Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa takes on the #6 Spartans tonight | NFL Draft Analyst Nick Kendell joins us to talk about TJ Hockenson and Amani Hooker's NFL futures

Episode Date: January 24, 2019

The men's basketball team takes on the #6 Michigan State Spartans tonight at Carver Hawkeye Arena, and this game will most certainly have a different outcome then December's beatdown. After we give yo...u a full preview of the game and what to expect, we jump back to part two of our discussion with NFL Draft Analyst Nick Kendell who gives us his thoughts on Iowa tight end TJ Hockenson and safety Amani Hooker and what we can expect from them when it comes to the NFL Draft. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to another episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. The Locked On Hawkeyes podcast is giving you daily, bite-sized episodes about your favorite university in the nation, the University of Iowa Hawkeyes. The Locked On Hawkeyes podcast is also a part of the Locked On Sports Network's Growing Lineup of College podcast. I'm excited to have you here today because I'm your host Andrew Wade, editor over at DearOldGold.com, where you can find analysis pieces on all things black and yellow. And we have another awesome episode coming at you today. If you are just tuning in
Starting point is 00:00:30 for the very first time, I highly recommend you checking out our episode from yesterday, where much of what we talked about was entirely focused on Iowa Hawkeyes and the NFL draft. That's right. We were able to secure the time of a fantastic NFL draft analyst, Nick Kendall, from 24-7 Sports to come on and talk about the Iowa Hawkeyes and where some of them may go in the NFL draft. So what we're doing is kind of breaking it up, giving you some bite size segments of certain players. Yesterday, we covered Anthony Nelson and Noah Fant. Today, we're going to be covering TJ Hawkinson and Imani Hooker. We're covering the underclassmen first.
Starting point is 00:01:07 On tomorrow's episode, we're going to be covering some of the seniors. And then on a future episode, maybe Saturday or even Monday morning, we're going to be giving you our takes on who could be going into the NFL draft next year. Who are the juniors and seniors to watch for? Obviously, Nate Stanley is one of them. But there's going to be a few other guys that you're going to want to pay attention to who could be possibly on the verge of going to the NFL Draft next year.
Starting point is 00:01:31 Before we jump into that, though, for segment number one, we're actually going to be covering the Iowa vs. Michigan State game. As you know, tonight, Iowa is taking on Michigan State in a very big game. Michigan State blew out the Hawks last time. This is a revenge game for Iowa. Michigan State's coming back to Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa hopefully will have a little bit more luck there, so we're going to talk about that game first, and then after we get done with that, we're going to jump to the interview with Nick Kendall and talk about TJ Hawkinson and Imani Hooker. Before we jump into the Iowa vs. Michigan State preview though, just make sure you're
Starting point is 00:02:06 subscribing to our podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or Spotify, or really wherever you get your podcast at. That's the easiest way to make sure you're getting the latest episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes downloaded directly to your phone or wherever you're listening to the Locked On Hawkeyes app. Also, if you have a smart speaker at home, it's very easy to listen to the Locked On Hawkeyes app. Also, if you have a smart speaker at home, it's very easy to listen to the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. All you need to do is tell Siri, Google, or Alexa to play podcast Locked On Hawkeyes.
Starting point is 00:02:35 There is literally no excuse to not listen to one of the most recent additions to the Locked On Sports Network's growing lineup of college podcasts, the Locked On Hawkeyes. So let's jump right into it. We have a lot of stuff to cover today. I want to make sure I give you plenty of time to listen to the TJ Hawkinson and Imani Hooker NFL draft analysis from Nick Kendall. So let's jump right into it with the Iowa versus Michigan State game that's coming up tonight.
Starting point is 00:02:59 And as we probably know, if you're paying attention to the podcast or you follow me at Dear Old Gold, or just in general, you follow the Iowa to the podcast or you follow me at Dear Old Gold or just in general you follow the Iowa Hawkeyes and you watch the Iowa basketball team you know that when Iowa took on Michigan State last time it was not pretty. They got blown out I want to say 90 to 68. It was even further away than that score though. Iowa really never had a fighting chance after about the first five to ten minutes so not exactly a showing. And this also came after Iowa had a fantastic opening to the season. But then they dropped the game against Wisconsin, and they got blown out by Michigan State. They were able to get back on the winning track by beating Iowa State, but really not
Starting point is 00:03:36 a very good start to the Big Ten play. So, after losing to Michigan State, they also lost to Purdue in the Big Ten. That started off 0-3, but since then, they've went on a five-game winning streak, and that's really the difference in what the Iowa squad looked like against Michigan State originally and what they're planning on to show against Michigan State in this upcoming matchup. One of the things that really impressed me from the last game is how well Iowa did covering Michigan State's top two scorers, at least at the time of the last game, Joshua Langford and Cassius Winston. They had a poor shooting performance from both of them. Cassius Winston shot two of nine and Josh Langford shot five of 13. However, it wasn't those two guys who
Starting point is 00:04:16 burned the Hawks. It was Michigan State's trio of forwards led by junior Nick Ward, who had an unbelievable game. Went 10 for 10, I think scored 26 points, brought in 9 or 10 boards, and then followed that up by Kenny Goins, who hit 6 of 11 shots and had, I want to say, 14 rebounds. And then Xavier Tillman hit 5 of his 6 shot attempts as well. Those three guys accounted for 52% of Michigan State's offense, 70% of their total rebounds, and 67% of their blocks. That is absurd. And what's most disappointing about that is when you look at this Iowa Hawkeye squad, their strength really is their front court between Luka Garza and Tyler Cook and Nick Beyer. There is so much talent there. It's surprising to
Starting point is 00:05:04 me that those three guys aren't known for their defensive intensity. Nick Byer to an extent is, but Cook and Garza aren't exactly known for their defense. But even that is just embarrassing. So this will really be what I consider to be the battle of the big men. Iowa has shown that they can lock down the two guards, the two biggest scoring threats from the backcourt at Michigan State, but can they contain the Michigan State forwards? Are they able to stop them and stop them from making a big impact on the game? That'll be the key to this game is whether or not
Starting point is 00:05:35 Tyler Cook and Luka Garza can do that. Furthermore, it'll be interesting to see how they do offensively because against those forwards, they played fantastic cook garza and buyer combined for nine to go nine for 27 from the field luca garza had a real bad game he went one for 10 so if those guys can show up if they can play just solid defense just like iowa has played overall they played really out i would say solid defense they're communicating better they're you know switching you're switching better. It's very obvious that they're a little bit more in sync with each other. And the stats show that too. Last year, Iowa was 317th
Starting point is 00:06:12 out of 351 teams in terms of points allowed. This year, they're 201st. According to analytics, last year they ranked 242nd in the nation in terms of defensive adjusted efficiency, according to Ken Palm. And this year, they're 96th. So can they bring that defensive intensity that they have shown
Starting point is 00:06:28 over the last five games against Michigan State? I truly think if they can, that'll be the difference. And can't hurt, Iowa's wearing their gray jerseys. And anytime they wear their gray jerseys, you know they're about to win the game. So I'm excited to watch the game. Make sure you're tuning in tomorrow. If you're in the Iowa City area, make sure you're going to the game.
Starting point is 00:06:47 What an incredible atmosphere that could be at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Tip-off for the game is at 6 p.m. If you're not able to go, it will be aired on FS1. Or we have a cool sponsor coming up that we're going to let you hear about that may be able to provide some options for you to listen to or watch the Big Ten matchup between Iowa and Michigan State. So that'll do it for our segment number one, covering the Iowa versus Michigan State game. Again, make sure you're tuning into the game tomorrow and make sure you're tuning into our podcast, or sorry, make sure you're tuning into
Starting point is 00:07:20 the game tonight and make sure you're tuning into our podcast tomorrow as we give our recap and takeaways from that game. With that being said, we're going to jump into the final pieces of our show. We're going to be talking about TJ Hawkinson and Amani Hooker with 24-7 Sports NFL Draft Analyst Nick Kendall. Before we do that though, I do have a message for you, the listener. Because if you're like me, you hate to miss your favorite team play, regardless of who they are playing. And that's where Sling TV comes in. Now I never have to miss a football or a basketball game. And the best part is, I no longer have to pay for a bunch of channels
Starting point is 00:07:54 I don't even watch with a typical cable package. For just $30 a month, you get access to ESPN, the Big Ten Network, and more without the hassle of a long-term contract. What's even more exciting is that we have a fantastic offer for you. Locked On listeners can get a free 7-day trial by going to sling.com slash locked on. That's S-L-I-N-G dot com slash locked on. Never miss a game again with Sling TV.
Starting point is 00:08:30 All right, we are back after those messages from our sponsors. And just a reminder that if you don't have access to FS1 to watch the game, you can go to sling.com slash lockdown. Sign up for your free seven-day trial, and you'll have access to FS1, and you'll be able to watch the Iowa Hawkeyes take on the Michigan State Spartans tonight on FS1 and you'll be able to watch the Iowa Hawkeyes take on the Michigan State Spartans tonight on FS1. So great opportunity for you to buy into it up a great deal with Sling TV. That being said though, let's jump into our interviews with Nick Kendall talking about TJ Hawkinson and Imani Hooker. I do not want to waste any more of your time, so let's jump right into it right now. Next guy I want to talk about is cj hawkinson
Starting point is 00:09:05 obviously we just talked a little bit about him again um and we know when talking about no offense what are your thoughts about where he kind of goes into the nfl and where you see him getting drafted out obviously we're seeing i'm seeing a lot of mock drafts that happen in the first round a lot of big boards happen in the first round but personally i feel like he's a guy who will possibly slip to the beginning of the second round. But personally, I feel like he's a guy who will possibly slip to the beginning of the second round. Wanted to get your thoughts on that. Well, a lot of this is going to depend on how he runs.
Starting point is 00:09:31 You know, there's some questions about his overall top end athleticism. But the thing about me with Hawkinson is that he is a, he's a guy that you want on your football team. I mean, the dude, it's as cliche as it is. I mean, he is a football player. The story of him, you know, busting his lip and getting some stitches in the Iowa State game and not even missing a snap going back out there.
Starting point is 00:09:51 I mean, that's a dude and he's a tone setter out there. He makes big plays. He makes the tough plays and he's going to go out there and do whatever you ask of him. It's going to come down to how he tests. You know, the tight end is arguably, I would say it's going to come down to how he tests you know the tight end is arguably i would say it's i mean it's obviously not as important as wide receiver in the nfl it's not as important obviously as quarterback offensive tackle but if you're looking for a tight end or running back you know
Starting point is 00:10:15 you're picking straws there so it's not a position of value in the nfl still i think that what he brings as far as a a run blocker and a pass catcher with his size and still growth and upside, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets picked bottom of the first round from any of those playoff teams. You know, selection 20 through 32, I could see Hawkinson going off the board. I don't think he has the upside that you have with Fant, especially in the pass game, but I think he has a higher floor as well. I mean, he's a guy who you compared Fant to Kittle, I think actually Hawkinson's a better comparison to Kittle. I don't think Hawkinson's going to test as athletically as Kittle did. I mean, Kittle fell because he was injured and whatnot.
Starting point is 00:10:54 He ran like a 4.56 though in the 40, I think, when he came out, right? Yeah, absolutely. And also Kittle just took souls blocking in line too. I mean, the reason that Kittle fell is because he was injured his senior year and, you know, Iowa's past game as a whole was really just erratic that season, unfortunately. But yeah, Kittle, I mean, we're seeing now Kittle is an all around tight end. He's an inline guy. You can put him in the slot as well because he is such a good athlete. But I think Hawkinson, honestly, stylistically, I would say Hawkinson is more like a Kittle.
Starting point is 00:11:21 Honestly, my comparison for Hawkinson is a higher end Hunter Henry, where I don't think he's going to run, you know, he's not going to be a guy who's making safeties, you know, freak out because he's pushing the seam route against a cover too. But as far as a guy who can be in line, obviously consistent third down converter, and a guy that if you leave him against a linebacker, one on one, if you're not watching out, he can beat that guy. So I really like what Hawkinson brings. And I think people really like to talk about his blocking potential, but I think that he's still scratching the surface there. He's a guy who's still filling out his frame.
Starting point is 00:11:59 He came to Iowa as a wide receiver recruit, and he's still filling out his frame, his blocking technique. Half the battle is the willingness to do it, which he has in spades. But I think as far as engaging with proper hand technique and adding more muscle and more mass to him, I think his blocking prowess is going to continue to increase. And if you're looking for a team that's running a West coast system, a West coast offense, especially the zone blocking scheme, he could be a very good tight end one. He's not going to be that guy that you have isolated against a linebacker,
Starting point is 00:12:23 you know, on the right side of the field and you put all the wide receivers on the left and then you have him run a fly route or a nine like you would with Fant, but still, he's going to be a very versatile piece. And if you're looking for a team that wants to run the football more and have a guy that you want to function as that sixth offensive lineman, that that's Hawkinson to me. So I don't think in today's NFL where it's going to be more and more pass heavy
Starting point is 00:12:45 i mean that's just that's how it is the air raid unfortunately is as old school as i am you know get off my lawn i still like running the football i'm good obviously beating up offensive lines but the game is going more shotgun more quick pass more air raid concepts more spread concepts but also more air raid concepts that uh i think hockinson's value isn't as our potential isn't as high as Fant, but either way, I would love either of them in Denver, and they both complement each other very well. I think another good complement to both of these guys
Starting point is 00:13:12 would have been, and it makes more sense too, I guess, with Brian Ferentz, is you had Brian Ferentz in New England, the tight ends coach for both Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, and you have Aaron Hernandez moving around, the quicker guy, isolating him against linebackers, et cetera, et cetera, moving him around. That's Noah Fant.
Starting point is 00:13:30 That's how Brian Ferentz used Noah Fant. And then you have the guy who's in line, you know, the bigger body guy, the strong guy over the middle, that Gronkowski is the role that Hawkinson played. Now, obviously, Hawkinson isn't Gronk. He's not 6'7", 255 pounds or whatever. I mean, Gronk, arguably the best peak
Starting point is 00:13:46 of any tight end ever, but that's, that's how I see their, their rules in the NFL. And if you're using them correctly, not, not that they can't do a little bit of both, they're both good enough. They can do a little bit of both, but if you're using them to their max potential, that's how I use them in the NFL. It's funny. You bring up the Gronk, you know, the kind of loose Gronk comparison, because I was thinking about it. You're talking about, you know, someone at the end of the, the end of the first round and I, you know, obviously the Patriots are coming to mind. I mean, Gronk is arguably a shell of himself.
Starting point is 00:14:13 He's been battling a lot of injuries. I think there's a, there's a decent chance there's been a lot of chatter that he may retire at the end of the season. Who knows what, what may happen with that, but the Patriots picking at the end of the round, they have a relationship with Brian Behrens. There could be an opportunity there for TJ Hawkinson to go in there and play for the Patriots and be that kind of guy that, as we saw against the Chiefs, they use Gronk as a run blocker primarily, and then when the game got going,
Starting point is 00:14:39 when they needed someone in the fourth quarter, they went to Gronk then, but I think that might be a good opportunity or a good spot for him if you're talking about late first round. Yeah, I could see Hawkinson stylistically going anywhere from – I mean, you have Gary Kubiak heading over to Minnesota. And Kyle Rudolph's kind of getting towards the end of his career. That would make a lot of sense. And give, you know, Kirk Cousins a weapon over the middle that's also a strong run blocker. And that's kind of a two birds one stone situation
Starting point is 00:15:05 because the vikings really need to improve their offensive line tennessee could use a guy like that that would really complement jonah smith especially with walker getting older and injured pittsburgh could use a guy like that jesse james is leaving and hockinson with vance mcdonald more of that that flex tight end where he's more of that big wide receiver that'd be a great fit seattle could use a guy like that houston could use a guy like that. And then, unfortunately, Oakland could really use a guy like that. I could really see John Gruden falling in love with Hawkinson because he's an infectious personality.
Starting point is 00:15:35 And then you mentioned the Packers could be one and also the New England Patriots. So I could see a lot of those teams falling in love with Hawkinson. And it's not just the package, though. I think Hawkinson. And it's not just, it's not just the package though. I think Hawkinson is a guy who some coach, some offensive coordinator is going to love that kid because he is, he's a football dude. Yeah. I mean,
Starting point is 00:15:53 that'll be exciting to see kind of how his career progresses and you kind of made the note about the Broncos earlier. I'd just be, it'd be fun to have one of those guys on there. I know there's a lot of tight ends on the Denver Broncos that have potential, but we've been dealing with a lot of injuries and it'd be nice to get someone in there who could solidify that position for the longterm. They would be silly not to look tight end this year. This is one of the, it's not as top heavy as the 2016 class, 17 class, excuse me.
Starting point is 00:16:17 Yeah. And like OJ Howard and David and Joku. Yeah. That was, that was a good, that was a good class. And George Kittle, who ended up being the best one of them. Yeah, either him or O.J. Howard. It's unfortunate O.J. Howard got hurt. But yeah, I don't think it has the top talent of that class, but the amount of starters that are going to come from this class at the tight end position, late round one to mid round four, is going to be really insane.
Starting point is 00:16:45 I think, I think it would be silly not to take a tight end. I mean, I know you have Troy Fumagalli, you got Jake, but, but I think Jake but has had three ACL injuries. Now you took Troy Fumagalli in the fifth round, both those guys. I'm having them compete for tight end three next year. Yeah. If I can take a tight end rounds two through four, I'm definitely looking to do it. Yeah. It's a great year hopefully hopefully
Starting point is 00:17:05 we can snag that hopefully John Elway's listening and has that on his radar I'm sure he does so let's talk about another guy who could be a really good fit for a lot of different teams Imani Hooker I think he displayed a lot of versatility this year playing with Iowa and I think Kirk and Phil Parker did a fantastic job of moving him around the defense and that really allowed them to move to that less traditional, for Iowa standards, the 4-2-5, having Monty Hooker playing that kind of dime-backer role and moving all over the defense. So what are your thoughts on him?
Starting point is 00:17:35 To be honest, when he was kind of deciding whether to declare, I hadn't seen a lot of hype on him. There hasn't been a lot of buzz around him outside of obviously winning defensive back of the year. So I was wondering if he would even consider declare or even if he even would declare just because of the lack of buzz and kind of hoopla surrounding him but obviously he made that decision i think whatever team picks him up is going to get a fantastic talent but wanted to get obviously your analyst eyes kind of what you're you're seeing from monty hooker and kind of what his fit would be and where you think he may be kind of ending up in the draft. I mean, you're thinking maybe late day
Starting point is 00:18:09 two, early day three. Yeah, that's honestly exactly where I'd have him right now. Obviously, a lot of this is going to depend on how he tests. Hooker, one thing about him is that he doesn't have incredible straight line speed. So some teams teams are gonna be not looking to use him as much it depends on scheme obviously but like as far as a man coverage guy if you're looking for a scheme that uses a lot of man like how the broncos used to play before they got fangio in here they're going to be using more more zone concepts going forward but if you're looking to isolate him and coverage man man wise i don't think that's his best fit especially if you're going to have him dropping back as a single high safety in a cover one look
Starting point is 00:18:48 or maybe even cover three look. That's not his fit. But as far as a guy who can play some cover two, maybe some cover three if you're having him come down and play a hook zone over the middle or kind of that overhang big slot type, then that's something that I would, or big nickelback type,
Starting point is 00:19:04 that's something that I really would be interested in him, especially in his own scheme, because while he's not overly fast, straight line, he just glides. I think I, you know, whether it be processing speed or just fluidity overall, watching hooker has always been such a joy. I mean, I remember being at the spring game last year and watching number 27, make play after play on the ball. And like this, this kid is going to be a problem next year and he i mean ended up winning defensive back of the
Starting point is 00:19:28 year in the big 10 so obviously a really good player but it's going to come down to his mainly his stock is going to come down to how fast he runs unfortunately but either way i i would be all about taking him if you're looking for a strong safety slash heavy nickelback hybrid i mean he's going to be a very good one i think you know bringing it back to the bowl game you got a guy like jonathan abram at mississippi state who's more explosive but definitely higher variance because he blows coverages all the time you don't see hooker blowing the coverage hooker's got just tremendous instincts i mean week one this year was was it week one the northern illinois game
Starting point is 00:20:04 he totally baited that that quarterback into that interception. And I was kind of struggling offensively in that game. And after that, uh, Northern Illinois was starting to drive and hooker had that interception. That was the last time we even heard from that Northern Illinois offense. So I really am a big fan of his game. If you know, you can take him late brown three early round four, I would definitely be about it it was a little bit unfortunate to see him go as a Hawkeye fan but I think he's going to be a guy that's going to be better in the NFL than where he goes in the draft unless he absolutely blows up the combine and gets more credit but yeah I really love him and one thing he brings that
Starting point is 00:20:42 a lot of people I guess the athleticism is obviously the biggest thing but his ball skills and how he is always around the ball he's a playmaker and if you get pass rushers up front there's a spot for you in the NFL if you can get after the football yeah I think it'll be interesting to see kind of what are your thoughts on so Iowa defensive backs have historically not been drafted very high. I mean, we saw Desmond King go from a potential first-round draft pick to a fifth-round draft pick, and then we saw him become an all-pro this year. Because as an Iowa football fan, you saw the kind of talent Desmond King has and had at Iowa, but he didn't test super well.
Starting point is 00:21:19 His straight-line speed wasn't great. You see Josh Jackson, he was a potential first-round draft pick. I think there were some scheme fits that really didn't work well with him. Obviously, Green Bay was probably a good fit for him. He didn't test as well as you would hope, and there were some concerns about his fluidity in terms of turning his hips and whatnot, so he fell as well. He had an up-and-down rookie season. Then, obviously, Micah Hyde, who had a great career at Iowa, wasn't drafted.
Starting point is 00:21:44 He's probably nearly as high as he should have been, considering what type of career he's had so far. season and then obviously Micah Hyde who had a great career at Iowa wasn't drafted is probably nearly as high as he should have been considering what type of career he's had so far how do you think that impacts NFL teams coming into this season or this NFL draft season looking at Imani Hooker you're going to see a same Iowa defensive back lots of talent you know has the production can play a lot of different positions, but doesn't necessarily test well. Do you think that helps him seeing the success that a Desmond King or a Micah Hyde has had? I think that Phil Parker connection can only help.
Starting point is 00:22:14 I mean, the success, obviously, in the NFL, these guys come in. They had pretty good ball skills, obviously, Desmond King and Josh Jackson, great ball skills. They tackle very well. You're not getting on the field at Iowa unless you can tackle. And that's something, you know, especially this quick passing game in the NFL, the, they're isolating bulk playmakers in space as quickly as they can.
Starting point is 00:22:34 And if you can't tackle as a defensive back, you're going to be exposed. So that's something I think that really is important and just their proficiency as far as what's demanded of them mentally processing speed, et cetera, et cetera, to even get on the field for Phil Parker. So I definitely think there is something to be said about the, the success of these recent defensive backs at Iowa. And I expect it to continue. I mean, you got guys like Hankins and Julius Brents who he might have the highest
Starting point is 00:23:02 potential of any of them. Yeah. He's, he looks like a crazy good. Yeah. He's, I can't wait to see what Doyle does with him this off season as far as filling up that frame. But yeah, I would love hooker and given his skillset, the worst scenario you have is that you have a guy who's going to be a really good special teams player and there's value in that. So he, he's going to get drafted. I think he'll probably go around the same area where josie jewel did but i mean if he tests well back throw that out the window so we'll see but i i'm a
Starting point is 00:23:31 definitely a big fan of him and with the broncos you know everything comes back to the broncos unfortunately sorry listeners that are you know raiders fans or bears fans or whatever but as far as a team that's going to be using more man more zone coverage going forward and the versatility he brings you know can play that two deep safety you can come down and play nickel he can even play some in the box although he's not you know derwin james in the box or anything like that but that versatility is going to be key so i i think he's gonna no matter what he's gonna carve himself out a long career in the nfl obviously barring injury but he's he's gonna be a great player and i'm really excited to follow his career i mean i saw somebody release obviously when you're analyzing prospects,
Starting point is 00:24:08 you don't want to go to the highlight tape. You got to watch the actual games and get the highs and the lows, get to get a play by play. But somebody released a YouTube clip of Imani hookers career highlights, and you really just get an appreciation of his ball skills and his instincts. Like I said, the guy is always making plays on the ball. He's physical at the catch point. He tackles well.
Starting point is 00:24:28 And the amount of plays that it doesn't look like he should get his hands on the ball, but he just glides to where it's going, even before the quarterback throws it, is really, really quite good. So not a lot of people on Draft Twitter talking about him right now. I don't think a lot of those people pay much attention to the big 10 West, unless you're talking about maybe Wisconsin offensive line, but I think hooker hooker is one that's going to be rising up and he should be, he was, he was a phenomenal player this year.
Starting point is 00:24:56 Maybe the upside slows him down a little bit. You know, maybe what is his exact fit and the NFL slows him down a little bit, but to me, that's not a problem. The versatility, the tackling, the ball skills, the instincts, those are all really good to me. And I would love to have them on my team. Yeah. I mean, for the listeners that are on here, you know, I do talk a lot about the Broncos and the Iowa connection. That's just,
Starting point is 00:25:18 you're going to get that bias regardless when I'm talking about it, just because that's kind of the team that I'm following in the NFL. So a couple of things you've said there that I want to touch on. You talked about, you know, worst case scenario, you have a special teams career and you are you're in the NFL for eight, nine, 10 years. I think of a David Bruton Jr. as a guy who carved out a really nice career as a depth safety and a spectacular special teams player. So obviously that's a pretty good floor if that's the case. And then in terms of the draft, you know, that's amani hooker is a guy who when he declared i thought this could be a guy that i or the broncos could get as a steal in the third or fourth round and actually sarah beddinger from predominantly
Starting point is 00:25:53 orange and nfl mocks on fansided did mock him uh technically to the broncos and for anyone who's been listening to this the show for a few weeks has heard sarah talk on here as well he's a a very iowa biased fan as well so um obviously a little bit of um reasoning behind there is which why he wants to have an iowa person on the broncos but that would be fun to have hooker in a broncos uniform to start uh increasing the iowa presence you know we have josie jewel which is fantastic get get him on a hooker that'd be that'd be awesome well last draft the broncos were trying to bring in leaders and guys with high character and high floor you know dudes high floors dudes who love playing football and by all indications hooker fits that bill you know he's not the the prototypical corn-fed josie jewel type but still like the dude loves to hit the
Starting point is 00:26:42 dude's a great football player and no matter what you're going to get some sort of production out of them. So that that's exactly what you want late round three, early round four. So that's where I expect them to go. And that'll do it for our episode today. Like I said, we're going to be giving you a lot of the interview and conversation with Nick Kendall over the next couple of days. There's a lot of information to digest and we want to make sure we're giving it to you in bite-sized chunks, a lot of stuff to digest, and we want to make sure we're giving it to you in bite-sized chunks.
Starting point is 00:27:05 A lot of stuff to cover with the Iowa Hawkeyes and the NFL Draft. So make sure you're tuning in to our future episodes where we will be giving you insight as to what seniors who could be going in the NFL Draft this year and what juniors, sophomores, that kind of thing could be potentially looking at the NFL Draft after a solid season that may come up next year. I'm your host, Andrew Wade.
Starting point is 00:27:27 You can find me on Twitter, Wade underscore Andrew, and you can also follow all the exciting happenings of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast on Twitter at Locked On Iowa. Make sure you're also subscribing to our podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast at, and please leave us a review. We'd love to hear from you. Again, let us know what you think of the show. Let us know what you think of our draft analysis. Do you like having Nick Kendall come on?
Starting point is 00:27:51 Can we get him on a few more times? Let me know, and if you love it, we'll bring him on some more because I loved listening to him talk about the Iowa Hawkeyes and what people could be going in the NFL draft, where they could be going. Obviously, love talking about Noah Fant and Anthony Nelson yesterday. Love talking about TJ Hawkinson and Imani Hooker today. And you're going to really enjoy our conversations about some of the seniors and the underclassmen who could be going in the NFL draft in the future.
Starting point is 00:28:16 Again, that'll do it for our show, though. Thank you for joining us on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Have a fantastic day, Hawkeye Nation, and we'll be back tomorrow.

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