Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Hoops rolls in Paris, Hawkeye Football Camp intel from David Eickholt

Episode Date: August 10, 2023

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You've been searching for Iowa football practice content. Is there any information? We got it today. David Eichel joins us from 24-7 Sports News and Notes from Iowa Football Practice. 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. We're available wherever you get podcasts. You can also find us on YouTube while you're there. Make sure you hit that subscribe button. It helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Make every moment more. Right now, when you bet on a Super Bowl winner, you get bonus bets every time they win in the regular season. FanDuel.com slash LockedOn for more details.

Well, we got football content for you here today on Locked On Hawkeyes. We are going to talk a little bit about the football team, some news and notes and nuggets coming in from David Eichel from 24-7 Sports. Certainly excited about that. I also got an idea on what to do with the new Big Ten as we go to 18 teams next season with the additions of USC, UCLA, Washington, Oregon. Kind of a half-baked idea that it's been brewing here, baking the last couple of days and getting deeper into it.

What should we do in basketball? What makes the most sense both in terms of the schedule and when we get to the conference tournament? We'll do that here a little bit later on. Hey, speaking of that basketball team, they got a win against the Paris All-Stars. Now, what constitutes an All-Star from Paris? Nobody knows at this point in time, but for the first time, we got to see this new group together, the new transfers coming in and doing their thing.

We got to see Ben Kricke out there on the hardwood. He played incredibly well, very efficient from the floor for the Hawkeyes in the victory. We got to see Evan Braun's also helping out and doing some things inside. A couple of takeaways and listening to Fran McCaffrey after the game. One thing he mentioned they needed to work on cleaning up the turnovers. In fact, a lot of them in the first half, 21 overall in the game. That's something that is concerning, but the freshman did not have a turnover. That was a big one.

Backup point guard, at least to this point, Brock Harding. He did not have a turnover. Six assists in the game. He goes two of eight from downtown. That shooting has always been one of the questions about him. Size, he's not a big kid by any means, but he's lightning quick. He's great with the ball. Had a beautiful pass off the backboard and to an alley-oop for Owen Freeman,

who flushed it home. And Freeman, another one of the big stories for this Iowa basketball team. Now, Owen Freeman is an interesting study. This is a young man that committed to Iowa decently early, right? This is a guy that had some pretty big offers on top of it. When you look back at him, when he made his commitment to the Iowa Hawkeyes, there were a lot of big time teams involved. And just for whatever reason,

he just kind of started to fall off the recruiting rankings. He was certainly a solid top 100 player in the rankings finished right in the 150 range. But he had offers from Illinois and Indiana, Michigan State, Marquette, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin. I mean, he had a wide range of offers.

And in fact, this might be one of the best when you're just looking at the offer sheet, one of the better recruits in the Fran McCaffrey era. Of course, finish up his senior season, Pat Moline teaming up with Brock Harding and leading that team to a state championship in the state of Illinois. For whatever reason, though, it just felt like, I don't know if it was other guys passing him. It was just his game is not flashy. I'm not sure exactly what it was,

but he adds a much-needed dimension to this team. When we talked Iowa basketball during this offseason, my huge concerns about the team are defense, and it's always defense because the defense has not been good in the McCaffrey era. But secondly, how this team was going to rebound after losing Chris Murray, after losing Phillip Abracia, how this team was going to be in the boards. You look at the two transfers coming in from the Missouri Valley, both Ben Crickey and Evan Bronze were not great

rebounders. In fact, Crickey, for all the numbers he put up offensively and the points that he put up there, his rebounding total was disappointing, I think would be the way to put it. Now, Bronze didn't play a ton of minutes and was a good rebounder. He's a really good athlete. I think that's going to surprise some people as what a good athlete you're going to see out of Evan Bronze. Now, this doesn't change my opinion. One win against the Paris All-Stars is not going to suddenly have me saying that this

is going to be an NCAA tournament team. I don't believe that is the case for this Iowa basketball team. They still have a lot of work that needs to be done to get to that point. You know what you're going to get out of Peyton Sanford. He was excellent hitting shots from the outside. He's 8 of 13 from the floor, including 4 of 8 from downtown. We saw the inconsistency of him a year ago. His younger brother, another freshman in Price Sanford, he knocked down some shots from the outside. Price's game is different than Peyton. I would

say certainly at this point in his career, he is a more well-rounded player. Peyton came in just known as that sniper, right? A guy that can knock down the open shot wasn't going to add a whole lot more. Price throughout his career played a little bit more inside-outside, could be a little bit more versatile, we would say, as an offensive player.

I think you're going to like him, and he's going to find some time. They also played without Patrick McCaffrey as he is over, playing at the Nike Skills Academy at this point in time, and the other freshman, the fourth of the four, a new-coming freshman, Lajie Dambali, did not play in the game, working through some visa issues. Now, a couple of disappointing parts. Josh Dix had seven assists. That's good.

Had five turnovers. Certainly don't want to see that. Tony Perkins, he led the way. He was getting outscoring early on. He led the charge early on. Had five assists. Had four turnovers. All right, so there's some concerning things still,

even in a big victory against the Paris All-Stars. A couple more games coming up, including one on Friday. We'll get you covered here on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. We got you covered as we come back. We will take a look at the Iowa football team and some nuggets from practice. I know you've been itching to get these. I'm not. You guys are not alone.

I am right there with you. Well, David Eichold, he's the guy with the information. We will get into that as we continue here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Well, I got my trip coming up. I'm heading to Vegas tomorrow. And that means, well, as I pack the suitcase, you know, it's going to be in there. It's bird dogs. Bird dogs make you look good. It starts right there. Khaki shorts that don't look like your old school khaki shorts. They look slick. They look sleek. Make your legs look good. Everything you want. If you're hanging out poolside, if you're hanging out at the golf course, or if you're just walking around town.

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You won't want to take your bird dogs off. This, we promise you. David, it's always good catching up. What's happening, my man? What's going on, buddy? Things are going well. I'm taking a break from watching Iowa's 2022 season, and I don't think any break's going to be long enough after the first couple of games I watched.

It is just as bad, if not worse, than I remember the original. Oh, my goodness. Definitely ready for some new film this study, Trent. I'm going to guess that is, yes, incredibly difficult. So we have our memories of a year ago and how bad that it was, certainly offensively all throughout the season. So it's even worse the second, third, fourth time around? Yeah, I think this is my fourth time watching Antonell just because I try to grade each player. And I just kind of go based on that, based on what I've heard.

That's kind of how I do my projections for the following year. But yeah, man, it feels like it gets worse somehow every single time. And I know everybody was so focused on that offense and it was hard not to beat Trent. That defense was even better than that. It really was unbelievable what they accomplished last year. Lose some studs off that defense. Got plenty of guys coming back, though, that you're excited about. But let's open the conversation here with the offense.

And Cade McNamara coming in. I saw you had his quote that we heard right after he transferred. He was on a podcast and I was just saying to people, please just believe we're going to have the crappiest offense in college football and those kinds of things. His confidence, the way that he is certainly rallied this team already. And including a guy like Joe Evans, that when he showed up, Joe Evans didn't like him very much. Now they're inseparable. Those two guys now being together, his leadership qualities, hearing the Michigan guys at Big Ten Media Days, what they said about him, it is hard to quantify. But after three years

of Petras, he was beloved, I know, by the teammates. People loved him, but he just couldn't do it physically. Three years before that, you have three years of Nate Stanley, who is never going to be known as a raw rock type of guy. This is a different kind of quarterback than I was had over the, certainly the last six kind of seasons. How impactful is he going to be? Not just what he does on the field and higher completion percentage and what he does there, but as that leader. Yeah. I mean, I think it's been a game changer for Iowa.

I mean, we knew right from the start that Cain McNamara was going to be arguably the most impactful transfer, and not even just for Iowa, but for in the Big Ten. And that's what 24-7 sports ranked him as. I mean, Iowa does not get Eric Hall without Cade McNamara. I highly doubt Iowa gets Caleb Brown without Cade McNamara. Iowa probably doesn't get Seth Anderson had it not been for Cade McNamara. I mean, you can go just kind of down that list but just from a leadership perspective I think it speaks volumes to the way

he's been able to come on to this team in January it would not surprise me Trent seriously if he gets going to team captain I just based on what he has brought to the table from what I've talked to people behind the scenes and the way I want to say he's rallied guys but the way he just he holds guys accountable and I I think the biggest quote I heard from anyone was from Blake Corum at Big Ten Media Day and I think it makes the most sense I asked him about the transfer and his relationship with Cade and he said Cade is a general and based on what I heard behind the scenes and kind of watching him talk and interacting with Cade and he said Cade is a general and based on what I heard behind the scenes and kind of watching him talk and interacting with Cade I think that is a very very good comparison so take away the on-field aspect this is a guy that people within Alabama are already getting behind

and Kirk Ferentz and Brian could not be more excited about what he's bringing to the table talking with David Eichold as we take a look at the Hawkeyes. David, continuing on, it is camp season. It's here. The guys have been out there. Pads have been popping for, what, a little more than a week now. And it's very difficult to get much information inside the walls of Fort Kinnick over there in the football practice facility.

What have you heard, though? Give us a name or two, a little bit of buzz that's been created that you've been able to ascertain here over the first few practices. Yeah, like you said, Fort Kinnick, I think that's a really good nickname for it. And you know, it's even worse this year, Trent, because all the photographers and stuff are overseas with the women's and men's basketball teams. We aren't getting pictures. We can't grade how fast guys look in pictures. So we just have to go off those short video clips, a name that's very common, but I still think needs to be talked about more heading into the season. Aaron Graves, true sophomore has put on 20 pounds. He could be Lucas Van Ness. It would not surprise me if he is

an all conference caliber defensive lineman this year. The way he goes about his business, he's arguably the most mature true sophomore Kurt Behrens has ever had. AJ Epinesa is probably in that equation. Tristan Wirfs and several others probably are too. But Aaron Graves, I just continue to hear about just how great he's been and really how much he's perfected his technique and how diligent he is with his work ethic and on the flip side of the ball i'm telling you man logan jones had a very strong star i know people are very wary on him but kirk barron's raved about him at big 10 media days

i've heard all off season that he has continued to take those big steps and he has the physical tools to be a real problem at that center position so and another guy i'll also say just to throw out there caleb johnson and i i really think he could be in for a massive year i don't know if you saw his latest instagram post or the picture oh he is he is probably the best physically built running back Iowa has had since Sean Green. Maybe Marcus Coker could be thrown in that equation. But Caleb Johnson, I think he's really learned the playbook a lot better this year. He's not going out there and running around. This is a guy who I think is going to know what he's doing

and I think can be in for a very, very nice year at the running back spot. As good as Tyler Goodson, Akram Wadley have been for Iowa here since Sean Green. He's just different. The size that he plays with. And I believe it was the Nevada game last year when he had that long touchdown run. And one of those analytics sites had like his miles per hour that he was running. That was one of the fastest runs in all of college football. That was a dude that was a freshman that was playing a 215 and he looks yoked. I mean, he's got to be up to, what, 220, 225 now? He's about 223, and I told you this when he came on campus last year talking about breakout guys.

I said it, and several of my colleagues said it. Caleb Johnson was going to push for that spot. Physically, right when he walked on campus, Trent, he looked like an NFL back. He is just that big. I think he's continued to really work on the physicality of it. And the crazy part was about that run, Trent. I don't know how many times he watched that replay.

He doesn't even look like he's sprinting. It looks like he's gliding. I think that's the most dangerous part about it. That's not a guy that's looking to win a race. That's just a guy going about his business and being able to explode like that. So'm very very interested i know leshawn williams and jazzy patterson want to make sure that they get some of their own touches as well but if i'm iowa 2025 carries have to go caleb johnson i just think he's in for a huge year and if the big 10 wasn't so stacked at running back i think caleb will be talking about a lot more heading into this season.

I definitely see that. Need better line play. You mentioned Logan Jones in the center of it. But what else is shaking out there? What nine guys probably realistically feel like they have a chance to start coming up this season. Figure out what you're going to do with the transfers with De'Jon Parker coming in with Rusty Fett. The veterans coming back. What about Richmond?

Does he make that ascension to becoming, you know, an all-league type of left tackle? What we see inside with Connor Colby, who was not listed as a starter. A lot to figure out there, and that remains my concern, not just when game one starts up, but you know how Coach Ferentz likes to tinker with that offensive line during September. Yeah, and that's something that he's just always done. But I do think, again, let's go back to his comments about what he said during big time meeting the maturity

of the offensive line and not because rusty fat and Dijon Parker have come into the fall. This is a guy, you know, Connor Colby mentioned had started. He has 24 starts in his career. Mason Richmond. There's a lot of people behind the scenes that leave. He can make that Ascension rusty fat. I think can hold down a guard spot. I think our Colby will be able to kind of Richmond, there's a lot of people behind the scenes that believe he can make that ascension. Rusty Feth, I think, can hold down a guard spot. I think Colby will be able to kind of get back into the swing of things. But remember last year, Iowa could barely put five guys on the field they felt confident in. There may be six guys that are pushing for that spot. So Kirk's saying there are nine guys that are legitimate candidates to start. I think you have to feel, I would say cautiously optimistic would probably be the word I would best use.

That's words I've used to describe it. But there's no doubt. I mean, you can have Kate McNamara, you got Eric all who I think will be at all league tight end. You got Luke Lachey. You can have Caleb Brown. You can have the running game,

but if Iowa's foundation is not solid or consistent, I still think there'll be an upgrade past last year, but let's be honest, that's not saying too much whatsoever. If anything's better than last year, I think at this point. So I'm with you. I think people should be worried. I think it's put up or shut up, and it's just time for Iowa to go out there and prove it, I think.

David, a couple more, one more on the football front, then a couple more for you before we let you go. Defensive backfield, you feel like the starters, you're in really good shape there. Cooper Dejean, Xavier Wampa, I've heard a lot of good things already, a way that he has stepped forward now in his sophomore year. Of course, you have

Quinn Schulte returning starter back there next to Wampa in the defensive backfield at the safety position, and then Jamari Harris working his way back off of injury but depth and the continued speculation that there might be a name or two from the defensive backfield that ultimately has to sit out some games because of the gambling investigation what are you hearing on the depth after those start first four who are some of the names that we should be watching for yeah and t and Trent, I did put this in my sources say yesterday. I think that is the biggest thing for this,

arguably the biggest thing for this team heading into the season. Outside the offensive line play, Iowa has to develop depth at that defensive back spot. I think they like a lot of guys back there, but there's just not a lot of proven talent. I think Iowa finding a way to blow out a couple of teams and non-conference to get those backup guys, some significant snaps will be very, very key. I think TJ Hall, I think I'm not saying he's up next,

but I do think that there's a lot of people that are encouraged and very optimistic about what he could potentially bring to the table as the weeks and years go by. I still love Cohen entering her at safety. I think you can play in that quarterback. I think you play him at safety. And Deshaun Lee is, I think, another guy in that quarterback room. And I'll also say this. Don't sleep on true freshman Jon Nestor.

I mean, I'm talking behind the scenes. I've heard he has about four interceptions to start a fall camp. And you talk about a ball hog. That's a guy who feels like he was severely underrated coming out of high school and people are sleeping on him to make that too deep i'm not saying he's going to make it too deep by any means but you talk about a guy that is very very fired up to prove people wrong and that has done things correctly early on i would keep an eye on john as well good name there a new one that we throw into the mix.

We're talking with David Eichold. You can find his work at HawkeyeInsider.com. And we'll talk a little bit more about that coming up here in just a moment. Basketball, in fact, they're just underway on the men's side of things as they are playing across the pond. No Patrick McCaffrey. He is at the Nike Skills Academy. He's not going to be there.

No Riley Mulvey, a guy that you could feel like, boy, if he could use a little developmental time and maybe something could click with him. Well, he's got a family member getting married. He's not going to be there. A different kind of team. What are we going to learn, if anything, from these games over there? Great question. I hate to be that guy.

I really don't know how much we're going to be able to take away from it. I do think this is a tremendous opportunity for a guy like Owen Freeman, for a guy like Brock Harding, for a guy like Bryce Samford to really start to get in the mix of, okay, we're not scrimmaging against our own teammate thing. We're at least playing against some sort of competition. Do I expect Iowa to run away with a couple of these games? Yeah.

Do I expect them to still get some significant experience yes i also think this is for fran mccaffey to really toy with that lineup a little bit and just try some different things i'd love to see brock harding start the one in the game i'd love to see tony perkins start the two i'd love to see desante bowen start at the one as well i think iowa feels pretty good about their wings. I think this is a good chance to get Evan Braun some minutes as well at that backup five spot. But the wings are solidified. I just think I'm very intrigued about how is Iowa going to stack up

defensively and on the glass. But for anything else, I think it's just a good team chemistry bonding experience. I think it'll be a really good chance for the freshmen to get some of that first true action in college. How's the point guard situation going to shape up? Are you of the belief that this is going to be Tony Perkins? They're going to hand the keys over to him at least early on? Or do you see a push from Harding? Can we see DeSante Bowen? You know, I was so excited about DeSante Bowen just because he was one of those handpicked guys from Fran. He was a guy who held off a couple of bigger offers that came along later on.

Haven't seen it in his first year on campus. What about the point guard spot for the Hawkeyes? Yeah, I think that's the biggest question mark right now. I do think that the safest option is going to be Tony Perkins. I still want to see Tony Perkins on the team. I think DeSante Bowen needs to take a step forward. I think him gaining that extra muscle in the offseason is going to play a factor. I do think he needs to continue to get a little bit bigger, a little bit stronger.

And I think his jump shot still has a little bit of work to do. But, man, I'll tell you, I still love Brock Harding. I know he's undersized. I know a lot of people will be worried about how he's physically matched up against some of the big-time guards. I think that's a worthwhile concern. But his basketball IQ is tremendous. He's a great passer.

His three-point shot's gotten a lot better. I really would not be surprised if we saw Brock Harding make a push sometime in the non-conference season. I think people are going to realize that Iowa may have gotten a little bit of a steal with him. I really do like his game and how it can translate to the big time. The guy is just a winner. And I think more importantly, that's what Iowa needs at that point guard spot. Teams going to stink defensively and rebounding going to have to outscore

them, but some things don't change during the Fran McCaffrey era over the women's side. It was not the off season that many Hawkeye fans wanted as it pertained to the transfer portal, but saw what their opener, a big win as they dominated some Italian team by what 70 points, something like that. But Cynthia Falter, that was a good sign.

Her going out there, what you had inside with O'Grady. I wasn't as upset as I know a lot of the fan base was about them not hitting in the transfer portal like they want. I just certainly when it comes to posts, I believe in Jan Jensen so much. It's very similar to Phil Parker in the Iowa secondary for me. That's how I feel about Jan Jensen at the post. Look, I have to know, Grady showed some really nice things.

I think, you know, during her freshman year, I think people need to remember that Jan Jensen is a connoisseur at this. I think what bothered Iowa fans more than anything, Trent, about the portal is, you know, that they did try to reach out to some top targets, but they didn't have the NIL funds to compete with some of them, as Lisa Bluter openly talked about a little bit, I believe on KXNO a couple weeks ago. But the other thing is watching the team that they lost the national championship to, LSU. And Kim Mulkey, I have my own opinions on her as well as a lot of other people. But to watch the rich get richer

and to see almost every high-powered transfer go to LSU, I think that's what really irks the Iowa fan base more than even just not getting a player via the portal. But yeah, like you said, Sydney Fulter is going to be my preseason Big Ten six woman of the year. I think she's due for a big, big season at that spot. I think she's going to rebound her.

I think her three-point shot's getting better. And I think she can bring a lot of energy off the bench for Iowa. It's going to be fun, no doubt about it. David Eichel, part of HawkeyeInsider.com, 24-7 sports. David, I know it's getting up to that time. You're getting football. You got your VIP articles out there.

Your sources say article that is always beloved by the Hawkeye fan base. For people that want to get involved with you at Hawkeye Insider, what's the easiest way to get signed up? Yeah, just go to HawkeyeInsider.com. If you don't have an account, you'll see in the top right corner, you can log in or sign up. It's 30% off heading into the season. It's going to be loaded with a lot of VIP content,

especially this weekend with the football media day on Friday and the kids day scrimmage on Saturday. And a reminder, that is going to be free for the public, that kids scrimmage. I know a lot of people are very, very eager to see some of the new additions to this team. No doubt about it. Thanks as always, David.

I appreciate it, Mike. Take care. David Eichel from 247sportshotguyinsider.com. That's where you can find all the information with David and a big thank you to him for giving us some time here today. Football season, as we just talked about, it's ready to kick off. Just around the corner, we got preseason games going on. FanDuel, they're giving you a chance to win all season long. Right now, when you bet on a Super

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That's FanDuel.com slash locked on. Where you go to find this great deal. Wow. Absolutely love this one. Absolutely something to good. They already got some numbers up there for Iowa. They have you covered in the Super Bowl profits. Oh, that is some good stuff right there.

Trent Conant back with you as we wrap things up on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Now, I'm going to dive into this a little bit more, but I got this idea. You guys know I love college basketball. You know I love the Hawkeyes, and that's my first love. Yeah, Hawkeye football,

that's the one that definitely generates, I know so many of you watching, but Iowa basketball, hey, it's hard to get past your first love, right? And that's where we are. So, an 18-team conference, how do you structure this? Are you just adding more and more buys and we're going to have a week-long Big Ten tournament? Are you going to continue to do that?

And you're going to be playing games Monday through Sunday in order to get to a champion because you don't want your top seeds having to play in a quote-unquote real bracket. Are you going to have those opening two games be against you got what the 15 seed taking on the 18 the 16 against the 17 yuck talk about some ugly games i mean we think the the two opening round games currently in this 14 team structure is bad take a look at that and how ugly that would be and then on top of it you're asking your top seeds to play four games in four days to win a championship if you just set that up with a little pigtail to get into a 16-team bracket. I don't think that's the direction you want to go. Well, what if we have mini tournaments the weekend before the main tournament?

Little four or five-team tournaments that are set up in a way where you put something that can incentivize it. Obviously, if you win this little mini tournament, the four teams that remain that win each of these four mini tournaments will move on and play in the main bracket in the final four for the Big Ten. We'll continue to wrap our minds around this. When we have more time, we'll dig into that a little bit more. But just one of those ideas floating around in my mind, I think it maybe could get some

traction. We'll see. We'll try here. That's what we're working on. Always having those gears grinding up in the mind and trying to come up with something. I think it's something that maybe could hit. You earn a number one seed in the mini tournament the weekend before, and you get to host or something along those lines, or you make them neutral sites. You do go that direction. You know, at some point, hey,

the neutral sites this year, you're going to be going to Vegas, and you're going to be going to Chicago, and you're going to be going to New York City and Minneapolis. And there's your four sites. We'll figure it out. We'll continue to grind through it. If you got more ideas to make the Big Ten basketball tournament a little bit more palpable with 18 teams in it, send them my way.

Hit me up on Twitter at Trent Codden. Of course, always appreciate the comments for everybody on YouTube. And I don't want to forget about everybody on the audio side. Five-star reviews. That's what we're looking for over there. A big thank you for joining us here. Next, I will talk to you from Las Vegas. That's right.

Vegas and Circa will be my home the next couple of days. And we'll come to you live poolside from Stadium Swim at Circa on Thursday and Friday. Thanks as always for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We'll talk to you again from Vegas. Go Hawks.