Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Hawkeyes Spring Football Deep dive with former Hawkeye LeShun Daniels

Episode Date: April 14, 2023

Trent Condon takes an Iowa Spring Football Deep dive with former Hawkeye LeShun Daniels.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 “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)HelloFreshSkip trips to the grocery store and count on HelloFresh to make home cooking easy, fun, AND affordable – that’s why it’s America’s #1 meal kit! Go to HelloFresh dot com slash college60 and use code college60 for 60% off plus free shipping! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trent Condon alongside LaShawn Daniels back with you. It's been a while since we've had LaShawn on. It's time to talk football. You know what it is. Football spring practice coming to a close just over a week away. We'll talk about what the Iowa football team is going through right now as they make their way through spring practice. Our Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day. Welcome in. I'm Trent Condon. That's LaShawn Daniels. And this is the Lockdown On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available wherever you get podcasts.

You can also see us on YouTube. Check out that. And you can find us over there. Hit that subscribe button. Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. The Locked On Network, your team every day. That's what we do. And LaShawn, good to catch up again. In fact, we didn't have a conversation during the month of March. on network your team every day that's what we do and LaShawn good to catch up again in fact we didn't have a conversation during the month of March I was super busy I call girls and boys state basketball so I did a lot of late night pods I know you with the young one I didn't want

to have and be up at like 1 a.m trying to do a podcast with me but we got to see a great run out of the women's team another first round exit from the men's team but back at it once again how you been doing been doing well been doing well obviously been enjoying uh women's basketball over the past month has been a blast um sure all hawkeye fans can say they had fun watching them all year and obviously the way that they performed the tournament was fantastic and then yeah obviously just been busy with a bunch of work stuff uh Obviously just like you, so it's good to actually catch back up and get a pod out here today. Well, we sit here eight days before the final spring practice, so I kind of want to dig in right there and just speak

before we get into specific terms. We're going to talk about this team and kind of expectations and where they are, but just more in generalities. Yes, things adjust and they change and they evolve since when you were playing for the Hawkeyes. But at this time, you're getting towards the end of spring. You can see that light at the end of the tunnel. But when you're going through it, when you're going through the practices, knowing you're

trying to catch the coach's eye, you're trying to get that playing time, you're trying to get that starting spot, whatever it is, what it's like for a player going through it and how difficult is spring practice at a place like Iowa? Yeah. Uh, spring practice is, it's definitely a different ball game because it's like taking fall camp and without having like all of your, you know, organized activities, you know, all the strength conditioning, right. You're just getting out of your winter phase and really you're just like, that's a lot of lifting, some speed work, general stuff, like not really focused on football stuff. And now you're like kind of thrown into almost like a camp mentality for essentially like a month. And it's not an easy adjustment, especially as a young football player.

Like, I mean, I remember my first spring was not great at all like by any stretch of the imagination and um they just because i feel like i probably wasn't as prepared as uh like mentally wise that i needed to be to be able to go in there and perform at a high level because as you said i mean people guys are competing for spots there's plenty of opportunity throughout the entire roster even if there are like established starters and spots, you can go ahead and you can show the coaches that you have ability that you can play at a high level. And obviously things change. A lot of stuff happens between now and September. But getting on the coach's good side and showing that you can be a football player at this stage of the offseason definitely can help your case go a long way as we get closer to the season. Is there more yelling in spring practice?

Is there more? What is different compared to certainly August camp, which we know a lot about it and we talked about in the past? What is different about spring? Is it more working on fundamentals? Is it a lot more hollering at guys knowing that they're still not a football game to be played here for what another five months what what is it how is the difference between august camp and what they go through and you're going through during spring yeah it's definitely probably a combination of all that and the fact that

you know that there's no there's no football game kind of like once you get to the end of camp. Against another opponent, everything's just a little bit different, and you're trying to balance school and classes and whatnot as you make it through the spring versus in fall camp, where it's like football's the only thing you're focused on. A lot more guys, you're typically in that, like, okay, the season's coming up. I'm in a more mentally locked-in in type state locked in mode um as players and then coaches uh are kind of in the same way in fall camp uh spring ball again your mind's kind of racing at many different places obviously you're trying to make an impact

you're trying to make a great impression on not only the coaches but your teammates and and whatnot and yeah there's a lot of yelling, a lot of competition. I mean, I remember my last spring, there was one. Was it my last spring? It had to have been my last spring where like basically there was like a, it was like a questionably like kind of dirty hit in one of the practices. And then it kind of sparked like a lot of arguing from both offensive coaches defensive coaches offensive players defensive players for the rest of practice

and then it ended up being ended up getting to a point where we ended up just having to run like 100 yard sprints at the end of practice because it got it got that that bad but you know spring ball it a lot of tempers are flaring. There's a lot of competition, and you kind of get, as you get towards the end of it, you almost get like, everyone's like, okay, when is this going to be over? Just because there's light at the end of the tunnel, but the light at the end of the tunnel, it's not like you're getting ready for a football game

against another opponent. It's just like, okay, now we're going into another offseason phase. Makes a lot of sense, a lot going on. We're going to dig in a little bit more to this team. What we anticipate we're going to see with them. Some of the big storylines about this team. Defense looks outstanding. All the new additions, the transfer portal,

and it opens up once again tomorrow as I will go digging into that. More football conversation here on Locked On Hawkeyes. Trent LaShawn with you as we continue. Back with more in a moment. Looking for a delicious snack but don't want all the sugar and calories? Then you need the best tasting protein bar ever, Built. You got to try this. If you're like me, you want to make a healthier snack choice

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Trent, Con, and Ken, alongside LaShawn Daniels once again on Lockdown Hawkeyes. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Big shout out to our everydayers out there also being with us every single day. We got a lot more coming up this weekend. A big visit on the horizon as well for the Iowa men's team with BJ Mack from Wofford making his visit starting on Sunday. We got you covered on the Monday edition here of Locked On Hawkeyes. All right, LaShawn, back to a little football and this team. So they hit the portal hard. They still have to hit the portal hard. So they get Seth Anderson, the wide receiver from

Charleston Southern. Flipper Anderson's his dad. You know, love to make the comparison to him, a great NFL player back in the day, but it feels like they still need more, right? There still needs to be more done in the portal, and we can make arguments, different positions. Do they need depth at cornerback? Do they need even more depth with Nick Jasson coming in at linebacker? I think he can make those conversations and have them

and make them make sense. But wide receiver, with the decision by Brody breck to hang it up the football cleats and concentrate completely at baseball i'm of the opinion they need to still be shopping at the wide receiver position do you go the same place that i am uh i agree i agree uh with you because having those type of skill guys um you know are game changers for offense especially you guys have you have players that can create explosive plays like at the end of the day being able to win the explosive play battles on on saturdays is typically what's going to help you win a bunch of football games obviously taking care of the football and other little things like that but being able to

create explosive plays is is a huge part in a team success it's part of the reason why iowa has been so good on defense over the last several years just because of the ability to stop explosive plays and losing a guy like like brody breck who is obviously getting into the beginning part stages of his development and was starting to obviously develop more as receiver um now you have to now the position was already thin to begin with, and now you have to replace, you know, more guys. You got to get more guys in that are going to be able to contribute on the offensive side of the ball, especially in that receiver.

Obviously, we've got, you have good running backs, have good tight ends, but the receiver's position is, it's one place, especially the way football in general is going not just in college football but nfl uh high school you gotta be able to gotta be able to throw the ball and receivers are a big big big piece of that and so whatever they've got to do um they've got to do it obviously they're the're the people, the staffs are the ones, they're the ones getting paid to get the right people in the building. So, yeah, I feel like receiver is definitely another position that they've got to hit. Because, I mean, even throughout the spring,

I know that they've had some injuries in the position as well, just in general. So it's already been light to begin with. So, obviously, receiver isn't the only place where they can get guys out of the portal where they need to attack. But I feel like receiver is definitely a place where they've got to go to because we can't, you can't have another season where you go into a game where you only have, you know,

two scholarship guys that are dressed that are available to play. Like that's just, it, it, you know, it's, it's dang near malpractice because you, it,

it puts your entire offense in a tough spot. Especially knowing, you know, it's, it's dang near malpractice because you, it puts your entire offense in a tough spot. Especially knowing, you know, the struggles that we've had on offense over the past several years being thin at those spots definitely doesn't make it any easier. Well, Sean, we've heard a lot about Cade McNamara. You hear him back in his days, obviously at Michigan and leadership qualities and the same things are popping up once again here as you look at what we're hearing from the players that have been interviewed during spring football.

You hear from the coaches. They continue to go back with that. You know, Kirk Behrens and just how important it is for having those leadership qualities. Well, what does that mean? We hear it. And sometimes maybe from us on the outside of the program you kind of roll your eyes all right leadership come on what does that really matter why does it matter so much at a place like iowa yeah it matters uh so much at a place like iowa just because of the culture that's

been built um obviously since coach ference has been there and it's a culture that's that's been there even before coach ference has been there right, you know that with Iowa, you're going to get a certain type of football. You're going to get a certain type of player that's going to be in that building, right? And you're going to get a bunch of people that want to partake in that. You want to be involved. And so when you get a good leader who can, you know, help get a bunch of guys on the same page, that is huge for your team because it obviously helps form a closer-knit team. You got guys that aren't just going to be trying to play for themselves,

but they're going to be trying to play for the person next to them, you know, the player across the locker room, so on and so forth. And so when you get a good leader who can, you know, step right in, especially as a guy like C like Cade, right. I mean, the fact that he was at another school for so long and was able to, and has able to transition to Iowa and be able to, you know, begin to try to take that, that leadership spot in the locker room,

especially, you know, as a quarterback that's, that's, that's, that's what they do. They, They lead the team and people follow them. And when you can get a guy like that in and you can continue to build on that leadership and you've got guys that want to be a part of that and that want to help continue to grow the team and make everyone on the team better, you can't ask for more than that as a coach, especially when it comes on a leadership front. Because as a coach, you can only do so much to get your guys on the same page. It's going to take some of those guys, some of those players that are in the locker room that are talking with the guys, whether it's obviously on the field, in the weight room, outside of the building and all throughout, you know, the football career. So that's what's really going to take, you know, a program to the next level,

like getting that nice leadership in, and that's something that Iowa has done over time. And there's a big reason why being a captain is made such, obviously, a big deal at Iowa, and part of the reason why, you know, each week throughout the season, you know, captains are voted upon every single week. It's not necessarily always the same captains, but typically those guys that have excellent leadership skills and that have been displaying it throughout the offseason, in season, those guys are typically the ones that people want to they want to follow and they want to go ahead and play hard for because they know that the better that they can be,

the better that I can contribute, the better that I can contribute, the better that the team is going to be. So it makes a lot of sense. Certainly does. And it seems like certainly a McNamara definitely has those kind of qualities and something to be excited about as a Hawkeye fan. So offensively, there needs to be an evolution. We need to see change.

How much can you really implement during a spring? You guys transition, but it wasn't a wholesale and we don't anticipate that's going to be an evolution. We need to see change. How much can you really implement during a spring? You guys transitioned, but it wasn't wholesale, and we don't anticipate that's going to be the case here. How much work can be done during spring practice where you're trying to improve, you're trying to find out the young guys who's developing those kind of things? How much offensively can you change during the course of 15 practices? It's not easy.

I couldn't – obviously like we never really went through like a complete overhaul of the offense i mean even when we went from obviously 2014 and 2015 like the meat potatoes of the offense was generally still the same as what it's been in the past obviously we just added some different little wrinkles um had different players and so on and so forth um and like with only 15 practices like it is very very limited like when you think about i can't like i want to say during fall camp you're getting probably you're getting at least double that um and basically about like saving a lot of time so uh it's it's not easy um obviously you're gonna spend a lot of time in the meeting room

during spring football just because you're only limited to 15 practices, so a lot of your work is going to be done in the meeting room where it's going to be done, you know, and walkthroughs to go through certain things. And as well as in the springtime, you've got to develop, you know, some of your younger guys. So it's not even like you can focus as heavily you got to develop, you know, some of your younger guys. So it's not even like you can focus as, as heavily as you would on, you know, your,

your starters or really you're too deep as you would in fall camp, you know, in spring ball, you really got to start bringing up a bunch of those developmental guys. And so they have to even get the basic stuff for the offense down. So it's not even like you can expand like too crazy. Obviously you can, you can add different things, but the fact of the matter is those young guys, they have to be able to do the basics and the fundamentals that the,

the offense already is, or the defense already has before you can really start really branching out as, as much as you would like. And that's part of the reason why, where things end up getting changed. Obviously you can, you experiment a bunch in the spring, but a lot of the reason why where things end up getting changed. Obviously you can experiment a bunch in the spring, but a lot of the changes, if you're going to make any big changes are going to happen during fall time,

just because you have a lot more time to be able to do those different things. Yeah, it definitely makes a lot of sense. So LaShawn Daniels, Trent Condon here, taking a look at Iowa spring football. Well,

we got a lot going on during spring football. Want to jump over to the defense and get some thoughts from LaShawn on that side of the football. A lot of a conversation, obviously, he's hoping to improve, but I went through an exercise earlier in the week for our everydayers. You'll remember listening to us every day, the depth of this defensive line. I haven't seen anything. I want to run through this when we continue here.

Talking to Iowa spring football, LaShawn Daniels, Trent Condon. This is Lockdown Hawkeyes. Back with you one final time on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. I'm Trent Condon. He's LaShawn Daniels. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. LaShawn, this defensive line. All right.

So I ran through it the other day. And I was just talking about position groups. And I'm running through here during spring football and talking about kind of raking the position groups, one through, I think one through nine, is I separated nine different position groups, and defensive line was obviously the top spot. With the return of Noah Shannon,

Joe Evans coming back for another year, you get those super experienced guys coming back for basically a bonus season with the COVID year, and those guys back for another year. Some of the young guys that have evolved. We saw Deontay Craig. I think we both absolutely loved what we saw out of him a year ago. We lose a first rounder and Lucas Van Ness yet.

There is still depth there. I went 12 deep where I felt not just, well, maybe this guy, guys that have resumes, they bring in two Juco guys. Jackson Filer comes in. He led Juco in sacks a year ago,

undersized, but you can definitely find him on third dials going out there and making plays thompson the guy from inside he was one of the top 50 players in all of juco regardless of position those guys are coming in we're talking about 12 deep a defensive line i've haven't seen anything like this certainly never before at iowa at any position group where realistically they're 12 deep at a position. It's ridiculous. Yeah, it's,

it's insane. I mean, there it's by far the deepest position group on the entire roster. So obviously they, they showed a bunch of great things last year on football field. And now when you got, when you have that, that many guys on the defensive line that can be rotated and interchanged

on any given down football game, it makes it easier on the rest of the defense. I mean, like as a linebacker, if I know that no matter who's in on the defensive line, that they're able to do their job, they're able to eat up blocks or create penetration. I know that as a linebacker, you know, I can easily I can flow much better. I know that as a linebacker, you know, I can easily I can flow much better. I can see what's happening, the offense is doing, and I can react that much quicker and I can go ahead and make plays. And then on the back end, you know, we always have always have good defensive backs. But when you have a good defensive line and those guys are able to create pressure and, you know, force the quarterback to get the ball out of their hands faster than they want to. The DBs, you don't have to cover as long. And we know that playing defensive back, especially corners, is one of the hardest positions in football.

And, you know, if your defensive line can get there and they can force the quarterback to speed up their tempo, they can make plays on the ball, they can create turnovers. And obviously turnovers can help. It's one of those things that helps you win football games. So having a defensive line, that's that deep and all those guys can contribute, man. That's, that's something that,

that definitely gets you excited as a Hawkeye football fan, because like they, they played phenomenally last year. And the fact is that, that they've got this much talent to go into 2023. I mean, you couldn't really ask for, for, for much more. is that they've got this much talent to go into 2023. I mean, you couldn't really ask for much more. And the fact that Coach KB is doing such a great job with the D-line has made that group, obviously, even stronger

and why a bunch of people want to come and play defensive line at Iowa. Well, LaShawn, it's been great catching up with you again. Been too long. We'll do it again next week. We'll preview what we hope to see on Saturday a week from Saturday at the open practice over there and then of course recap things the following week but

good catching up with you again and good to see you're still out there still going you guys do at the high school level in Illinois is there any spring football going on or just weight room stuff for the guys yeah it's only weight room stuff you don't get spring football here how lucky for us. You can't even really start anything.

I think until like June with like helmets or whatever. So yeah, we, we got some time, a little bit of time and a chance to enjoy that good weather. And then we got some cold stuff coming back in because let's spring in the Midwest. We know how it is.

Well, Sean, you catch it up again. A fun talk about these football team, what we're going to see and what the guys are going through right now. Appreciate your time, you catch it up again. A fun talk about this football team, what we're going to see and what the guys are going through right now. Appreciate your time as always.

Go Hawks. Go Hawks.