Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa loses out on defensive tackle grad transfer plus NIL updates and why it's concerning Spencer Petras is working out with a QB coach

Episode Date: May 18, 2021

The Iowa football team lost out on grad transfer Tony Fair. What does this say about the position that Iowa has now gone after two graduate transfer defensive tackles and where do they go from here? Also, we give you the latest on name, image, and likeness and how states that have legalized it are already taking advantage on the recruiting trail. Finally, we wrap up with the news that Spencer Petras is working out with a QB coach. It's great for Spencer, but why is it a bad thing for the Iowa football team. We break it all down here.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back, Hawkeye Nation, to a Tuesday morning episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade. And after you listen to today's show, if you want some more Locked On content, there is simply no better place to get all the news on the Big Ten Conference than with Big Ten Ben Stevens and the Locked On Big Ten Podcast.

Follow the Locked On Big Ten Podcast on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast at. And on today's show, we're going to be covering a few different topics. I want to talk a little bit about the fact that the Iowa Hawkeyes have not landed a transfer defensive tackle. That is a bit concerning that they want one so badly and also concerning that they didn't get one. So why is that concerning? What are they trying to do to fix that? How are we going to fix that? We're going to talk about all that on today's show in segment one. Then we're going to get into name image likeness. I know that has been a hot topic, but there is some additional news I

want to cover. And I've seen some schools utilizing name image likeness as a recruiting tactic. This is bad for Iowa and bad for the Hawkeyes in general. So we're going to talk about that. And then finally, we're going to wrap up with a conversation about the fact that Spencer Petras is working with a coach outside of the Iowa football team to improve his mechanics. And why? That's a great thing for Spencer and a bad thing for the Iowa Hawkeyes. We're going to be talking all about that as well. So with that being said, let's hop into the show.

Actually, quickly want to say a couple things. Apologize. One mistake on yesterday's show. The softball tournament bracket came out after I had recorded and Iowa was not in it. So the women's softball team did end, but nevertheless, a phenomenal season for them. The fact they're able to even get on that conversation or in that conversation is just truly remarkable and such a good turnaround. And I'm really excited to see how they fare next year. Also, James Fererenc signs a deal

with the Patriots. That's good news for James Ferenc. Keep kicking it in the league. A guy who was working back in Iowa City before he got a chance with the Denver Broncos and has now made a pretty solid career out of the football or National Football League. And then Kaitlin Clark was also named the USA basketball team. So really excited to see an Iowa Hawkeye dominate in that sense. Now let's get into our topic of the conversation, though, for segment one, the fact that Iowa did not land Tony Fair. So Tony Fair, if you are not familiar, was a grad transfer from UAB. He wanted to get out of there and, I'm assuming, just grow his stock,

grow his potential NFL opportunities. He was being recruited very heavily by quite a few teams. Unfortunately, it just didn't work out for the Hawkeyes. So he came down to and basically picked. He got a lot of offers, was looking at Auburn, Purdue, and Ole Miss as his top three, and chose to go to Auburn. Again, Iowa was in on that battle. And this says more about what Iowa thinks about their defensive line than what Tony Farah thinks about Iowa.

My assumption is based on the fact that he is in the South, probably wanted to stick around there as well and wanted to play for a team like Auburn. So no shame there. Definitely understand that. But Iowa, the fact they wanted to get him, they also were recruiting another defensive tackle out of Illinois State. They clearly see an issue with their defensive tackle position.

And as I looked a bit closer, we talked about all the potential of this team. Y.A. Black is a guy who I think could be a force in a couple years. Noah Shannon is being compared to Davia Nixon probably unfairly. And there's other guys on this roster, younger guys, who have an ability to make a big impact going forward. A Logan Jones, a Logan Lee, a Louis Stick, right? There's plenty of guys out there who can make an impact, but they are mostly freshmen and sophomores. So when you look at what's happened the past couple of years, Iowa has lost two defensive tackles every single year the last

three years. However, when they lost two tackles a couple years ago, they replaced them with Brady Reif and Cedric Lattimore. The following year, they replaced them with junior Davia Nixon and senior Jack Heflin. This year, Noah Shannon is a junior, and they are replacing the other side, Jack Heflin, with either four freshmen or two sophomores. Six young players.

So it is a concern. When you look at this defense, they have an ability to rotate defensive linemen in and out and constantly replace these guys with talented players. However, typically in those situations, these are older guys who have spent more time in the program. So you get a bit concerned about that. You also have to be a bit concerned about the injuries. The reason why a guy like Louis Stick was in there was due to injuries now he capitalized on those injuries to make the most of his time and really try to vie for a playing spot but it's got to be concerning that iowa is that concerned at

this point with how many injuries they've had with how young their roster is at that defensive tackle spot they're looking not for a guy to just get some playing time they're looking for a guy to start and that to me is concerning about what what Iowa thinks about their defensive line spot and specifically the defensive tackles. Now, do I think they're going to be bad this year? Not at all. I think when you factor in, you have Zach Van Valkenburg on one side, you have John Wagner on the other, you have Joe Evans spelling both those guys, and then you have a Noah Shannon. They can make up for someone who's a bit more inconsistent at the other defensive tackle spot. And you also got to think at some point you're going to play these young guys.

You want to get them some playing time. And the fact that we have such a strong secondary and such a strong linebacker group, it takes a little bit of the pressure off of those interior defensive tackles. No longer do they have to be the end-all be-all. They just need to hold up blockers to allow the linebackers some space to get to running backs, to get to the quarterback, to take up two blockers so the defensive ends are going one-on-one. So that will be really interesting to me to see how Iowa handles this and can they stay healthy. Another option that hasn't been talked about a ton is if they really get desperate, could they slide John Wagner inside?

Just for this year, you play Joe Evans on the outside, you play Zach Van Valkenburg on the other side, you put John Wagner and Noah Shannon on the inside, that is also a possibility. Again, I think what we're going to see is a wide variety of players getting snaps there. Phil Parker likes to rotate in anywhere between eight and ten guys. So when I talk about four freshmen and two sophomores, all of those guys are likely going to get some snaps this season. And Noah Shannon being the leader there,

you get Logan Jones, Logan Lee, Y.A. Black, you get a Louis Stick, Lucas Van Ness. These are guys to watch out for that could be getting some playing time this upcoming season. I think Y.A. Black, though, is definitely the frontrunner despite having some injuries of getting that defensive tackle spot. Now, maybe he surprises us. I think, again, though is definitely the front runner, despite having some injuries of getting that defensive tackle spot. Now, maybe he surprises us. I think again, I was just concerned because the injuries and the lack of experience there, when they have an opportunity to get an experienced guy to come in for a year that allows them to kind of

bridge the gap between the lack of experience and possibly having more experience. You bring in a guy like Tony fair. You now give a Logan Lee, a YA Black, you give them a time, you give them time to get some snaps in without having all the pressure of being a starter until next year when they're really ready to take over that position. So it is concerning. And as we get more information, if there's any additional recruiting that Iowa does, the defensive tackle position will definitely let you know. I assume if anyone else enters the market, they will probably be in on them. But more to come on that. As of right now, nothing yet.

So we're going to be riding and dying with that defensive tackle spot that is very young and quite inexperienced. But could it be a breakout position? Possibly. We will see a lot of talent there. Coming up though on segment number two, I want to talk about name, image, and likeness

and why this is really bad for Iowa and how the state of Iowa really dropped the ball there, and also how Mark Emmert has been pretty much a hypocritical jerk the entire time about this entire process. We're going to cover all that on segment number two of the show. Before we get into that, though, you know I've got to tell you about our sponsors of the show today, starting with rockauto.com. Rockauto.com is a family-owned business serving auto parts customers online for 20 years. Go to rockauto.com to shop for all of your auto

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All right, y'all, and we are back for segment number two of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes. And I want to talk about name image likeness. This has been a conversation that really has kicked off since Jordan Bohannon has been trying to spearhead this effort to get right back to the athletes. And if you're one of those people who don't agree with name image likeness for the athletes, I truly don't know how to possibly give you any other way to agree with me. So if you don't like that, I apologize. I would equate it this way. And I've said this before. I saw this

analogy from someone else. But basically, if an art student goes to Iowa on a full ride scholarship, they are more than welcome to sell their art on the street and make money off that. If a basketball player goes to Iowa on a full ride scholarship, they are not able to make a single dollar from their name or the fact they are good at basketball. Now, some would point to the fact that the scholarship is payment enough. I would argue that the scholarship is a very good thing, right? I would have loved to have a scholarship, but these student athletes are putting in a ton of time to make the University of Iowa a better program. They are putting in hours and hours and hours of work. And also the biggest

thing it goes back to is what is the big deal if they could make money off their self? If I went to school and I was really good at something, I can make money off that and no one would care. I wasn't so it didn't really matter. But why is it such a big deal to people to not let these players get money off of their name, image, and likeness? We're not talking about paying players in the school. We're just talking about name, image, likeness. And while this will help some of the football players, I think it really helps some other players in the Iowa Hawkeye athletic program who aren't going to have as great of an opportunity from a career earnings perspective. You look at a guy like Spencer Lee. He is arguably the best wrestler in the country,

pound for pound. I would say he's the best wrestler in the country, pound for pound, and a guy who could be a future Olympian. He won a national title without ACLs. This is a guy who could be making a ton of money off his name, image, likeness, and that's money that could set him up very well for the future. There is not a lot of money

in traditional wrestling in the country, in the world. Right? I mean, there's definitely sponsorship deals, you know, Dan Gable, wow, I'm really not, Dan Gable, excuse me, makes, you know, money off his sponsorship deals, but that's not a lot. And if you have the opportunity to, you should be able to do that. Spencer Lee should be able to make money now to set him up, sell himself up for the future. So it's not such an important thing to get later on. Kaitlyn Clark, she's going to have a career in the WNBA. I have no doubt about it.

She can make very good money playing overseas as well. But why can't she be making money off her name, image, likeness now? She's one of the hottest basketball players in college basketball. She's on fire. She's absolutely crushing it. And everyone wants to watch Kaitlyn Clark play. Why can she not capitalize on that? You look at Alexa Noel from the tennis team. She could be holding camps in her name and having a tennis sponsorship deal in the state of Iowa and making some money off that while she puts together an all-American season as a true freshman. To me, it's just ridiculous that that is not a thing. But what is very interesting is the fact that there are six states who have legalized name image likeness opportunities and those states have colleges that

are capitalizing on it and it's going to really hurt Iowa especially considering this Iowa athletic program is having the best year they've ever had right now and they are getting put at a severe disadvantage because the state of Iowa did not pass that name image likeness bill they basically just let it die teams are already starting to capitalize on that. Texas is specifically recruiting on the fact that you can make money off your name, image, likeness. Texas already has a leg up over Iowa in recruiting. Now they're giving them an even bigger advantage because of the name, image, likeness. The NCAA needs to figure this out as soon as possible. Now, President Mark Emmert has kind of gone back and forth on what he said.

And if you listen to Jordan Bohannon, he has basically called out wherever Mark Emmer has been an idiot at. But he did say he wants a rule in place for athletes to profit off name image likeness before or as close to July 1st. Now ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said he's not optimistic that there will be a national name image likeness legislation passed by July 1st, but it's not catastrophic and there's a way to bridge the gap. I just don't understand why this is so hard for these guys to understand

what is important for these student athletes and doing the best thing for these student athletes. They just don't want to usher in that new era. They don't want to deal with some of the challenges that that inevitably faces or inevitably brings to these college programs. Now, a program like Iowa, they are preparing to be able to handle

name image likeness rules if and when they ultimately do pass. There's literally a whole new sector of business that's forming for companies that are going to be assisting these universities with name image likeness type of deals for all these young athletes. There's a great opportunity.

And for a program like Iowa or any big program, you want to be able to try to shelter these athletes and provide them the guidance they need when getting into some of these deals. You don't want them to get into any sort of shady situation. You don't want them to have to focus all their time on it. They want to be able to provide those opportunities for them. So there's a whole new business that's coming into effect. But again, we don't have any rules currently in place to allow name image likeness for these other states that don't pass state legislation. And that is a huge disadvantage to Iowa from a recruiting perspective. If you're going into Texas and you're trying to recruit a Deuce Hogan, and Deuce Hogan is getting recruited by other schools within Texas, he might love the Iowa program.

love the Iowa program, but you can love the Iowa program as much as you want. But if you have an opportunity to make money off of how good you are four to five years earlier, why wouldn't you take that opportunity? It's going to be tough for a young kid, a 17, 18 year old kid to not want to take that opportunity. And it's going to be tough for Iowa to compete in those situations. Even if they pass some sort of temporary bill, that is not going to be an easy sell for Iowa. You're going to an athlete, let's say they're getting recruited by Texas and they're getting recruited by Iowa. Iowa can say, you know, there's a temporary bill. We might be able to do this. We're not exactly sure. We think that we're going to get there, but Texas has already passed it. Texas is going for it. If all things considered equal,

why is that student athlete going to pick Iowa over Texas? They're not. And that is going to severely hinder some of the growth opportunities to some of these programs. So I just think it's ridiculous that the NCAA is dragging their feet on this. I think it's ridiculous that has been so difficult to get this legalized. And in effect, I think it's ridiculous that we are halfway through the month of May. July 1 is a month and a half half around the corner and there is still not a decision being made. That's my thoughts on name image likeness. So let me know what your thoughts are. Coming up on segment three, we're going to talk about Spencer Petras getting work with a quarterbacks coach and why that's bad for Iowa and why it's great for Spencer Petras. That's all

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BetOnline.ag, your online sportsbook experts. Visit BetOnline.ag, your online sportsbook experts. All right, y'all, and before we took a break, I told you and teased you that we are going to be talking about Spencer Petras working with a coach and why that is bad for Iowa and why it is great for Spencer Petras. Now, you might be thinking, Andrew, that's dumb. Why would that be a bad deal for Iowa? Well, I'll tell you why.

Iowa is not known for producing pro quarterbacks. Look throughout the years what Iowa has done from a quarterback perspective. We'll start with Brad Banks, for example. Brad Banks, a little bit undersized, had a cup of tea with the Washington Redskins. Nate Chandler, not going anywhere, right? Drew Tate had a cup of tea with the Rams, played in the CFL. We're moving on. We're going to go to Ricky Stanzi. I'm just going to skip some of the guys. We'll go to some of the main guys I'll go to.

Ricky Stanzi gets drafted in the third round, I believe, by the Kansas City Chiefs. Doesn't last super long in the NFL. Played a couple years and had to deal with some injuries. He's even talked about it as well, having to deal with some of those. Oh, sorry, drafted in the NFL Played a couple years And had to deal with some injuries And he's even talked about it as well Having to deal with some of those Oh sorry drafted in the fifth round I just looked it up by the Kansas City Chiefs Ricky Sands he had to deal with some injuries

And he ultimately left the NFL After 2015 So he played from 2011 to 2015 Only played three years on an active roster 2011, 2012, 2013 And played on practice squads from there Played in the CFL for two years before calling it quits, and now he is a GODA coach. All right, G-O-A-T-A.

If you haven't seen that before, check it out. All right, James Vandenberg had a cup of tea with the Vikings. All right, now we're getting into some, you know, Jake Ruddock territory. Jake Ruddock had a cup of tea with the Lions. Actually, he played a little bit longer with the Lions. Got drafted in the sixth round and played with the Dolphins as well. Spent about four years in the NFL. Actually, it looks like five years.

2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020. But he played more of his time at Michigan under Jim Harbaugh. So that was an opportunity for him to continue to develop, even if he wasn't really that great of a quarterback, in my opinion, at Michigan. So again, very interesting. Now, CJ Beathard. CJ Beathard was a solid quarterback at the University of Iowa and got drafted probably too high by the 49ers in that third round.

He is still in the NFL playing with the Jacksonville Jaguars and played a little bit with, obviously, the 49ers after the season he went to the Jaguars. So spent his first four years with the 49ers and now is with Urban Meyer and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Nate Stanley, he is a guy who started for three years and was on the verge of setting multiple records for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Nate Stanley now playing with the Vikings and probably not going to actually get any opportunities to actually start. Had a lot of issues with his mechanics. Now we're at Spencer Petras. Spencer Petras had a lot of issues with his accuracy and also his mechanics as well. Very Nate Stanley-like.

And now he is working with a quarterback coach. The same quarterback coach that Nate Stanley worked with after he played at Iowa. Nate Stanley did not go to the Senior Bowl. He felt like it was more important for him to work on his mechanics than to go to the senior bowl. And one of the comments he said, I'm not giving this word for word, but he said that he didn't have that opportunity to do that at the University of Iowa. Now, Spencer Petras, after a struggling year, goes to work with the exact same quarterback coach, Tony Raciopi. I might've butchered that name as well, so I do apologize. He's a quarterback coach, an NFL prep quarterback coach, played college football, two-time NCAA All-American. This is a guy who does do a great job of tutoring quarterbacks. Now, if any other

quarterback in the NFL, or sorry, any other quarterback in college football was working with a quarterback coach like that, you would say that's awesome. And I do think it's awesome. I think it's amazing that Spencer Petras is doing that. Now, I think the issue here is the fact that he has to do that because he's not getting the development at the University of Iowa. Now, I just went through all the quarterbacks who have not played that much in the NFL but played at the University of Iowa. And now some of them have better mechanics.

Some people come in with better mechanics than others. Shadi Beathard came in and had some solid mechanics, had some things you could work with Ricky Stansy, same thing. But when you look at a Spencer Petras or Nate Stanley, they have all the tools in the world and the Iowa Hawkeyes could not capitalize on it. Kendall Keefe is a great coach, but why are they not working harder on developing these quarterbacks from a skill from a uh a throwing motion perspective from a mechanics perspective why are they not helping them out more to get in a better spot this is the way for a lot of this is for to be fair this is the way for a lot of

college teams right tim tebow did not get any work on his mechanics at the university of florida they didn't care they knew they were winning they didn't care how they won. But for the University of Iowa, who doesn't really recruit a lot of top end quarterback prospects, they do get a couple four stars here and there depending on the ranking system, right? Spencer Petras was a four star. Deuce Hogan by some outlets was a four star. They still do not. And I think Joey Labasse was also a four star by some outlets as well. These guys do not develop the way that Iowa develops other athletes. Okay? Think about it.

Chuck Long was the last person to really go high in the NFL draft from the Iowa Hawkeyes perspective, from a quarterback place. Now, when you look at other positions, there's a clear gap in what Iowa does from a developmental standpoint for quarterback. Cornerbacks. You bring in a two-star cornerback, and they're going to pop out an All-American and a first or second round draft pick into the NFL.

Linebackers grow at the University of Iowa and become NFL players. Offensive linemen, I mean, there's a reason why Iowa's offensive line, you or one of the schools that develops offensive line at a great rate, there's a reason why offensive linemen who only start seven or eight games in Iowa still get opportunities in the NFL because people love their mechanics. They might not be the most athletically gifted players, but they love their mechanics.

Even, heck, wide receivers now are developmental phase. Brandon Smith was not a highly touted guy coming in. Amir Smith-Marset was a two-star recruit. These are both NFL caliber players now because of the development they had at the University of Iowa and also some good recruiting of Iowa as well. Tight ends, right? I mean, George Kittle signed on signing day. He got his offer on signing day and signed. He was a wide receiver. Sean Byer came in as an athlete. You know, TJ Hawkinson was under-recruited as well. These guys are now on NFL caliber tight ends.

Iowa develops them. Iowa doesn't do that from a quarterback perspective. If I'm a potential quarterback, the one thing you have going for you at Iowa is the fact they play in a pro-style offense that does require a lot from the quarterback position. But if you're looking to have good mechanics, that is not the place. If you're looking to develop those mechanics, that is not the place. And to me, that is concerning. And I would like to see that happen better at Iowa. Now you might say there's not enough time to develop the mechanics.

Well, then how, again, I go back to how in the heck do raw walk on tight ends turn into all pro linemen? How do two star recruits out of Detroit turn into all American corners? Iowa coaches them up. Why are they not able to do that with the quarterback position? That is concerning to me. And I'm so happy that Spencer Petras is getting the work in that he wants. But if I'm a quarterback recruit, I'm scared about going to University of Iowa if I'm looking to develop my skill set. I'm going to be completely honest. That is a concern to me. I want to know what your thoughts are, though, as well. What's your thoughts on that?

Again, it's a positive that Spencer's going. It's a negative to me that I was unable to do that so badly that he has to go get that coaching outside of the University of Iowa. That's my thoughts. Coming up, though, tomorrow we have another show dropping on Wednesday morning. We have a show Thursday and Friday morning as well. So if you love the content we are pumping out, please make sure to give us that five-star review and follow us wherever you downloaded this episode out

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