Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Hawkeye's Kirk Ferentz press conference takeaways: Jack Campbell was almost a center; Kyler Schott health update; O-line improvement areas

Episode Date: September 29, 2021

Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Kirk Ferentz spoke to the media yesterday so we are breaking down everything he said including the interesting nugget that he wanted Jack Campbell to be a center or defensive lineman. He also provided an update on Justin Britt and Kyler Schott's health, and he gave some insight into the struggles of the offensive line and why the struggles are not on Spencer Petras. We also spend time discussing the class of 2022 recruiting update as the Iowa Hawkeyes landed a rising tight end prospect in Cael Vanderbush. Where does this leave the class of 2022 with just a few months remaining and what is the update on a certain in-state 5-star prospect? We break it all down here.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!SweatBlockGet it today for 20% off at SweatBlock.com with promo code LockedOn, or at Amazon and CVS.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 another episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Podcast Network. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade. Excited to be back for another episode today, and I want to thank you for making the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast your first listen every single day.

Remember, Locked On Hawkeyes is free and available on all platforms, including YouTube, at Locked On Hawkeyes. And on today on all platforms, including YouTube at Locked on Hawkeyes. And on today's show, Iowa gets another commitment in the class of 2022. What does that mean for the class and what is left to fill out this class? And yes, we are going to talk a little bit about a five-star prospect named Xavier. And then following that, we're going to cover the Kirk Ferens press conference. I felt like he gave a lot of very insightful things and kind of reiterated some of the things we've talked about the last two days. Offensive line issues, what's going on?

Spencer Petras, is he the answer? Kirk thinks he is. And then also giving some insight into Jack Campbell and how he actually didn't think Jack Campbell should be a linebacker. We're covering all that on the show today. So let's get into it though. Starting with the big time news, Iowa landing a commit in the class of 2022. And this recruiting process happened very, very quickly. Cale Vanderbush, a 6'6", 200 pound tight end out of Plainfield, Indiana. This was a kid who was originally committed to Western Michigan. And he went to Iowa for a visit, received an offer this weekend, decommitted from Western Michigan the following day, and committed to Iowa the day after that. It took two days after getting that offer to decide that Iowa is the place for him.

What's interesting about this recruitment is two things, really. Iowa landing their second tight end in the class, and I know they were on other guys like Micah Riley-Ducker, who ended up going to Auburn, and they were unable to get him. Now, though, we have two tight ends, Addison Ostringa and Cale Vanderbush, in the class of 2022. And one of the things we talked about several months ago is the fact that Iowa hasn't typically recruited a lot of high-profile tight ends.

And yet, here we are. Iowa is one of the leaders in tight ends produced in college football next to Notre Dame and Miami over the course of the last 20-25 years. George Kittle was not a high-profile recruit. T.J. Hawkinson wasn't a high-profile recruit. Heck, Noah Fant was considered to be a defensive end by a lot of people. Now granted, good three-star prospect, but nevertheless, people thought he could be a better defensive end. Good three-star prospect, but nevertheless, people thought he could be a better defensive end. This bodes well. Iowa getting Cale Vanderbush. Again, a 6'6", 200-pound tight end, a very athletic guy who is very good on the basketball court as well.

When he gained some weight, he could be a big-time player for the Hawks. Now, adding him with Addison Estrenga, a guy who had a baseball scholarship offer to play for the Iowa baseball team. Clearly, we're getting some athletes and at that tight end position, guys who have played multiple sports, and you always love to see a tight end who understands the game of basketball as well, can go up and high point that basketball, can be a jump ball type of guy. Interest was picking up for this kid. Several Big Ten teams were kind of snooping around a little bit. He just recently received an offer from Utah, getting some interest from Northwestern. So this is a kid who was going to begin picking up steam from a recruiting standpoint. It was only a matter of time before he got several other Big Ten offers, in my personal opinion.

A three-star recruit, the 1,582nd ranked player in the nation, Iowa able to get their hands on him. And what he had to say, according to 24-7 Sports, here is what Cale had to say about Iowa. He said, I loved how they use the tight end. I love everything about Iowa and the visit was amazing and the coaches too. Loved how the coaches treated me when they were there. Now, this is actually kind of a big deal because Cale's dad played at Michigan State and Cale's father is pretty excited about Iowa landing Cale and Cale going to Iowa. So nevertheless, big time news, unexpected. It kind of happened again very quickly, but we are very happy to have Cale join Swarm 2022, and I'm very excited to see what he can do in the future at the tight end position as Iowa continues to round out this recruiting class.

As we've talked about on previous shows, this recruiting class isn't going to be that big. It's likely going to only expand maybe three, four more spots. This Layden and Kale was the 10th commit in this class, so I expect them to get to around 14. Now that all is kind of fluctuating depending on what seniors decide to come back. Guys like Riley Moss, will he decide to use his extra year due to COVID? Will Dane Belton return?

I've seen him on several draft sites. I don't think there's a chance he leaves, but I have seen him on draft sites. That's something to be watching out for as well. Tyler Goodson. Will he go to the NFL early? Tyler Linderbaum. I would assume he's going.

I mean, if you're a first round pick, you got to at least consider it, right? So these are the guys that you want to consider when you're thinking about how do you round out this recruiting class and how many scholarships do you have available? Then you got to factor in the transfer portal. Who might leave because they're not getting playing time? Those are all things that Iowa now has to deal with. Not that they haven't had to deal with them before, but they had to deal

with them even more now, especially with that extra year due to COVID. So that's something we're going to be watching. But because of that, this class isn't going to be as big. So I know everyone is typically excited about getting 20 to 25 guys. You see teams like Penn State getting 24 guys and you're sitting there wondering, why can we not do this? Well, it's a strategic move. Iowa doesn't want to get that many guys because we are going to be returning a significant portion of this team. And if you get 25 guys and you already have another 85 guys, there's a better chance that you're going to lose even more guys due to natural attrition without any playing time. So with that being said, where can Iowa go from there with the recruiting class? Well, they do need another corner and they're looking at several different cornerbacks.

They want to get a second running back in this class. I think they would be okay with landing another offensive lineman, but for need another corner, and they're looking at several different cornerbacks. They want to get a second running back in this class. I think they would be okay with landing another offensive lineman, but for the most part, I feel like they are set across most of the positions, including linebacker, including defensive line. They got their quarterback. They at least have one running back. They got their one wide receiver in this class. I think they would love to finish this class out with at least one defensive back,

one running back, and Xavier. Yes, Xavier is a big-time five-star recruit, a guy who is seemingly trending high on Iowa at this point. So two months ago, if you would have told me we had a chance at Xavier, I would say, you know what? We really don't. We're definitely third in this race, but with the way Iowa has started, with the way Ohio State has looked, with the push for Iowa to be that local legend and NIL deals being a huge possibility, given the fact that he would be staying in state only two hours away. And it seems like he has a pretty good connection with Kyler Casper, another guy, a four-star wide receiver who Iowa is very high on as well.

Kevin Casper's son would love to land a guy like that, a big-time playmaker as well. Tall, great hands, great route running. Obviously learned a lot from his dad, Kevin. Those two seem to be pretty close. They would be a year apart, but I do believe at this point we're looking at getting at least one defensive back, one running back, and if we can land Xavier, that would be the icing on the cake for this team Xavier would be a huge addition

a five-star recruit I believe the highest rated recruit in Iowa Hawkeye history potentially AJ Epinesa might be in there as well AJ or Xavier might be it might be one two on on those two but nevertheless things are trending upwards if Iowa can keep winning games which I expect them to I think we could be seeing a commitment from Xavier. It seems like Iowa might be in the driver's seat now for this recruitment with Ohio State and Notre Dame following behind that. So we are going to get into the Kirk Ferens press conference. I do want to tell you about all the things he mentioned in his conference.

I thought it was very informative, especially talking about Jack Campbell and the fact that he didn't think he was a linebacker. He also talked about Spencer Petras and whether or not Spencer was a good quarterback and why it is difficult to play that position. And then finally,

he also talked about the offensive line and the fact that it's not just one thing. It's a culmination of things, but he truly feels like it's not a talent issue, that it is a mental mistake issue, which is something he feels like they can correct.

And I want to remind you that betonline.ag is back and better than ever. All eyes are on the gridiron as teams are back on to start another football season. As always, BetOnline is your number one spot for all the pro and college football action this season. With a new updated site and interface, even more odds, props, and contests, BetOnline.ag continues to be the number one source for everything football. Head over to the website or use your mobile device today and receive a 100% welcome bonus. When you use the promo code locked on that's L O C K E D O N from football,

basketball, boxing, right to your favorite Vegas casino games. Don't wait to take advantage of all the amazing offers available for the 2021 season. Bet online. Dot. IG is the fastest and the easiest way to bet on all of your favorite sports.

BetOnline.ag, your online sports books experts. And as we get into the shows for the rest of the week, on Thursday's show or tomorrow's show, we're going to be breaking down what to expect from Maryland. On Friday's show, we are going to be talking about predictions, which bodes well if you want to get on betonline.ag because our predictions are going to include the against the spread picks, also the over unders, and give you a few other bets you can make as well. We do that every single Friday. To this point, we are three and one against the spread, missing out last week against

Colorado State, which is very unfortunate. And before we get into talking about Spencer Petras, I want to thank you all again for making the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast your first listen every single day. We're still going to cover Spencer Petras and his offensive line, but again, thank you all for tuning in every single day to our free podcast and YouTube channel, the Lockdown Hawkeyes. All right, y'all.

So we talked about recruiting. Iowa, I feel like, is in a pretty good spot to this point. Let's get into it, though, and talk about what Kirk Ferentz had to say about this upcoming game against Maryland. He said a lot. This is honestly one of his most informative press conferences, in my opinion. I thought he really opened up the book, so to say, on what he wanted to speak about. And really, he started off with Maryland complimenting the heck out of Maryland. And he said, this is not just a tough challenge for us because of Maryland.

It's a tough challenge for everything. He said, first of all, it's a short week. We're playing a night game, being on the road, playing a Big Ten opponent. That's the biggest factor is that we are playing a good Big Ten football team, no matter where it is, but certainly with the other conditions prescribed, it makes a big challenge for us now. Iowa understands what is ahead of them. I'm wondering if, and I do trust and appreciate what Kirk Ferentz is able to do against some of these FCS teams, since some of these group of five teams like a Colorado State and Kent State, was it pretty? No. But did they get the win? Yes. And I would argue, sometimes we talk about looking forward too much and you're looking ahead to some of these games. I wonder if Iowa truly was looking ahead, but they were able to survive.

Now they got this game. They are ready to take on a Maryland team, a 4-0 Maryland team in Maryland. That is not going to be easy. And it's not going to be easy in large part because Maryland has a tag of Viola on their team. They got Tua's little brother. And what Kirk had to say about him is something I've also mentioned as well. This is a guy who can scramble and he has a big time arm. He said, I think first and foremost, you start with Maryland's quarterback.

He's a really good football player. If you think about it a little bit, I remember, I don't know where I was that they played a Friday night game. I think his first game to open the season a year ago, and it wasn't a good outing for them or the quarterback necessarily. But since then he has improved significantly and he's really shown off a lot of different things um tag of iola is mobile this is a guy who we've seen mobile quarterbacks to this point michael pennix jr was mobile although i think injury wise we didn't really see him do that as much and weren't really concerned about him but bronc purdy a guy who can burn us he got us on one rpo um dustin crumb at Kent State, another mobile guy

who had some big-time runs. Not necessarily against us as much, but in previous games, in Tocencio, we saw what he could do. He kept Colorado State single-handedly alive in that second half by making plays with his legs, also running in for a touchdown. That's a big concern for me, for Iowa,

is being able to stop Tagovaiola, not with the passing game, but with his legs. Because when something breaks down, he has the ability to get out of the pocket. The defensive line, it'll be interesting to see what Phil Parker draws up. Again, that run play where Todd Sancio took it in, we didn't have anyone in a spy. Now what's tough is Iowa typically plays zone. So typically your eyes are facing the quarterback, but Maryland has a lot of very good wide receivers. So that zone might drop back a little bit as Maryland tries to take shots deep, which allows the underneath game to open up a little bit more

and opens up a few more running lanes for Tagovaiola. So do you have a spy or do you do what he's done a couple times, especially against Brock Purdy, where he had Zach Van Valkenburg actually dropping back and playing that spy? We've also seen Joe Evans do that at times times which i think would be a really interesting play um and then we also have to trust our linebackers to be able to get up there as quickly as possible in that case now we've talked a lot about the health of this offensive line and the fact this offensive line is in transition quite a bit kyler shaw is continuing to work his way back. Connor Colby last week, the true freshman, excuse me,

did get his first start because Justin Britt was also hurt. Now, though, it sounds like both these guys continuing to work their way back. Here's what Kirk had to say. Justin's had a little more practice. I'll start with him. So that's encouraging and looks fine. I think Kyler's gaining ground.

So with every week we expect to see him play more and more, that will help us. Two guys that are a little bit older, certainly, but Kyler especially is experienced. The first week, Kyler played 19 snaps. The second week, Kyler played 27. I think in this game, we could see Kyler go 45 to 50 snaps. He's three weeks into the season now in terms of his playing time, and they need him to be there. He has been one of the more consistent performers on the offensive line in his limited snaps in the last two games compared to some of the atrocities we've seen people struggling across the board on this offensive line. And because of these struggles, one of the things a lot of people have been floating the idea around

about is the idea that Cody Ince would move to tackle. Maybe we have Kyler shot in there and we have either Connor Colby or Justin Britt or both kind of rotating in snaps and having Cody Yance, who we've talked about before, can play all five positions. Maybe he slides out to that tackle spot where we've had a lot of issues between Nick DeYoung and Jack Plum. Now Nick's had some solid games. Jack had a solid game last game. Mason Richmond struggled a little bit, but ultimately Iowa just wants to get the best five guys on the field. But who are those five guys on the field. But who are those five guys? It sounds like they feel like they're close to figuring that out, but they don't want to move Cody to tackle yet. They don't feel like that is good for the state

of the Iowa football team. Here's what he had to say on that though. He said, if we can just keep him at left guard, I'd be thrilled. At some point, we've got to get things solidified and figure out what the equation is. It's twofold. I think we have enough guys at guard, and I didn't know what that would look like. None of us knew what that would look like throughout spring practice. Now we're far enough along to where, yeah, he can stay on the inside.

He's also probably our third center as well. So that's enough for him to focus on. But if we get a hole in the wall or something like that, you've got to fix it. Hopefully we don't get to that point. I think we pretty much got boundaries for every guy now, and it's just a matter of getting everybody healthy and getting them the work they need and see how all that starts to move forward. Again, rooting between the lines, they want to use either Mason Richmond, Jack Plum, or Nick DeYoung at that tackle spot. They would rather

not keep Cody Ince moving around. They want to keep that interior solid. And I think they're also being smart about the injuries. Justin Britt has been injury prone in his three seasons with the Iowa Hawkeyes. Kyler Schott has also dealt with injuries before. Having Cody Ince in there gives you a little bit more flexibility. God forbid something happens to Tyler Litterbaum, then we could slide Cody inside, a position he's a little bit more familiar with than at that point you could have kyler justin and connor rotate time

but i think ultimately they're trying to do what's best for the team however as they said if nick continues to struggle if mason maybe struggles if jack can't come in and compete for those starting jobs you do have to consider all avenues which would include cody possibly slotting to the tackle spot so that was really interesting to me as well. He also said in terms of the offensive line, and I mentioned that the fact they're not completely solidified on the rotation, he talked a little bit about Connor Colby, and he then went into the offensive line. He said he's also struggled some out there, which is totally predictable in practice and

also on the game field. He's had a couple plays the other day that I thought he was capable of making, but it just happened a little faster than maybe he thought. That's part of an experience in youth. The same thing as the last discussion. We'll just kind of see how it all plays out. I think he's definitely in that group of six, seven, eight guys and see how it all pans out.

I would agree. I mean, I think what they're doing with Connor, yes, there are going to be the ups and downs. He is a true freshman playing Big Ten football for a team that heavily relies on the offensive line. There will be growing pains. There will be growing pains with Mason Richmond. If you can survive the growing pains, you are developing an offensive line that could be absolutely dominant for years to come with both those guys having several years of eligibility left. So from Kirk's standpoint, you want to see, can we continue to get by with these guys as they figured out?

Connor's going to have good days. He's had good days to this point. He struggled a bit against Colorado State. Again, you're going to have some of those inconsistencies. Whereas a Tyler Linderbaum to this point doesn't have as many of those inconsistencies, save for a couple plays against Colorado State. So that'll be interesting to see as Kyler Schott gets more snaps, as Justin Britt gets

healthy. If we continue those struggles, this offensive line rotation has not been solidified. It sounds like Cody Ince is not an option as of now to move over to that tackle spot. So how are they going to divide up those guard snaps? May they move Connor Colby over to the tackle spot where he has actually been listed as a second string tackle. Now that Cody, Justin and Kyler are in the interior, possibly there's a lot of options here on the table. And you better believe that this coaching staff is going to explore every single one of them as they try to get this offensive line ready for the remainder of big 10 play. They have eight games left to

close out the season. They are one third of the way through the season. And right now, if we're coming into the season, we thought the issue would be quarterback. It's not. Spencer Petras has played really well to this point through the season. I think some play calling hasn't been up to snuff in terms of whether or not they want to take shots, whether or not they want to expand the playbook. I think also it sounds like the play on the practice field hasn't been good enough to feel like, hey, we can take some of these deep shots. But Spencer has not been the issue. It has been the offensive line. So this offensive line, typically the bread and butter of Iowa, gets going. We can expect to see this team get a lot better offensively. We are going

to be talking about Spencer Petras here in just a few moments. I want to talk about, again, how Spencer has done really well, how Kirk has also been praising him. And then I want to talk about how and why they decided to open it up deep. But I do want to tell you first about Bilt Bar. Bilt Bar is the best tasting protein bar on the market today. It is the protein bar that tastes just like a candy bar. They have nine delicious flavors, plus the occasional limited time flavors, such as white chocolate birthday cake with sprinkles, which is my personal favorite. The best part about these Bilt Bars, though, is not just how phenomenally tasty they are, it is how good they are for you.

That's right. Not only do they taste well, they also are good for you. 17 to 18 grams of protein per bar, 130 to 180 calories, only 4 to 5 grams of sugar, and only 4 to 5 grams of net carbs. Nine amazing flavors. All tasty. All healthy. And did you know that Bilt Bar is the official sponsor of the USA Track and Field team? Well, now you know.

It's good enough for them. It's probably good enough for us. Go to BiltBar.com and use the promo code LOCKED15. That's L-O-C-K-E-D-1-5. And you'll get 15% off your first order. Use the promo code LOCKED15 for 15% off at BiltBar.com. And we are going to talk about Spencer Petras and why they decided to open up and take some shots deep.

We'll also get to that leading comment I talked about, Jack Campbell, and the fact that Kirk did not want him playing that linebacker spot. But I do want to quickly thank you again for making the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast your first listen every single day. We'll be back tomorrow with an inside look at what Maryland brings to the table and how Iowa is planning on defending it. That's all coming up on tomorrow's show. Let's get into it, though.

Spencer Petras. What Kirk had to say about him I thought was really eye-opening. When people get upset about how Iowa's offense plays, they immediately turn to saying Spencer Petras is not the answer. What about Alex Padilla? Now the thing has been, well, is Alex Padilla that good? Because he must not be if we don't have him playing. I don't think that's the case at all. I think what it is that Spencer's actually playing pretty darn good football and we should be happy with what he's doing. Iowa does not ask a significant amount from their quarterback. They don't ask them to be the guy who's going to go in and win the game for them. They ask him to be the guy who manages the game and makes a few

shots. And honestly, his deep ball accuracy, I thought was some of the best deep ball accuracy we've seen in a lot of years from the Iowa Hawkeye quarterback position. Here's what he had to say, though. Kirk said, we have felt really good about him and continue to feel really good about him, Spencer, they're talking about. There's no issues issues there we've had deep throws in our playbook it's just Saturday they were there it's great to see him be aggressive with the ball and do that there's only one play that really stands out and I think all of us wish we had that back there were several things not a lot several things wrong with that one play but one was just to throw the ball where nobody would get it and it would have been a better ending there.

That's part of the process. He'll be learning as long as he's playing. And just like all of us are. We're also learning, too. We're very thrilled he's our quarterback. He's doing a good job, and Alex is doing a nice job, too, in that backup role. Again, yes, a bad interception. Should he throw it away?

Absolutely. But it's a learning experience, and that was the only turnover he's had this entire season. But when you come back to the fact that he had some really nice deep throws, it's a really good game. Like I've talked about on the previous two shows, that was probably Spencer's best game of his entire career. End-to-end, across the board. And when talking about the deep ball, a lot of us have been wondering,

where has been this explosive play at? Well, it sounds like they haven't been doing a very good job in practice until this week. Kirk said, to that point, last week was a better week for us completing deep balls in practice, whereas a couple weeks prior to that, I wasn't so sure how many of those we were making. In fact, I'm pretty sure how many we weren't making. That's a concern because if you're not doing it in practice,

it's not going to happen in the game. You've got to hit it in rhythm out there on the field, but you've got to hit it on the practice field first. So we've all been complaining about the lack of explosive plays. It sounds like the Iowa offense wasn't doing those things consistently in practice. And until they got to that point, they weren't comfortable with unleashing it in a game because that's when you have big-time interceptions, big-time turnovers, or just a wasted play if you're not going to hit it consistently. So that's some news on the deep ball.

Wrapping up, I want to quickly talk about Justin Jacobs and Jack Campbell. He mentioned a little bit about Justin Jacobs. So in this game, in the last game, especially against Colorado State, because they were in 12 and 13 personnel so much, Justin Jacobs was on the field a lot because they were running that 4-3. But when Iowa moves to a 4-2-5, what do you do there? You want to get your best players on the field. Justin Jacobs isn't able to get on the field as much.

And Kirk said, we've actually thought about that, and it is a difficult spot. He said, that's one of the dilemmas in football you go through sometimes. Do you go scheme or do you go personnel? There's some give and take there. In this case, we just feel like Justin's really moved on from a year ago. He's really elevated. So it's a little tougher discussion that way. He does a good job in pass coverage too.

The other good news is he can play those inside positions. We'd probably be more apt to put him where Seth plays and move Seth to Jack's spot if we're going to take Jack out. It's hard to take all three of those guys off. They're really playing well right now, and that's a good thing for us. And we've actually noticed this. Iowa has ran the 4-2-5 a lot against Indiana, a lot against Iowa State, and a lot against Kent State. Justin Jacobs has gotten between 20 and 30 snaps in each of those games. What they've really been doing is in those passing downs, they've actually been substituting Justin for Seth primarily, keeping Jack on the field and really utilizing the best abilities of these guys. Because Justin in that passing down can still rush the quarterback pretty

well. He also, I think, has been a very solid pass coverage player. Now, some people might disagree with me. I would say watch the tape. I don't see that. Yes, he allowed several catches to Trey McBride for Colorado State. Trey McBride had his worst game of the season. Trey McBride is a first-round tight end, and Justin Jacobs, I thought, held his own. So that was really interesting to me. They've been trying to do and figure out these rotations. Last week, running the 4-3, they actually had Dane Belton taking over for Kayvon Merriweather, having Kayvon Merriweather not play as many snaps

because they wanted to get, again, their best guys in the game at the time. So that, to me, was kind of interesting. And then finally on Jack Campbell, he said, if it were up to me, he'd be a defensive end or a center probably. I got nixed on both of those, vetoed badly. And you've got to love how this Iowa team, this Iowa coaching staff staff knows where the potential is for these players tyler linderbaum came in as a defensive lineman they flipped him over to center

and the guy's an all-american gonna be a first round pick he maybe isn't that same guy at the defensive line position now i'm not saying he wouldn't be but you don't typically see as many kind of smaller guys like tyler linderbaum at that defensive line position. Obviously Aaron Donald is a guy to look at, but nevertheless, Iowa clearly making the right decision for moving Tyler Linderbaum, making the right decision keeping Jack Campbell at that linebacker spot and not moving him. They've also made Logan Lee. He came in as a tight end, moved to defensive line.

He's done a really phenomenal job there as well. You just got to trust this Iowa coaching staff. But that was the takeaways from the Kirk Ferentz press conference. And also, again, Iowa landing another commitment in the class of 2022 is absolutely huge news. Just a reminder that we are going to be back tomorrow breaking out everything you need to know about Maryland coming into this game. This is not your same old Maryland team. This is not the Maryland team we predicted to go and finish sixth or seventh in the Big Ten East. This is not the Maryland team we predicted to go and finish 6th or 7th in the Big Ten East. This is a solid Maryland team, and we're going to be talking

all about them on tomorrow's show of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast, your free podcast and YouTube channel every single day. Also want to tell you about Locked On Bets because betting on your team doesn't have to be a guessing game anymore. If you listen to the new Locked On Bets podcast, hosted by your boy Q

and handicapping expert Lee Sterling, get daily picks, blowout specials, wrong team favorite picks, and Lee Sterling's lock of the day. Follow the Locked On Bets podcast brought to you by betonline.ag, wherever you get your podcast at. And that does do it for our show today, Hawkeye Nation. I appreciate you all tuning in. I appreciate your love and support. Please make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

And if you like the show, if you're watching us on YouTube, give us that thumbs up and subscribe. If you're listening to us in a podcast form, make sure to subscribe us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And if you like the show, if you're watching us on YouTube, give us that thumbs up and subscribe. If you're listening to us in a podcast form, make sure to subscribe and give us that five-star review. Appreciate you all. Have a fantastic Wednesday. And as always, Hawkeye Nation, let's go Hawks.