Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football Recruiting: How the Class of 2025 is shaping up for the Hawkeyes

Episode Date: July 3, 2024

Trent Condon is joined by Locked On's recruiting analyst Brian Smith in the latest Locked on Hawkeyes Podcast. Some thoughts on the newest Hawkeyes including Lucas Allgeyer, Mason Woods, CJ Bell, Came...ron Herron & Brad Fitzgibbon. Then a look at Hawkeye football recruiting at the wide receiver position including Terrance Smith. Finally some thoughts on Caitlin Clark and her struggles shooting the basketball in the WNBA from deep. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.eBay MotorsFrom brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. As playoffs wind down, the sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, FanDuel is hooking up ALL CUSTOMERS with a boost or a bonus, DAILY! That’s right, there’s something for everyone, every day, all summer long! Visit FANDUEL.COM/LOCKEDON and add a big win to your summer bucket list!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)

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Iowa football recruiting kicking off the 2025 campaign and a big week and a half for the Iowa Hawkeyes we talk about the newest prospects with our recruiting guy he is Brian Smith he joins us 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. I'm Trent Condon, and this is the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked on Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available wherever you find podcasts, and you can also watch us on YouTube. While you're there, make sure you hit the subscribe button.
Starting point is 00:00:46 Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Today's episode is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code LOCKDOWNCOLLEGE for $20 off. Your first purchase. Terms apply. Happy to be joined today by Brian Smith, our recruiting coordinator here on the Lockdown Network. And a lot to get into in the land of Hawkeyes before we talk about some of the recent commitments of the class of 2025. Getting ready for the 4th of July.
Starting point is 00:01:10 How you doing, Brian? Doing well, sir. How about yourself? Can't complain. Excited for the holiday. Radio station gave us Friday off, so excited about that. A four-day weekend coming up here. Can't complain.
Starting point is 00:01:21 We'll definitely take that one. And for you in your world, I don't want to say recruiting slows down because it never slows down, but is this a quieter time, not just for you, but just programs across the country? You had all those big June events. You're looking forward to 2025. Is this a time? Yeah, there's still commitments happening and the like, but at least it slows down a little bit. Yeah, this part is a little better. The new trend is at the end of the month, you got to take advantage between about the 10th of July and the 20th
Starting point is 00:01:52 because after that you have the dead period of lift. And then at the end of the month, I don't know, I assume Iowa does this too. They have those recruiting events where everybody shows up from USC to Miami, from Notre Dame to SMU, et cetera. Everybody's got those. And I got to try to cover that. But the commitments are the only other thing. So July is pretty slow.
Starting point is 00:02:11 Going to just kind of enjoy previewing the season, be like a normal person instead of driving around. So it is nice. Well, let's get into the latest commitments for the Iowa Hawkeyes. A bevy of different commits that they got after their big event that they had a couple weekends back now going back and want to kick things off with a St. Louis prospect. Now, St. Louis is an incredibly important territory for Iowa. I look back at some of the guys that they got a Marvin McNutt, Adrian Claiborne, St. Louis has been very fruitful for Iowa, but it's also changed and evolved after Missouri left for the SEC. very fruitful for Iowa, but it's also changed and evolved. After Missouri left for the SEC, that's really become SEC territory. A little bit more difficult to get prospects there, but they go out,
Starting point is 00:02:53 they have some legacy that goes along with it with Lucas Allgaier. His uncle played baseball at Iowa. His dad was a football player under Hayden Fry back in the day. So you have the bloodlines that go along with it. That certainly helps things. But before we get into him as a prospect, just St. Louis and a program like Iowa, they recruit obviously Chicago incredibly hard. They look across the Midwest landscape and trying to find those prospects and then pick and pluck in Texas and Florida and the like. But a place like St. Louis with Missouri seeming to be ascending, how important it is to keep that pipeline open for a program like Iowa where it's less than
Starting point is 00:03:23 four hours away? Well, I think it's important for the positions open for a program like Iowa, where it's less than four hours away? Well, I think it's important for the positions that it provides. I mean, it's the state that's pretty good all around, but like the wide receiver and DB spots, St. Louis, Kansas City, you know, and just random spots in the state has been pretty good. Uh, with their burden, I'm sure that Iowa fans would love to have him on their roster. Yeah in the country would. Yeah, I mean, he's a special player. But he was a St. Louis kid, and there are guys all over the country that are skill guys from just St. Louis in particular. Notre Dame's got a running back. There's some DBs at LSU and Notre Dame had, et cetera.
Starting point is 00:03:58 I mean, it's really good. So if Iowa doesn't get a few of those kids because in-state Iowa struggles, it's going to be harder where are you going to get them from you're going to pull them all out of Texas now that that's an SEC state as well I mean it's hard so yeah you got to get one or two kids a year I don't think it's out of the question it's not like it's far right so and not everybody just wants to go to Missouri so if you can find a couple of kids a year I think that would benefit your program absolutely Allgaier's an interesting prospect because I know different teams looked at him So if you can find a couple of kids a year, I think that would benefit your program. Absolutely.
Starting point is 00:04:29 All guys is an interesting prospect because I know different teams looked at him different ways, either a defensive tackle or an offensive tackle. And that kind of versatility, I think when you start and you're hearing college programs that like them on both sides, certainly gives you the idea. Athleticism, 6'6", 285 pounds already as a high school player. And when you watch the film of all guy what do you see long arms uh kid that really plays hard you can tell he's playing both ways because depending on where you are in his film he's gassed but he still tries as hard as he can but early in the games his defensive film's even better because he's not completely on the
Starting point is 00:05:01 field on every play that at that point so it's fun to watch him slant and try to get underneath somebody because he's so long. But if he gets his shoulder by, that is an aggressive football player. I tend to think he would be better as an offensive tackle, but it's just hard to find D-line. I mean, Iowa's not throwing out bags of cash for NIL, so I'm sure they'll try him at D-line first to see where it goes, but he's got such length.
Starting point is 00:05:25 I can see him being an offensive tackle for the Hawkeyes in a second. And that's where Iowa certainly likes him, and they need tackles. That's a position that's been frustrating here recently for Iowa football. And you think of Tristan Wirfs and going back in the data, Robert Gallery, and we could go on and on and on. The tackle spot has been a weak point over the last four or five years, and even this season it looks like they're going to go back with Mason Richmond, who when he plays in the league, he's going to be a guard. He's not going to be a tackle, but that's just the way that things have
Starting point is 00:05:52 played out. Let's get into another prospect here. Let's go to Mason Woods, the son of LeVar Woods, the special teams coordinator for the Hawkeyes plays in Iowa City at Iowa City West. A athlete is what he's listed at 619'19". Some people think that tight end maybe be the position. Seems a little bit short to me to be a tight end. I wonder, he's got pretty good speed. Now, if you don't supersize him, if suddenly wide receiver could be a spot, we'll get into wide receiver talk a little bit later with the Hawkeye program. But what do you see with Mason Woods, a guy that defensively I didn't exactly love, seemed to shy away from contact a little bit. What do you see with Mason Woods? I've seen him at 220 pounds now on another site,
Starting point is 00:06:30 so I hope that's more accurate. But I see a big receiver slash H-back guy. I think he's offense as well. Catches the ball naturally away from his body. I think it's a pretty easy pick to leave him on offense. I think you could even use him at running back in certain situations if he's an H-back, throw the ball to him, put him in situations that they're playing man, just a linebacker going to stay with him. And he's got some pretty good speed and ability to make guys miss. This just in, Iowa is not exactly dominant in the passing game. Any time you have a kid locally and his dad's on staff,
Starting point is 00:07:02 I mean, you've got to take the kid, and he's one of the better athletes in the state of Iowa. They've got a good player here. You you got to take the kid and he's one of the better athletes in state iowa they got a good player here this you got to take the previews man this is the biggest layup they're ever going to get you know he lives in iowa city his dad's obviously hog eyes so you have to be happy if you lost this kid there would have been more talk about it you know it's just it wouldn't have went very well. I'm sure. Well, and there's kind of there, Brian, there's more of a backstory to that too, because LeVar Woods interviewed for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers special teams
Starting point is 00:07:31 coordinator job. And they also need a, what did they call it? Basically is that a head coach in waiting? They didn't use that terminology, but the assistant head coach they gave to Seth Wallace, who is a linebacker coach and the heir apparent to Phil Parker. And now maybe he might be the hand-picked successor, if you will. People read in between the lines and maybe LeVar wasn't exactly pleased about that. But again, that's all speculation. One more prospect here that I want to
Starting point is 00:07:58 get into before our first break, and that is Cameron Heron from the Indianapolis area. Your area, Indianapolis there, and Heron, a guy, interior offensive lineman, 6'2.5", 275, a decent offer list. And just one of the guys, Justin Brint is a recent guy from Indianapolis, interior offensive lineman that people are equating to. What do you see with Heron? Athletic. He plays at Warren Central. It's probably the most dominant program in the state, basketball, football, and everything else.
Starting point is 00:08:25 It's always good. It has been forever. And this is so different this year because he's a power player, and I think he has the ability to make plays whether he's pulling, whether he's going downhill. But then the funny thing, one of the best plays on the film, the quarterback threw a pick, and he's not going to outrun a receiver, but like he almost caught the guy. He's a big boy. And like the kid, he was running.
Starting point is 00:08:50 They'd have never let him live it down if he'd have caught him. He's a hundred pounds less. It was really close at the goal line. I'm like, okay, this kid plays hard. He could run in the open field. He's physical. Yeah. I can see it. The question I have is will they move him to center? Cause like you said, he's six, two and a half, six, three, something like that. And he plays left guard for central. But I could see him being the starting center for the Hawkeyes somewhere down the road. That'd be a good one in center,
Starting point is 00:09:12 an important position for everyone in certainly Iowa. A lot of good ones throughout the years. We continue here, Lockdown Hawkeyes, including a couple more prospects we're going to talk about, including maybe my favorite player in this class. I think there is a consummate Hawkeye in this class. We'll talk about him, CJ Bell and Brad Fitzgibbon. Plus what's going on with Iowa receiving recruiting. We'll get into that with Brian as we continue. This is the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Today's episode of Lockdown Hawkeyes is brought to you by the GameTime app.
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Starting point is 00:10:28 Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code LOCKDOWNCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code LOCKDOWNCOLLEGE, L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N-C-O-L-L-E-G-E, for $20 off. Download GameTime today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Trent Conant alongside Brian Smith back with you once again on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day.
Starting point is 00:11:00 All right, two more prospects here of the recent commits in the class of 2025. I mentioned Brian, one of my favorite guys, Brad Fitzgibbon. We'll get into him momentarily. This one, C.J. Bell. He's a defensive back that Phil Parker wanted. I don't care where they're ranked. I don't care where they're from. This one's from Massachusetts. It doesn't matter. I've come to the point now after watching this for 25 years, if Phil Parker wants a defensive back, you tip your ball cap and say, I don't even need to watch the film. He wants them. He's going to be good. His film is pretty good too. It's technically sound. He plays at one of the better prep schools up in the Northeast. Can play bump coverage,
Starting point is 00:11:35 can play off, but most importantly, he's physical and he'll tackle. I think Iowa does as good a job with open field tackling as any program in college football. This kid's, again, he's at a program where it matters, but he's consistent with it. Like in most DBs, let's be honest. Out of the high school ranks, they're a little iffy when it comes to bringing guys down on a buck sweep or a screen play and they got to go around a guard. You know, this kid figures it out. He's pretty physical. He gets downhill and he's got long arms. He's over six foot.
Starting point is 00:12:10 Parker, you know, you're right about figuring out DB in general too. So you combine the film with his heritage, kind of hard to go against this one. This might end up being the best player in the class. Final guy in the newest commits for the class of 2025, Brad Fitzgibbon. Now this is one, I just watched him play, watch the film, just look at him. He just seems like an Iowa guy, right? He seems to have all the intangibles that you're looking for coupled with a nice recruiting list, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Kansas, Iowa State, Vandy, K-State. You're beating programs like that. That's a pretty good start for where the waters that Iowa recruits in. And he just, he seems like that guy. What did you see from him when you watched film on Brad Fitzgibbonbon i thought he was a better athlete than what i anticipated i i'm surprised
Starting point is 00:12:49 he didn't have a few more offers to be honest a little higher level he's got size he's at least six three and i think he's i mean he could move him to o-line if you want because he's a good athlete but this kid's gonna stay on the d-line in my opinion and you never have enough three techs you gotta have guys that are inside that could kind of muck it up, if you will. And he's that guy. He can slant and get in the backfield, too. I think there's a chance this kid could be a starter at Iowa. He's not just a throw-in recruit or anything like that. I think a few guys kind of missed the boat, which is surprising because he's from Chicago. I thought he would have more offers than that. I know Notre Dame and a few other schools were kicking the tires on him, too. So it's hard to say what it was, but Iowa got a good player, man. Probably a chance to play as a
Starting point is 00:13:28 redshirt freshman because he's naturally big enough already. It's just, you know, adjusting to college, but after a year, I bet he plays quite a bit. Like him a lot. And I think he's going to be a guy that's rotation. And you know, when we talk about NIL and getting into the recruiting game, you saw what it was this offseason with the transfer portal. Everybody in the country seemed like they wanted another defensive tackle, and the prices went through the roof, even for guys that weren't really productive, even at the mid-major level, and what they went for.
Starting point is 00:13:54 You get a defensive tackle like this, a guy that can be a guy that you build up for a year and in there, be rotational maybe as a redshirt freshman, and then maybe be a three-year starter after that. You get something like that, a defensive tackle, you're in great shape. That's all I can say is, you know, get the guys like this that you don't have to pay. They're bought into your program. They've got upside.
Starting point is 00:14:13 And then, of course, Iowa is known defensively. They do as well as anybody. Like the guy that was a sack leader for Iowa last year was a walk-on from Ames, Iowa when he came out of high school. You're going to recruit it. So I think they figured out development in Iowa City. So they got a bigger piece of clay to work with here too. He's 280 pounds.
Starting point is 00:14:31 Brian, I want to wrap up with you and talk a little bit about roster construction, roster management. It's such an important part of what's happening in today's age of college football. Obviously, what's happening in the landscape with the portal, having to have the ability to kind of have that flexibility in your roster. Before we get into wide receiver recruiting, we'll talk about that momentarily, just constructing a roster, how much different it was than it was even say three years ago and trying to put this thing together, piece it together and keeping scholarships available
Starting point is 00:14:59 when the portal opens up again. Well, I think it's one of those things where you've got to constantly ask the kids on your roster, even when they're in the weight room, privately. You've got to have an assessment. Hey, is this kid going to be here beyond this year? And I know coaches don't like dealing with that stuff. That's why a lot of college coaches are moving on. But you've got to recruit your own roster 24-7. And if you don't, you end up looking at the portal
Starting point is 00:15:24 for all the wrong reasons. Iowa's probably taking more culture kids. It's not as big a deal there, but you still got to take some. And receiver in particular, we'll talk about that in a second. You've got to find a way to get a few more guys out of the high school ranks there, but you've got to hit a guy or two at a special spot. A guy gets injured, a guy turns pro early. Even LSU, they lost two d tackles of the draft a
Starting point is 00:15:45 year early they're in trouble every it happens to anybody so you got to know when to use it but you also got to plan for it to a certain degree um i think iowa staff overall is in probably a better spot than most i know they'd like to have another offensive tackle but so would everybody else it's it's just so hard everybody i talk, they're scared to death of the portal, and it changes how they talk to kids and everything else. It's a fine line because there's not a lot of data yet on the best way to do it. It's only been open for a few years. I still think Iowa's culture, the way they recruit,
Starting point is 00:16:19 they're going to have a smaller problem child list than a lot of other schools like in the SEC. They kind of gamble a little bit more on the culture, but they get more talent. So it depends on what you do. I like Iowa's style better, especially if I was coaching. It'd be a lot better if I was at Iowa. I don't think anybody on the Iowa staff would disagree with that. Well, you mentioned wide receiver, and it's so important.
Starting point is 00:16:41 We see the hopeful evolution of the Iowa offense this year. Tim Lester coming in to run the offense. We heard a lot in spring about just how much better it was even implementing a new system. A lot of motion, a lot of shifts, taking where he was a year ago in the LaFleur off the shade of hand tree and what they do offensively. A lot of motion and just trying to change the eyes of things
Starting point is 00:17:01 while still maintaining what Iowa football is. But wide receiver's been an issue. And though they've had recent success, you look at a guy like a Brandon Smith, Amir Smith-Marset, they had a couple of years back, both those guys bounced around the league. Amir Smith-Marset still in the NFL. It hasn't been great lately. And you look at the roster construction,
Starting point is 00:17:19 they don't have many wide receivers in comparison to their Big Ten brethren, just in terms of scholarship players. And they're really only, at least on the surface recruiting one wide receiver in this class. And it's Terrence Smith. Let's first talk about Terrence Smith before we got to get into that roster construction part. I know we've talked about him in the past, 6'4", 185. I like the film. You can see X receiver. Okay. Makes a ton of sense right now. It looks like it's Iowa and Minnesota vying for his services. And you talk about two programs that recruit differently. That's what you get there with Phil Fleck on one side and Kirk Ferentz on the other, two completely different philosophies of how they recruit. What do you think of as a prospect
Starting point is 00:17:55 though, about Terrence Smith? The height, man, if you're going to get just one or two guys, you need to get one that's big enough to play boundary if he has to, but he could probably play flanker too. So if you get guys like that and you're going to throw play action, which that's Iowa's game, you need a big bodied receiver that can get down the field. They still need to get a slot or somebody like that. That's dynamic. That's the bottom line. And that's where Iowa struggles. They don't have enough guys that make you miss after the play. So, but if you got a guy like that, then it makes your six, four receiver even better because you've got to put more single coverage on him,
Starting point is 00:18:27 et cetera. I'd love to see what he would do if Iowa had a full contingent of receivers that could rotate guys in. I don't understand why they're not recruiting five receivers in this class. Yeah. It's, it's baffling.
Starting point is 00:18:40 I don't understand it. Now they've hit the portal. They got Caleb Brown out of Ohio state. He definitely was a big time impact player player at the back half of last year. He was great in high school. He was great. And, yeah, a running back that's still transitioning and kind of understanding all the intricacies of the wide receiver position.
Starting point is 00:18:54 They got Seth Anderson last year. Flipper Anderson's son had the touchdown on the second play of the year and then since then really wasn't seen. They're hopeful for them. They got Jacob Gill from Northwestern. But maybe that's the thought process too, knowing that high school prospects probably right now until they prove it are not going to be really receptive to coming to play wide receiver at Iowa.
Starting point is 00:19:13 Maybe you can have a little more success with wide receiver in the portal, and that's the idea. So maybe that goes hand-in-hand here where they just understand the reality. We're not going to get many guys out of the high school ranks right now until we can show we can actually throw the football around. If that's the attitude, it's still the fetus. Like you got to get somebody that could play it as an athlete. You bring kids in, they can play corner receiver, running back.
Starting point is 00:19:36 Okay. You're going to get a shot at one of these spots. If you don't want, you know, if you need to know exactly what it is, you're not for us. There are kids out there like that. So I still have a hard time. there are some kids if nothing else that are 5 11 170 they're in florida that like the big three aren't going to take you're telling me you can't get any of the 50 kids like that in the state of florida right i'm sorry so i i disagree but whatever if that's what they think uh good luck to them because you've got to be able to throw the ball, man. Yeah, that roster construction, putting it together, that's the other component to this too,
Starting point is 00:20:11 was listening to one of the recruiting guys here in the state of Iowa earlier in the week, and they mentioned they're normally, for a long time, it's been they'll take 20, 21, 22 prospects, something like that. It's not like the SEC where they're bringing in 30, 35 guys every year. But because of NIL, because of what's happening in course with the transfer portal, you have to keep those scholarships open. And how much more difficult is this now for the recruiting coordinator? And if you have a quote-unquote GM of figuring out high school level
Starting point is 00:20:41 and a program certainly like Iowa, we love the developmental part of this program, developing these guys, building it up, but you got to fill in the gaps. And that means you got to hold back on some of the scholarships. It is a fine line. I've had that conversation with a bunch of people, Trent, and it's every program is a little different. Georgia's not worried about it as much.
Starting point is 00:21:00 You know, I mean, they just recruit their backyard for the most part and they're getting elite players. So if you have a bigger prospect pool within 150 miles of your campus, that's one thing. Iowa, I think they've got to be more aggressive in the portal, which means NIL's got to come into play, which I know that's not a friendly word where you're at. But if they want to take an ascension up another step of the ladder, that's there is no shortcut there. Yeah, because they're not going to get the kids in the southeast that D-line and stuff better by once.
Starting point is 00:21:29 So got to hit the portal a little bit. I'm surprised they don't take a Juco kid once in a while, a D-tackle or corner or something. You don't want a year. And then, like you said, you got to leave it open that you know every year you're looking for a tackle, a defensive tackle, a position like that, or premium guy. And if they could, for the love of mankind,
Starting point is 00:21:46 if they could get a top-notch quarterback to come, I bet you some of the receivers would come too. Like those guys all talk to each other. They all know each other. This stuff, well, I'm going into the four. They already know where they're going for the most part. I always got to be aggressive with that too, just like everybody else. Reaching out, finding those guys.
Starting point is 00:22:02 With that, Brian, appreciate your time as always, you have a good 4th of July. We'll talk to you again here real soon as we get some more commitments and start to see these guys out there for the senior season for them coming up in 2024. Appreciate your time as always, Brian. Thank you, sir. Take care. That's Brian Smith, our recruiting coordinator here
Starting point is 00:22:20 on Locked On across the network. Does great work for us, helping us out talking a lot of Iowa and of course, across the whole landscape. We continue here, Locked On across the network. Does great work for us, helping us out, talking a lot of Iowa and, of course, across the whole landscape. We continue here, Locked On Hawkeyes, and the struggles continue for Kaitlin Clark. She had a double-double, but there's a little bit more. We'll talk about that as we continue. This is Locked On Hawkeyes.
Starting point is 00:23:05 Trent Conant back with you one final time on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thank you. to Locked On Sports Today. It's a free 24-7 sports streaming channel programmed for you every day to bring you the biggest stories without all that screaming. Locked On Sports Today brings you can't-miss analysis, opinions, and news streaming 24-7 on YouTube or on the free Amazon Fire TV channels app. All part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.
Starting point is 00:23:21 Well, last night, it did not go well in the fourth quarter for the Indiana Fever and Kaitlyn Clark as they fall to Kate Martin and the Las Vegas Aces. Now, this doesn't come as a surprise since Vegas has been healthy. They have been a completely different team and not the same team. This is a defending champion and Chelsea Gray is impactful. But we see the continued struggles by Kaitlyn Clark, not in the floor game, though the turnovers still are a problem. Six turnovers again last night.
Starting point is 00:23:52 But it's the shooting the basketball, going one of seven from three. It's just so unlike what we've seen from Kaitlyn Clark. We know the defense is better. We know the physicality is better. And overall, the numbers point to her having a very successful rookie campaign in the WNBA. And there's no doubt about it, but I'm just surprised that the shooting has been this much of an issue. You're shooting 33% from three. That's okay.
Starting point is 00:24:14 In fact, in the WNBA, that's better than okay. And you look at some of the shooting percentages from the top players, but the up and down nature of this, you know, things have maybe evened out a little bit in terms of the extra that has been out there, the voices, the people that are looking and making this about race, making this about culture, making this about so many different avenues, sexual orientation. These are all things that are components of the WNBA. And though I knew about it, I never seen it because I haven't followed it like I have this season.
Starting point is 00:24:45 And Caitlin being able to put that aside. Now, you watch last night, you watch Kelsey Gray. No, you watch Kelsey Plum, excuse me. And she's knocking down shots from all over the place. Okay, that's going to happen. She's not big. She's 5'8". But look at the way that she has developed and look at her physically.
Starting point is 00:25:03 And we saw lots of pictures and video of her when Caitlin Clark was breaking her scoring record this past season. And we saw a ton of her. She is a completely different player physically than she was as a collegiate player at Washington. And that's, what's going to have to happen for Caitlin Clark, the ability to add muscle to that frame to get 15,
Starting point is 00:25:23 maybe 20 pounds stronger is going to be a part for Kaitlyn Clark. If she can do that, she's going to be fine. And she's going to be fine regardless. She's still going to be a great player. She's still an all-star. And this isn't to deride or say that this has been an awful freshman campaign
Starting point is 00:25:36 because that's not right. But they need more from her. Because Indiana Fever team is not well-constructed. They're not well-coached. But they need her to be an A number one. I think she'll get there. I think she will get to that point eventually.
Starting point is 00:25:52 But the up-and-down nature of this has been, I guess, a little bit surprising. I didn't think it was going to be easy. I knew it was going to be difficult. Maybe just not as difficult as it's proven to be. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We got Tom Caker coming up later in the week. Speaking of recruiting, the recruiting guy over at On3 and running things at hawkeyereport.com.
Starting point is 00:26:13 Excited to talk with Tom Caker. A whole lot more coming your way as we make you, take you through the 4th of July holiday. Your team every day. We got you covered here on the Hawkeye front. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Talk to you again tomorrow. Go Hawks.

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