Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Hawkeye football coaches media day takeaways

Episode Date: April 8, 2021

Three Iowa football coaches spoke to the media yesterday. We break down what we learned including who is winning the QB race, how good the defensive line could be, and what changes were made to the strength and conditioning program.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back, Hawkeye Nation, to a Thursday morning episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade, and on today's episode, we're going to be breaking down potentially some of the positional previews. We have the defensive line and the specialists, but we do have the Iowa football coaches spoke to the media. We're going to be breaking that down first and foremost. And this episode is brought to you by rockauto.com.

Amazing selection, reliably low prices, all the parts your car will ever need. Visit rockauto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Let's get into it though. We heard from three Iowa coaches, Ken O'Keefe, Raymond Brainworth, and Phil Parker. So we're going to talk about what they said. A lot of good information, especially from Ray and from Phil. Ken basically spoke a lot about quarterbacks, which makes sense since he's the quarterback coach, but didn't really give a lot of information.

But let's get into it. Actually, before we do that, just a reminder that if you have not signed up for the Elevate Level 1 program, you got to do it. I wouldn't be talking about it so much unless I thought it was a phenomenal program hosted by Frank Garza. So it's the end of April, $125, three sessions. That's for Level 1. If you have an opportunity to do that, you can then slide into Level 2 after that, which is what I'm taking actually. So make sure to check that out at sportshood.net but again we heard from Ray, Phil, and Ken and Ray had a couple things to say obviously some questions about some of the things that happened last summer also some questions about some of the guys who've really had

some strong winters and springs so far he specifically named Tyler Linderbaum, Seth Benson, Jack Campbell, and Kayvon Merriweather, saying they have set the bar for training. I expect that from Tyler Linderbaum. I kind of expected it from Seth and Jack. Kayvon is a guy who, not that I didn't expect it from him, but it's phenomenal to see him take that next step

to being a leader on this football team. A guy who has earned the starting position two years in a row, lost it two years ago, got it this past year, and should be keeping it but has a lot of competition. So you need a guy like that who's ready to step up and fulfill that safety spot and keep it there as much as possible. Love to see him setting that bar from a training perspective.

There were several questions about how things have changed within the program, and I think there was a couple things he specifically mentioned. He said a lot of the changes were more logistical and a lot of it was partly because of COVID, but also how they group guys, et cetera, what was a big piece of that. He also mentioned this, he didn't, this was not in regards to what has changed from Doyle to Raymond, but when asked about his coaching style, I thought this really spoke volumes. And he said he doesn't just get upset. He doesn't just yell at the players. He asks questions. He tries to find out what is going on with an athlete. He said maybe a kid is struggling with an injury that he got that he doesn't want to be held out of practice for. Maybe they're

struggling with something with schoolwork. And I thought that was a really telling sign of how Ray likes to lead his players. I think there's a time and a place for yelling, right? There's a time and a place for getting upset. And all the stories that we've heard, you know, whether or not you listen to the washed-up walk-ons, I've listened to a few episodes, and, you know, they talk about the times they got in trouble by Chris Doyle. And obviously you hear the other players talk about the culture that was created by Chris Doyle. And obviously you hear the other players talk about the culture that was created by Chris Doyle. I'm not here to get into semantics about what Chris Doyle did wrong versus right, but it did seem like it was a my way or the highway, no questions, you're not doing something

right. There's no if, and, or buts. And I think there's a happy medium between that and being able to listen to these student athletes. These are young adults. And as Ray kind of talked about, this is a very big opportunity in their life. And it's a big growing opportunity as well. And he kind of touched on that a little bit more when they asked, you know, some of the Iowa football players felt like, you know, they were getting anxiety from being watched almost big brothered throughout the program.

And he talked about, over-monitoring. And he said, for example, they used to require every athlete be monitored or monitor their sleep. And he said, it's because it's a prominent piece of training. But he said, now it's not a required piece. They do not mandate it. They allow those guys to utilize that

as a tool or a resource. And I would argue that a lot of players probably still use it because sleep tracking is a phenomenal tool. He mentioned the fact that sleep, getting good sleep is so vital for success on the field and off the field. And so it is a big piece of training and whatnot,

but I could see how if you're requiring players to wear those sleep monitors, it feels like you're watching them constantly. He did mention that for the incoming freshmen, they try to make sure they do it a couple times to make sure they get an understanding about how it can help them, especially freshmen because they don't have an understanding of how their bodies work. It's the first time being on their own. They're faced with new challenges.

I know for me personally, I'm much more of a morning person, but when I was in college, I stayed up till 1, 2 a.m. because I could every single night. And I think having those sleep monitors provides a little bit more information to those younger guys about how that's impacting their performance, which I thought was really interesting. So it seems like, you know, he says

the only changes are logistical, but I think his general coaching style is more of a nurturing coaching style. And I think you have other coaches who are going to be providing that, you know, sternness. Being able to do some of that nurturing is really good for growing these players mentally, physically, and within the program and without of the program. Again, the over-monitoring sounds like they're working on some of those things and, you know, providing it as a resource but not necessarily a requirement. those things and, you know, providing it as a resource, but not necessarily a requirement. He also mentioned that was, I thought this was really interesting that 60 to 70% of players have not gone through spring football and that spring football, that's a time for exponential

growth. That is a time where players develop the most. He mentioned Tyler Goodson by name and said, Tyler Goodson's a three-year starter and has yet to go through a spring football practice. That's insane. And imagine what kind of growth he can get from these spring practices. You have the playbook installed. You have more time with your teammates to develop chemistry.

And I know we talked a lot about that last season with Spencer Petras not having that spring training and how big of a deal it was. And Matt Vandenberg, when he was coming on, kept saying that is a huge deal. And my counterpoint to that was some other players have gone through, you know, gone without a spring practice and they are doing well. And I think both points can be true. You can, you know, some players do still thrive without having that spring practice, but you know, it is good to have, and it's a great opportunity for these players to grow. And it seems like, especially within the Iowa football program,

because they are such a developmental football program, the spring practice is even more important than a lot of other teams, I would think, having that growth, and especially with some young spots on this team, looking at the defensive line spot, looking at wanting to grow the quarterback position, having some new wide receivers, spring is going to be instrumental for Iowa's success going into next year. Coming up on segment number two, we're going to get into Phil Parker's conversation and then finish it off with Ken O'Keefe.

If we have time, we'll get into our spring positional previews. Otherwise, we will knock that out on tomorrow's show. I do got to tell you about rockauto.com. They are a sponsor of the show. Rockauto.com is a family-owned business serving auto parts customers online for 20 years. Go to rockauto.com to shop for all of your auto and body part needs from hundreds of manufacturers. They have literally everything from engine control modules

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to rockauto.com right now and see all the parts available for your car or truck right locked on in there how did you hear about us box so they know we sent you. Amazing selection, reliably low prices, all the parts your car will ever need. Visit rockauto.com. Get all the sports news you need in under 20 minutes with the Locked On Today podcast. Host Peter Bukowski updates you on the latest news in every major sport with the help of our local experts. Follow the Locked On Today podcast on the Odyssey app, spelled A-U-D-A-C-Y or wherever you get your podcast at. We also, again, we talked about what Raymond said.

We also heard from Phil Parker. We're going to actually get on Ken O'Keefe first and then get to Phil because I think Phil's information was kind of substantial, so I want to make sure we cover it and have enough time for that. Ken O'Keefe spoke to the media, not Brian Ferencz, you know, from an offensive perspective. Obviously, you get a lot of questions about the quarterback play.

And I'll be honest, Ken talked a lot about the quarterbacks, but also didn't say much at all. I think the main takeaway is they realize there are some improvement that is needed from Spencer, but that the quarterback race is not as neck and neck as some Iowa Hawkeye fans would have you believe. And we talked about this when we talked through our quarterback positional preview. It is Spencer Petras' job to lose. They are rotating guys in. They are rotating snaps. But it is Spencer Petras' job to lose.

And for those of you clamoring for Deuce Hogan, I love Deuce. I've had him on the show two times. Phenomenal kid. I'm really excited to see what he can do in this Iowa Hawkeye football program. You might want to cool your jets because from everything we're hearing, he is a lot further away than some people think he might be. People are also overlooking Alex Padilla and Ken had some fantastic things to say about Alex. He said, Alex has done a nice job. He has pretty good command of the offense, operates it well. He's a pretty accurate player and moves through his progressions

really well. He then did a counterpoint and moves through his progressions really well. He then did a counterpoint and said Deuce doesn't have the same command of the system at this point. He's moving forward. He's really improved in that regard, but everything is still pretty fresh. Now again, Alex Padilla's had a spring practice under his belt. He's been here for three years. So it makes sense that he has a better command of the offense. But when you're looking at, you know, is he going to be that number two guy? Is he ready to be that number one guy? It sounds like he's actually pushing Spencer more than Deuce is pushing Alex.

And I think that is not what Iowa Hawkeye fans would think. I think if you would look at Iowa Twitter or Iowa Facebook, they would have you believe that Deuce Hogan is the clear frontrunner and Spencer Petras shouldn't be starting and Alex Padilla doesn't matter. But in all actuality, it's Spencer Petras one, it's Alex Padilla a close second, and Deuce Hogan kind of a far three. And that goes to, you know, Deuce didn't have a spring practice last year. He wouldn't have anyways because he was not going to be an early enrollee.

So naturally, he's going to be a bit behind when it comes to learning that offense. And it's a tough offense. We've heard about the, you know, it does place a lot of emphasis on the quarterback to be able to make reads the line. He also mentioned that as well, when they're going up against Phil Parker's defense. Once you start to know each other's defense and offense, it becomes kind of a chess match. And for Spencer, he feels very comfortable. Spencer being able to get him out of, you know, certain protections, get him out of certain play calls, knowing what the defense is bringing, he feels okay about Alex Padilla being able to do it, but he does not feel necessarily comfortable with Deuce being able to do it.

Basically saying Deuce hasn't had that experience and he doesn't feel like he'd be able to make those calls at the line. And especially in an Iowa offense that requires a lot on the quarterback, that's a really big deal. He did say something that I thought was very, very interesting, though, about Deuce. He did mention that Deuce is bigger than Alex, and it helps him out when making some of his reads. He is a work in progress, but he is gaining ground. Now, this is the one thing I mentioned on our quarterback positional preview. Deuce Hogan is undoubtedly third in that quarterback competition but Iowa has historically valued

bigger quarterbacks who are not maybe as mobile as opposed to those smaller mobile guys look at Peyton Manziel versus Nate Stanley or sorry Peyton Manziel versus Spencer Petras Peyton saw the writing on the wall and left he wasn't going to get the playing time. He was the backup for a couple years, or a year or two, and then Spencer Petras came in and took that job. Peyton was a backup for one year, sorry, the number two for one year. Alex Padilla, more similar to Peyton Manziel,

and Deuce Hogan, more similar to a Nate Stanley or a Spencer Petras. Big quarterbacks, big arms. So that, to me, I thought was really interesting. There was a small comment, but I thought that was really interesting. Kind of telling about how this quarterback battle could shake out in the future. Again, we have another two years of Spencer Petras more than likely. And he did say with the year under his belt, Spencer should be able to see the field better.

He should be able to move through his progressions faster. And he should be able to throw the ball with a bit more confidence. Now they're expecting a big jump from Spencer. We heard from some of the players yesterday. They're excited about Spencer. Spencer knows what he needs to do. He's not worried about outside people saying this or that about him. He knows what he needs to do.

And I think that's important to know as well. He's confident going in to this off season and into the upcoming year. Again, they asked a couple of questions about questions about how the reps are being divided. Not a lot of information on that other than they are dividing reps. So it is a true quarterback battle that Spencer Petras is leading. Now, when Nate Stanley was here his senior year, Kirk Ferens made the comment that everyone technically is battling for the job, but really Nate Stanley would have to throw about 40 balls in the dirt

every single practice to lose his job. That is not the case here. It is a true battle, but Spencer Nate Stanley would have to throw about 40 balls in the dirt every single practice to lose his job. That is not the case here. It is a true battle, but Spencer Petras has that lead, especially with a year of starting experience in the Big Ten and having a stronger back half of a season as opposed to that first half. He also mentioned a couple things about practicing last year. He said, especially with the quarterbacks, they were able to do a lot of Zoom film reviews, but anything on the field, the quarterbacks had to do on their own. Every player had to do on their own. And that provided an opportunity for them to make mistakes and get set in those mistakes.

He didn't mention any names. He just mentioned that you had been, when they came back, you had to correct those mistakes. I don't know if that was Spencer. I don't know if that was Alex, or I don't know if that was someone else entirely, but that was really interesting to me. He also mentioned the fact that Ricky Stanzi, Drew Tate, and Brad Banks also joined them on film sessions last year. I thought that was pretty cool to see Iowa tap into some of the greatest quarterbacks in Iowa Hawkeye history to help tutor some of these younger guys who haven't made any starts to the Iowa Hawkeye football program. So that's what Ken O'Keefe had to say. Coming up on segment number three, we're going to get into the Phil Parker talk. Phil gave a lot of great information

talking about Xavier Williams, some guys who are really showing out. And honestly, the biggest takeaway I have is that he absolutely loves his defensive line. So we're going to get into that in a few seconds. I do want to tell you about betonline.ag because betonline.ag is the fastest and the easiest way to bet on all of your sports action.

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That's right. Go to betonline.ag. You can get a free account, and you'll get a 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit using that promo code LOCKEDON. betonline.ag, your online sportsbook experts. The NFL Draft is weeks away, but it is time to start following BetOnline.ag, your online sportsbook experts. NFL Draft Podcast on the Odyssey app, A-U-D-A-C-Y, or wherever you get your podcast at. Now let's get into some conversations from Phil Parker. He gave a lot of information, really loved the information he provided to the group. He started off his new press conference by saying, Sebastian Castro, Terry Roberts, and Jermari Harris have been doing really well in practice.

And that bodes well. We saw Julius Brents leave. Now my guess is a couple reasons for that he wanted to get playing time he clearly wasn't going to be that starter and you know in front of Matt Hankins or Riley Moss it seemed like and it seemed like Terry Roberts and Jamari Harris are coming along so maybe it was kind of twofold he didn't he wasn't sure if he was going to have that starting position even Even after those guys left, he wanted to get some opportunity to play, transfers to Kansas State.

He also talked a lot about some of the guys in the defensive line. Yaha Black saying that he has been very impressive and he could really play inside or outside. And as a young guy, he was really excited the fact that he was able to get on the field early in his career as a true freshman. And bodes well for what you know what he's going to be able to do at the University of Iowa and they need him to step up ASAP because they have the big responsibility under their belt to replace three starting defensive linemen now he's a guy who you know has has some weight on him but it's still relatively undersized in that regard.

I'm going to pull up his weight right now, and I can kind of walk you through that, but not exactly what you would anticipate as an interior defensive lineman. So let me pull it up. Where is it? I cannot find it. 6'5", 279 pounds. You typically expect a defensive lineman, an interior defensive lineman, to probably be in that 300 range, 320 range.

So a little bit undersized, but sounds like they feel really confident in what he's able to do. And he's been doing really well so far, running with the one. So that is promising. He also mentioned Logan Jones, a guy who could get some playing time as well.

A guy we mentioned when we did, or sorry, we're going to mention when we do the defensive line preview. I've had that prep for some days, but we just keep getting more and more news. Made a really interesting quote. He said, Logan Jones reminds me of Mitch King as far as taking up some space inside. He also said, Logan Jones is very powerful and very strong. He's still learning the position, but has to have some real good plays the other day in 9v7. That's huge. Again, this is a defensive line that is very young. And if these guys can come together,

and honestly just give us above average play at the defensive line position, I'm not asking for AJ Epinesi here. I'm not asking for Davian Nixon. But if they can give us above average play combined with how dominant, I believe, our defensive backs and linebackers can be, this can be a top 10 defense once again. The expectations are very high for this defense. And it all kind of goes back to that defensive line and can they give just good enough play to allow the linebackers and defensive backs to dominate the game speaking on that defensive line again a lot of questions on that we got some

questions on john wagner said he's very pleased with what john wagner is giving us and he said they they looked at having him play inside a little bit but they like where he's very pleased with what John Wagner is giving us. And he said they looked at having him play inside a little bit, but they like where he's at at the end position and that they have a lot of other options inside. And also made the note that they're going to probably get 10 guys rotating along that defensive line. So just because you're a number two, or even if you're not on that two deep, you're probably going to get some playing time.

Again, that's something we're going to mention as well when we talk about that defensive line. Phil Parker loves to rotate guys. So a guy like Chris Reams, who was injured, he's going to get some playing time again that's something we're going to mention as well when we talk about that defensive line phil parker loves to rotate guys so a guy like chris reams who was injured he's going to get some time deontay craig's probably going to get some time ethan hercate was mentioned as well of a guy who's who's been performing pretty well so defensive line wise you're going to see a lot of guys rotate in and out they feel really good about their ones and twos and they clearly i mean for us we're concerned last year actually you can go back to last year last year there were some concerns about how Iowa was going to handle that linebacker position

and that it was probably a weakness on the team I even said that I felt like the linebacker position was probably the biggest weakness going into the season for the Iowa Hawkeyes and Phil Parker said I love this linebacker group I would argue this is the strongest group we have and look what the linebacker group did we would argue this is the strongest group we have. And look what the linebacker group did. We saw Jack Campbell. We saw Seth Benson. Nick Neiman played really well.

We even saw Justin Jacobs. We saw, you know, Jay Higgins. We saw multiple guys step up and play really well and perform very well for the Iowa Hawkeyes. And that same level of confidence is being disseminated down to that defensive line group. So can we expect a fantastic year from the defensive line? If history shows us anything, when Phil Parker is confident about something, we should be confident about it as well. As always, got a lot of questions

about the defensive back group, especially Xavier Williams, who did not make the two deeps, which makes sense. He hasn't really been seen yet. But when he talked about the recruitment of Xavier Williams, he said, wasn't sure if Matt was going to stay or not. And that Xavier Williams wanted to extend his career. They're probably going to look at him at corner,

but he has to learn the terminology and the scheme. And that is tough to come in here. And you know, it's a different kind of scheme. And I believe to me, to me, it's probably battling with Riley Moss. See if he can take that starting position or can he play in that cash position or that star position. And Phil Parker did differentiate that as well, saying that they talked a lot about the cash position and that it really depends on what type of offense they are facing. He said, the cash is going to be more zone concepts, whereas, sorry, the cash that you might have more zone concepts when you want to do more man, you're probably going to line a

corner up over there and slide them over and just try it. You're basically just trying to get the best guys out there for what they're doing. So to me, and I can't remember what reporter asked this, but basically said, are you differentiating between the star and the cash? And Phil said, yeah, essentially. And to me, it's basically looking at a true nickel versus a big nickel, the big nickel you have, you know, uh, you have a safety down in the box. You have three safeties, the true nickel, you have those three corners. And that could be an opportunity as well for Xavier Williams. I'm very interested to see how this position battle plays out, though,

because there are too many guys in the defensive backroom that are talented and could be starting for a lot of teams. How are they going to fit that in? That remains to be seen. But this defensive back group will be dominant this year. We also got one other question about Justin Jacobs because, you know, when you look at a guy who's a four-star recruit, heavily recruited by Ohio State and chose Iowa, you wonder where is he going to get some time to play,

especially behind Seth Benson and Jack Campbell who have years remaining in their eligibility. And the answer he got was Justin can play outside linebacker or that will linebacker spot, and they have a lot of flexibility with that linebacker or that will linebacker spot. And they have a lot of flexibility with that linebacker group to slide people around. And it really depends on the matchups they're getting each single game or every single game. Whether or not Justin's going to get more time or not a lot of time.

So that to me, and I don't think that was being vague with the answer, although it didn't give us a lot of information. I think what's important to note is that Bill Parker feels comfortable with probably 20 to 22 guys playing on his starting defense. That's a good problem to have. And it means that depending on who you're playing, there could be a bunch of different guys getting some key playing time depending on those matchups.

When you're playing a Wisconsin, you're going to have three linebackers in the field. Maybe you don't have that Leo. Maybe you have Justin out there to make sure you can cover a tight end coming out. So that'll be really interesting to see how Iowa continues to utilize that talent, that depth to their advantage. And we've seen Phil Parker do it. We've seen him, you know, change his defense as much as needed to make sure that they can handle teams. And especially with the Big Ten kind of continuing to evolve, that will be even more important, especially the, you know, emergence or not the emergency Ten kind of continuing to evolve, that will be even more important, especially the emergency staying power of the spread offense among the Big Ten schools.

They need to have a variety of guys who can play their scheme and play well. So that was the takeaways from the Iowa Hawkeye News Conference from the three coaches, and that will do it for the show today. We will be back tomorrow getting into some positional previews

and doing some draft talk, maybe just draft talk. I got to see how I feel. I'm actually going to be pre-recording that as well on Wednesday night or yet last night, I guess. So you're going to be getting a two day episode, um, or two day old episode, I should say from the standpoint of I'm recording it a couple of days earlier. So make sure if you love the show to follow us wherever you downloaded the podcast at,

if you love the show, give us that five-star review. And as always follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Hawkeye Nation, I always appreciate you tuning in. I appreciate your listenership and your love, your loyalty, and your support. Have a fantastic Thursday, and let's go Hawks.