Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football: Why Special Teams Could Decide the Season, John Bohnenkamp joins & Spencer Lee wrestles for a gold medal

Episode Date: August 8, 2024

Join host Trent Condon on the latest episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast as he dives deep into Iowa football's special teams. With the impossible task of replacing punting sensation Tory Taylor falling to Rhys Dakin, the team faces a crucial challenge. Trent also breaks down kicker Drew Stevens' late-season struggles and the potential for a strong comeback. Long snapper remains a position of strength, but who will take on the crucial role of kick returner? And the big question: who will be the holder? Trent shares his thoughts on Special Teams Coordinator Levar Woods and his leadership of the unit.Then, John Bohnenkamp from the Associated Press joins the show to discuss the key storylines emerging ahead of Iowa Football Media Day on Friday.Finally, Trent celebrates wrestling phenom Spencer Lee's three victories as he prepares to compete for a gold medal at the Olympics.Don't miss this comprehensive look at the Hawkeyes' special teams, football insights, and Olympic wrestling excitement!For your next listen, check out the Locked On College Football podcast! From NIL deals to never ending conference realignment rumors, Spencer McLaughlin gets you ready for an exciting season on the gridiron! Click HERE to listen now. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day.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.Factor MealsHead to Factormeals.com/lockedoncollege50 and use code lockedoncollege50 to get 50% off your first box PLUS 20% off your next month while your subscription is active!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 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)

There's an under-the-radar position group that very well could decide the difference between Iowa having a successful season in 2024. We break it down and talk Hawkeyes with Jon Boenkamp 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. You can also watch us on YouTube. While you're there, hit that subscribe button. Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. If you're on the podcast side, audio there, hit that subscribe button. Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. If you're on the podcast side, audio only, five-star reviews. Greatly appreciate each and every one of you. 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. Well, we're going to talk today about one of the more under-the-radar position groups

and its importance to Iowa football and is going to be the difference, in my mind, between this being a very successful season and the potential of making a run to the college football playoff and being another ho-hum 8-4 type of season. We'll get into that. Jon Boenkamp's going to join us in some of the biggest things he's looking for in tomorrow's Big Ten Media Day. And Spencer Lee will be wrestling for a gold medal tomorrow. Looking forward to that.

But let's kick things off. And you're wondering, well, what could be the thing? Trent, you've talked about the quarterback position. You've talked about the offensive line. You've talked about the depth of the defensive line. And all of those things are incredibly important for this Iowa football team this year if they are going to be what many of us consider a success. And those are all important. But one thing we just have not touched on a ton this year has been the special teams.

And that's where we're going to go today talking about the specialists. We're also going to talk about the return game and what we've seen over the last couple of seasons and potentially finding guy back there. That can break open the big play. But when we start this conversation about special teams. I think we first have to go back and just realize. How spoiled we have been over the last decade plus. Of the special teams play that we've got. Out of Iowa football. This is not the case across the board.

This is not the case. I mean there is a reason. That college kickers seemingly every single Saturday. Is trending on Twitter. And it's because college kickers usually stink. I mean, as simple as that, we have not had that for a very long time. There has been inconsistencies. There's been guys that have not panned out. You go back to a guy like Trent Mossbrook or a missed extra point up in Arizona. There's been missed kicks. It's not an automatic by any means, but really for the Kirk Ferentz era,

after the first couple of years, Nate Kading getting his feet wet, who struggled early in his career, he turned it on, obviously became a Groza Award winner. We have been really spoiled with what we've seen out of the specialists in the kicking and the punting game. And when you look at this Iowa football team and the way that they're built,

and even the different areas that we've talked about this team improving, getting better offensively, at least giving a little bit something back to the defense and helping them out a little bit coming up this season. And as I mentioned before, every day, as you know, I am optimistic that there is going to be certainly a corner turn this year

in year number one of the Tim Lester offense, but it's been relying on the defense and of course the special teams. So we go two avenues here and we start at the punter position. And because it's an Iowa podcast, yes, we do have to start with punting. Now, I'll tell you what, I've gotten tired of the punting is winning theme. Yes, we can joke about it. Yes, us in our own circle, us Hawkeye fans, we're good to talk about that.

It's okay. When you're amongst brethren, that's all right to talk about. But the national punchline, it just goes a little bit far. But punting is not winning. You want to have an offense that actually do things.

And punting is not when winning against Michigan, against Tennessee, against the heavy heads of the schedule. Punting is not winning when you're talking about winning championships. It's just not. It's fun.

It's silly. And Torrey Taylor was an absolute stud. So as I was preparing today for the podcast, I just went through again and I was reading through a couple of things. And at first starting, just looking at the stats for Torrey Taylor and those in their own right are absolutely ridiculous. I mean, that's where I jumped off and just looking at what Torrey Torrey Taylor and those in their own right are absolutely ridiculous. I mean, that's where I jumped off and just looking at what Torrey Taylor did starting a season ago,

a season ago, Torrey Taylor's out there putting up just some absolutely ridiculous numbers overall. When you're talking about the putting game. Now he put it 93 times a year ago. That's ridiculous in its own right. Over 4,400 yards punting. He averaged last year. I, in a way, forgot about this. He averaged over 48 yards per punt. That's doing it that many times. We're not talking about going back to the 80s when Reggie Roby would have a specialist

that came in for the coffin corner and he'd just be the guy that could boom it and set a record doing that. That's not the case here. He was doing all the punting, as we know. 48.2 yards per punt a season ago. Just seven touchbacks out of those 93 punts. Inside the 20, 32 times and 50 yards plus 40 times

throughout the course of the season. Just absolutely ridiculous numbers. And then you just continue on. So he sets the all-time Iowa record for punt yards as a sophomore, and then breaks that record as a junior, and then broke the record again as a senior. Good thing, bad thing. Good thing for Torrey Taylor, bad thing for what we saw out of Iowa. You look at the numbers inside the 20-yard line. He was an absolute weapon. Not only did he have the monster leg, but he also had the precision, the ability to put it and do the coffin corner, to punt it high and allow his gunners to get down the field and make big-time plays. But we go back, and this is

where I want to start the conversation about the punting game coming up this year with Reese Dakin taking over. As a freshman, Torrey Taylor averaged 44.1 yards per game in that one. Now that was the shortened season of 2020. Also remember that year, the first time Torrey Taylor played football inside of a stadium was the first game he'd ever played as an Iowa Hawkeye. That's right. Of course, didn't play at the high school level because it just doesn't happen in Australia. He hadn't seen a stadium before. I bet in that kind of environment, now there's nobody in the stands,

but that's a different conversation. Still, that was the first time that he punted. Third in the Big Ten, 20th in the country as a freshman, only had one touchback all year long in the eight-game shortened 2020 season. Teams only averaged 5.2 yards per game. I mean, you're putting all these elements together. And this is not to tell any Hawkeye fan, hey, this just in, Torrey Taylor was good.

We know he was good. We know he was not just good. He was an all-timer. And now you have a guy taking over in Reese Dakin. Now, Reese Dakin was targeted for Iowa. And when the kicking academy over in Australia knew that Iowa was going to be looking for a punter and they wanted to go back to Australia again, they took their number one guy.

The way that it was described to me is I would knew they needed a punter. They knew they were going there and they had their guy. This was the best guy coming out and restaking that they had two things. Jump off though. First, he's not nearly as big as Tori Taylor. Tori showed up ready-made. Six foot four, 220 pounds.

He was ready to go. That powerful right leg that he had. But also remember, Torrey Taylor showed up at 23 years old. Not the case with Reece Dakin. We're talking about a much younger guy. A guy that doesn't have the same kind of background that you have from Torrey Taylor. And not the same size. Leg sounds good, but you're also going through a completely different environment.

Torrey Taylor was able as a freshman to get his feet wet and doing it in front of a couple hundred people in the stands at best. Not going to be the case for Reese Dakin. There's going to be 70,000 people jammed inside of Kinnick Stadium the first time he trots out there. And then week two, the environment increases. Maybe a little tepidation there for me, a young guy going through it for the first time. You have that component. And to have the anticipation that he's going to be anything close

to what we see now to Torrey Taylor, it's just not realistic. We also have the kicking game. The kicking game is another important element to all of this. And we saw a year ago, some of the struggles out of Drew Stevens. We're going to talk about the kicking game. The kicking game is another important element to all of this. And we saw a year ago, some of the struggles out of Drew Stevens. We're going to talk about the kicking game. It's important. John Boenkamp is going to join us talking about the big storylines, getting ready for Iowa football media day and Spencer Lee wrestling for a gold medal.

We'll talk about all that as we continue. This is Locked on Hawkeyes. that. As we continue, this is Locked On Hawkeyes. Today's episode of Locked On Hawkeyes is brought to you by GameTime. GameTime is an authorized ticket marketplace of Major League Baseball. It makes getting tickets faster and easier. Prices on the GameTime app actually go down the closer it gets to first pitch. They have killer last-minute deals, all-in prices, views from your seat, and their lowest price guarantee. Game time takes the guesswork out of buying Major League Baseball tickets. An app that features a listed customize your spot. You can find exactly where you want to sit inside the stadium and go from there.

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Download GameTime today. Last-minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Trey Conda back with you once again here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. So we're talking about special teams. It's important. And we get next to the kicking game. Drew Stevens burst onto the scene in his freshman campaign,

and he was outstanding. He finishes the year 16 of 18 field goals. He doesn't miss a field goal inside of 40 yards, just two misses overall in the season, along of 54 yards. Didn't miss an extra point as he was nearly flawless in 2022. And it looked like he was building on that in 2023. He was off to an incredible start a year ago. Had a missed kick against Western Michigan, but outside

of that, he was perfect through the first month of the season. One for one against Utah State. Two for two, and all those were important, against Iowa Iowa state four for four in the comeback win against Michigan state. We saw the misses against Purdue. Iowa held on and got the victory there 2014 and seemed to write the ship after that game, but it came roaring back. And though he hit the game winner and then gave the little night night symbol to Northwestern along with it in the game at Wrigley field a year ago, he had a miss in that game, had a miss in the Rutgers game,

had a miss in the Illinois game, and then it all came to a crescendo in the final game of the regular season, the win against Nebraska. 13-10 the final. It was a walk-off winner for the Hawkeyes, but it wasn't from Drew Stevens. It was Marshall Beater that had to come off the bench and knock it through, barely crossing over the crossbar and getting the victory for the Hawkeyes in that one. Not only was Drew Stevens missing kicks at that point in time,

he was kicking the ball out of bounds. It was a disaster. And then we go to the final two games of the year, the Big Ten Championship game against Michigan, and then the bowl disaster against Tennessee. He never got an opportunity because the offense was so awful in those two games that it just never came to fruition that he was going to be doing the kicking from what we've heard about Drew Stevens he is a very headstrong guy

he's a very confident young man but that confidence Wayne he's been able to get it back though going back to spring and here throughout the summer months he has worked with a sports psychologist uh that is something just getting that head right, going through the right things and getting that confidence that he needs. In terms of raw skill set, Drew Stevens is one of the best that I was had in a long time. I mean, you talk about Marshall Caden, Nate Cading, and we can play this game for a long, long time because I was had a lot of great kickers and Drew Stevens is right there. He's not the biggest guy in the world, but he is absolutely has a powerful leg. And you look back at what he did a season ago, hit a couple of 50 yarders last season, including against Northwestern,

had one against Michigan state. The power of the leg is not a problem. Getting him back right and doing it now in a big time environment. That's going to be important for Iowa football and their importance going forward. And a couple other things here on that front. Long snapper back. That's important. You don't know the long snacker's name. Elkin, that's good.

Don't know his name because if he's doing his job, we should never have to know the name of the long snapper. The other component, though, going back to Big Ten football media days and when we got our first look at the Iowa depth chart one thing that jumped off there they didn't have any returners listed on that one now I would anticipate we will see some Caleb Brown coming up this season a year ago Caleb Brown was back there at times we saw him back potentially maybe in some punt returns that could be something Caden Weichan also potentially back there.

He had seven returns after Cooper Dijon went down a season ago. So you anticipate he could be a guy that is involved. Remember at the beginning of the season, opening kickoff of the year, Caleb Johnson ran it back 77 yards. Next play, Seth Anderson, a long touchdown pass from Caden back to Marin. It looked like Iowa had things figured out. We know that wasn't the case. But Caleb Johnson was not healthy last season.

Maybe he gets that rollback as a kick returner. Some different things and some different shuffling that we could certainly see on next season. Maybe it's the Calebs back there together. Caleb Brown, Caleb Johnson. I'd like to see that. Of course, would not happen in the first game of the year as Caleb Brown will be suspended for that first game because of the OWY arrest that he had. Plenty of different options, plenty of different guys.

And with the skill set, you think of the speed of a guy like Brevin Doll if they're going to put a freshman out there. Could he be a guy that they'd be confident in going that direction? It's not exactly Kirk Behrens-like. And also, we have to give credit to LeVar Woods and what he's done with the special teams. As we wrap up our conversation about special teams and its importance for Iowa football, one thing I also do want to just talk about in him, can we get back to some of the fun

that we had? Pole cap play against Ohio State going back. That was absolutely incredible. Some of the goofy things they did against Minnesota a couple of seasons back up in Gopherland as they'll be heading up there again next season. The special teams chicanery that we've seen, it seems to have dissipated here lately. We'd love to see that back, and I will look into trying every single angle possible to get things going, getting things improved.

Certainly that's going to be something to keep an eye on going forward. Final thing on special teams. John Boenkamp is going to join us here momentarily talking some Iowa football is as we're going through all these different special teams angles and all the different pieces of the special teams. The coverage units have been absolutely incredible. They've been really good on that front. You talk about both kick and punt returns. It's a rarity that we see Iowa giving anything up, but going through LeVar Woods and what he's built, maybe getting back to a few more gadget things and doing a few different things is this special teams unit is just so important.

We talk about the three phases of the game. For a long time, Iowa really didn't look at it that way. Derrick Wilson was the special teams coordinator for a number of years. Was it him and Chris White, I think, had it for a couple of seasons. It was bad, and it showed up in a big-time way. Having this dedicated special teams coach, I believe, has been the difference between some of these 10-win seasons that we've seen and eight-win seasons, and some of those eight-win seasons that we've seen and maybe six-win seasons.

That has been the difference. The special teams are that important for Iowa football and what we had. One other component is I mentioned Torrey Taylor. Remember, he was also the holder. We'll see if that's Reese Dakin. Again, a guy without an American football background might be a question mark there. Who's going to be holding the snaps on their way back for field goals?

Another component I think we'll get some answers to at Big Ten Football Media Day coming up tomorrow. Speaking of those media days, John Boenkamp will be there for the Associated Press. We'll hear from John Boenkamp as we continue. This is Locked On Hawkeyes. We continue Locked On Hawkeyes. Trent Condon joined today by John Boenkamp with the Associated Press, HawkeyeNation.com. You can find John's work all over the place covering the Iowa Hawkeyes.

John, let's get into your main beat, and that is the Iowa Hawkeyes. His media day is upon us here in a couple of days, Iowa Football Media Day. Chance to learn a little bit more about the Hawkeyes. What is your biggest question going into this media day? What are you going to be searching for? And there are questions with this team, a lot of returning talent that goes along with it. What's your biggest question that you're looking to answer on Friday? I think I want to hear just kind of where the offense is at,

how much is installed. You know, man, I think most of it is at this point. And I also want to see how those guys have kind of adjusted to Tim Lester and what he wants to do and how he wants to run things. You know, I mean, I know the offensive linemen were, you know, in the time that we got with them this summer on a couple of occasions, really like what he's doing. And, you know, again, that's going to be in my mind, that's going to be one of the biggest things, question marks about the offense is how good is the line?

Because I don't care what kind of scheme you have. If you're not blocking, there's going to be problems. So they have struggled the last couple of years. And I know guys have been hurt and things like that, but this offensive line has to be really good this year. And I, and I mean, because the depth is there, the, the experience, the age is there. Now they've got to perform and consistently perform.

And so that those, that's the biggest question for me is how this offense, every piece of this offense is working right now and where they're at as you get into the season. Because you don't have a lot of time to mess around. You're going to play a pretty decent Illinois State team in the opener, and then you get Iowa State at home. And it's like you've got to be hitting pretty early on this offense, I think.

So that's going to be the biggest answer I'm looking for on Friday is where everything is at right now. And I'm anxious to hear from media members as well, because we've heard that Kirk Ferentz is different this year, that seemingly there's less on his plate, that maybe not quite as uptight as so tense. He's a father, first and foremost, right? And his son, he took a lot of arrows and a lot of

criticism and all of it was warranted. But now he doesn't have that. Brian is gone. And people have noticed, I mean, national people have noticed a different Kirk Ferentz with not having that offense and having to answer about his son. Did you notice it, John? Absolutely. And I had one of those off-the-record conversations with him. He was at the IndyCar race at Iowa Speedway, the Saturday night race. He was the grand marshal.

And I talked to him on pit road, and he was in a really good mood. And so when we got to media day in Indianapolis a couple weeks ago, I just asked him, I said, did you stay for the whole race? He went through this long story about how they stayed for not only the whole race, but they stayed for the concert after. And, you know, I mean, there is a more relaxed to him. And, I mean, I do think that he has kind of taken a little bit of a different approach this year. And, yeah, there is.

And, in fact, I did. I got a text from a friend of mine after she saw him on the Big Ten Network part of the media day. She's like, Kirk seems in a better mood. And so, I mean, people are noticing. And I do think that, I mean, you know, I think maybe he comes into this season with a little different attitude. And I think that that's a good sign. I think he knows when he has a good team team and you can kind of sense that in him.

And I'm wondering if that's not what we're sensing in him is he knows he's got a pretty good football team. Definitely feels that way. We've talked a lot throughout the summer months with you, John, about as the question marks with this squad, with this team, Lester said everything,

right, but let's go the other direction. It doesn't go well. The offense improves, but you're go the other direction. It doesn't go well. The offense improves. You're gloom and doom today. Simple first. Well, we've got to go these directions because we've been shining a lot of optimism. I'm not being critical.

I'm just making a point. And the offense is still, well, it's not 130th, but it's still 100th. And they go 7-5, 8-4, just a ho-hum kind of season. If it doesn't happen then, does that change the perception of Kirk Ferentz and maybe what his future looks like and his decision as he just turned 69 years old, what his future is going to be? That is possible. And, I mean, in the back when you were saying that, I just shuddered

because I know what the last two years have been like with 10-win teams that have had bad offense. And I'm thinking if there's seven win teams with bad offense, my God, I'm shutting my phone off on Saturday night. It's not going on until Monday morning. But I mean, that's the worst case scenario in my mind. And I mean, anything can happen. Guys can get hurt.

You can have. But I do think they're a little bit more equipped now to handle adversity than maybe they have been in the last couple of years. Because I do think that that quarterback room is better. And I know I said that last year, but I do think this quarterback room from one to three is a lot better. And so there's a lot of things there that can kind of avoid that worst case scenario, but God, if it happens, I don't, I don't even want to think about it because I can only imagine what the reactions could be like.

Yeah. Pitchforks and torches. Yeah. You know, speaking of adversity, I'm guessing McNamara is sick and tired answering the questions about his health and he's going to have to again on Friday. How is he when he's asked that? Can you tell he's, you know, almost at the end of his rope? Let me get out there and play a couple of games so I can quit answering this question. No, I think he understands the question.

I mean, he knows his history, and we all know his history. And in recent years, I should say, in the last couple of years, and he's had not only just injuries, but, I mean, injuries that are hard to come back from. And so, I mean, I think he understands it back from and so i mean i think he he understands it's a legitimate question and he says he feels fine he says this is the best he's felt in two years and you know so you just got to go from that now i'm going to be curious to see him in action see him on saturday during kid day you know depending on what they let him do um which i

mean from everything i've said from everything've heard, he is clear to go. So, and everything I've seen in the videos, he's clear to go. So let's see how he looks on Saturday. Let's see how the backups look. Let's kind of see where that, that it'll give you a kind of a good indication on where this offense that it's not the end all be all. I don't think it's anything, you know, it's not one of those things get upset about if things don't go well, but it will give this kind of an indication of where he's at health-wise and what he can do and what he's been doing.

Feels like the buzz name of camp that I have heard a bunch is Jarrett Bowie. And he started, they listed three wide receivers as starters, which was a change in the depth chart that came out at Big Ten media football days. You also couple into just they need a receiver with a little bit of size. Seth Anderson is frail. He's a little guy. And we know Caleb Brown, though he's thick. He's not real tall. You need that big guy on the outside.

What have you been hearing about Bowie and the wide receivers as a whole? I continue to hear, look, they're not great by any means, but better than what we've seen over the last three seasons. Yeah. And I mean, and I think that's the thing. But in his case, I think we were hearing that, you know know it called me we got him at one of the media availabilities that that says to me that he is a big part of this team i mean they don't they don't just bring him there just to answer questions so i do i mean his name did come up you know at big 10 media day

so again i i there must be something there. And so, again, these are the kind of things you're going to want to see, especially on Saturdays. What can these guys do? Because if you can have a receiver with size to go with the other guys, I think that makes that receiving group that much better. What if Dakin shanks one first time you see him? After watching Torrey Taylor have his his success i'm guessing he'll

be a popular interview on friday as well john yeah because i mean i i mean that that is if we laugh but that is such a key position for what they do you know in the way they flip field position and then and then you let the defense kind of tee off on on what what where they're you know depending on the field position. And so I I'm curious to hear from him and hear where he's at. Cause I mean, he's going to probably go through the same sort of learning curve that, that, that Tori Taylor did. And, you know,

as much as we love Tori Taylor that first year, he was good. And then he was in there, there was kind of that up and down with him. So I think what, what is to me is to see how consistent he can be by the end of September and maybe he reaches before that. But, but I mean, I want to kind of see where he's at right now as a punter and what he's learned and what he's figured out.

That's John Cabo and camp joining us here, locked on Hawkeyes. A look at the big storylines going into Iowa football media day is coming up on Friday. Looking forward to that. And we'll have a full coverage for you here on lockdown Hawkeyes. A look at the big storylines going into Iowa football media day is coming up on Friday. Looking forward to that. And we'll have a full coverage for you here on lockdown. Hawkeyes. Spencer Lee wrestles for gold. When we come back,

stay right there. This is locked on Hawkeyes. Trent kind of back with you one final time on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. For your second listen, enjoy the Lockdown College Football podcast. Spencer McLaughlin gets you ready for an exciting season on the gridiron with discussion of the upcoming season and the ever-changing landscape of college athletics,

including conference realignment, the transfer portal, NIL, new college football, expanded playoffs, and more. Lockdown College Football is available on YouTube and wherever you get podcasts, all part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Spencer Lee gets it done today as he punches his ticket into the gold medal match coming up tomorrow,

12.50-ish Central Time is when he will wrestle on Friday afternoon. That is the anticipated start time of the gold medal match. He will be wrestling a wrestler from Japan that he has seen in the past. Should be an exciting one there. Looking at it today, now, I didn't see the first match of the day. I was sleeping on that one. So didn't set the alarm bells for 415, whatever it was to get up and watch. It did watch the replay though. Got out to a good start, gave out a couple of pushouts there late in the match, but hold on for the three to two win.

I don't want to say lethargic. I don't think that's the correct term. I don't have the right adjective here at the top of my head, but just seemed a little bit off by the time though he got into his second match in the quarterfinals, you saw the juices were certainly flowing for Spencer Lee. Any of the butterflies that he very well could have had in that first Olympic match, they were off. It was a dominating performance there. It continued then into the semifinals where it looked like he had things wrapped up 12-0.

They awarded four points on a replay back to the wrestler that he was facing there in the semifinals. Still finished it off. 14-4 is a victory, and he gets it done in the first period. The domination continues. We talked yesterday about Spencer Lee and what we are going to see from him, just how elite he is at the freestyle. The way that he wrestles is absolutely ridiculous at this level. Of course, we saw it in the Hawkeye singlet.

Now seeing it here on the international stage is great to see. It's not a foregone conclusion, but has a great chance of winning a gold medal. We know he will be a medalist at the Olympic Games, but one more to go doing it in the country where his mom is from. Family's there. His parents met over in France. His grandma got to see him for the first time in action in person. How cool is that?

A lot of great storylines here and we'll be keeping our fingers crossed and Spencer Lee finishing things out. In fact, we'll talk about that coming up tomorrow on the podcast. We'll have you covered in a free full recap of what we see over at the Olympic games. As always, thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Now, make sure again to go check out Lockdown College Football. It's the Lockdown College Football podcast

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