Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football Spring Open Practice Recap

Episode Date: April 24, 2023

Trent Condon returns after the Iowa football open practice with some thoughts on each of the position groups and optimism going into the offseason.A look at Cade McNamara going through 7 on 7s and the emergence of Deacon Hill as the number 2 quarterback.The running backs and tight ends look stacked.How much better will the offensive line be?Wide receivers continue to be a question and Iowa needs to attack the transfer portal at that position.Defense is elite and is special teams.Plus, the baseball team sweeps the Huskers.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 “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)HelloFreshSkip trips to the grocery store and count on HelloFresh to make home cooking easy, fun, AND affordable – that’s why it’s America’s #1 meal kit! Go to HelloFresh dot com slash college60 and use code college60 for 60% off plus free shipping! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We have football to talk about. Fresh off the final spring practice, we break things down, what we saw on the field, optimism going into the summer. Today on Locked on Hawkeyes. Our Locked on Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network,

your team every day. Hey, welcome in. 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 get podcasts and you can also find us on YouTube. While you're there, hit that subscribe button. Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, official sportsbook of Locked On.

Make every moment more. Visit FanDuel.com slash Locked On. Make every moment more. Visit fanduel.com slash locked on today to get started. Well, Saturday, we had an opportunity for the first and only time to see the football team out on the field at Kinnick Stadium before we get to September. And of course, what we're going to see as they begin anew with the 2023 football season. Plenty of things to be optimistic about, a lot of positives to take away, and that's where we're going to be certainly searching today, looking for some of those good stories that pop up,

and I think there were plenty of them to be excited about as a Hawkeye fan. Just going to run through something here and break down exactly what we saw, some of the news and notes that come out of this, and we're going to kick things off at the offense, and we're going to start at the top spot. That's, of course, at quarterback. And, you know, there's so much to be said just about Cade McNamara. And there's been a couple of times here throughout this spring, and going back to when he made his commitment back in December, where he wanted to slow the roll a little bit about

the excitement factor, just because C Kate McNamara, you know, he's not a guy that's going to come in and suddenly throw for 4,000 yards and 32 touchdowns or something like that. That's just not the way that I was built. And that's not the way that he is as a quarterback. But when you look at what he was, his statistical profile, he's just smart. You know, he's just a guy that understands the game. And I think that's a huge component here. Not just what he's going to be able to install, what he's going to be able to do, but just his knowledge and his ability to come right away and become the leader that Iowa's needed. Ben, the guy that people believe in, not just because he's a good guy, but also because he's a good quarterback.

And the command that he already has from this Iowa football team. It's a huge upgrade at the position. McNamara coming in, taking over for Spencer Petras. I don't think we can even tangibly talk about how statistically how much better he is going to be. Spencer Petras had a lot of limitations. He could throw the ball, but physically he just was not able to move at all. That's not to say that Cade McNamara is going to be out there and he's going to be Michael Vick reincarnated. That's not what he is either. But he has, at minimum, an ability to move around.

And we'll see coming off that injury how much that is going to impact what he is as a runner, but even a guy that can tuck it and pick up third down and four. He's back there. Nobody's open. He's able to break it down, get the first down. The scrambling ability that he has is going to be a huge upgrade from the statuesque quarterback that Iowa's had there over the last three seasons.

That is a huge, huge upgrade there. Also, what he does, just completion-wise, percentage-wise, and it's one of the simplest things, but it is such an important thing. The makeable throws, and how many times over the last three years do we talk about those makeable plays? Iowa already has enough negatives against them offensively already has enough that

kind of puts them behind the eight ball way they're built the way that they do things and when the makeables are there you have to be able to complete those plays Cade McNamara will be able to do that we only got to see him in the seven on sevens but you saw what an upgrade he is going to be, what a huge difference Baker he has a potential to be for this offense this year. And that's where you certainly get excited. The backup spots, and when they tried it out

for the first time, when they went into 11-11s, it was not Joey Labus coming in and taking the opening snaps. It was Deacon Hill, the transfer from Wisconsin. Saw a little bit of action with the Badgers during his first couple of campaigns there played against New Mexico State I know it was one of the times that he was out there he's a big dude he is thick and he has uh maybe a little bit more work that he needs to do cut down a few of those LBs and get into the shape that they want well we do know he can throw it a country mile he's got got a huge arm, a cannon out there. And I think there's a skill set that you can be excited about for Deacon Hill.

After the game, Kirk Ferentz mentioned that if we went into the season, he would be right now the number two. And then an open competition will be him and Labus. We'll get to see Lyon as also come in the true freshman from New Jersey. That'll make his way to campus in June. And he'll be able to go out there and go through much of the summer practice and, of course, get ready for August camp. But that's a huge component there.

I mean, just the depth chart that they have right now, the guys in the room along with the guys coming get you excited at that quarterback position and just what an upgrade that it is. Moving from quarterback, and that's a huge part of this, and McNamara is going to make a monster difference of what this team is offensively this year. Let's go next to running back.

If you remember back a year ago during spring practice, there were times they just had two running backs out there. We saw Caleb Johnson. He was a relevation last year. For an offense that couldn't do anything, that couldn't block anybody, he was still out there making plays. Now, not as many plays as you want to see

and how many times has he cut down before he could even get going. But he's as big of a difference maker as I was had in quite a while. I mean, you throw some of the great names at the running back position. I believe Caleb Johnson has that ability, but not just him. LaShawn Williams is a backup running back. That is a huge, huge component here. He's a very solid number two. Go into the year, know that you have a guy that's played Big Ten football, understands what the process is that you need to go through. He is just a really, really solid number two. Jazz Patterson, we saw a little bit in the bowl game last year. There's some juice to his game. I really like what we've seen in the limited reps

at this point for Jazzy on Patterson. I think he's got a chance to be a change of pace kind of guy, bigger than I anticipated. I remember that was one of the first things that I really saw going back to that bowl game against Kentucky, where we thought this guy, maybe it's a little more of a scat back, if you will, in comparison to Caleb Johnson, when those two guys came in together, he's got some size to him. He's got the shifty feet. He can make some plays in space. You love to see that. And then he got Washington coming in as well. The freshman, again, the depth at this position, and he went through spring practice himself for deep that you feel really good about. And at the top, Caleb Johnson, I think is going to be a special, special running back. Well, in order to

run the football, you have to have an offensive line, right? And the offensive line has been terrible the last two years. I mean, there's just no two ways to go about how bad it has been up front for this team. Logan Jones, you're hearing all the right things. Now, I'll be honest. There are a couple of plays where the snap was maybe a bit delayed, not the delay that we saw last year, where it was crazy, but hearing Logan Jones this year, understanding exactly what he's doing. You know, his mind was swimming a year ago. And he hoped that goes away. Because there were so many plays that were dead upon arrival

just because the snap didn't get back to the quarterback in time. It was slow. Everybody was off. And timing, so important with Iowa does in their blocking scheme. He playing all 15 practices. He was out there a ton. That's going to be a huge, huge plus for this football team and then around him, what it's going to be. Of course, the two transfers that come in,

we only got to see what a snap of Dijon Parker before he was injured. He was just out there for one practice before a knee injury. He had a scope. Looks like he's going to be good to go though. Come up this summer. He's going to be a big piece. You wonder if he's going to be, excuse me, the right tackle on the left side, Mason Richmond Richmond he continues to improve from what we saw his freshman campaign of what he's becoming he's ultimately going to be a really good one and he hope he makes a big leap now as an upperclassman as he goes in to his junior campaign same thing inside with Connor Colby he was banged up he't go, but a lot of positives certainly you can talk about with this team. A couple other names. Jennings Dunker was out there. In fact,

he was playing right tackle at the start. We saw glimpses of him a year ago. He played a lot inside of the guard positions, bumping out there at right tackle. He's a guy that they believe continues to ascend, and there's some excitement about him as well and then you bring in Rusty Feth you'll bring in Parker as mentioned Feth will be there starting after he finishes up his grad work or his uh work academically at Miami so he will be back out there and ready to go he's going to be a guard piece he figure he's going to be solid inside and we'll see you know I still do wonder if there is an opportunity for him maybe to man the center position.

Now, if Logan Jones does not make the steps forward, is that a still possibility, or do they see Rusty Feth as an inside guard guy only, and that's the way they're going to run it? So you have all that going on. Again, they can't be much worse than they were the last couple of years, and I do think you're going to see improvement out of that offensive line the tight ends are going to be great Eric Gall running around out there making plays he's a stud he's a good blocker you can do so many different things with him and Lachey and then Addison Estrega the number three guy I think that is huge as well fighting yet

kind of that next playmaker to go with as good of a one-two punch as anybody in college football is going to have this year with Lachey on one side and Eric Hall out there. And they were moving the guys around, doing some different things, both those guys with the athleticism that you can split them out wide. You can do some things. We saw that a year ago, and this wide receiver room looks like they're going to need help again. So that's going to be a component of what they're going to do. Finally, on the offensive side, well, yes, it is that wide receiver group.

All right. Graham Friedrichson made a play. Alec Wick, we need more. You need Seth Anderson healthy. You need to see Jacob Bostic come back and see if he can give you anything. Deontay Vines, I think, has a chance to be really good. But short of that, there's still a lot of question marks. What did the freshman hit?

And we know they're going to be hitting the portal after the game. In fact, Kirk Ferentz talked about that. Some good things on the offense. Yeah, we got some good stuff out there. Not something we see very often, but yes, good things. That is happy, happy to see with this Iowa football team. We go over to the defense. They are stacked, and it looked really good again.

That's as we continue here on Locked On Hawkeyes. Today's episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Grand slams, no hitters, double plays, they're all back and no better place to get in on the MLB action than FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. That's because right now, new customers, you can step up to the plate with a no sweat first bet up to a thousand dollars. Just go to Fanduel.com slash lockdown, sign up and place your first bet. You'll get up to a thousand dollars back in bonus bets. If you don't win, you can put together a whole bunch of different things. Home run totals. You can take

a look at that over-under on pitcher strikeouts. You can take a look at that. Over-runner on pitcher strikeouts. You can build a same game parlay with your favorite matchup of the day. So don't miss your chance to get a no sweat first bet up to $1,000 when you join FanDuel today. Just go to FanDuel.com slash LockedOn to sign up. FanDuel, official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball. Trent Conant back with you once again here on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. As always, thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Big appreciation to you for being out there and being with us, those everydayers that are with us.

Of course, you got to hear the reaction to what we saw on Thursday afternoon when the coordinators met the media. If you missed that one, go back and check it out. Every day, we've got a lot more coming up for you this week. It's NFL Draft Week. I'm going to be in Kansas City for that one. We will have reports. Lucas Vianess looking like a first-rounder.

Sam Laporta, Jack Campbell, Riley Moss, Kayvon Merriweather. On and on and on. We'll have full breakdowns of all of that here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes feed. We continue to break down spring football practice. and let's get over to the defense now. The veterans, we didn't get to see the veterans here, and that's okay. Logan Lee getting some things cleaned up, making sure he's healthy. We saw how impactful he was. Evans coming off the edge. He is a big-time playmaker. He was a guy that, well, was about the only guy that could do something against Ohio State earlier this season. You have those guys out there. Noah Shannon, I mean, just think of the jump that he made a year ago. So you got those three guys.

Y.A. Black also didn't practice. But again, we go to the depth piece. So we've talked about this a lot here throughout the spring. As deep a position that Iowa has ever had that I can remember, certainly my 43 years here. The depth on this defensive line is incredible. You saw right away in the first play of the day at 11-11, there's Aaron Graves just blowing things up, and that's what he is going to be. He is a hugely impactful player. Great to see as well what we also saw on the defensive line, and not just Phil Parker, but also from kirk ferentz both those guys singling out jeremiah pitman another young guy that is taking a step forward and we just go on and on this defensive line talked about the guys that weren't out there but the guys that are out

there and the depth that they continue to build at defensive line it's like nothing we've seen before mention the new guys that are coming in and what they're going to be able to do and how much they're going to be able to help out. I think there's a real chance to seeing a Jackson Filer maybe carve out a role. 8, 10, 12 snaps a game as a third down specialist. Ontario Thompson, one of the top JUCO players in the country, coming in and helping out inside 6'3", 290. Then you throw in some of the young names out there. Max Llewellyn, Ethan Hurkett, who we saw before injuries hit him a couple of years back. You definitely got to be excited about those guys out there.

We got to see a little Chris Reams, Caden Crawford coming out there, Brian Allen, and then maybe the most impactful guy, Deontay Craig. And we saw what he was as a guy that could get to the quarterback a year ago. And I think there's still a whole lot more there. Going to be great up front.

The linebacker group is going to be solid. Nick Jackson, so good to hear Phil Parker talking about him, though he's not yet on campus as he finishes up his coursework at Virginia. Is he going to be Jack Campbell? Probably not. There's just not many Jack Campbells that fall on trees, but he is going to be, at minimum, a guy that's competent, has played a ton of college football, three-time All-ACC player. Jay Higgins, who ascended himself a year ago, you feel like you're in a good spot there.

Shire from Iowa Falls, he's starting to step forward. You got Kyler Fisher out there, so you got guys that have played a lot of football, a lot of it's special teams, but they continue to be out there, and depth looks to be in a good spot at the linebacker group. And then defensive backfield, they're out there making plays all over. One interesting note, though, I do want to hit on when you're talking about the defensive backfield. Xavier Wampa, he's a guy that I saw play a ton in high school.

I never have seen a high school player that closed ground the way that he did or make up ground. He got beat and he'd be able to go back and make interception or knock a pass down. Never saw a high school kid that could do that from the safety position. But the biggest thing was his closing ability and closing up ball carriers or guys that catch a pass as good as you're going to find in Xavier Wampa. You take what Phil Parker does, the way that it teaches, the knowledge that he has, and you throw it with a five star.

That's going to be fun to watch. And then Quinn Schulte, too. Quinn Schulte, a guy, he's not just your standard Tommy Soybean, right? He's not your standard walk-on guy. There was some lumber that he was able to lay. That safety position is going to be good. We know what we have in Cooper DeGene. He's going to be great.

And then on the other side, Jamari Harris. Now, they were rotating in a lot of different guys, so we got to see T.J. Hall out there, who we remember what happened rotating in a lot of different guys. So we got to see TJ Hall out there who we remember what happened to him a year ago against Nebraska. He wasn't ready for prime time. I think ultimately he's going to be very good. You're going to be in good shape there. He was also out there along with, we also saw Deshaun Lee. You wonder with Harris, if there's a little bit of a pitch count to him right now, coming off that injury after missing all of last season, bit of a pitch count to him right now coming off that injury after missing all of last season wanted to keep the reps down and also build that depth out with lee and with hall open up minimum

one of those guys hopefully both those guys can hit and get to be ready to go and he can do some different things with them at nickel coverage if need be there's going to be injuries that's going to happen and the step down that we saw a year ago is not as significant certainly as it was a season ago in that Nebraska game. So overall, defensively, no surprise. They're going to be great. Bill Parker knows what he's doing. Him talking about wanting to see a little more juice out of the guys,

and that started to build as the spring went on, and they're going to be flying around and making some plays out there. Finally, the special teams. And yes, we didn't get to see Torrey Taylor out there punting, but how about this story that possibly is emerging? Aaron Blom got the kicking game a year ago. Go back to spring practice last year in the open practice. It was a super windy day and it was dreadful. Well, go out there. Drew Stevens makes all his kicks. Blom makes all his kicks. It's Drew Stevens' job. But Blom's also working at punter and maybe the heir apparent. I think these special teams and hearing from Coach Woods,

he was maybe even a little bit surprised of how good Blom has been in that role, making his way over and also helping out in punting. And maybe you got that in-camp guy right now that you think successfully can both be the backup kicker and the punter. You want to watch the reps, got to keep that leg strength up there for both when you're doing both of those positions and that is always a concern when you're talking about a guy doing double duty. But he's doing

double duty as a backup. Good news there and certainly a good thing to see for Aaron Blom. Return game, Cooper Dejean's going to be back there. I anticipate you'll see maybe Caleb Johnson back, also returning kicks along with Cooper Dejean. They're going to be really good. The coverage units are always outstanding.

Special team is going to be great. Defense is going to be great. And I'm optimistic maybe the offense is going to be pretty good this year as well. We will continue here on Lockdown Hawkeyes. When we come back, we got lots more for you, including a huge weekend out of the Iowa baseball team. That is right. They got it done over the weekend against Nebraska.

I know a lot of you that made your way to Iowa City for the open practice also had an opportunity to catch a couple innings of the baseball game as Iowa takes all three games against the Huskers, and Iowa's in good shape now. We'll talk about that. Softball team, on the other hand, not quite as good. Talk a little baseball, softball. Final notes when we come back on Locked On Hawkeyes. Locked On's NFL Mock Draft special is here,

and it's bigger than ever. Follow along all 32 teams' first pick in a six-minute ultimate mock draft experience only Locked On can deliver. All episodes are now available on Locked On NFL Draft on YouTube and wherever you get podcasts. Trey Connick back with you one final time here on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. So wrapping things up, great weekend for the Iowa baseball team as they sweep away Nebraska. They came into this one. Kind of trudging along. Got off to such a great start at the beginning of the year.

At the top of it. The win over then number one LSU. LSU has continued to play incredibly well this season. And Iowa put themselves in really good position. Then hit a little bit of a lull. Earlier this week. They took the loss to UIC. They had just taken a loss to Minnesota.

Over the weekend. You're kind of wondering what's going on with this team. Lost two out of three to Indiana. Maryland lost two out of three there. You know, where are they going to gain their traction? Well, it happened this weekend, taking all three games against Nebraska. Iowa now sits at seven and five in the Big Ten. The top eight teams do advance to the Big Ten tournament.

Iowa's currently in a tie for fourth place. They are tied with Michigan State, Rutgers, and Nebraska, who they just swept, obviously, would have the tiebreaker. And they do have a series later this season against Michigan State that's coming up. They get Penn State coming up next over the weekend in Big Ten play. Before that, just one game midweek after having two this past week as they will be facing off against Upper Iowa. That game will not count in the RPI,

but one of the biggest things is that RPI number after the series sweep against Nebraska, Iowa dominating fashion as well. They outscore the Cornhuskers 25-7 in the three-game sweep, and they jump up 13 spots in the RPI from what they were going into the weekend, up to 42 now in very solid position. Admit them to be an NCAA tournament team getting in there.

Still a ton of work to do. It'll be Penn State coming up this weekend, another big series. It'll be a road series, and they still have Ohio State remaining, aforementioned Michigan State, and then they finish the season on the road against Northwestern, who is dreadful. That's one probably got to sweep to feel good about things. But that is season on the road against Northwestern, who is dreadful. That's one probably got to sweep to feel good about things. But that is well down the road.

That will be coming up at the end of May before the Big Ten tournament in Omaha. You know, Iowa a couple of years under Heller when they made big runs. It's been so cool seeing what Iowa's been able to do there. The fan base has traveled. I remember going over there a couple of different times, seeing them against Ohio State in the championship game. And just what Iowa baseball can be in the excitement level that gets out there in spring. Really good news there. Did what they needed to get the sweep and get themselves back on the right track. On the other side, the softball team, not quite as good for them. Now, 12 of the 14 teams do advance to the Big Ten softball tournament. But one thing to note in that one, if you do finish as one of the top four teams,

you do get a buy into the quarterfinals. Iowa looks to be on the outside looking in for that. Swept by Minnesota over the weekend. Couldn't get the bats going. They were shut out two times. Scored just one run and a nine-inning loss on Sunday. But try to get back there. Get back to the tournament.

Maybe win a couple of games. Coach Gillespie, it's a slow build, but they're get back there, get back to the tournament, maybe win a couple of games. Coach Gillespie, it's a slow build, but they're on the right track at minimum. That will do it for today. Every day, we got a lot more breakdown of spring practice. Also, a rule change in college football. We have you covered on that. How does it impact Iowa as the clock rules are changing in college football? Looks to be lost plays. What does that mean for Iowa? We'll continue to break that down with Sean Daniels. We got NFL draft.

It's a busy one. Be with us every day. You every day. We love it. And hit us up on Twitter at Trent Condon. You can also find us on lockdown, Iowa over there. Lots going on in the world of Hawkeye sports.

Thanks for joining us here today. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Go Hawks.