Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa football loses out on top transfer target Hunter Nourzad, what's next for o-line?

Episode Date: February 8, 2022

The Iowa football team struck out on their top transfer target yesterday as Cornell transfer Hunter Nourzad committed to Penn State. What does this mean for the Iowa Hawkeyes going forward and what does the potential offensive line rotation look like? We break that all down here before diving into the Iowa basketball schedule shuffling that is currently going on and how that impacts Fran McCaffery's squad.We wrap up with a preview of the NFL Draft prospects out of Iowa and where they currently rank according to the media.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. 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 Tuesday's 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, and on today's episode of the show, we talk about the transfer portal target that never became. He is going to Penn State. Hunter Norzad is no longer considering the Iowa Hawkeyes as he did commit to Penn State. What does that mean for this young Iowa offensive line?

We're going to be talking about that on today's show. Plus, the Iowa basketball schedule is likely changing. We're going to be talking about what that looks like and what it means for the Hawks. And then finally, what are some of the latest rumblings around the NFL draft? That's all coming up on today's episode of the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. Before we get to that, though, I first want to thank you all for making the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast your first listen every single day. You can find us wherever you get podcasts at and also on YouTube by searching Locked on Hawkeyes.

And today's episode is brought to you by BetOnline. BetOnline has you covered this season with more props, odds, and lines than ever before. BetOnline.net, where the game starts. So let's get into it. Hunter Norzad, the Cornell transfer, was formerly playing tackle. Was a very outstanding or very solid performer at Cornell. Entered the transfer portal, two years of eligibility left.

Wanted to play on the inside. Really narrowed it down to Iowa, Penn State, among other teams. And he chose Penn State. narrowed it down to Iowa, Penn State, among other teams, and he chose Penn State. This was a target that Iowa really needed to have to solidify this offensive line, in my opinion, so it's a big loss for the Iowa Hawkeyes not being able to land Hunter Norzad as a transfer portal target. What it means for Iowa going forward? Well, Iowa's going to have a very young offensive line.

If you consider who's played in the past, you have Mason Richmond, who's going to have a very young offensive line. If you consider who's played in the past, you have Mason Richman, who's going to be a redshirt sophomore. Justin Britt, a redshirt junior. Michael Moslinski, a redshirt freshman. Actually, let me back up. Don't count Mike yet. Mason, Justin, and Connor Colby, a true sophomore. Now, the other guys vying for those other two positions include Josh Volk, the young guy, Mike Modlinski, a redshirt freshman, Matt Fagan, who would be a redshirt senior,

Jack Plum, who's going to be a senior as well, David Davikoff, a redshirt freshman, Tyler Endres, I believe a redshirt sophomore, andikoff, a redshirt freshman. Tyler Endres, I believe a redshirt sophomore. And Bo Stevens, a redshirt freshman. This is going to be an incredibly young offensive line. So if you look back to last year, where Iowa had quite a few struggles, both because of talent and because of age, and because of injury, we could see something similar this year simply due to age. So when you hear Kirk Ferens talk about the fact they're not looking at anything different from an offensive perspective,

it kind of concerns you a little bit. This young offensive line is going to need to grow up in a hurry, or this offense is going to need to make some different changes to how this offense runs or to which quarterback they play. Now, Mason Richmond had some really bright spots last year. I expect him to develop. I expect him to be an above average tackle in the Big Ten next year. Justin Britt has always been a phenomenal run blocker.

Pass blocking has been up and down, but injuries has been his biggest issue. So if he can stay healthy, great. And Connor Colby, I thought, had a really impressive true freshman season last year. And he looked like a freshman. He didn't turn 19 until after the season. So his growth is going to be exponential this offseason. So those three I feel pretty okay about. I feel pretty good about them.

It's what happens for the other two spots. Iowa firmly believes in playing the five best offensive line. Ideally, you play guys who are really good fit at each of those spots, but Connor Colby came in as a guy people thought would be a tackle. They put him at guard because they needed someone there. So that means really at the other two spots you have, and lastly, let's look at the right guard, right tackle spot. You have David Davikoff, Tyler Endres, Bo Stevens, Jack Plum, and Nick DeYoung.

If I'm being completely honest, the jury has to be out on Nick DeYoung and Jack Plum at this point. We've seen plenty of snaps from them. They are older guys. I don't see it happening now if it hasn't happened already. I would love to be proved wrong here. But I think our better option is to go the David Davidoff route, our top recruit last year, Tyler Andrews, a former four-star recruit,

or Bo Stevens, a massive guy who's also a four-star recruit. Those three should really be battling it out, plus Josh Volk as well, an outstanding performer who we got in a recruiting class two years ago. Those four guys, in my opinion, should be battling it out for the right guard or right tackle spot with Connor Colby taking the other spot. At center, I think it'd be hard to not root for Michael Moselinski to take that spot. You also have to be wary about Matt Fagan.

It's also worth noting that Tyler Endres did take snaps there last year. He was taking snaps there during Iowa's bowl game prep. So Iowa just trying to find a way to get Tyler Enders on the field, trying to find a way to create depth at that center position. So be on the lookout for Michael Moslinski, potentially Tyler Enders, and also Matt Fagan, trying to battle for that center role. And then you have both Stevens, you have David Davikoff,

Tyler Endres, and potentially a Josh Volk looking at that right guard or right tackle spot with Connor Colby taking the other spot. So it'll be an interesting couple months. We better hope for some really good development from our offensive line because there is not a lot of room for error. It is going to be a very, very young offensive line. So they've got to grow quickly. Coming up on segment two, we're going to talk about the potential Iowa basketball change.

I say potential because it got released and then got changed, and now we're not entirely sure what exactly is happening yet. So we're going to talk about that all coming up on segment two. But first, I want to remind you that betonline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds, and lines than ever before. As football season continues its march to the playoffs and right into the big game this upcoming weekend, BetOnline.net remains the best spot for all your sports scores, podcasts, and news this season.

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than the Lockeddown NFL podcast. Lockdown Bengals and Lockdown Rams are also in LA all week covering the big game. So stay tuned to the Lockdown NFL podcast. Get all of your Super Bowl week coverage. It is going to be a phenomenal time. Lots of guys there on Radio Row. Let's get into it though. The Iowa basketball team, as we kind of let you know, last week we dropped that crossover

episode covering Iowa versus Ohio State. At that time, we weren't exactly sure if there was going to be a game, although it was pretty much assumed there wouldn't be because of weather. Ultimately, that game does get postponed. Iowa, that is their only game versus Ohio State this year. So the Big Ten trying to make it up, it gets a little bit more difficult as you get into February to try to make those games up, especially with pretty packed schedules around the board. So Iowa schedule right now is Maryland on Thursday, Nebraska on Sunday,

Michigan the following Thursday, as of right now Michigan State the following Monday on 222 Nebraska that Friday on 225 Northwestern on Monday 228 Michigan Thursday 33 and Illinois Sunday 36 going into the Big Ten tournament what it looks like they are trying to do is move up the Michigan game to 2-15, which would be on Tuesday.

It would be two days after the Nebraska game, which would in theory open up a slot for Ohio State on 2-17. If that is the case, that would be very, very difficult. But let's look at Michigan's schedule as well. They have Ohio State on 212. They would have only a two-day break before playing Iowa. Ohio State gets a very tough schedule. 212, Michigan, it'd be 215 versus Minnesota, 217 versus Iowa, 219 versus Indiana, and 224 at Illinois. So not exactly the best schedules for these three teams. Iowa and Ohio State clearly not getting the best output here. It would basically give them a day between Michigan and Ohio State.

They would basically play that game against Michigan. The next day, fly out to get ready for the Ohio State game. The following day, play Ohio State, fly back, and you have three days before you play Michigan State. So not ideal for Iowa. That schedule hasn't been officially announced, but there were some rumors rumbling around there. The schedule changes did happen on Michigan's website

to kind of prove that point. So definitely an interesting thing we'll be keeping a watch on. The big thing I'm concerned about is health. We've seen this Iowa team get banged up during stretches of play. We've seen this Iowa team have some injuries currently already with Connor McCaffrey. And Iowa does not have the ability to really lose any of their key players, right? If Keegan Murray goes down, that really hurts Iowa's chances of winning any of these games. And Iowa has to have a solid output the next nine games in order to go to the tournament.

Excuse me for my hair if you're watching the YouTube channel. Iowa's currently 15-7, and these next nine games, they should be favored in six of them. They should go six and three. I think five and four would work as well. You go five and four, you win one game in the Big Ten tournament. I think advanced metrics are good enough to get Iowa in, but ideally you go 6-3. You beat Maryland on the road, although it's very difficult to go on the road and beat anyone. You beat Nebraska. You beat Michigan,

who has been a struggling team this year. You beat Michigan State at home. You go on the road to Nebraska, you win. You beat Northwestern, and you probably lose to Ohio State, Michigan, and Illinois all on the road. Now again, if Iowa can win the games they're supposed to, they're in the tournament. At that point, you're looking at a 21-10 record, plus you win maybe one game in the Big Ten tournament. You're definitely in the NCAA tournament at this point. You go 5-4, which means you probably drop either the game at Maryland or versus Michigan State or versus Michigan. Not exactly a great look for the Hawks, but

I still think they can make it, especially with Virginia moving up to a quad one win for the Hawks. Obviously, we still need to be Indiana fans as well and Utah State fans. If all three of those teams can end on a good note, that would give Iowa three quad one wins, which would look good by committee measures. And again, statistically speaking, Iowa is doing a phenomenal job. I mean, when you look at their Kempom ranking, they are currently 21st in Ken Palm, which is pretty darn good.

When you look at their net ranking, I'm going to check right now because I haven't checked since yesterday, and obviously that can change a little bit. Let me pull that up for you. Iowa is currently at 22. All right, so 22. They have obviously the quad one wins, Virginia and potentially Utah State, potentially Indiana as well. Those three teams need to win for Iowa to continue moving up in that regard. But this is going to be a tough schedule. You have potentially

four games in seven days, fatigue, injuries. Those are a concern and your schedule just continually gets harder, right? Maryland on the road, not easy going to Nebraska. Very easy. Then you get Michigan. Then you get Ohio state.

That is not a very good gauntlet. If Iowa manages to go three and one of that stretch, I'm very happy. If that is ultimately the stretch that comes down. If somehow Iowa manages to go four and oh, we're looking at a team that I feel like I'm confident in could actually win more than a game in the NCAA tournament. There's a lot of talent on this team. With Keegan, Chris, Patrick McCaffrey coming along right now,

you have to think that Iowa eventually is going to figure out some of their shooting woes. Jordan Bohannon is not going to struggle the entire season. We're seeing Peyton Sanford get some more minutes. We saw Billy Turner do some interesting things with the lineups and how little he did some switching and whatnot towards the end of that

second half. Some of these things are all playing in Iowa's favor. Defensively, they're getting more aggressive. They're trying to put it together. There's some really interesting opportunities for Iowa coming up. As we get more information on that schedule change or that potential schedule change,

we'll make sure to break all that down right here for you at the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Coming up, I'm going to talk about the NFL draft. Where are some of our guys slated to go? Before we get to that though, this episode is brought to you by rockauto.com. With the ever increasing numbers of makes and models,

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Hawkeyes podcast, you know, I love the NFL draft. It is my favorite time of the year is my favorite thing to cover as well. I've been to the senior bowl several times. I try to cover all these, you know, cover the NFL draft as close as I possibly can. I would love to get to the combine, even though it's kind of a tough event for media members. I would love somehow to have access to the players after a pro day. So that's ultimately some of the goals I have. But the NFL draft is a huge, huge, huge thing for me. I absolutely love the NFL draft. And this year we have several players who are expected to be taken in the NFL draft.

And the first one to start off with is Tyler Linderbaum, who is going to go in the top 15. I'd be shocked if he doesn't. There are some limitations, according to NFL scouts, mostly size. We get to be very impressed with what he's bringing to the team at this point of that center position. Arguably could be the best center prospect to ever come out in the last probably 20 years. Dane Belton is another guy to watch out for.

Guy who kind of surprised me when he went out, but definitely generating some buzz and some love, but definitely an unexpected declaration by most draft sites. Most sites didn't even have him as a prospect because they weren't expecting him to actually declare. But Dane Belton, seeing kind of what's happened with Amani Hooker, seeing what's happened with Geno Stone, betting on himself to make a rotation. So we're going to talk about him as well.

Matt Hankins, a guy who has played at Iowa for five years, right? Has had a lot of opportunities in this Iowa offensive or offensive defensive lineup, excuse me, and has struggled with injuries a little bit, but overall has been a very outstanding player for the Hawks. We're going to talk about him and what his draft prospects look like. Zafran Valkenberg, former transfer from Hillsdale College, another guy to watch out for. My guess is probably an undrafted guy, but we're going to talk about him.

And then obviously you've got to talk about Tyler Goodson, our former star running back who has also declared for the NFL draft. Many people are wondering why would Tyler Goodson declare? Well, from a running back perspective, your shelf life is very short, and if you've kind of shown everything you need to show, might as well go for it. So all of these rankings that we're going to be telling you about are based off of, sorry, the draft network, TDN.

That's kind of my go-to for most draft content. They're the best, most comprehensive draft resource at this point in the game. So I want to talk about that, kind of give you some evals from those guys. So Tyler Linderbaum ranked 11th according to Draft Network, also ranked 9th according to PFF. They had a couple things to say about him. Mostly, when you can run the ball and stay involved in the screen game, Linderbaum allows you to execute calls that are unique based on the landmarks

you can ask him to hit relative to his peers at the position. I'd expect some level of growing pains early on, given his stature and reach and learning to apply those things at the NFL level. But I do think in time, this is a pro bowl caliber center who should serve as an offensive line keystone for several contracts. So obviously very highly regarded prospect for the, or from the Iowa Hawkeyes.

They project them again at that 11th best player. I've seen him go anywhere from top 10 to top 20. So really in that 10 to 20 range has been his range. Dane Belton ranked the 134th best prospect by the Draft Network. They had this to say about him. There's plenty to like in Belton's game so long as you don't charge him with being anything that he's not, such as a single high free safety or someone who plays a lot of man-to-man coverage in the slot. I'd look for Belton to get his name called as a special teams contributor and a sub package defender early on day three of the 2022 NFL draft. Now, this is really important when you look at a single high free safety

or somebody who plays a lot of man-to-man coverage in the slot. Dane Belton was not asked to really ever play that single high safety spot at Iowa. He did, however, have to play a lot of man coverage in that slot spot. I think what you have to like about Dane Belton is definitely the versatility, the willingness to play several different positions for the Iowa Hawkeyes, but testing is going to be huge here. From a man-to-man cover spot, he struggled a little bit in some of the later games,

but he played pretty well in most of his career. And obviously he's a younger guy, but testing is going to be huge here. Testing and weighing in. And also, where does the team really feel like he fits in at, right? Imani Hooker has really been playing that third safety spot early on in his career for the Titans. Could we see a similar thing for Dane Belton?

If a team thinks of him as a nickel corner, maybe it's a little bit different. Maybe they think of him as a safety. So for Dane Belton, it's really going to be down to what does a team envision him as, and that is going to be huge for his success. Matt Hankins is an interesting prospect, right? Because he got injured towards the end of the season, did not go to the Senior Bowl. We don't know if he got invited,

but I would assume he would have had an opportunity to. Also did not get invited to the Combine, so we heard, or so we've seen at least. But according to the Draft Network, he is ranked as the 141st best prospect according to the draft network their biggest issues are his profile how tall and lean he is but they said if you're comfortable with his physical profile and durability Hankins has tape that is easy to like he's instinctive and zone we've seen that he's done a really great job

of of stepping in and picking up balls But versatile enough to play man and disrupt in contact window or step down to attack the run, he's at the very least a strong candidate to serve in a prominent special teams role with the attitude and aggressiveness he plays the game with. We've seen Matt Hankins be more than willing to get involved in the run game, be willing to get involved with hitting guys and not just backing away as a cornerback. I've liked him in man most of the time outside of the game against Purdue,

but I think he was injured for part of that, which definitely hurt a little bit of that evaluation for him. But Matt Hankins, a guy who I think as long as he's healthy and runs a 4, 5, or lower 40, I think he could probably go in the fifth or sixth round and be a guy who ultimately starts for a team, depending on that scheme. Tyler Goodson is ranked the 193rd prospect, according to the Draft Network, 228th, according to PFF, a guy who I think, unless he runs like a 4-3-40, is probably going to go on

the fifth or sixth round and carve out a nice little niche for him at the NFL level. What they said at the Draft Network, I don't envision a full-time starting running back role for Goodson in the NFL barring injuries to the rest of the running back room, but his hands foot quickness and agility make him someone who has a lot to offer with the right complimentary pieces around him. Honestly, a very similar eval to Akram Wadley, but the issue with Akram Wadley tested like crap and did not have the best track record at Iowa.

Tyler Goodson was, as far as we know, always an upstanding individual, did a great job representing Iowa and also should test better. Seemingly has a significantly better work ethic. Also, they talked a little bit about his running discipline. I thought that was really interesting considering what we've seen Tyler

Goodson do. They said he does well when given lead blockers to put his head down and challenge the hole. Quick penetration in zone, however, can yield some really nifty cuts, but unproductive carries. Spending too much time dancing in the backfield and allowing defensive pursuit to close in around him.

I'd like to see a little more willingness to take the one or two yard gain and not try to pull rabbits out of the hats and lose yards now this is really important because we've seen the advanced metrics tyler goodson one of the worst in terms of losing yards but also one of the best in terms of getting big plays so kind of a boomer bus guy and we've seen at times in his career at iowa iowa willing to put in other running backs who are willing to just hit the hole and grab two or three yards and not just dance and cut around. And that has kind of been his main Achilles heel. You like when he can do things like he did against Maryland,

where he spins out of a tackle and gets several yards. But also, you hate when he loses yards because he's trying to get that big play. So definitely an interesting knock on him. And finally, with Zach Van Valkenburg, really a guy they look at as an undrafted free agent, and that wouldn't surprise me at all. But Jack Heflin was also an undrafted free agent, and look at him getting to play on the Packers. For Zach Van Valkenburg, they really said his ceiling may be hindered by a lack of high-level physical traits, and I'm not overly certain his floor is a safe one for a high projection either. There's a lot of needed development as a pass rush threat and he has yet to showcase polish

or a nose for finishing in this regard. Born in 1998, Valkenburg will also enter the NFL as an elder prospect, which will likely cut down on his appeal as a long-term investment. So basically 24, 25 coming into the NFL at this point. Zach Valkenburg, he'll catch on to a team. He's going to catch on as a backup defensive lineman. I almost have zero doubt about that, but not a guy who teams are going to be willing to take

later on in the day three of the draft. So that does do it for a little bit of a draft preview. As more things come out, as the combine happens, which will be coming up soon, as pro days happen, we'll be breaking down what all of that means for these guys' draft stock that will all be coming up right here in the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. We have a phenomenal guest joining us tomorrow,

a former Big Ten basketball player who's going to be talking about Iowa and what Iowa needs to do going forward the rest of the season, what he likes about Iowa, what he doesn't like about Iowa, and what his experiences have been playing at Iowa. And he's had some pretty good success. So we're going to be talking with him. That'll be dropping tomorrow for that episode, so make sure to be on the lookout for that.

As always, Hawkeye Nation, I appreciate you tuning in to today's episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. If you want some advice on how to bet on some of the games going on today, go to betonline.net. They got you covered. But go to Locked On Bets to get that advice, right? Locked On Bets, hosted by your boy Q and handicapping expert, Lee Serling. They break down three to four games every single day, so you can bet on those games

at betonline.net. Thank you all for tuning in to today's episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast, though. Have a fantastic Tuesday, and as always, Hawkeye Nation, let's go Hawks.