Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa releases their depth chart! | How good can this specialist unit be? | Looking ahead towards a hypothetical matchup vs Michigan

Episode Date: October 9, 2020

The Iowa Hawkeyes released their first depth chart of the year, and it answered a few questions and created a few more. We break that down before breaking down our final position group of our position preview with the specialist unit. This group could be one of the best in the country led by Keith Duncan. We finish up with preview of what could be a Big Ten West vs Big Ten East showdown with Michigan at the end of the season.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get $10 off your first order. 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. Happy Friday, Hawkeye Nation, and welcome back to another 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 we have a depth chart. That's right. The Iowa Hawkeyes have released their depth chart. Also, the assistant coaches, the coaches talked to the media yesterday, so we have some information

from that as well. And that's what we're going to kick off the show with today. We're going to break down the interesting finds we saw in the depth chart. We're also going to hit on and finish up our series with the position by position preview. We are doing the specialist today. That'll be coming up on segment number two. And then finally on segment number three, we're going to be going through a potential game for Iowa and Michigan. As you could remember, if you did listen to the show yesterday, we had, we covered the eight game regular season doing one game each day, kind of doing a mini preview of those games.

And then now these last two days, we're going through a potential opponent for Iowa in the Big Ten East versus West showdown. So today we are doing Michigan since Iowa is playing Penn State during the regular season. Yesterday we covered Ohio State in case Iowa were to make the Big Ten championship game as a number one seed and Ohio State's there. And then today we're getting Michigan, so we're going to be breaking that down as well. But let's jump into that depth chart review. I don't know about you, but I was pumped to see a depth chart get released,

and there was quite a few surprises on that initial depth chart. Let me kind of walk through some of the initial surprises and then what we've learned since that came out about what to expect. And I think the first thing to realize here is that this is not set in stone. There's a lot that could happen. There's stuff that isn't correct on here compared to what Brian Ferenstead during his conference. So just keep that in mind.

This is what we see right now, but this could definitely change come game day. First, on the offensive side of the ball, no concerns at wide receiver. Makes sense. Quarterback, no concerns there. Running back, Tyler Goodson, McKay Sargent, Ivory, no concerns at wide receiver. Makes sense. Quarterback, no concerns there. Running back, Tyler Goodson, Mekhi Sargent, Ivory Kelly-Martin. 1-2-3. Expected that as well. Where it gets a little bit interesting is on the offensive line.

We have Cody Ink. He is starting at the left guard position according to the step chart. And we have Kyler Shaw at the right guard position. At right tackle, Mark Kallenberger is listed above Coy Cronk, which I thought was very interesting. And then Brian Ferencz came out and actually said that Coy Cronk would be the starter if the game were to be played today. Coy Cronk would be the starter, which is very interesting. If you listen to our offensive line preview, Mark Kallenberger is the guy who I thought was actually going to be starting at that left guard position. So it remains to be seen what happens there. But other

than that, really no surprises on the offensive side. Defensively though, considering there is a lot of turnover, we did get a few pieces of information I think was very interesting. And starting with that defensive line, obviously Chauncey Golsan is going to be in there. Davian Nixon, another guy who I think is going to be a huge breakout player this year. A junior who has a ton of potential. But then it gets a little bit interesting on the right side of that defensive line. Right now, Zach Van Valkenburg, former D2 transfer. We mentioned him as a backup, a guy who would be getting a lot of playing time.

He right now is listed as the starter at that right end position, at that right defensive tackle position, Austin Schulte. And then John Wagner, a guy who I thought would actually be the starter at that right defensive end position, is currently listed as the backup inside 6'5", 271 pounds. Not sure if they're expecting to put a little bit more weight on him or what the expectation is there, but that's what we have on that defensive line position. Again, a few surprises, but as we talked about on our defensive line preview this week, there is going to be a lot of rotations along that defensive line.

So don't be surprised if we see all these guys getting quite a bit of playing time. Another guy who I thought was interesting, I mentioned him as a potential candidate as a backup defensive tackle, but Logan Lee is a guy to watch out for as the backup for Chauncey Golston. And I'm very excited about his potential, a former tight end, playing that defensive end spot and spelling Chauncey Golston. And I'm very excited about his potential, a former tight end, playing that defensive end spot and spelling Chauncey Golston. So interesting stuff along that defensive line. At the linebacker position, a couple interesting things here.

We'll start with the more interesting quote, though, from Phil Parker, saying he believes the linebacker group is the strength of this team. And so, obviously, he has a lot closer view of what is going on in practice. I trust his opinion over mine. Personally, coming into the season, just due to the losses along that position, I felt like linebacker was a position of weakness out of all the positions on the defensive side of the ball. So again, Phil Parker thinks they're a strength. That's awesome to hear. Jack Campbell has inserted himself at that middle linebacker spot with Nick Neiman taking over that weak side linebacker spot.

Again, we talked about this in the linebacker preview. Jack Campbell and Nick Neiman, we thought were going to be the two main guys. Barrington Wade could be playing that Leo when they're going to a 4-3. And then Dane Belton is currently listed as that cash. But what's interesting about Dane Belton is he's also listed as the strong safety. And so we're going to get into that in just a second. Two other things I want, or one other thing I want to cover though, is Justin Jacobs actually up to 235 pounds. This is something I mentioned on the linebacker preview is that this guy has gained a lot of weight. He's put on some

muscle and it looks like it too. He's up to 235, ready to take over that position at that weak side linebacker spot and place a Nick Neiman when Nick Neiman ultimately leaves. I expect to see Justin Jacobs in the game a bit this year as a redshirt freshman. At the cornerback spots, as of right now, we have Matt Hankins and Riley Moss as the starters. No surprise to Matt Hankins, Riley Moss was the expected starter. Julius Brents, the backup to Hankins, and then Terry Roberts, the backup to Moss. And Phil Parker did make note that he's been really impressed with Julius Brents, the backup to Hankins, and then Terry Roberts, the backup to Moss. And Phil Parker did make note that he's been really impressed with Julius Brents. Again, he's going to try to get the best players on the field.

And this is where that Dane Belton at cash comes in a little bit. Because the backup to Dane Belton at strong safety is Sebastian Castro, another guy who I mentioned as a guy to watch out for yesterday when we talked through the safeties. If Dane Belton were to play the cash and that be his primary positions a la an Amani hooker, then we could see Sebastian Castro be playing a lot when they're playing that 4-2-5 scheme. However, I think Julius Brents is a very talented defensive back, so I'd be surprised to not see Phil Parker to get him on the field as well.

It'll be interesting to see what kind of shakes out there, but it's either going to be Dane Belton and Sebastian Castro or Dane Belton and Julius Brents remains to be seen there. We'll definitely get more information come game time. Free safety, Jack Horner, no issues there. Kayvon Merriweather, the backup. And then the punter is currently listed as Torrey Taylor, the freshman from Australia, going deep down under to get that punter.

225 pounds, 6'4", punter has clearly, it sounds like, won the punting job at this point. Again, we're two weeks away. Things could change, but Torrey Taylor has been impressing throughout camp, so no surprise there. And then punt returns, Max Cooper is listed as the guy, and Amir Smith-Marset is listed as the kickoff returner with Austin Spiewak, the snapper. So that is the depth chart. Went through that pretty quickly. One other news and note I wanted to cover. Geno Stone was released by the Baltimore

Ravens. Unfortunate circumstance there. Seems like they're working on bringing someone else in. He was inactive for every single game this year despite being on the active roster. There's no doubt in my mind he'll be picked up by another team. I could actually see him being picked up and placed on an active roster in the next week or so once he clears waivers. Or if he doesn't clear waivers and someone grabs him, they're grabbing him obviously for the active roster. So it remains to be seen there.

We'll cover all of that though right here on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Coming up on segment number two, we're going to be breaking down that special teams unit and why they could be the best special teams unit in the NCAA. That's right. You've got the GOAT at kicker. You've got one of the best returners in NCAA history, and you have a freshman who can boom the ball 55 yards. This special teams unit could be very special for the Iowa Hawkeyes. We're going to be covering that on segment number two. Before we get into that, though, I do have a message from our sponsors of the show today.

You remember the great folks at Built Bar and how they produce fantastic-tasting protein bars that taste like candy bars? Well, they're back at it again with Built Go. Built Go is the healthy replacement for your energy drink, but the energy is not fake. It's lasting, and it's natural. They come in one-and-a-half-ounce goo packages.'s lasting and it's natural. They come in one and a half ounce of goo packages. You can fit it literally anywhere. It's perfect for a pre-workout, during a workout,

or even just during the day if you're trying to get some energy. If you have a long day, got a big meeting coming up, you don't want to fall asleep in front of your boss, bring a Bilt Go with you. Again, 1.5 ounce packages and they come in three delicious flavors, peanut butter, honey, chocolate, coconut, and chocolate mint. Chocolate mint is my personal favorite. Honestly, these are exactly what I use to get going in the morning. I wake up between four and 5am and I go get a two to three hour workout and I need a built go to get me through that workout. And then I grab a built bar at the end to get my protein. Highly recommend you check out built goes for any use during the day. If you need any sort of pick me up-up, BuiltGo is the way to go.

So right now, go visit BuiltGo.com. That's B-U-I-L-T-G-O.com. And use promo code LOCKED, and you'll get 30% off your next order. Use promo code LOCKED for 30% off at BuiltGo.com. Let's go. All right, we are back for segment number two of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast, finishing up our position-by-position preview. Now that we have depth charts, it's pretty easy to understand who are the starters here,

but there was no surprises along that special teams unit, and we're going to kick it off with the GOAT, Keith Duncan. This guy is a beast, an absolute animal. I love his confidence. You need it as a kicker because you're in a lot of tough situations. You need to be able to block out the noise and be able to go kick big-time kicks. Keith Duncan, we don't need to talk about him that much. We know exactly what kind of kicker he is,

except for the one thing I think is important for him this season is to show that he has the ability to handle kickoffs and potentially a little bit more strength in his leg. Not saying he doesn't have the strength. We just need to be able to see him hit some field goals from maybe 50, 55 yards because I think accuracy-wise and confidence-wise and mentally speaking, he can handle the pro side of being a kicker. We just need to see that leg strength. But Caleb Shudock is a guy who had handled kicking duties last year for kickoffs. He could be in line to do that this year.

We'll see. My guess is he might just because Iowa can then let Keith Duncan focus on field goals. Caleb Shudock is a guy who I'd watch out for coming back next year with the fact that they have the waiver for this year. He could get a chance to kick since he has not had a chance to kick in a game yet as an actual kicker, or at least he hasn't had a chance to be a full-time kicker, excuse me. Behind him, we got Lucas Amayo, who's got a huge leg. There's actually a video of him kicking a 60-yarder in high school during warm-ups. And then Aaron Bloom, Allstate for four years in the state of Iowa, a very accurate kicker. So those are the guys

behind Keith Duncan once the GOAT ultimately leaves and heads the NFL. The big surprises here, though, is that Longsnapper and Holder are changing for Keith Duncan. And if you don't realize how important that is, just listen to Tyler Kluver on the Washed Up Walk-Ons as he's talked about what he needs to do to be a specialist. I've interviewed Casey Kreider, a former Iowa Hawkeyes Longsnapper who now plays the New York Giants. He also talked about how difficult it is to be a long snapper and how important it is to be finely tuned with literally where the laces are landing when you snap the ball.

That's how detailed it gets. Right now, we've got Austin Spivak, a redshirt senior who was taking over for Jackson Sobert. And we have a new holder as well. And again, that's also important, the timing about it. senior who was taking over for Jackson Sobert. And we have a new holder as well. And again, that's also important, the timing about it. Getting the ball, putting it down, and getting it ready for Keith Duncan to kick. It sounds like it is going to be Ryan Gersod this year to be the holder for Keith Duncan. However, despite the changes in his two main personnel and a field goal, I do believe Keith Duncan could be an All-American and a Lou Groza award winner again this year.

I don't think he's going to have as many opportunities to kick field goals, but the fact that he does have that name recognition now, as long as he is just as accurate and maybe kicks in five, six less, I do believe he should be the Lou Groza award winner. If nothing else, they should have handed it to him last year, so at least give it to him this year. What they did to Keith Duncan last year was garbage. Sounds like LeVar Woods completely agrees as well, based off his press conference.

Rodrigo Blankenship got freaking lucky that there's so much bias towards the SEC. Moving over into the punter, Torrey Taylor is the starter. Australian punter. Got there a little bit late, but has been absolutely crushing the ball. Behind him, a couple different guys. Ryan Dersad, guy who's been in the program for a couple years. As a true freshman, punted the ball 42.5 yards per punt on 13 punts, but redshirted

in 2018 and was injured all of last year. And then don't forget about Nick Phelps, a guy who transferred from North Dakota State, was a backup there. Redshirted as a freshman, is a redshirt freshman after not playing as a sophomore. So, those are the two guys behind Torrey Taylor,

but if Torrey Taylor wins that job and looks good, we could see Torrey Taylor in an Iowa Hawkeye uniform booming the ball for four years, which I know all of you Iowa Hawkeye fans out there love special teams play. I'm excited about that. Kick returner-wise, Amir Smith-Marset, no doubt about that.

He was always going to be the kick returner. He is absolutely electric, and he could set the Big Ten record with two more kick returns for touchdowns this year. He'll at least tie the record for number one with four kick returns for touchdowns. The last two years finished seventh and fourth in kickoff return yards average. This guy is electric. Every time he gets the ball and a kickoff, you got to watch out because he can do some dynamic and dangerous things. And as a punt returner last year, Max Cooper, again, I would love to see Amir Smith Marcet, but you've got to trust as a punt returner, there's going to be a little bit more danger there. And there's also going to be a little bit, you need to be a little bit more reliable with, with catching the ball. So maybe that's why, you know, Cooper is, is in that spot. I know Amir Smith Marcet is willing to be the punt returner, but Max Cooper did solid when he was out there. I trust him as that punt returner. But that wraps it up for our specialist preview and our position by position preview. That's right. We went through every single position over the last two weeks, and we have touched on every single thing, letting you know which

positions are the weakest, which positions are the strongest, which positions to watch out for, and specifically the players at those positions to watch out for. We're wrapping up with the specialists again. I think this special teams unit could be the best in the nation as long as we get consistent punting and as long as the pipeline of holding and long snapping continues at the University of Iowa. Coming up on segment number three, though, we're going to be breaking down a hypothetical game between Iowa and Michigan if Iowa were to play Michigan in in that big 10 East versus West final game of the season crossover battle, that'll be coming up in just a few short seconds.

All right, we are back for our third and our final segment of the lockdown Hawkeyes podcast on this beautiful Friday morning, breaking down the Iowa versus Michigan game. And Michigan is a team that always has a lot of hype. And I think it's a little bit ridiculous because they do have a lot of talent, but Jim Harbaugh just can't get it done. He can't win the big game. We've seen Iowa play Michigan close, even when Michigan was heavily favored. Last year, I believe Iowa should have won, but they just came out so sluggish and looked terrible against Michigan. But I believe Iowa should have won that game.

I think they were actually a more talented team. This year, though, Michigan's offense is not going to be as inept because they do not have their former quarterback. And I am drawing Shane Patterson. Shane Patterson was their quarterback last year. He was terrible. This year, they are replacing him with either Dylan McCaffrey or Joe Milton.

Milton is a better passer. McCaffrey is a better runner. Personally, I'd be more concerned about McCaffrey coming in from an Iowa perspective because he does have that athleticism, and Iowa does struggle with mobile quarterbacks. So it'll be interesting to see who they ultimately choose or if they go with a rotation. Whoever is the quarterback, though, will have a pretty easy job handing the ball off to Zach Charbonnet or Hassan Haskins. Both guys went for over 600 yards last year. Charbonnet had 769 yards and 11 touchdowns.

And Hassan Haskins had 622 yards and 4 touchdowns. And they are returning Nico Collins and Ronnie Bell. Nico Collins, an explosive playmaker. 37 catches, 729 yards, 19.7 yards per catch average. Ronnie Bell, 48 catches, 758 yards. Both our wide receivers are huge wins for the Wolverines getting them to return. They did lose Tariq Black, and they did lose Donovan Peoples-Jones. Again, those guys were underutilized last year with Shane Patterson. That offense could have been so much more explosive.

I think they have an opportunity to be more explosive this year with either Dylan McCaffrey or Joel Milton, as long as their offensive line can hold up. Right now, they have to replace four of their five guys along the offensive line. And we saw it happen with Iowa last year. They had to replace three guys in the interior, and they struggled a couple games, especially against the Michigan. So can Michigan get that offensive line in tune? We will see. Defensively though,

their defensive line and their linebacker group should be pretty darn solid. They are returning Kuiti Pei, 12.5 tackles for losses, 6.5 sacks, 50 tackles. Aiden Hutchinson, fourth leading tackler on the team, 9 tackles for loss, three and a half sacks, and six passes defended, which is stupid impressive for a defensive lineman. Obviously is able to time and know when to get up if he's not able to get to the quarterback. And then Carlos Kemp, 40 tackles, four and a half tackles for loss, and two sacks. This is one of the best returning defensive lines

in the Big Ten. Three of the four guys are back. That's a lot of pressure they can get with those guys. At the linebacker spot, Kaliki Hudson is gone, but they do return Cameron McGroin, 5th leading tackler, and Josh Ross, who was injured last year, but is a solid replacement at that linebacker spot. Where they are weak at is corners.

They're replacing both corners, but they do return both safeties. So not a lot of guys they really have to replace. From a team that allowed enough points to be 25th in points allowed per game last year. This defense is legit. Can Jim Harbaugh get that offense a-rollin', though? Can they get a quarterback who can do it better than Shane Patterson? I think they can. I actually think Michigan can be better than we've seen them in the past couple years.

They are returning a lot of guys on that defensive side of the ball, and I believe they will be a very tough team to beat. From an Iowa perspective, it all comes down to can they contain the offense. I believe Iowa's offensive line can hang with any defensive line in the country, even a defensive line like Michigan's. I think their wide receivers can take advantage of young and inexperienced corners, but can they handle Michigan's offense? Is Michigan's offense going to be explosive? That remains to be seen. But that is my breakdown, my brief preview of the Iowa-Michigan game coming into this 2020 season, if Iowa were to play Michigan at the end of the season in that East vs. West showdown. That does do it, though, for our position-by-position preview and our game preview. A reminder, though, that we do have former Iowa Hawkeye wide receiver and 13-year NFL veteran Quinn Early,

who's going to be joining the show next week. It might happen Monday. It might happen Tuesday. You just got to stay tuned and keep listening to Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. We're delivering it every single weekday, Monday through Friday, before your daily commute or before you got to walk across the hall to get to your home office now that we are in the middle of a pandemic. We're going to have a show for you, though. We're either going to have some content Monday. That's not quite early, but

regardless, we're going to get that interview in next week. So stay tuned for that. If you love the content, we are popping out. Make sure to like review and subscribe. Give us that five-star review and subscribe so you can get that episode downloaded directly to your smart device. Whenever we produce it, we have some really exciting things coming up for the football season. I'm going to wait to announce some of that, but there is a pretty good chance we have some former Iowa Hawkeye coming on the show and doing Monday breakdowns of the previous week's Iowa Hawkeye football game. More to come on that. Hopefully it doesn't fall through.

I think it's a pretty reliable thing that's going to happen, though, so we'll make sure to drop that once we get a 100% confirmation on that. But lots of fun stuff coming on here on the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. We're always improving. If you have any feedback, please make sure to give that to us. As always, Hawkeye Nation, it's been my pleasure producing content for you this week. I'm excited to be back next Monday. Have a fantastic Friday and even better weekend.

And as always, let's go Hawks.