Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Hawkeyes POISED to Exploit Penn State's Coaching Chaos? | Hawkeyes Ready to Pounce?

Starting point is 00:00:00 James Franklin's firing at Penn State, a good thing or a bad thing for the Hawkeyes. We dissect today, Locked on Hawkeyes. You are Locked on Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, welcome in. I'm Trent Condon, and this is the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. I've been covering the Hawkeyes for over 20 years on the radio here in the great state of Iowa, including currently on the Iowa Sports Radio Network with stations in Des Moines, Iowa City,

Starting point is 00:00:43 Cedar Rapids, Quad Cities, and Sioux City. You can catch me each weekday from noon to do. Today's episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code Lockdown College for $20 off your first purchase. Today, we're going to talk little hoops. A look at the basketball press conference. conference on the women's side. I will be in Iowa City tomorrow on the men's side of things doing my radio show over there and getting you hopefully a bunch of great interviews from the men's

Starting point is 00:01:08 basketball team. We'll talk a little bit about that. Elliot Kloff is going to join us. He was on hand earlier today in Iowa City for the players press conferences and an opportunity to hear from Mark Rownowski and a whole lot more. We will dig into that with Elliott Kloff coming up here. But we begin today with Kirk Barents' press conference and a question that's been lingering on my mind ever since we found out whatever it was, late Sunday morning, early in the afternoon, that James Franklin has been fired at Penn State. Because in the grand scheme of things, the only thing that matters is for us, right? Us Hawkeyes, that's what we worry about, what we're concerned with.

Starting point is 00:01:44 Now, I want to start at the top. James Franklin, to me, is one of the more unlikable figures that we've had in the Big Ten, the whining that he had after they made their way to Kinnick Stadium back in 2021, and the crowd booing their injured players after it felt like. Like many times, they might not have been exactly injured. There were guys that were, and that could be looked at as a bad look. But overall, the whining, the complaining, it continued into the next week. James Franklin, not my kind of guy.

Starting point is 00:02:13 There's been a lot there. But that aside, more than anything, I wanted to see James Franklin with this tail between his legs, have to waddle his way to Iowa City and get handed another loss. And we are deprived of that opportunity to see Penn State, potentially lose four in a low in a row with Franklin at the helm because he's not going to be here as we know. But the big question about this, of course, is, is this a good thing or a bad thing for Iowa? And I look at it like this.

Starting point is 00:02:44 Certainly, this is a rudderless ship. And if this would have been a week right after the firing of Franklin, if we would have heard a bunch of players, get ready to enter the portal, we're going to be shutting it down for the season, those kind of things. if that was going to be the case, then I think we'd be having a different conversation about this today. But that is not the case. And we have heard very little of that from the Penn State side of things. There has been a little bit of talk about potentially some flips. I saw recruiting decommitment that happened. One of their bigger prospects there. But overall, that is what

Starting point is 00:03:17 this situation warrants. This is what we look at at this point in time is there's not a whole lot of that. It's not a whole lot of that. All right. Season over. We're shutting. it down. The other component is this is still a staff that is tremendously well respected. Now, Kirk Farrantz was asked earlier today about Andy Colton Necky, and though he didn't have a great background with him or anything like that, talked about him going to Kansas, what he was able to do there with Lance Leipold and that staff. And what a great job that they've done, well-respected offensive coordinator. And of course, on the defensive side, Jim Knowles, one of the more were now in defensive coordinators in all of college football coming in from Ohio State

Starting point is 00:03:58 after leading the Buckeyes a year ago, averaging only 12 points allowed per game playing in that gauntlet of a schedule that they played all the way through, winning a national championship. What he did before that at Oklahoma State really just opened so many people's eyes of what he was able to do. And Jim Knowles, well, he's not leaving. He's still going to be there. Another thing that Kirk talked about is just the players put on the tape.

Starting point is 00:04:20 And he brought that up a couple of different times. And it does have that feeling that Kirk is very much working to get these guys, certainly to buy in that this is still a good football team. And maybe it does take a little bit an extra push to get the players there. Yes, every week you're prepared. Every week you don't overlook people. And you certainly don't overlook a team like Penn State. Because with the raw talent that they have, this team's still going to be really good.

Starting point is 00:04:51 This team is still going to be a team that is going to have studs on both sides of the ball. They're going to have absolute dinamos all over the place because that's what Penn State football is. Now, the good news is Drew Aller is not going to be there. At least we anticipate that that's good news. Ethan Grugmire, though, remember, was a highly regarded guy himself. And though he's just a redshirt freshman, a lot of people think he is the heir apparent. He's going to be the next great Penn State quarterback.

Starting point is 00:05:20 A new look. You don't have a whole lot of time to prepare. Kurt Ferrence was also asked about that and said, I just don't know a whole lot about him outside of. No, he's a good player because he's at Penn State. No, another interesting angle is his backup now is a guy from Iowa. Jackson Smollick, who I saw a ton of times in his high school career at Downling Catholic. He is now, after being the number three quarterback up to the backup

Starting point is 00:05:44 and a real possibility that Smolick could be coming into this game if, A, it doesn't go well for Grumpmeyer, or an Iowa D. defense gets to him. We certainly have seen that. My biggest takeaway, though, from all of this, from the press conference today, from listening to Kirk was just that. I think he is working to get these guys to understand what is still in front of them, what's going to be happening. I also loved earlier today that Kirk went old school talking about Penn State. He's talking about Jack Hamm. I mean, he's going way back of the day. He's got an absolute kick out of that. But to answer the big topic, the big question that is out there.

Starting point is 00:06:21 Good thing, bad thing, the firing of James Franklin, I think it's a bad thing for Iowa. I think this maybe has an opportunity to re-center this Penn State team. And after what we saw at UCLA and them getting off the mat after the firing of Foster, I think that's another angle and another dynamic that certainly points to these things can work. This Penn State team is too good, too talented to be three and three, and to see their season completely fall apart. Last year, there was not a firing. They continued to maintain another Blue Blood program in Florida State.

Starting point is 00:06:57 And it just kept cratering week after week after week. With this firing, maybe they have a chance. Not that they're going to get back into playoff consideration. They still have incredibly difficult games in front of them. But this thing is not going to fall apart and they're not going to make a bowl game. That's how I look at this and this spot here. A couple of the press conference notes for you, from Kirk Ferrence's press conference from earlier today.

Starting point is 00:07:21 He was asked a little bit about Vandersi, Reese Vandersi coming back and playing in the game, said he felt fine and going to be ramping up getting his reps. Also talked about Zach Lutmer. And as we mentioned in the Rapid Reaction podcast after the game, seeing him out there playing a little bit of cornerback, they changed to the 4-3 and some different things. I don't know how much we're going to see this coming up this week,

Starting point is 00:07:44 but his versatility is something that definitely showed out. And he talked a little bit about that. He also jaded Montgomery and his dad, Jerry, of course, on that first team of Kirk's squad. And he laughed about his age. But the other compote, he talked about how smart he was. Also threw a little bit of dig at Jerry when he was doing it. However, with Montgomery, what a good job.

Starting point is 00:08:08 He just felt like he was able to diagnose things even quicker than what we saw at Harold. And now it's a step up in competition. I mean, you're going definitely to the deep end of the pool now of what I was going to be facing at the running back spot. Two outstanding running backs. They're going to be great. Speaking of players, Devante Ross came up. The Troy wide receiver, remember him from a year ago. Kurt joked about that.

Starting point is 00:08:35 Kirk had a little bit of an edge to him today. But that also points to this game. As Kirk was bringing up guys from the 1970s and talking about Jack AM and a bunch of other old guys, he, he's a Pennsylvania guy. This is the program. I believe he said before he wanted to play for it. He wasn't good enough to do it. So we had to go to Yukon.

Starting point is 00:08:56 Kirk Farrant's, this is a game that has circled every single time. And it doesn't matter if it's James Franklin or Joe Paterno or Bill O'Brien, or wherever the next coach is. This is a game that matters to Kirk Farrants. And we've seen that. We've seen Iowa, undermaned Iowa teams play incredibly well against Penn State. Yeah, there's been some clunkers. But overall, this is a time where it feels like Kirk Barron's is at his best.

Starting point is 00:09:20 And the team feels like they peak to this game. And after we've seen the ascension from this team the last couple of weeks and maybe starting to zero in to be completely the team that we thought we were going to see throughout the course of this season in the early going, the opportunity is there. Let's get a win. Let's move the record of five and two and see what's in front of the Hawkeyes, but have to find a way to be, again, a very talented team,

Starting point is 00:09:44 as Kirk told us today. We continue. We talked about Kirk's press conference. Let's talk about the players. Player availability from earlier today. Elliot Cluff was there for Hawkeye Insider.com. He joins us next.

Starting point is 00:09:55 A look at Mark Grodowski. What Gornowski said about his health as he returned to the field last week against Wisconsin. We'll talk about that and more with Elliot when we come back. Locked on Hawkeyes. The holidays are going to be here

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Starting point is 00:12:22 Visit Fandul.com to download the Fandual app today and get started. That's Fandul dot com. Off to Iowa City we go. Elliot Clefts had a busy date. Elliot Trenton, Ken, as always, we appreciate what you do for us.

Starting point is 00:12:40 Thank you very much for that. I guess where I want to start is hard to avoid the quarterback position, right, when it comes to any football program. Mark Grinowski was okay, didn't wow you, but it was good to see him out on the field. Still wonder if he's going to be able to scramble if necessary. So I'm doing it a couple of times, but far be it anywhere close seemingly to 100%. And then here comes a Klitsky off the bench, not Brown. It was a Klitsky.

Starting point is 00:13:09 Am I saying? Hecklinsky. There we go. that came in, in relief. So let's start there with the quarterbacks. Any conversation around the quarterback position today? Yeah, so we got to talk to Mark. Nothing super groundbreaking so much as him telling us that he's, you know,

Starting point is 00:13:27 still working to get back healthy, but he said he feels good today. And, you know, like I said, nothing groundbreaking, but talked a little bit about his play against Wisconsin. You know, like you said, we could tell everybody could tell that he wasn't 100%. but like he said, he's still working to get back. Talked a little bit about that interception he threw. I'm trying to think the run game being as good as it was. And so he's, you know, I agree with you.

Starting point is 00:13:55 He's not 100%. We could all tell that he didn't necessarily give us the percent as to what he's at, but clearly still working on rehab in that need. Speaking of that rehab, there were a few times, and maybe my biggest takeaway was he'd be rolling and just kind of stumble. nobody around him that happened three different times during the course of the game. Do we know, has he said, is this something that is they anticipate going to get better throughout the course of the year? Is this kind of who he is?

Starting point is 00:14:21 And this is going to be the kind of quarterback and mobility-wise who he's going to be the rest of the year. Yeah, that's a great question, Trent. I would, I would, we haven't heard him say that specifically, but really in between the lines, I more or less think that's what's going to happen the rest of the year because you can only do so much to fully. heal up when you're getting hit by 300 pound defensive line in. And it is a presumably sort of a structural thing going on in his scene. We haven't been given full details. I haven't heard quite what it is behind the scenes, but obviously not an ACL because if it was a full-on ACL there, we'd be having a different conversation right now. But based on what we know, I would imagine we're going to see,

Starting point is 00:15:00 and it might progressively get better. But what I can tell you right now that I know is that two weeks was in that buy week came at a perfect time and for him to be able to heal up at least as much as he could over that that time frame and to get back if you know again reading between the lines to me I think this is a situation where he's going to be a little hampered for the rest of the season is he going to you know take off and run between the tackles like we've seen maybe but not not right now I'll tell you that for sure Penn State obviously comes to town we'll do so without James Franklin I'm sure this is a better coach, a better question for

Starting point is 00:15:37 parents to answer, but I'm guessing that, you know, some of the players were asked about Penn State and the fact that it's Franklin's not going to be there. What was their response if that was brought up? Is it, you know, they're just going to do, it doesn't matter who's on the other side of field or coaching?

Starting point is 00:15:53 What was the response to the Penn State new coach question if it came up at all? Yeah, yeah, you nailed it, Ken. Pretty, pretty easy to surmise what they were going to say is that it's just the same as what it was going to be, maybe even an added level of intensity when, I mean, we saw this, I think, three years ago when Scott Ross got fired at Nebraska. Nebraska came to Iowa City and beat Iowa when Iowa had a chance to get to the Big Ten championship game.

Starting point is 00:16:21 So that's, you know, that has to be in the back of Kirk Varence's mind. When it comes to players, they're just like, yeah, I mean, we're playing the same theme, right? Like this team, obviously, without Drew Aller, that makes things a little different. But this team was the top five team in the country to start the season for a reason. They brought everybody back. You're talking for a few reasons. You're talking NIL. You're talking national championship.

Starting point is 00:16:43 And obviously the NIL is still a factor, but national championship is out the window at this point. How motivated are they going to be? That's the big question for folks like you and me. For Iowa, and the guys, what they said is, you know, it's still a talented team. It's still a team with something to play for. And they got to prepare like it. They do have a backup quarterback coming in, but he is a former four-star that has some talent, clearly, but has played just a small amount of football.

Starting point is 00:17:12 So it's going to be interesting. Obviously, they still have the same coordinators round, too. So things shouldn't change too drastically. But, you know, we saw how Iowa were prepared going into this game against Wisconsin, a team that was pretty down in the dump. Now they're further down in the dump because Iowa went in there and throttled them. and you just have to prepare like you're playing against a top five preseason team because they've still got the talent.

Starting point is 00:17:38 Like, I mean, we saw what DeVante Roth did for Troy last season in Iowa City. And obviously they have a ton of other NFL talent on that roster. So, yeah, that's pretty much what we got from the players is preparing like, you know, they're facing a top five team in the country. On the defensive side of the football, we saw Montgomery get his first career started, middle linebacker. I did too. He was fine.

Starting point is 00:17:59 He was in the right spot. Watson, definitely knew what he was supposed to be doing out there, but like he made a lot of the right reads. Now it's going to be a step up in competition, and certainly the running backs are going to be a different one than what he saw a week ago at Wisconsin. What did you think of Montgomery and Harold, not on the depth chart again this week with that injury?

Starting point is 00:18:17 Yeah, we got to talk to Montgomery today. So to me, what that says is it's going to be Montgomery again, obviously, you know, getting a depth chart. That's one thing. You never fully buy into the depth chart with Kirk Farrant. but we getting him today, I think, was telling that it's going to be Montgomery again at Mike Linebacker, but yeah, I thought he was really good. There were two plays that stick out for me on the first half.

Starting point is 00:18:41 They stuck out during the game, but especially during my rewatch for Monday morning quarterback that we put out every day after getting more context from the game and rewatching it and, you know, rewinding and seeing what's going on in every play. But to me, there were two plays stuck out. He had an early pressure on a rollout by Simmel. to the left, which forced Simmons to make an errant throw, and he pretty much threw it into the dirt. And then the next play, he took a lead block from their linebacker,

Starting point is 00:19:08 who was a big dude, shook him off, made the tackle. And those are two plays that, you know, Jaden Harrell may have very well made that first play with the pressure. But the second one, like, Jaden's ability to read and react with speed is, I think, better than what we saw from Harrell so far. And granted, we didn't get to see a ton of snaps of Montgomery on defense because how awful the Wisconsin offense was.

Starting point is 00:19:32 And like he said, a step up in competition, even though Penn State hasn't played great, they still have the personnel. They have way better personnel than Wisconsin does. But, yeah, I thought he was good. And, like, you can talk about the physical limitations of him being a little bit shorter. You can talk about things like that.

Starting point is 00:19:48 But, I mean, he kept talking about preparation over and over and over again today. And I don't know that, you know, and I'm not saying that Harold hasn't prepared. Like that's not what I'm saying, but that's something that Montgomery continually pointed back to. And what you're thinking here going into the second week of him starting is prepare like you did the last two weeks as well. Prepare like you did on your first start because that was an indication. His preparation, if that's really what it is, if that's what he's pointing to, it was really good.

Starting point is 00:20:22 I thought there were a couple of plays that he really showed his ability to read and react with speed. and when you're a Mike linebacker and you have to, for the Iowa defense where the defense funnels, tackles to you, you have to make the right read and you have to react when you make that read. And that's what Montgomery did. And I think Harold has laughed

Starting point is 00:20:41 at a little bit. So you want to see more of that from Montgomery. My last thing for you, let's try and finish up if he's got something. I think Brian Allen met with you guys. Did Graves and if so, and if he didn't, did he get a good nature ribbing from his teammates for not being able to house that pick?

Starting point is 00:20:57 getting as close as he did. That's awesome. Even from the offensive line, Logan Jones was saying, hey, you're reppping the fat guys out there. You've got to go do something with it. And I don't know if you guys saw this for me on Twitter. I think we've got to start calling the defensive line the cookie dough boys.

Starting point is 00:21:16 Because they're getting more interceptions than the secondary. Which, by the way, Seth Wallace is still referring to the secondary is the no-boys. So especially now that the defensive line is carrying the weight of the turnover. So yeah, yeah, been good stuff. Final thing for me. We're going to see a registered freshman making his first career start in Grunkfire this weekend. His backup, though, is Jackson Smollick.

Starting point is 00:21:40 From Dowling Catholic and didn't have an offer from Iowa and Iowa State. He's coming home, Trent. He's coming back to Kinnick Stadium. We know young quarterbacks at Kinnick at a night game, not exactly a place that they normally thrive. In fact, we go back to the last Penn State, Iowa night game. 2021, after an injury to Sean Clifford, that backup was not ready to play. What do you anticipate quarterback-wise, what we're going to see this week?

Starting point is 00:22:03 And do you know anything at all about the starting quarterback for Penn State? Yeah, it'll be Kronkmeyer. Like I mentioned, a four-star kid that was obviously highly recruited. I think he was a top 10 kid in that class. Was he really? Wow. So, yeah, not lacking in talent. Not lacking in talent.

Starting point is 00:22:22 It is about what I mentioned with Montgomery. It is going to be about preparation. It's going to be about chemistry because Drew Aller wasn't great this season. I think the mixture of him with Codal Nicky was not particularly good. Their offensive coordinator. But like I said, I mean, what happened with Nebraska? Granted, that's a different situation, I guess they had their starting quarterback coming in here. But, yeah, I mean, I don't know a ton about Brummeyer, other than the fact that he was a four-star kid,

Starting point is 00:22:53 that he does have that talent. So it's going to be different. And if you're Phil Parker, that he's been dialing up the pressure, and that's going to make Crunkmeyer really have to make some quick throws, make some quick read. And if you're Iowa, and especially the secondary, you're probably licking your chops right now,

Starting point is 00:23:13 thinking about turnovers and forcing those turnovers and maybe getting another blowout win. Big Ten competition, which definitely doesn't hurt. I mean, this team has gotten better weeks a week. you guys. Those two losses are tough. Iowa State, when they were way more healthy, Indiana looking like maybe the best team in the country, like Iowa might be a lot better than what folks gave them credit for to start the year. So it should be a fun one this weekend. Elliot Kloff, 24-7 Sports Hawkeye Insider.com. Elliot, thank you, as always. We'll try and run

Starting point is 00:23:42 you down next Tuesday. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Sounds good. Thank you, Elliot. Good stuff. Elliot Clough, joining us and taking a look at the players press conferences from earlier today. We continue locked on Hawkeyes. It was a busy day in Iowa City and it'll continue with some basketball talk. Women's basketball media day today. Some news and notes from that. And tomorrow it'll be the men's turn.

Starting point is 00:24:05 We'll talk about that. And are the Iowa women underranked? We continue locked on Hawkeyes. College football is here and we couldn't be more excited for it. that happens. I can't wait to get to my tailgate on Saturday, the rivalries, the energy in the stands. There's nothing like it, but let's be real. Actually getting tickets can feel more like a battle than the game itself. Endless cues, hidden fees, prices jumping at checkout. That's why I use game time. The app that gives the advantage back to fans. It's the easiest way

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Starting point is 00:25:32 download game time today. Trent, I'm back with you one final time here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for being with us and making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. And a thank you, as always, to our everyday listeners. Those every dayers out there each and every day, giving us a click, giving us a download.

Starting point is 00:25:55 You are what makes this possible each and every day. Your dedication to the podcast and a big thank you to all of you. Iowa, preseason number 21 in the women's basketball poll, the Iowa men also receiving votes in the AP, and we'll talk about them a little bit later on. But on the women's side, press conference today hearing from Jan Jensen and Jan, as we've talked about, so many times, just so personalable, so great to listen to.

Starting point is 00:26:20 You know, it's not just cliches, always so thoughtful in her responses and wants to give you a true representation of what she's thinking, what's happening with the program. She does just a great job of that. One thing, though, as you look at that preseason poll, coming at number 21, Yukon's at the top, Iowa State is in the top 15. As I think this team, you know, a year ago, it took a while for Lucy Olson really to going. They had that downturn in the middle of conference play, the five-game losing streak, and then pulled themselves out of it. I do think this year's team, I think one of the big

Starting point is 00:26:55 takeaways from today was this team is going to be young. Nine of the 14 players are either freshmen or sophomores. They're going to be young, very inexperienced, and all of them are going to be playing different kind of roles this season than they ever have in their careers. But the other component that I take away is I think the upside of this team is a whole lot higher. And I won't be surprised, coupled with the non-conference schedule that Iowa has, if they fall out of the top 25 at one point, maybe early this season. However, by the time we get into February and into March, I think that this team has an opportunity really to do something special and make a push to that second weekend and make a run once again in

Starting point is 00:27:37 the tournament. Not that they're going to be playing for a national championship again this season. I think those are expectations that are pretty outlandish at this point. But getting that second weekend. Crazy things can happen. Maybe a bracket opens up for you. That is the kind of upside I see. You look at the transfers going out and getting Rodriguez and her size coupled with her skill set and she's got great basketball in front of her. Obviously what they have now in the middle with both Hayden and Hayes playing the five and then being able to play Hannah Stolke at the four, increasing her range and making her a more versatile player. The ability of those posts all to run the floor well and what they're going to do. Addie deal.

Starting point is 00:28:16 There's going to be growing pains, no doubt, but the opportunity for her to come in right away and be an impact player and on and on. You couple that with the veterans. What we saw from Kylie Fearbach on the back end of last year, you know, Fearbach really showed the versatility as a defender and being able to guard a bunch of different positions and do it at a high level.

Starting point is 00:28:35 You know what you're going to get out of McCabe shooting the basketball, maybe even more of her skill set being elevated this season. Again, it's down the road. It's maybe a conversation we're having in 2006. but I think this team really has a chance to get a lot better, maybe even have a chance to be a better team than what we saw last season. Tomorrow will be the men's turn and I will be there in Iowa City. We will have a conversation with the headman, Ben McCollum, also Bennett Sturts.

Starting point is 00:29:00 We'll have both of those for you and hopefully a whole lot more of coverage from Iowa City tomorrow here on Lockdown Hawkeyes. As always, thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes, your first listen every day. We'll talk to you again tomorrow from Iowa City. Until then, go Hawks. Thank you.

Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Hawkeyes POISED to Exploit Penn State's Coaching Chaos? | Hawkeyes Ready to Pounce?

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