Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Is linebacker the weakest spot on the Hawks? | Week 4 NFL recap | Can Iowa contain Illinois' Brandon Peters in their week 7 game?

Episode Date: October 6, 2020

We break down each Hawkeye's performance across the NFL before continuing our position preview with the linebacker group. Is this the weakest unit on the Iowa Hawkeyes and who will fill in for Djimon Colbert since he opted out? We wrap up with a preview of the Hawkeye's week 7 matchup vs Illinois. The Fighting Illini could actually be better than last year with starting quarterback Brandon Peters returning.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. Welcome back, Hawkeye Nation, 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're continuing our coverage of the Iowa football team as we do our football positional preview with the linebacker position today. We're also breaking down the Iowa versus Illinois game. And let me tell you, Illinois' offense could be kind of scary this year, so we're going to talk about that as well.

But before we get to either of those things, we're continuing our weekly segment where we cover the NFL and your Iowa Hawkeyes in the NFL. That'll be coming up on segment number one. As a reminder, if you love the show, make sure to give us that five-star review and like, review, and subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast at. And as always, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Just a reminder too, next week we do have some great episodes. We have Quinn Early, former Iowa Hawkeye wide receiver and NFL veteran.

He's going to be on the show next week. So as always, our daily show every single Monday through Friday. Prior to your morning commute or getting up to go to work, you'll be able to listen to the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. That being said, though, let's hop into our NFL breakdown. Another great week for Iowa Hawkeyes across the board in the NFL. And let's start with none other than the Denver Broncos game versus the New York Jets. Because let me tell you, Josie Jewell had himself a freaking day.

That dude has been balling out this season in his time. Last year lost his starting job. This year wasn't supposed to have a starting job, but the Broncos release Todd Davis. He ultimately becomes a starter kind of by default at this point, and he has been playing pretty well, all things considered, and putting up great statistics. I don't think, you know, again, the pass coverage isn't exactly where you want it to be at. However, statistically speaking, he's playing lights out right now.

So when we look at his stats, let me just kind of walk through. It was a career day for him. He had 10 tackles and 2 sacks. He was getting pressure on Sam Darnold all day, not typically expected from Josie Jewell being in that inside linebacker spot, but again, had a fantastic career-defining day. Michael Ojemudia, only 2 tackles, but the thing about Ojemudia is

that he has been playing really well for a rookie. Denver has kind of struggled with those third round rookie cornerbacks, and he has been a breath of fresh air for that secondary, a guy who is showing that he can be there long term. Depending on who you talk to, there's definitely some people who look at the fact that he's getting targeted a lot, and like, well, he's not playing well. Well, look at how he's defending those balls. He's right there all the time. Some of those are going to start going his way, but what I'm most impressed about is that he's holding his own against some of the top wide receivers in the NFL. He's been playing lights out. I'm actually going to probably get a Michael Ojemudia jersey just because he has been playing so well. And obviously I'm a huge Broncos fan

and a huge Hawkeye fan. Noah Fant, five receptions, 35 yards, a quiet day, but also went out with an injury. So the big thing here is hoping that he is healthy and able to get back on the field quickly to resume what has been a pretty darn good season for him. This year, 19 receptions, 219 yards and two touchdowns in four games. And keep in mind the fact that Denver is keeping him in a lot to block because their pass protection has been so shoddy and their quarterback play has been up and down as they've started three different quarterbacks in four games.

So even despite all that, he's been playing pretty darn well. Moving on, Rams vs. Giants. Austin Blythe has been having a pretty good year, but struggled a little bit against the Giants and Joe Judge's defense. The Bills vs. Raiders. Micah Hyde, six tackles. AJ Epineza didn't record a stat, but played in 15 snaps. Again, that snap percentage at 20% on the day is beginning to increase. And we talked about this, that Buffalo Bill defensive line is a veteran defensive line.

It wasn't expected for Epineza to get a lot of playing time right away, and he's showing that he's starting to get on the field and do good things. Colts versus Bears, James Daniel, another guy just like Austin Blythe, been having a very good year on the interior at that guard spot, but struggled against the Colts and DeForest Buckner. Had a couple plays where DeForest Buckner got the best of him. 49ers with Eagles, we talked about this yesterday. However, let's talk about it again because it's worth it. George Kittle, 15 catches for nearly 200 yards and one touchdown. C.J. Beathard had a great performance coming in at the end of the fourth quarter.

Honestly, if Kittle not dropped that two-point conversion, we could be talking about C.J. Beathard leading a ridiculous comeback versus the Eagles, although they did fall short. He played well. It is expected that Jimmy G comes back, though, I believe next week. So C.J. Beathard is likely relegated back to the bench for the foreseeable future. Vikings versus Texans. The Vikings got a win over Houston.

Julio Johnson, one tackle. He played 33 of 65 snaps. Riley Reif, only four pressures allowed through four weeks. Another great game against a strong Texan defensive line. Saints versus Lions. TJ Hawkinson, not a big day from a statistic perspective, but did haul in two catches for nine yards and one touchdown against a Saints defense that can be a little bit up and down,

but overall pretty solid. Chargers versus Bucks. Desmond King getting a bit more playing time now. Five tackles. Anthony Nelson, eight snaps in the entire game. Played 15% of the game. Brian Belaga still out with that injury. But the big note here is Tristan Wirfs, who did not allow a sack versus Joey Bosa.

Only one tackle for Joey Bosa. Tristan Wirfs is impressing everyone around the NFL and on the Buccaneers. They had multiple offensive linemen, veteran offensive linemen. Praise the rookie about how well he has been doing so far, especially with a limited training camp. It's what we expected, but it's great to see it. Browns versus Cowboys. Adrian Claiborne was out with an injury. Ravens versus Redskins. No Iowa players active in that game. Geno Stone was inactive. Brandon Sheriff still out with a knee injury, which is not great to see in a contract year. And finally, in the two Monday night games and the Kansas City Chiefs win over the New England Patriots,

Ben Neiman had two tackles and Anthony Hitchens had six. And then in the Packers-Falcons game, there were not going to be any Iowa players playing. Josh Jackson, honestly, it's about halfway through the game and I wanted to make sure I got this episode out. Josh Jackson probably not going to be getting many snaps, if any at all. He's been primarily relegated to special teams duties. And then Christian Kirksey is on IR, so no Packers playing tonight for the Falcons-Packers game. But that will do it for our NFL Roundup. Hope you appreciated kind of the inside.

It's tough to watch all those games, follow all your favorite Iowa Hawkeyes, so I'm trying to do it right here every single Tuesday morning on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Coming up on segment number two, we're going to be hopping into that positional preview with the linebacker group, which in my opinion is the most uncertain position that Iowa has this year heading into the 2020 season.

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So I highly recommend you go to rock out.com for all of your auto parts needs. Go to rockauto.com right now and see all the parts available for your car or truck. Write Locked On in their How Did You Hear About Us box so they know that we sent you. Amazing selection, reliably low prices, all the parts your car will ever need. rockauto.com We are hopping into segment number two of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. As I teased before we got into the break real quick, we're going to be talking about the fact that this linebacker group is a little bit uncertain.

And what I mean by that is there has been a lot of turnover over the last couple years, and it's not as traditionally strong of a position as we've typically seen. Iowa primarily has played a 4-3 defensive front over the last 20 years under Kirk Ferens. And in the last two years, they've done a lot of evolving, given the fact that teams in the Big Ten are moving to a spread offense. They need to be able to handle that spread attack, and that's where the cash position was invented. It also helped that Imani Hooker could kind of play that position and support the run really well. And what that means is the linebacker

position not only is kind of going through a transition phase, but it also just isn't as relevant anymore on the Iowa Hawkeyes. They don't need three linebackers playing every single defensive down. They're typically running a 4-2-5 more often with that fifth player being that cash player. And the last year, they've lost quite a few people. So in the last year, Christian Welch graduated and went to the NFL. He's currently on the practice squad of the Baltimore Ravens. We saw Dylan Doyle transfer, and understandably so. He's at Baylor and doing really well there, holding down that starting middle linebacker position. And then, you know, Jamon Colbert has opted out of the season. That is three of the top

guys. That's three of the top guys for that linebacker position that are no longer going to be on this Iowa Hawkeye squad. So now we're looking at likely at that Leo position, Barrington Wade, a guy who hasn't started a lot, but has a lot of experience from a playing time perspective, 11 tackles last year. That's not a position that's going to get on the field a ton. But important, you know, nonetheless, when Iowa does go into that base package, especially against teams like a Wisconsin is where Barrington Wade will get a lot of playing time. Middle linebacker.

It appears to be Nick Neiman's job to, you know, to lose. And he hasn't really been able to live up to the expectations of his brother so far. I think Nick Neiman is an outstanding player, but the consistency hasn't always been there, and he's been in and out of the starting lineup. Over the last two years, he's played in 24 games and had 13 starts. Last year, 32 tackles, one sack, one interception. I think he's a pretty smart and instinctive player, and I think he's honestly one of Iowa's better cover guys,

all things considered, especially in zone coverage. And again, he's a guy who was on Nick Kendall's radar going into last year. So there's talent there. He's got that pedigree. His dad's a coach at Iowa. Ben Neiman's playing for the Chiefs. But I need to see it consistently from him for a full season. It seems like this is his opportunity

though as a senior to lock down that middle linebacker spot. And then the weak linebacker or weak side linebacker spot appears to be Jack Campbell's to lose. Right now, I think people are looking at Seth Benson as another guy, but I believe it's going to be Jack Campbell. The guy who really stepped up last year as a true freshman didn't redshirt because he saw action in 11 games last year. Iowa likes to redshirt guys, especially at that linebacker spot. You need to be built and ready for that competition. Due to injuries and effectiveness, Jack Campbell got in the game last year as a true freshman. As a true sophomore, the sky's the limit

for this kid. I'm really excited to see him play. I think he's going to lock down that weak side linebacker spot. Behind him though and competing with him will be Seth Benton, another guy who has appeared in quite a few games. A redshirt sophomore sophomore had 11 tackles last year and has appeared in 16 games those are the two guys I'm kind of looking at to alternate with Nick Neiman in those two main interior linebacker spots keeping in mind that in a 4-3 we got Barrington Way at that Leo spot Nick Neiman likely at that middle linebacker spot and then either Seth Benson or Jack Campbell at that weak side linebacker spot at the in a 4-2-5 we're probably looking at Nick Neiman and either Seth Benson or Jack Campbell keep in mind though there are a few other guys to look out for as well specifically Justin Jacobs a guy who is a big big player got a good size and I'm a former four-star recruit last year didn't

see the field out of Ohio, but he's a guy who I believe can also be a pretty good solid cover linebacker. Really a more modern day linebacker than what we've seen in the past. Specifically, when I look at like a Josie Jewell, who had he played 20 years ago, he would have been a first round pick because he can stop the run and is instinctive and whatnot, but he's not as great of a cover guy. So Justin Jacobs is another guy to watch out for. And as we saw last year, I mean, this position, you could see freshmen playing if there's any injuries. There's only eight scholarship players, 12 players total that are listed as linebackers, which means we could see a guy like Yahweh Judy,

who is, I know I messed up his name, I apologize, but last year signed as a defensive end, now listed as a linebacker. He could spell Barrington Wade, potentially. Jay Higgins, a guy who lightly recruited, but an absolute tackling machine. This guy, it has a bright, bright future at Iowa. I had a good time talking to his dad as well,

and if you didn't get a chance to listen to that conversation, make sure to check that out. That was a few months ago, but Jay Higgins has a very bright future at Iowa. I had a good time talking to his dad as well. And if you didn't get a chance to listen to that conversation, make sure to check that out. That was a few months ago, but Jay Higgins has a very bright future future at Iowa. Depending on how he can get acclimated very quickly. I think there's an opportunity where he might see some time in a few games as well, at least to get some of that experience considering that Barrington Wade and Nick Neiman are both seniors. And there's not a lot of depth on this team outside of those guys again this is a position I believe the linebacker position is the weakest spot on Iowa's roster at this point simply because of the lack of name recognized guys lack of depth from this team a lot of unknowns really Nick Neiman is the most experienced guy on this team and he's been in and out of the starting lineup since coming to Iowa and that's not necessarily a good thing right I mean it's great to have that experience but there's a reason

why he hasn't been able to lock down that position so hopefully he can be consistent and knock that out this year if he can do that I believe this defense could be a very staunt you know stock wow cannot speak today very strong defense especially in the run you know run defense attack like I talked about yesterday with the defensive line, I think that defensive line can be one of the best pass rushing defensive lines we've seen from Iowa. And I know in the last couple years, we've had some really good pass rushing defensive lines. But interior wise, I think Davian Nixon can be an absolute stud. Jack Heflin could be a stud. Now the linebacker core could be consistent and stop the run and

just defend the pass adequately. This defense could once again be a top 10 defense for Phil Parker. And that top 10 defense, hopefully, will be taking on Illinois in the seventh game of the year. So we're going to be covering that game and why that Illinois offense could surprise us coming into the year of 2020. Nothing should really surprise us. So that'll be coming up in just a few short seconds. Before I hop into that though, just a reminder that Built Bar is back and they are better than ever. If you have Built Bar prior to their redesign, make sure to check it out now

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All right, and we are on to our third and our final segment of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast, breaking down that schedule for the Iowa Hawkeyes. And if you've been listening to this schedule breakdown, you're thinking, well, well, Andrew, you've kind of talked about the fact that you're going to be doing this all week. You're doing this positional preview. So what are you going to be doing from a game preview? Because we're at game seven. Tomorrow will be game eight.

We're covering Iowa versus Wisconsin. And let me tell you what I'm doing. I am going to be breaking down a potential game of Iowa versus Ohio State on Thursday and Iowa versus Michigan on Friday. And the reason why I am doing that is because those are the two teams I feel like Iowa could possibly play outside of Penn State. I believe Iowa has a chance of finishing anywhere from first to third in the Western Division. So I believe that if they finish first through third,

they're going to get a game against either Ohio State, Penn State, or Michigan. And since we've already covered the Penn State game earlier on, I want to touch on the Ohio State and Michigan game, giving kind of an early preview in case that does come true. Obviously, a lot of things can change. Who knows where Iowa's actually going to finish until we start seeing them play.

Who knows where Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State are going to be finishing. But that is my prediction that Iowa will be top three. And I believe Ohio State, followed by Penn State, followed by Michigan will be the top three on the eastern side. And with the Big Ten's fantastic new addition of their scheduling doing the 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, I thought it would be great to cover that as well. So we're going to be covering that on Thursday and Friday morning episode. With that all being said though, let's hop into the conversation about Iowa versus Illinois. Illinois, a team that kind of came out of nowhere last year, surprised a few teams, and looked pretty darn good. And against Iowa, they played Iowa pretty tough, all things considered.

I was pretty impressed with how Illinois played. I thought, this team isn't legit. They're not going to actually be able to hang with the Hawks. And, you know, Iowa was never in a danger of necessarily losing that game per se. But they did hold on, you know, pretty close. It was a 19 to 10 game. Again, a game that I thought Iowa should be able to dominate just given the fact that I didn't believe in Illinois. When I look at that score, I mean, going into halftime, it was 13 to seven, uh, going into the fourth quarter, 13 to seven, I will get six points on two Keith Duncan field goals. Um, Illinois gets one field goal. I mean that game pretty darn close. Illinois didn't put up a lot of numbers from a passing attack perspective,

but Brandon Peters had a fantastic day on the ground. So did Dre Brown, who kind of came out of nowhere. Reggie Corbin, also a solid day, all things considered, despite going down with an injury. They held Nate Stanley to just a 51% completion percentage, although he threw for 308 yards and no touchdowns. Again, this team, though, they returned almost all of their offensive starters coming into the year 2020. Brandon Peters, a former Michigan transfer, he's not really known for making plays with his legs he had about 200 yards overall in the season but against Iowa he was dominating them

on the ground consistently extending plays consistently extending drives with his playmaking ability with his legs 10 attempts for 76 yards that is a guy to watch out for considering he is back and he's returning their leading wide receiver. They're returning one of their former starting running backs, Mike Epstein, who is returning with a torn ACL. They also returned their starting tight end, Daniel Barker, who last season had a solid year all around. Let me pull up the stats real quick for Mr. Daniel Barker, their starting tight end. I'm holding. It's just taking a little time here, guys.

And girls, excuse me. Daniel Barker, 18 catches for 273 yards and four touchdowns. Another guy to watch out for. And they are bringing their transfer from Georgia, Luke Ford. And then on the offensive line, four of their five guys are returning from last year. So they're returning almost their entire starting offense from a team that wasn't a perfect offense, but definitely had a lot of potential. Defensively, they returned five of their seven starters in the back. However, they have some big, big deficits losing Dele Harding,

who had 149 tackles, 14 tackles for loss for Illinois, and Oluwibutiku Jr., who had nine sacks, led that team in sacks against Iowa last year. He had, let me see, I'm going to pull that up again, because they had a pretty solid game all around against the Hawks. Let me pull it up. Taylor Harding, 12 tackles, one and a half tackles for loss. I mean, that is, that's a solid game for, for the, for the linebacker and against, again, against Iowa, um, did a great job of dominating the play on defense. They are missing those two guys and that's a huge loss for the Illinois

fighting Illini. However, Lovey Smith is a defensive coach. They're going to be solid on that front regardless. And he's done a great job of poaching people from the transfer market. They have a few other transfers who are the depth players on that team. They are losing a lot of their defensive line, but again, five of the seven starters in the back, that back linebacker group and the secondary five of those seven starters are returning last year. The key thing for this, this Illinois defense was they were very opportunistic. They led the, or they were fourth in the nation in takeaways against Iowa. That's going to be huge. Iowa cannot afford to turn the ball over.

Typically, Iowa is not known for being loose with the ball when it comes to the running game. Interceptions-wise, we saw Nate Stanley relatively consistently throw crappy interceptions. So if Spencer Petras can protect the ball, and Iowa can key onras can protect the ball, and Iowa can key on Brandon Peters, the quarterback, and stop him from scrambling, I think they can hold them pretty well. I don't think this offense is more dynamic than Iowa's defense, but Brandon Peters is the X factor for that team.

Iowa needs to figure out a way to get pressure on him while also containing him and not allowing him to escape and extend plays with his legs, which is what happened last year against the Hawks, which was the big reason why Illinois was in that game for so long. My prediction is Iowa is going to win this game relatively easy, though. I do think being the Game 7 of the season, Spencer Petras will be ready to go. My only concern is the potential for Iowa to look ahead to Wisconsin the following week or be rebounding from a game against Nebraska the week before. Those are two tough games to then have Illinois sandwiched right in the middle, and especially depending on if

Illinois is running well in the year, doing pretty well in the year 2020 in the Big Ten and continues to progress under Lovie Smith. Again, my prediction, though, is that Iowa does win that game. But we're going to be breaking down the Iowa versus Wisconsin game tomorrow. And you'll be interested to hear what I have to say about that. I do believe Wisconsin is missing quite a few big-time players, especially on the defensive side. I mean, and now they just lost Jack Cone. So could Iowa be in a position to finally beat Wisconsin for the first time in a few years?

I believe so. We're going to talk about that on tomorrow's show while also breaking down that cornerback position where we lost Michael Ojemudia. But there's quite a few guys who could fill in and do a pretty darn good job. That'll be coming up on tomorrow's show of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. We do have a show dropping every single day this week. So if you haven't done it already, make sure to subscribe so you get that show downloaded automatically to your smart device. And as always follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I appreciate you all listening into today's episode of the lockdown

Hawkeyes podcast. Have a fantastic day, Hawkeye nation and go Hawks.