need to fill. Iowa has some additional targets they can look at with COVID. There's always going to be, um, there's going to be a lot more under the radar guys this year than there has been in the past because we haven't gotten a ton of tape. We haven't had the opportunity to see those guys in camps. So there's going to be a few more hidden gems, but what I want, I want to tell you. And again, if you want to hear more about this, listen to pretty much any episode besides the Torrey Taylor interviews of the past week.

I've given you so many ideas or reasons why this class is not something to be concerned about. I've given you a bunch of different angles and perspectives. But what I want to talk about now is a different angle. And that is the top guys for the Iowa Hawkeyes and where they were in the recruiting class. I'm going to start with 2018. Actually, let's go to 2019. The 15th ranked player in the 2019 class was Sam Laporta. Charlie Jones was a two-star wide receiver from Buffalo who walked on to the University

of Iowa. wide receiver from Buffalo who walked on to the University of Iowa. 2018. Four of the five lowest ranked players are key contributors for the University of Iowa. We got Kayvon Merriweather, Seth Benton, Riley Moss, and Nico Regani. Riley Moss has been projected as a first team All-Big Ten guy. Seth Benton has gotten that love as well. Nico Regani has been productive for the last couple seasons. The seventh lowest was Terry Roberts,

a guy who is just biding his time until he can be the next breakout corner for the University of Iowa. Furthermore, Seth and Riley were both two stars. 2017, Jack Kerner was a walk-on. Joe Evans was a quarterback walk-on.

I think Joe Evans actually might have been in that 2018 class, so apologies there. 2016, Cole Banwert, a guy who went to the NFL, had a cup of tea there. The lowest-ranked player in that class. Torin Young, the third lowest. Christian Welch, the fourth lowest.

TJ Hawkinson, a top-10 NFL draft pick and the John Mackey Award winner, the fifth-lowest-rated recruit. 2015, Michael Ojemudia, the fourth lowest. He got drafted in the third round by the Denver Broncos. 2014, Ross Reynolds, the lowest. Josh Jackson, the second lowest. Ben Meeman, the fourth lowest.

In 2013, Akram Wadley, the lowest. I know we all have our thoughts on Akram Wadley, but from a pure football perspective, that's pretty ridiculous. Josie Jewell, the second lowest. He was going to go play D3 football. Matt Vandenberg, one of our special guests who is going to join us every single Monday this upcoming season, the third lowest. The reason why I'm telling you that is a lot of the top prospects have been recruited very heavily for the last couple of years.

There are not going to be, more than likely, no more potential four-star commits or highly rated three-star commits to the University of Iowa that they're not already targeting. That's a very important distinction here. We have Landon Livingston as a big-time offensive line target. He's a guy who's committing actually today. But I'm talking about guys who Iowa has not offered yet. There is not going to be a four-star recruit in that class. There's not going to be a five-star.

There's not going to be a high three-star. It is going to be under-the-radar guys that we probably haven't heard a lot about. It is going to be under the radar guys that we probably haven't heard a lot about. It's guys like Keith Moko from Newton, a cornerback prospect who I think could be pretty. I'm from Newton. I talked to some people in the town, and Keith is a guy to definitely watch out for. It's guys like that that are going to fill the back end of this class. It's not like Iowa is going to recruit a class of only eight people.

They're going to get 16, 17 people. And they're going to find those hidden gems, just like they did in the past years. They're going to find a TJ Hawkinson, right? They're going to find a Michael Ojemudia. They're going to find a Josie Jewell. Now, on top of that, this is sandwiched between two phenomenal, or sandwiched between a phenomenal class, two phenomenal classes, I should say, back to back.

This Iowa Hawkeye team is not left dead in the water. Honestly, you can go back and we can do another segment on this another time, but look at the highest rated recruits and what the success rate is there. It's not that much better than the lowest rated recruits. Trust the process. Trust the Iowa Hawkeye staff. Trust what they are doing with the class 2022. And I promise you, things will be better for this class.

That does do it for segment two or segment one, excuse me. Coming up on segment two, we are going to get into that conversation with Jake Fisher, our newest member of the Lockdown family. He is going to be joining us to talk about his Iowa recruitment, his Iowa career, and what he thinks about this football team. That's coming up on segment two and segment three. Before we get into that, though, I want to tell you about betonline.ag, the fastest and the easiest way to bet on all of your sports action.

Baseball season is in full swing, and also we have the NBA finals, so you can track all the action at betonline.ag. We'll be right back. head over to betonline.ag on your laptop or mobile device and sign up for a free account today. When you do that, use the promo code LOCKEDON, L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N, and you'll get a 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit. Betonline.ag, your online sportsbook experts. All right, y'all, we have a very special guest, and I say guest kind of loosely because we have Jake Fisher on the show today, and Jake Fisher is actually going to be joining the Locked On team. Jake, obviously very excited to have you on the show,

very excited to have you on the team. And we're going to use this time just to introduce you, really, to the people who listen to the show. So before we begin, how are you doing? It sounds like you're a little tired. Yeah, I'm doing great. Just had a couple long days at work, but other than that, I'm doing great. Love it, man.

And you are going into your sophomore year. So you joined the Iowa football team last year during a very unique time period going through COVID. What was that like? Just the whole aspect of playing football while basically on lockdown. Well, it was super weird, as you would probably imagine. In the fall, actually, I didn't even play because I had a torn labrum in my shoulder. So because of COVID protocols, I couldn't even go in the facility, even though I was completely signed and everything,

which was kind of weird, but I understood it. And then, so in the winter and spring sessions, that's when I joined and played. And it was just so weird with all the protocols and having to wear a mask while we practice and stuff like that. But, I mean, it was a super fun time and I really enjoyed it, but then another injury kind of kicked me out of that. So, yeah. Um, and that's actually what I wanted to talk to you a little bit about what was, what was the second injury and are you, um, do you feel like you're done playing football at this point? Yeah, I think I'm done playing football at this point. Um,

it was another shoulder injury as well. And then kind of a conglomeration of just kind of losing interest and stuff like that and family issues, school issues, things like that. But yeah, I mean, I think I'm pretty much done playing football. when you decided to join Iowa, you kind of went through an interesting recruiting experience. It sounds like you had some several D2 offers, but you got that preferred walk on opportunity to Iowa. Can you walk me through what was your recruiting experience like overall? And how easy was it to make the decision to go to Iowa initially? So initially, I talked to Iowa, probably the end of my junior year beginning the senior year for a little bit. And then it kind of went stagnant and more of the D2 schools and FCS schools like UNI started to pick up. And then I kind of decided I really wanted to go to a bigger D1 school if I did play football after going on those visits.

And ending my senior season of football, I didn't have an offer or a walk-on to go anywhere. So I just kind of figured I'd pack it up and that would be it for me. And then I think it was early December, so a little over a month, a little less than a month, I guess, after the season ended. LeVar Woods just came to my school randomly after school one day and said, hey, we want to invite you up to a bowl game practice and then I went up two days later on a Saturday and he invited me to become a walk-on the rest is history I guess so you basically already made the decision you're like if I'm not playing d1 football I'm not playing football at all yeah I mean I don't I don't want it to sound like something that's like um like I I felt like I was too good I don't think it's pretentious at all I just thought I thought it was really interesting yeah yeah I just I didn't want to sound like I was too good for it but at the same time I just like I knew for me personally for my like educational goals

as well I wanted to go to a big school no matter what and like I just couldn't see myself going to a smaller school because of that reason and especially being in Iowa which is my dream school I mean everything kind of fell into place, which made the decision super easy. Absolutely. And I do want to premise that with or preface that with when I was in high school, which is a lot longer, you know, a lot longer time ago than, than, you know, you were, but I had some offers for baseball and, but they were also small school offers. And my thought was, why am I doing this? Like, I, I don't, I'm not enjoying this enough to go play at a small school and do this. So definitely understand where you're coming from.

Obviously, wasn't talented enough to even have an opportunity to go play at a D1 school, which is definitely pretty cool. What position did you play in high school? It looked like you played quarterback, right? Yeah, I was quarterback my freshman through senior year in high school. And then I started defense actually only my freshman year and my senior year. So I kind of focused on quarterback, sophomore, junior year. And then, like I said, senior year, I decided to get back into it again.

And then I got recruited as a free safety. Yeah, was it a tough transition moving over to free safety at Iowa? Yeah, it really was. I mean, obviously there's no one better than Coach Parker. He's just an amazing coach. And I mean, all the coaching staff and assistants are just great. But I mean, personally, I kind of almost felt like I was my heart was being a quarterback. And with that, I feel like that kind of led to the decision as well to not play football. Yeah, makes sense. If you're not on it andene, it's going to be tough to get up and grind the way they're expecting you to grind every single day.

So definitely understand that. What was your welcome to college football moment? I mean, pretty much just the weight room stuff because that was our first like two three months for me in the winter conditioning but I mean once you get out for spring ball everyone looks way bigger with pads on everything's moving so much faster and I mean you got guys coming at you way faster than you think a six six three round guy can move and that that's just pretty scary I guess but I mean I think the welcome to college for one moment

really wasn't something that like like a big hit or anything like that it was more so just like seeing everyone that like I'd idolized on tv before and just like knowing those were my I think that was pretty cool yeah man um so who is who is one guy who runs the fast that you weren't expecting to or looks the biggest that you weren't expecting to look so big? Yeah, exactly. So so Jake, who is who is one guy who is the look the fastest or look the biggest that maybe you weren't expecting to? to um i would probably say jack campbell he's just he's just a monster and he's just he goes 110 every day and i mean i remember uh one practice he i mean we didn't even have pants on at this point and he we were just doing like a thud period and he went up to uh one of our running backs couldn't remember who it was that was running it and uh hit him

straight on and his whole entire face mask came off and his whole head was just bleeding and he didn't even care he just kept running that's uh that's the kind of stuff you're like man maybe maybe i'm not ready for this that's that's craziness all right man um and obviously this is an interesting time period for college athletics because name image likeness is allowed. People are allowed to benefit off their name image likeness. We haven't seen as much from the Iowa football team, which I guess could be expected. But I just want to get your thoughts on name image likeness. And if there are any discussions in the locker room, any discussions from your perspective of how that could impact you or other players?

First of all, I think it's awesome. I mean, I think it's only right that college athletes should be able to make money off of, like, their name and their brand that they're projecting and stuff like that. And, I mean, yeah, I think it's great. And I know a lot of guys were talking about it and, I mean, probably even more so than I heard. But, yeah, I mean, it's definitely going to be a good thing in the end just because of the fact that, like, it kind of – it allows for more brand growth for certain players,

which is really valuable, especially when you're looking to get into the pros and stuff like that. And, yeah, I just think it's going to be a good thing overall. Do you think it might help people make the decision to stay at Iowa longer? I think of like a TJ Hawkinson, right? He obviously being a top 10 pick is very tough to pass up, but if he could have made money in college, maybe he decides to stay. I want to get your thoughts on that.

Do you feel like this could potentially help keep players at the University of Iowa longer? I feel like it's going to be like a niche of players that would stay over going to the pros just because pro money is going to obviously be so much more. And it's going to be players that aren't like aren't necessarily going to be like high, high draft picks that aren't going to be getting like these giant million dollar, multi-million dollar contracts. But it's going to be those guys that are like well known around like Iowa and their schools and stuff like that that are going to have a lot of opportunities for that. But I mean,

yeah, it's going to, I feel like it's going to be a niche. It's not, I don't think it's going to distract people like Trevor Lawrence and people like that. Like they're, they're obviously ready for the road. All right, y'all, we're going to take a quick break from our conversation with Jake Fisher. I hope you are enjoying it as much as I did. Um, obviously I'm very excited to have him as part of the team. I do want to tell you, though, about rockauto.com because with the ever-increasing numbers of makes and models, it is now impossible for your local chain auto parts store to stock all the parts that you need.

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So go to built.com and use the promo code locked 15 L O C K E D one five, and you'll get 15% off your next order. Use the promo code locked 15 for 15% off at built.com. I feel like Trevor Lawrence was ready to be a pro at the age of 19, which is just absurd. Yeah. Yeah. Watching him,

uh, 11, whenever that was, that was, you could already tell he was going to be a good pro quarterback. Absolutely, man. Uh,

just, just insane to see his, um, his dominance at the position. So I just have a couple of questions left for you. Uh, just personal questions. What are you studying right now? And what are you you hoping to do long-term in your future?

So right now I'm studying human physiology pre-med and I'm thinking about getting a business minor in that because my ultimate goal is to become an orthopedic surgeon, kind of run my own practice and stuff like that. And so that's just kind of in the works right now, just trying to grind through my initial undergrad classes, and, yeah, just waiting to get on to medical school, that slow journey. Yeah, man, that's a long journey. That's an 8-, 10-, 12-year process by the end of the deal. Yeah.

Well, super exciting stuff there, and obviously you joined Locked On. Looking forward to having you here and helping out. I think we talked about it a little bit, but probably have you do some not only guest appearances, but also host some of your own shows as well. So the fans can have that to look forward to. Last question before we wrap up for today, who is one guy maybe on offense and one guy on defense

that Iowa fans should be should be watching out for that maybe they aren't thinking about right now underrated guys um I would say personally just from I mean I didn't get in a whole lot in spring ball I mean I was I was just a walk-on freshman but I would say personally just watching from guys that didn't really necessarily contribute last year on offense specifically Keegan Johnson and Arlen Bruce. I mean, both those guys, they're just going to be studs with the wide receiver position. And I feel like they're going to help a lot, probably even this year, too. And on defense, I would say Seth Benson.

He's just been I mean, he's been a really good linebacker leader out there. And I mean, Jack Campbell and him just make a really good combo. And I feel like a linebacker leader out there and I mean Jack Campbell and him just make a really good combo and I feel like a linebacker group is going to be a lot stronger than people think yeah man um so it sounds like the hype is real with Arlen and Keegan and then that linebacker group I've been I've been hyping it up a lot basically saying I feel like this could be the best trio of linebackers that Iowa has had in the last 10 years. And that includes the Josie Jewell, Bo Bowers, Ben Neiman trio. So, I mean, that's a, that's some hefty praise I've been laying on. It sounds like you would maybe agree to an extent with that.

I don't want to put words in your mouth, but it sounds like this, this trio of linebackers is a good one to look at. Yeah, they're definitely going to be a good group. I mean, it's going to be exciting to watch. And I mean, that Iowa defense, especially the secondary guys that I got to work with, I mean, they're just all so good. And especially all of them coming back from last year, I just feel like the defense is going to be a pretty hard group to, again,

not get 20 points on, 20, 25 points on in a game. Yeah, that secondary is exciting, man. Not often do you return one of the best secondaries in the nation in the entire secondary and add pieces like Xavier to that puzzle as well, which is going to be huge. I guess I actually have one last question. What are your – recruiting is a big topic, and when this show airs, it will be tomorrow morning. So I'll be talking a little bit about recruiting because Iowa's 2022 class, I think, has some people a little bit concerned. I wanted to get your thoughts on that. Have you been paying close attention to the 2022 recruiting class for Iowa at all?

I haven't been paying too close of attention to it. But, I mean, I feel like there's always, like, this kind of pattern every year where people get concerned about recruiting classes. And then a recruiting class that might not have been the most highly touted and um like high stark recruiting class ends up being one of the better ones and end up having two nfl stars come out of it so i mean i feel like you you got to put trust sometimes into like the coaching staff and just uh their development especially because that's one thing i noticed playing is that their development and the skills and methods that they use to develop you is just second to none. It's just crazy how, how much they know and they can turn pretty much dirt into gold. And it's just, it's, it's impressive. So, I mean,

the 22 recruiting class might not be the most highest, they might not have the most stars and stuff like that, but I mean, they're going to be developed into subs just like every other class class yeah man and you look at the even the roster breakdown I believe Seth Benton was a two-star recruit out of South Dakota or one of the Dakotas either one they both kind of suck to be honest but one of the Dakotas we have Jack Kerner who was a walk-on Riley Moss was a gray shirt who ended up starting his freshman year I mean across the across the board, you look at some of these players and you're like, they were not, they did not have high expectations. Heck even Tyler Goodson was pretty underrated coming out of high school and

he's been, been phenomenal. So couldn't, couldn't agree more, man. Any last words before we hop off to the show for the day? Not really just excited to get started on the podcast and see where this stuff goes. Love it, man. And where can folks follow you at? So I have Twitter. It's Jake F underscore one. That's that's just my main Twitter. And then I have an Instagram as well. I just changed the handle so I can't quite remember it. But those are about the only two social medias I use.

Oh, we have plenty of time to talk about your Instagram on future shows. You said main Twitter. Do you have a backup Twitter? Is that a thing? No, it's just like I don't really I don't really mess with Twitter a whole ton, but I just kind of scroll through it. But that's my Twitter pretty much. Yeah, that makes sense.

Sorry. I just like the semantics there. I was like, I had to ask the question. Well, Jake, appreciate having you on the show today. I know it's a bit early considering you've had some double shifts lately, but as always excited for you to join the team and really excited to get you on the show again. I know it's a bit early considering you've had some double shifts lately, but as always, excited for you to join the team and really excited to get you on the show again. Yeah, thank you.

All right, y'all. And that does do it for our show today. Make sure to go follow Jake Fisher on Twitter and on Instagram. Really excited to have him on the show. Hope you enjoyed the content. We'll be back on Monday and starting Monday, we are back five days a week. Every single day, we will have an episode dropping for you on the Lockdown On Hawkeyes podcast.

If you do not get enough Locked On content with our show, make sure to check out the Locked On Today podcast. Get all the sports news you need in under 20 minutes with the Locked On Today podcast. Host Peter Bukowski updates you on the latest news in every major sport with the help of our local experts. Follow the Locked On Today podcast on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast app. And that will do it for our show today. Please make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. If you like the show, give us that five-star review and subscribe wherever you downloaded the episode at.

And as always, Hawkeye Nation, have a fantastic Friday, an even better weekend, and let's go Hawks.