Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football: Week 1 Depth Chart released

Episode Date: August 29, 2023

The new Iowa football depth chart has been released for Week 1 of the Hawkeye football season and Trent Condon returns to break it down.No surprise that Cade McNamara is QB1 on the top of the depth chart with Deacon Hill in the 2nd spot and Joe Labas listed 3rd. Some talk on the two transfer receivers Seth Anderson and Kaleb Brown showing up as the backups at wide receiver and then the big ones, what is happening along the offensive line.Then some thoughts on the defensive including defensive tackle with the loss of Noah Shannon for the year with his gambling suspension. Yahya Black becomes the new starter with Aaron Graves backing him up. Jay Higgins is listed as the starter at MLB with Nick Jackson out at Will. And a look at the depth in the defensive backfield.Finally, a sportsbook has put out the prop in the Brian Ferentz 25 points per game contract amendment as Circa has the prop available.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetterhelpThis podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp.If you’re thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. Visit BetterHelp.com/lockedoncollege today to get 10% off your first month.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase.LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONCOLLEGE. Terms and conditions apply.eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit. eBay Motors dot com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Right now, NEW customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED in BONUS BETS – GUARANTEED.  Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The new depth chart is here. The new depth chart is here. We break it down. Some changes, including some shifting on the offensive line. We talk about that, the defense, and how it looks, minus Noah Shannon all 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. Hey, welcome in. My name is Trent Condon, and this is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Your team every day on the Locked On Network, and we've got you covered every day as we count down to kick off with the Iowa Hawkeyes. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, official sportsbook of Locked On. Make every moment more. Right now, new customers. You can bet $5 and get $200 in bonus bets guaranteed.

Visit FanDuel.com slash locked on to get started well as we get closer to the start of another football season here make sure you hit that subscribe button if you're with us on youtube if you're on the podcast side of things five star reviews helps us get in front of more hawkeye fans and lets you know every time we have a new episode coming your way every single day. That's what we do here on the Lockdown Network. Hope to be able to bring you an instant reaction podcast and we'll see exactly how that works out. I'll be in Iowa City for the game. Taking my little man Jack to his first football game.

And my daughter who, if you remember and were with us the every dayers, you'll remember our trip down to Dallas last year for the Final Four. Going to have the kids in tow along with the wife. And then afterwards, maybe the wife will be driving home. And I'll give you guys an instant reaction podcast after that one. But looking forward to the game. Iowa currently at FanDuel, a 25 and a half point favorite against Utah State. We'll talk a little bit more later in the week about this Aggie squad and get a little bit of a look at them and what we can anticipate. But for the here and now, it's about this team.

It's about what our expectations are. We've talked about this a ton throughout the spring and summer as anticipated as an Iowa football season as we've had in a long time. And over the last couple of weeks, we've had the concerns and we've relayed to you them about Cade McNamara dealing with that quad injury well the depth chart comes out yesterday and with the depth chart we're able to find out that Cade McNamara yes is listed as the starter we talked about this we saw him in still pictures back on the practice field working out in shells he had the helmet on and the shoulder pads no leg pads nothing like that He was out there for a picture. What does that mean?

And probably more importantly, if he was out there, if he was making it a go, A, what was he able to do? And secondly, how did he react then? How did he feel when he woke up the next day after playing and practicing on that injured quad? So a lot of question marks there, but good to see McNamara up there. We will know two hours before the start of the game if he is available. That will come out earlier than maybe we've heard in the past because of the new participation report that's coming out from the Big Ten.

So we'll know by 9 a.m. on Saturday morning officially if Cade McNamara is going to be able to go or if he's going to be sitting this one out against Utah State. Back at practice, try to go through. And as I maintained for the last couple of weeks as we've talked about this, this has always been the plan. This is what he wanted. Wanted to get those reps in, get some game action under his belt.

The question remains how he's going to react to the injury. And he works his way back from that one. No surprise, he is listed as the starter on the depth chart. Deacon Hill is the number two and Joe Labus who has been dealing with an injury of his own for quite a while now. He is still listed though on the depth chart behind there as the number three quarterback on the first depth chart. We do see some changes at the wide receiver position. Now the starters remain the same. It'll be Nico Raggini that will be starting on one side

and Deontay Vines on the other. So excited to see Deontay Vines out there and really getting a full season from him after him being kind of the buzz guy a year ago during August camp, at least the first couple of weeks before he had the injury, the wrist, broken wrist injury that forced him to miss the first six games of last season. Him being out there, he's fluid, he's good. Plus, he wears number zero. There's just something cool about a guy out there wearing number zero. I know that was a change of college football, what, a couple years back now, and we get to see guys like that.

I'm rooting for him. I think he's a guy that can have a big-time impact for this team. Also, later in the week, we'll make our season predictions, and also we'll make some predictions on statistically who some of the leaders are going to be. And certainly Deontay Vines is way up on my list coming into the season. But the change at the wide receiver position is that the two backup spots, we see Seth Anderson, the transfer from Charleston Southern. I think he turned a lot of heads in the open practice on the kids day practice coming up there in the middle of August.

He was really good, really impressive, like what we saw out of him. And then the one that really created even more buzz and what we saw from Caleb Brown. So he is out there also listed as a backup at the other wide receiver spot opposite of Deontay Bynes in the second spot back behind him. Good to see both transfers in there. They're playmakers. They're dynamic. They're guys that Iowa, frankly, just has not had a whole lot of those guys here, certainly of recent history. And the depth in the top four at the wide receiver position, you're feeling about as good as you can in a really, really long time of what they're going to do. No changes at the tight end position. You got Luke Lachey, Eric Gall. Those guys are going to see a ton of reps

and the continuing to improve Addison Estrenga. He's going to be kind of the next in the line of the great tight ends at the position. He's got the size 6'4", 255. He turned some heads a year ago and he'll be out there. I'm sure they'll have some three tight end formations and you'll see Estrenga that will be a part of that. Now we get to the most important part. Look, if Cade McNamara is healthy, this running game will be dynamic. The wide receivers are upgraded from where they are, and the tight ends are going to be good. It's about the offensive line. So no changes at the tackle spots. We see it is Mason Richmond that does maintain the job at left tackle. That should

come as no surprise. And a lot of people would think that he is going to take, now as an upperclassman, a lot of starts under his belt, a lot of experience, a guy that played basically all of last season injured, a guy that is healthy and ready to make a big jump now as an upperclassman, as a junior. On the other side, it'll be Jennings Dunker. Now I have my concerns about him just physically with the foot speed. If he's going to have the requisite foot speed against some of those edge rushers that he's going to face in the big 10 speed if he's going to have the requisite foot speed against some of those edge rushers that he's going to face in the Big Ten. What he's going to see week two against Iowa State, certainly week four, and that dominating front line of Penn State. It's going to be something that's going to be concerning.

De'Jon Parker we thought was going to be the guy, but he got injured in spring. He's been banged up here during August, has not been able to get fully healed. It will be Jennings Dunker that will get that first opportunity. And then in the middle, it is Logan Jones, a guy that moved a season ago over to the center position from defensive line. He is out there a season ago. Well, last spring, a year ago, what are we talking about here? 16 months ago, he was given snaps for the first time time and now he's out there in a starting role got a year of experience and they believe we're going to see a big step forward do I still have concerns about what we saw last year not just in terms of blocking making the right calls that's

a big part of it and that weird delayed snap that we saw a couple of those at kids day that needs to be ironed out I mean at this point you just have to get past that. It's something that you can't continue to have those kind of plays where, for whatever reason, the ball just doesn't get back there quickly enough or even out of the shotgun, not getting back to him. Need to see a big improvement out of Logan Jones. The coaching staff believes we'll see it. We will see, starting on Saturday. And then inside the guard position, Nick DeYoung,

he holds on to the left guard position. The backup, when we saw the last depth chart that came out during Big Ten Football Media Day, had Connor Colby listed as a backup. He moves over to the right side. He gets the starting nod there. And then we'll see plenty of Bo Stevens, a couple of starts under his belt, and then also the transfer from Miami, Ohio, Rusty Fett. Anticipate we'll see some rotation. We'll see both those guys out there. Tyler Ellsbury, another guy with certainly experience.

He's the last listed backup at center, but he can play guard. We'll see if we get to see any Parker, anybody else. Jack Dozler, the other guy that is listed and the two deeps at the offensive line position. He is the backup at left tackle. Not now, but the future. They're excited about him and what he can become. And one thing I didn't mention offensively is certainly at the

running back position, a one, two, three punch with Caleb Johnson, who was a stud. LaShawn Williams, a very solid backup to have. And then the future of Dazion Patterson, you get excited about him. Things are looking good. I'm excited about this team and excited about the offense. Well, the defense, they went through their own changes. We will get into that. Noah Shannon, obviously not a part of the defensive tackle position anymore after his year-long suspension and with that, his career being over. He's going through the appeal process. We'll see if there's any changes on that. We'll find out by Saturday. I doubt that's going to be the case, but, well, that led to some changes. What did they do there? How does the defensive

backfield look? We'll get into that as we go over to the defense. We roll through. This is the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. There's times you just need somebody to talk about. You don't know where things are going

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Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day as we go through the depth chart. This is one of the more important depth charts of the year. Kirk Ferentz, he scoffs at them from time to time, but they give us a little bit of a blueprint of what we anticipate we're going to see with the squad, what it's going to look like, and it's just something that excites me year after year and week after week and gives us at least a spot where we can start the conversation. So we move over to the defensive side of the football.

We know the defense is going to be good. Can it be elite once again? That remains the question here. But you start up front, and even with the loss to Noah Shannon, as he is out for the year with the gambling suspension, you know this team is deep. And we saw it play out again at Kids Day. We saw Brian Allen out there.

He was making plays. That guy was probably the 11th guy on the defensive line coming into that. And it sounds like he has had a great camp, but there's more guys that continue to ascend. So here's what we have. Deontay Craig, you saw him a couple of years ago for the first time. You just saw those long arms.

You're like, man, you know, there's something special there with Craig. I think there's something that could click. We saw him a year ago, get up there, six and a half sacks on the last season. Can he get that number up to double digits this year? I think that's a real possibility. The other starters, well, you go to the middle and that means that there is no more Noah Shannon. Y.A. Black is the guy that ascends up to this top spot.

Now it's going to be him and Aaron Graves. Graves is listed at the backup. One thing I got to say about Y.A. Black though, is I continue to hear that it's finally clicking for him. He's dealt with injuries. He has dealt with just not being able to be, that it's finally clicking for him. He's dealt with injuries. He has dealt with just not being able to be healthy. And he's a bigger guy, not just in terms of sheer volume. I mean, the guy is just a behemoth, but also he's a taller defensive tackle. And understanding leverage is something that early in his career, they knew physically he had the part, but at 6'5", 315 pounds, it was that leverage. He's getting that.

It is starting to click. Let's hope for a healthy year for Y.A. Black if that happens with him, Aaron Graves, obviously Logan Lee coming back for another season out of him. You got playmakers. You got guys that can not only hold up the middle and do what Iowa asked out of the defensive tackle position. You have three guys that can be playmakers as well. And that is incredibly excitement. And then Jeremiah Pittman, who we saw towards the end of last year, he really took a step forward as well and did a lot of good things. And Pittman, he will be out there 6'3", 290 pounds.

He's a guy that popped a little bit a season ago. On the other side, your other defensive end position, Joe Evans back for his sixth year. Joey the Bull will be out there once again. And a guy that just finds ways to the quarterback, and he's done it throughout his career. Ware number 13, and Ethan Hurkett, another guy that was out there and just seems to be around the ball a whole lot. We go to the linebacker spot, and here's another change. So it looks to be Jay Higgins will be the one in the middle. When they got Nick Jackson out of Virginia from the transfer portal, I believe that he was going to become the heir apparent to Jack Campbell he was

a guy that played that position a lot at Virginia different defensive scheme that they run out there with the Hoos but I thought that's what it was going to be instead it's going to be Jay Higgins a guy that's been around for a whole long time he became a starter a year ago after the injury injury to Justin Jacobs I thought he'd be outside we would have inside in the middle spot it is going to be instead Higgins in the middle and then over on the outside it'll be Nick Jackson um new name out there Jane Harrell saw Jane play a couple times at the high school level Urbandale was always impressed by him just a really good looking prospect and he might be the guy that takes over in the future.

Now in his sophomore campaign, Kyler Fisher, he is your starter at the Leo. We've seen him a ton on special teams. He will be out there. And also when they go cash, no surprise there. It is Sebastian Castro. That'll be the guy. Your backup at the will spot behind Nick Jackson is Kyler Fisher, who we talked about as a starter at Leo.

So was hoping to see maybe another name out there. One of the young guys, Carson Shire, is somebody that I think would have been that guy, but injuries have made it difficult for him during August camp. But then we get to the defensive backfield. You look at the starters, you feel great, right? Cooper Dejean, All-American. Jamari Harris, stud two years ago, Back healthy. Your safeties, Xavier Wampa. Yes, Quinn Schulte. He showed a whole lot more than just another kind of Tommy Soybean kid out there. There's a whole lot more to his game. After that, though, it's just youth. I don't think it's a talent thing. I think it's a youth thing. With TJ Hall, he was thrown into the fire a year ago

against Nebraska. Wasn't very good in that one. I think he's going to come back. Deshaun Lee, he's had a great camp. Cohen Entringer, you talk to anybody in the program and they have great things to say about him. And also a guy that can be versatile. You know, he might be a guy that they can play at cash. They can move him back to safety. They can do different things with Entringer and I think they're really excited about him. And then behind Xavier Wampa is Sebastian Castro, of course, your starter at the cash position. And if they're shuffling, and again, we're waiting for two more names in the gambling investigation. Looks to be that there will be some kind of suspension for one, maybe two more guys. Will we not find that out until Saturday morning?

We will see on that front, but that defensive backfield is something that has always been talked about when it comes to that. So that is what we have on the depth chart as it pertains to the offense and the defense. A couple other things, of course, we know who the specialists are going to be. Drew Stevens at the kicker spot, Torrey Taylor at the punting spot, and away we go. Football season. Oh, it is so close and it's so exciting to be there. We will continue on the other side. One of the big storylines of the offseason. Gary Barta, his parting gift to the Iowa fans after his retirement from the University of

Iowa athletic director as he put in, well, the PIP, right? The performance enhancement review to see what Brian Ferentz could do could he get to 25 points per game well there's a sportsbook that actually put a line on it we'll talk about that when we come back this is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast get ready for the NFL season with incredible offers from FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. Right now, new customers can bet $5 and get 200 in bonus bets guaranteed. Plus, all customers who bet $5 will get $100 off NFL Sunday ticket

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Trent Conant back with you one final time on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We got something coming up for you on Fridays throughout this college football season as well. With the season here, Locked On, we're kicking up our coverage to another level. Each Friday, Locked On will go live from 10 to noon Central Time on every Locked On College YouTube channel, including right here with Locked On Hawkeyes.

Locked On College Football Live will cover the college football playoff implications. Conference rivalry games, they'll go in-depth like only Locked On can, including insight and analysis from our stable of Locked On College hosts, covering their team every day. Find Locked On College hosts covering their team every day.

Find Locked On College football live every Friday from 10 to noon Central time on any Locked On College YouTube channel. You won't want to miss this. As we put a cap on things, we mentioned Brian Ferentz and his 25 points per game that he is looking to attain this season. Now, of course, with that, we do know that this is something that is not just offensive points. This is total points. It all goes together.

It all goes into the same well. And there is a sportsbook here in the state of Iowa, circa, that has put a line out there for this. Will Iowa, regular season only, getting to 300 points? That's what we have to get to. 25 points per game. Add it all up 25 per that's simple math even i can do that and i'm not exactly the brightest guy i think as we

all know well they put it out there with a over under of just that and currently the numbers look like this will iowa score over 25 points per game over is minus 160 the under is plus 140 in fact throughout the day when that came out on monday did not shift at all so going to anticipate we're seeing good two-way action on that prop out there but a fun one to keep an eye on and now you can put your money where your mouth is no your mouth where your money is no how do you do it you can put your money out there and make it known which way you believe it's going to be this year. If Cade McNamara is healthy, I was going to average

25 points per game. You go back, they did it under Nate Stanley. If this offensive line takes a step forward, you know the running game is going to be solid. What Caleb Johnson did last year behind that awful offensive line, I think gets you excited. The wide receiver crew is upgraded. Tight ends are still good. The pieces are all there for this to happen. And you can talk about the new clock

rules and how that's going to maybe lead to less plays. And for a program like Iowa, is that a good thing or a bad thing? And I think you can argue both sides of that one. But ultimately, when you look at this and what you see with this Iowa team. It's all there. They've done it before. The schedule is not overly daunting. Yes, going to Madison and going to State College, those will be tough trips. Ames is not going to be easy.

Illinois is going to have a good defense and a good front. But overall, 25 points per game. We're not talking about here suddenly going out there and having a top 20 offense in college football. 25 points per game. And those defensive scores, a pick six, a scoop and score, a safety, special teams points, those all count on it as well. I think Iowa gets there.

I think Brian Ferentz saves his job. I believe this team is going to be winning the division. Just need a healthy Cade McNamara. Your team every day. That's what we do here on the Locked On Network NFL season. Coming hot and heavy, whatever your NFL team, your MLB team, NHL, NBA, and right here on the college side with Locked On Hawkeyes, we have you covered.

Not only that, we have Locked On Big Ten. We have Locked On Fantasy Football. We have Locked On Gambling. You name it, we got it here on the Lockdown Network. I'm glad to have you aboard with us on the Iowa side of things. More to come coming up this week. We will talk with LaShawn Daniels, former Iowa running back. We will break things down and get his predictions for the upcoming season. How much better is it going to be? We'll play our own over-unders and get into some predictions for this upcoming season.

Plus, my buddy Jace, he will stop by. He was a big fan favorite a year ago, and he'll be back with us starting later on this week. As always, thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We will talk to you again tomorrow. Go Hawks.