Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa's Special Teams are truly special, Billy Taylor is gone, and Ian Moore is MASSIVE

Episode Date: April 18, 2022

Iowa's Special Teams have been consistently great since Levar Woods look the lead responsibilities in 2018. Since then Woods has shown that he has the knowledge and experience to lead the Hawkeyes to a victory if he needs to. But for some reason ESPN is discrediting Iowa's abilities to win the B1G West this upcoming season. Granted it is just an early season prediction list but Iowa has a lot to prove to all the haters out there saying they don't have a chance to win the B1G West.Billy Taylor has made a name for himself in the past as a more than solid a safe choice as a head coach at a few different colleges/universities. Now he's taking his coaching talents to North Carolina to become the head men's basketball coach at Elon University. Taylor has a history of turning sub-par teams around so hopefully he will find success in his new position. We here at the Locked On Network and the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.Ian Moore is the latest big man to be offered a scholarship by Ferentz and the Iowa football team. The 6'6" 290lb, 2024 offensive lineman recruit out of Indiana shows some very promising talent and seems to be ahead of where his fellow recruits are in terms of game maturity and knowledge. Will Iowa seize the opportunity to pick up another giant for their offensive line in the future? It will probably be at least a little while before we know so for now we can only hope.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.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.Athletic GreensAthletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athleticgreens.com/COLLEGE.  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 another episode of the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked on Podcast Network. I want to thank all of you for making the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast your first listen every single day. You can find the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast for free wherever you get your podcasts at, and also on YouTube by searching Locked on Hawkeyes.

As always, I am your host, Wright Hillpiper, and speaking of YouTube, I have noted the problems with my audio and I have ordered a new mic, so video will start back up again when I get that mic in the mail. It should be around tomorrow. And then I should have the YouTube side of things back up and running. I appreciate your patience. For those of you who are over here on Spotify or on Apple, wherever you get your podcasts at, for those of you who have came over from YouTube to continue supporting and listening to this podcast. I appreciate you all very much. So thank you for your continued patience and hopefully we should have that fixed very, very soon. So the first thing that I want to talk about today is an article that I saw written by Chad Lesticow about Iowa's special teams um and there's there's a couple of reasons why I want to talk

about this um mostly because you know Iowa's managed to consistently be good when it comes to special teams year after year and the more I read into that article the more I realized that I I needed to come on the podcast and talk about it because Chad did have some extremely good points and on top of that, special teams is my absolute favorite aspect of the game of football simply because a lot of people overlook a team's ability to perform well on special teams in comparison to the offensive or defensive side of the ball. And there are thousands upon thousands of different strategies when it comes to the different aspects that go into having

a complete special teams unit, whether it be, you know, the punt team, punt return team, kickoff team, kick return team, extra points, field goals, you know, whatever it is, there's so many different things that go into it. And that's why it's my favorite aspect of the game and why I think it is so important. So this past Thursday, ESPN put out its football power index ratings for the 2022 college season, and it noted some very, I'll say interesting things about the Big Ten specifically. According to ESPN, apparently Nebraska, yes, you heard that right, and you know my opinion about Nebraska. They're not my favorite team out there, yes, you heard that right, and you know my opinion about Nebraska. They're not my favorite team out there, obviously.

But apparently Nebraska has the best chance, according to ESPN, to win the Big Ten West this season. What? No. Their chances as of right now are listed at 29.2 percent which granted is not a whole lot but we are still well off from um from the season and if you take into consideration how Nebraska has performed in the last few seasons you might be sitting there thinking the exact same thing that I am right now and it's that this makes absolutely no sense whatsoever and as I mentioned according to ESPN Nebraska holds that top spot with 29.2 percent Wisconsin isn't far behind with 28.9 percent followed by Minnesota with 14.2 percent Iowa with 13.9 percent Purdue with an even 13 percent

capped off with Illinois at six tenths% and Northwestern at 0.3%. And you might also be wondering what preposterous information this outlandish claim could possibly be based on, because that's where I'm at right now. I'm dumbfounded. I have no idea what to think, because this doesn't make any sense to me. And like I said, we are quite a ways out from the start of the upcoming season, but still, this doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Last season, Nebraska averaged 6.44 yards per play on offense, which is 18th out of 130, and allowed 5.3 yards per play on defense which is 41st nationally which by no means are bad numbers for a team that went three and nine overall and one and eight in

the big 10 it's they're not horrible with those numbers in comparison to iowa who we obviously know won the west last year, Nebraska's numbers weren't that far off from Iowa's. Iowa's averaged 4.67 yards per play on offense and 4.72 yards per play allowed on defense. And believe me, I am not, I'm not going to sit here and talk bad about Nebraska or even try to argue Iowa's fourth place spot on ESPN's list because I've said it twice now and I'll keep saying it over again it's too early to tell obviously with where I mean with where these other teams are at as well it's it's clear that you know somebody somebody either messed up or somebody doesn't quite know or didn't quite know what they were doing. But I want to explain

much like Chad did in his article, what ESPN failed to see when they mentioned this list. And that is, as I said, special teams, Nebraska and Scott Frost, their head coach have never really been focused on the special team side of the game until this season when Frost finally decided to devote one of his assistants to solely worrying about fixing Nebraska's many special teams issues because they've they they in the last four years since 2018 they haven't been very good period and you know that again that's not to the discredit of frost or the coaching staff or even the talent of the players it's just that they've had a lot of issues and special teams has been one that has stuck out like a sore thumb or a rotten piece of corn in a cornfield that's a

midwest joke you all get it it's okay it was terrible i'll get some better jokes i promise iowa on the other hand has been extremely set on having a solid special teams crew since 2018 when the NCAA made it so college coaching staffs can have a total of 10 assistants. That year, Kirk Ferentz named LeVar Woods as the special teams coach for the Hawkeyes, and Iowa has had consistent success when it comes to social teams since then and you may know that LeVar Woods played in the NFL in the early to mid 2000s back when I was born because I'm a child for the Cardinals the Lions and the Titans after graduating from the University of Iowa where he played in college and built his NFL career on his abilities on special teams. So even back in 2018,

we knew that he was going to do nothing but elevate Iowa special teams. Personally, I think that just the fact that Woods was willing to travel all the way to Australia to recruit a punter of all things says a lot about his commitment to making this Hawkeyes team the best that it can possibly be granted his his commitment is very obvious he's very committed to this team and I've talked about Woods before in talking about Iowa's special teams and the recruits for special teams and all that sort of thing so we know where Woods is at as a coach and as, you know, in his ability to lead Iowa's special teams into the success that they've had in the last few years, because granted they have had a lot of success in the last couple of years since 2018 when LeVar

Woods was officially made, you know, quote unquote special teams coach. And Woods said in a conference or in a news conference last week about Iowa's special teams, quote, we're on the right track with the culture and where the players are at. Now comes the opportunity. And he's absolutely right because this list should upset people. And by people, I don't mean fans. I don't mean analysts. I don't mean people who get paid to look at numbers. I mean coaches and players on this Iowa team. They should not be happy to see Iowa at that fourth spot on that list. Granted, they are behind Wisconsin, which I don't necessarily think they should be considering how well Iowa played last year and they won the West last year,

but there's absolutely no reason why Minnesota should be ahead of them and why Nebraska should be number one over Wisconsin. That doesn't, it doesn't sit right with me. And I'm sure that there was somebody at ESPN who was like, yeah, this makes a lot of sense. And I think Nebraska is going to make a comeback this year and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It doesn't matter when, when you get down to it, Iowa is a better offensive team than Nebraska is. They are a better defensive team than Nebraska is, and they are better special teams team than Nebraska is. And as I said, I did not come on here today to bash Nebraska and talk about how bad they are and all that because I have my own personal opinions about Nebraska and you all know them. You know that I do not like the University of Nebraska and it's always been a thing between

Iowa and Nebraska leading up to that game, just the same as Iowa State. There's a lot of talk that happens. There's a lot of back and forth on who they think is going to win the game. But when it comes down to it, Iowa has consistently been good and they have consistently beaten Nebraska over the last several years. I believe going back all the way to 2014, I think the last time Iowa lost to Nebraska might have been 2013. It doesn't make any sense to me. And when I saw that list on Twitter, I wasn't, I was not very happy about it. It just, it, it set something off in my head. And I was like this, I've got to talk about this because this doesn't, this doesn't make

any sense to me. You know what I mean? But, you know, regardless of where they want to put Nebraska and where they want to put Iowa on this football index list, and even if you want to listen to it, it doesn't matter because when the day comes that Iowa plays Nebraska in week 12, we will see, you know, who's made the advancements that they need to make in order to win a game or a rivalry game that is of that sort. to make in order to win a game or a rivalry game that is of that sort so like i said it's it's left all up to interpretation and it's a very very early list it's too early to tell who it's it's

too early to tell who's even going to be good this year in my opinion anyway because with you know with new recruits and all that sort of thing coming in all the time nobody really knows where anybody's going to finish at the end of the season. So we just kind of have to wait and see how things turn out. Now, the second thing that I want to talk about today, I'm sure that you heard about Billy Taylor, Iowa's assistant basketball coach, leaving for Elon University out in North Carolina. We're going to talk about that in just a second.

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at checkout and get 15% off your order. Once again, that code is LOCKED15, L-O-C-K-E-D-1-5 at built.com. Now, Billy Taylor, stellar coach. First of all, I want to say congratulations to Taylor for landing another head coaching job. I wish him the absolute best of luck at Elon. And I really hope that he can find some success there. And by all accounts, he should have some success at the program, given his history and experience with head coaching. Taylor coached at Lehigh from 2002 to 2007. And Lehigh actually was in the

04 NCAA tournament as well with Taylor as their head coach. He coached at Ball State from 07 to 13 and at a D2 school called Belmont Abbey from 16 to 19. Now granted, Elon doesn't exactly have the best men's college basketball team, obviously, but Taylor might just be the answer to their prayers, you know, to say, and exactly what they need to turn things around. Elon has been a D1 basketball school since 1999 and has yet to make a single NCAA tournament. There has never been a time since they became a D1 school where you have looked at that bracket by CBS Sports and you've seen a school named Elon on there. It hasn't happened. But Taylor also has experience in turning teams record around for the

better. Taylor has a 214 to 210 record across his 14 years of experience head coaching at lehigh ball state and belmont abbey and most notably in his three seasons with belmont abbey from 2016 to 2019 he transformed their record from 14 and 15 the year before he got there to 23 and 8 the year he left in 2019 which is a pretty solid turnaround for a smaller D2 school. Like I said, they are D2, so it's a little bit smaller. You're playing against a little less talented guys, maybe a little smaller, but it doesn't matter. He turned a losing record school into a single number loss team, 23 and eight. It's great to see that he has that experience. And granted, Taylor will certainly

be missed by Iowa's players and coaches alike, especially head coach Fran McCaffrey, because the two have professional history with each other. Along with Taylor stepping in for McCaffrey this past season when he was out due to COVID-19 protocols, Taylor was able to lead the Hawkeyes to a very important win over Minnesota, 71-59. But along with those contributions to the team and the coaching staff this past season, Taylor and McCaffrey were also side-by-side at Notre Dame when Taylor was a college player and McCaffrey was an assistant for the Fighting Irish. Now, the two also worked together at UNC Greensboro, where they were both assistant coaches. Now, as of right now,

there's still a few questions people have about the whole situation. And the one that I'm most interested in as of right now is whether or not Taylor will take anybody from Iowa's program with him to Elon. Now, Courtney Elridge, who is the current director of recruiting and player development for the Hawkeyes, would most likely do well on Taylor's staff at Elon, given his experience with that sort of thing. But on the other side of that, he would probably see a lot of success if he were to take over the position that Taylor is going to leave open with his departure. So it's kind of all over the place. He's got Eldridge basically has three options. He can stay where he's at doing, you know, recruiting and player development. He can move to Taylor's assistant coach spot, or he can go

with Taylor to Elon. I don't see that happening just because of the most recent success that Iowa has had being in the NCAA tournament, being a very, very solid basketball team. I don't see Eldridge leaving for a quote-unquote redemption story or turnaround that Taylor is going to have to do in North Carolina. While there are a few other people outside of the Hawkeyes program that could fit in well at Elon, including Matt Gatins, who, if you didn't know, is an assistant coach at Drake. But I think that McCaffrey will have his eye on Gatins to bring him to Iowa's program rather than Taylor trying to convince him to make the move out to North Carolina. I think that Gatins is comfortable as an assistant coach at Drake. But obviously you're going to want to move up eventually. You're going to want to be in either a quote unquote better program or somewhere where

you can make a little bit more money, support your family a little bit better. So I think that if Gatins ends up leaving Drake, he will end up going to Iowa to close in on that spot that Taylor is leaving open. But I don't see him going out to North Carolina with Taylor. The same as Eldridge. What are you going to gain from going to another smaller D1 program that hasn't made it to the NCAA tournament ever, actually, to try to rebuild, well, not necessarily rebuild, but try to revamp the program and turn things around. It just wouldn't make a whole lot of sense for Gatins to do something like that. So if he does move, I would say it would probably be Iowa City to help out McCaffrey and the Hawkeyes this upcoming season.

So today's story of the day is Iowa's newest football recruit. His name is Ian Moore. He is an absolute stud and he is a beast. This kid is massive. And I realize that I have been talking about these Iowa recruits over the last couple of days. And it's been all of the football guys, at least. It's been all big, massive dudes. But that's what Iowa's known for. These are all corn-fed farmer boys coming out of the fields to come together and play some football.

Don't get mad at me for saying that. I'm a corn-fed boy myself. But this kid is massive. 6'6", 290 pounds. We'll get to that in just a second. Before we do, I want to talk about BetOnline. BetOnline.net is your number one source for all of your betting stats and sports info. Find all of the latest sports developments, league reviews, and news, including this year's basketball playoffs and the start of the major league baseball season bet online is your continued source for all of your sporting

wagering information from live betting to playoffs to esports and more head to the website today or use your mobile device to learn more about the trends and action bet online where the game starts once again that is betonline.net now ian moore this past saturday iowa offered a scholarship to ian moore who is a once again six foot six 290 pound offensive lineman in the class of 2024 out of new palestine indiana he's a big boy he's still in high school as i mentioned class of 2024 so he's a youngin, but he's a full-grown adult, in my opinion. Just based off of the pictures that I've seen and the stats that he's put out, kid's insane.

Moore said in an interview late last week, quote, they have a great tradition. By the way, when I say this quote, when I say they, I mean the University of Iowa's football program. They have a great tradition, and they've had two head coaches in about 50 years, so it shows they're committed. I like that. Iowa has been recruiting me since during the season last year. The offer was a tremendous surprise. They saw how I was as a person, and they said that they were really impressed.

They said that they liked my size and how I played. However, they also said I needed work, but as long as I was determined, they could mold me into that type of player. And I think when Moore says, quote, that type of player, I think he's simply just, you know, referring to the word elite because Iowa is known for putting out some very, very good offensive linemen who have gone on to play in the NFL. There's several in the NFL currently, including offensive guard slash center Cole Van Wart, who is currently on the practice squad for the Vikings center, Austin Blythe, who is currently playing for the chiefs, uh, tackle Ike Bodegar, who is playing for the bills, tackle Brian Beluga, who is currently playing for the Chiefs. Tackle Ike Bodegar, who is playing for the Bills. Tackle Brian Beluga, who is currently on the Chargers team.

Guard James Daniels, currently plays for the Bears. Center James Ferenc, who plays for the Patriots. Tackle Alaric Jackson, he plays for the Rams. Tackle Riley Reif, he plays for the Bengals. He's on injured reserve right now, but he plays for the Bengals. Guard Brandon Sheriff, who currently plays for the Rams. Tackle Riley Reif. He plays for the Bengals. He's on injured reserve right now, but he plays for the Bengals. Guard Brandon Sheriff, who currently plays for Washington, the Commanders. And as you know, the most notable one of them all, Tristan Wirfs, who went over to Florida and got himself a ring with the Bucs.

Now, Iowa has been known for a lot of things in the last few years when it comes to players going into the NFL. Iowa consistently has good running backs. That's a shout out to my boy, LaShawn Daniels. They have consistently good running backs. They have consistently good alignment and they have consistently good tight ends. When you take a look back to the last few years, they put a couple tight ends into the NFL, including George Kittle, who I've talked about on the podcast before.

Love that guy. My favorite NFL player. But when it comes to offensive linemen, Iowa is just different. They breed these guys. They have these guys come in who, this kid is in the class of 2024. So what is he, a sophomore, a junior in high school? He's 6'6", 290 pounds at 15, or excuse me, 16, 17 years old. Granted, he's not from Iowa. He's from Indiana, but that's still the Midwest.

These guys that come out of these random small town schools with 500 kids in, you know, the entire high school and maybe 37 kids in their graduating class granted i had 34 in my graduating class but i'm not six foot six 290 pounds you know what i mean these guys are all built and bred to play football they're they're just they're big and they're massive they're and they're fast too. It's not just like, yeah, he weighs 290 pounds, but I'm sure he can also probably run under a six-second 40-yard dash. You know what I mean?

So these guys aren't slacks by any mean. And obviously, you know, Iowa is very strict when it comes to their recruiting process, especially for football and for wrestling as well. So when they offer a kid like this, you know, he's got talent and you know, he's got promise and you know that he's going to be able to succeed given he is put in the right circumstances. I would love to see more come play for Iowa when he is out of high school. Obviously, I will keep you all up to date on whether or not he commits or not. I have not heard any other news about commits so far. But if I hear anything, you will be the first to hear it after myself.

I appreciate all of you tuning into the episode today. Make sure you go follow me on Twitter and on Instagram at RyHill. episode today. Make sure you go follow me on Twitter and on Instagram at ryehill and make sure you are following the Locked on Hawkeyes Instagram and Twitter at Locked on Iowa. You can stay up to date there. I'm going to start posting more on Twitter and on Instagram as well. So go hit up those accounts, hit up my personal accounts as well, and make sure that you are staying up to date with the daily podcast that we do here on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast on the Locked On Network. Thanks for all.

Thanks. Excuse me. Thank you to all of you who tuned in today and I will see you all tomorrow.