Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Keagan Murray gets mocked in the 2022 first round | Sam LaPorta speaks to the media | Current NIL rules could create huge disadvantage

Episode Date: April 21, 2021

It's a busy episode as we heard from four current Iowa football players about their spring practice. We break down what we learned from each of those guys (Noah Shannon, Sam LaPorta, John Waggoner, and Seth Benson), and we also dive into some NBA draft talk. Luka Garza and Joe Wieskamp are going through this process this year but Keagan Murray is the guy that stole the headlines yesterday. Plus, we got an update on NIL rules, and it wasn't good.Listen to The Ultimate Mock Draft 2021 presented by Audacy and the Locked On Podcast Network. April 19th-26th. Follow the feed today!Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back, Hawkeye Nation, to a Wednesday morning episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade. Excited to be back for another show today. And we have a lot of stuff to cover on today's show. We heard from four Iowa football players. We're going to talk about what they said.

And to be honest, some of them didn't say a lot. They said a lot of words, but didn't really give you a lot of insight into what was going on. Very good interviewers, by that matter. We talked to Seth Benson, John Wagner, Noah Shannon, and Sam Laporta. We're going to talk about those conversations here on segment three on segment two we're going to talk about the NBA draft because Luka Garza is getting some love want to talk about where he is going to be at and then also kind of shockingly we got a 2022 round one mock draft and an Iowa Hawkeye was in

there we want to talk about that and then on segment number one today, the one we're going to hop into right now, we just got a lot of odds and ends we got to cover. We got some NFL draft stuff. We got some letter of intent stuff. We got name and mislikeness and player of the week nominations. So that's all coming up on today's show. So let's hop into it, right? We got some time. Let's get into it right now. First and foremost, we've been keeping you up to date on name image and likeness rules that have been happening jordan mohanan has been spearheading this effort and

sounds like there was some recent development not necessarily a good development but recent development um he said that mark emmerich told players that if there was no national name image likeness rule by july 1st when at least four state laws are set to take effect athletes in those states who make name image likeness deals will not be punished. And Jordan countered and said, what about the states that don't have a name image likeness law? Now, why this is important. A, it's a big step in the right direction from an NCAA perspective, because they're going to allow those student athletes to

handle their name, image, likeness stuff and get paid for it. But it does create a competitive disadvantage for 46 other states with universities in them because those student athletes are no longer or not able to get name, image, likeness rights. Whereas if they go to any of the other four states, they could. Now what this does is it puts pressure on the NCAA because it, without a doubt, creates an unfair advantage. My assumption is Mark Emmerich believes there will be a national legislation in place by July 1st, but if there's not, that is a big issue. It hurts people like the state of Iowa.

It hurts Iowa, Iowa State, UNI, over the other states like Florida who have this name image likeness rule. So it creates that competitiveness advantage. It'll be interesting to see how quickly the NCAA can move on this. Or if they just say, you know what, we're gonna allow the states to govern their own athletes, which I can't see them doing long-term,

but if they do, how does that impact actual states, right? The state of Iowa didn't pass this through so what would they would they try to get this through again later on so that they can have these advantages at these public universities that'll be interesting to see how that all plays out on the ncaa college basketball front riley mulvey signed his letter of intent he's officially playing for the iowa hawkeyes next again the 6-11 forward slash center who did reclassify to the class of 2021 again as we talked about don't expect a ton from him this year this is going to be a really good development point for him though so he can be ready to go

the following year Fran did finally finally able to talk about him because he's not able to talk about players who are not on his team but he said Riley really knows how to play he's a skilled front court player with excellent defensive instincts as I mentioned we had multiple people win Big Ten Player of the Week we had Ben Norman from the baseball team hit 400 with two home runs eight RBIs and seven runs scored in the four game series this past weekend and Alexa Noel was named Big Ten Athlete of the Week for women's tennis after dominating in her performance against Nebraska. She is truly phenomenal. If you get any chance to watch the women's tennis team, I highly recommend it. Alexa Noel, a player who wasn't even going to come to Iowa,

was going to turn pro, is at Iowa for at least this season. So check it out while you can. On the NBA front, Tyler Cook started his first game for the Detroit Pistons Dwayne Casey said this about Tyler Cook he said it's all about opportunity what you do is your resume out there on the floor every minute you play is your resume Tyler Cook is taking advantage of it in 30 minutes of play Tyler Cook went 6 of 11 from the field for 55% shooting three rebounds two assists one steal 12 points he did finish with a minus six plus minus, but the fact that Tyler Cook is getting key playing time is huge for him, especially given his path to the NBA, you know,

kind of bouncing around some teams and finally getting his first start, getting his first win as a starter. This is a huge momentum building type of season for Tyler Cook. And again, he has an actual deal now. So can he keep, can he stay on the team for next year? The Detroit Pistons are not a very good team, but this is a really good opportunity for him to showcase what he can do in the NBA. And finally, on the NFL front, we're meant to talk about this a while back, but Dane Brugler came out with a mock draft and he had Davian Nixon going to the Giants. Dane Brugler of the Athletic, very good resource for NFL draft content. He had Davian Nixon going to the Giants, Dane Brugler of the Athletic, a very good resource for NFL draft content. He had Davian Nixon going to the Giants at pick 76,

Chauncey Golsan going to the Cowboys at pick 115, Nick Neiman to the Colts at 206, and Aleric Jackson to the Jaguars at 249. A couple thoughts on this. Again, I was asked about Davian Nixon and why he is sliding. I think the biggest thing is the fact that his tape supposedly doesn't really match from the beginning to the end of the season. And then the fact that he only played eight games as a starter is a concern for teams. Chauncey Golston, I know some beat reporters projected him going in the second or third. I think the fourth is really where you

expect to see Chauncey at the fourth or the fifth. Not the elite level bend in pass rushing, but a very formidable 4-3 defensive end. And he can slide inside at times, and he showcased that at the senior bowl. So I think the fourth or fifth. Nick Neiman, honestly, is probably the biggest surprise. The fact that he is tested so well is going to get him possibly into that sixth or seventh round. Alaric Jackson, people might be surprised to see him drop to the seventh round, but I'm not. I don't necessarily see it with Alaric Jackson.

You could get a solid backup with him. You could get a guy who could get started reps, but the ceiling is maxed on Alaric, in my opinion. He started for four years at the University of Iowa. You kind of know what you get with him. And he has some big bruising power, but pass protection is not necessarily his forte. He has some inconsistencies when sliding over to the other side. So that doesn't surprise me.

The one that really surprised me here, that Amir Smith-Marset. Dane Brugler has been pretty low on Amir compared to a lot of other sources. So that was really interesting to me. I expect Amir to go at least in the fifth round. Brandon Smith kind of hit or miss. I expect him to actually be undrafted, but that's my takes on that. The PFF Pro Football Focus did

drop their final top 300 big board. We'll make sure to cover that on tomorrow's show. Coming up on segment number two, though, we're going to talk about the NBA draft and about the one Iowa player currently on the roster who was mocked in round one. So who is getting some hype?

We'll talk about all that on segment two of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Before we get into that, though, you know I've got to tell you about Bilt Bars because Bilt Bars are the way to go if you're looking to get some protein and a delicious flavored candy bar. All the same thing. This is the protein bar that tastes exactly like a candy bar. They come in so many phenomenal flavors, and all the bars are covered in 100% chocolate, and they are soft and easy to chew.

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Subscribe to the Locked On NFL YouTube page to watch a live three-day coverage of the NFL Draft April 29th through May 1st. That is going to be a ton of fun. I cannot wait for that, so definitely check that out. The whole network is just crushing it from a draft content perspective, so if you want draft content, I highly recommend you check it out. We've got some awesome stuff going on across the network if you want to devour any NFL draft content. We're looking at getting an Iowa Hawkeye expert on, another one that covers the the draft as well here next week to talk about some of the draft prospects as well.

So be on the lookout for that. But I do want to switch courses and talk about the NBA draft because we have two Iowa Hawkeyes testing that draft process. We got Luka Garza. We got Joe Wieskamp in that process. Luka Garza is not testing it. He's just in it, to be fair. Joe Wieskamp is testing it. And I think it's really interesting to see where Luka isza is not testing it. He's just in it, to be fair. Joey's camp is testing it. And I think it's really interesting to see where Luka is currently being mocked at.

So I looked at several mock drafts, and the NBA is kind of a crapshoot. It's not like the NFL. There's so many other variables that go into it, especially because you can draft and stash players as well. But the big thing here is a lot of people that haven't watched Iowa basketball a lot, they look at Luka Garza and they say, unathletic big, he can't play in the NBA. I've even heard people say, well, maybe if he could shoot the three better, he could find a spot in the NBA. The dude shot over 40%. What do you want from a 6'11 center who can also score in the paint?

40% what do you want from a 6'11 center who can also score on the paint? I'm sorry there is a spot for Luka Garza in the NBA for the next couple years at least. Is he the most athletic center? Not at all but he does work hard at that end of the floor and you better believe offensively he brings a dynamic element to the game that I think is worth having him in the game. So where is he projected at? Honestly, it is all over the place. The highest I've seen him mocked though is at 29th from USA Today. They have him going to the Suns. The lowest I've seen him mocked is 59th to the Hornets by NBA Draft Room. Bleacher Report has him going 30th to the Jazz. SB Nation only did a one-round mock draft. No Luka in that. NBC Today, Luka is not in the first there either. And then Joe Wieskamp. He is currently being mocked 46th to the Hawks by Tankathon, but I haven't seen him

in some of the other main mock mock drafts that doesn't mean he's not going to be drafted as i said the nba draft is kind of a kind of a crapshoot towards the end if you remember jared utoff he did not want to be drafted late in the second round because he wanted the opportunity to choose his path he wanted the opportunity to choose where he's going to play basketball at that gives him the best chance of making an nba roster so there is some of those dynamics that go into that that need to be considered when you look at what Joey's camp would do or what Jared Uthoff is doing. So that to me was very interesting. What was most interesting

though is the fact that Keegan Murray was mocked in the 2022 round one mock draft by ESPN to the Lakers at number 23. Now a lot of people look at the fact that CJ Frederick is leaving and they think, oh my God, this guy is absolutely falling. We are screwed. And as I kind of talked about, the world is not over at this point for Iowa basketball. There is still a lot of hope left and a lot of talented players on that team. And when you look at what Keegan Murray did this past year looking at a round one mock draft and seeing his name in it can be a little bit surprising but what he brings to an NBA team is worth it for the back end of round one consideration and I think when teams see him shoot the ball the way he can and drive to the basket the way he can I think they're going to

be even more impressed with what he does on the floor. He's a guy who can play strong defense. He can rebound well. He's active all over the court and he can hit shots close to the glass. He can also hit shots, you know, behind the perimeter. So that was really fun to see that. And again, it goes to show you that Iowa does have a lot of talent. Imagine if Joe Wieskamp returns as well. Now, again, I talked about Joe Wieskamp. There's been talk about him getting second round grades. The NBA draft is so tough to predict, and I haven't seen a ton of Joe Wieskamp mocks to any team.

But nevertheless, again, as I've talked about, I don't think Joe Wieskamp has much to gain from going back to Iowa. So that'll be really interesting to see. Keegan Murray also is not going to be testing the process this year. Entrants do have until May 30th to declare. They have until July 19th to withdraw. So we might not know about Joe Wieskamp returning until July 19th. That's how long it could be. Keegan Murray is not testing the process according to Kenya Murray, and I'm happy about that my honestly depending

on keegan murray's season i wouldn't be surprised if keegan murray returned for a following year um just especially depending on how his brother played too uh chris could be a big impact kind of guy next year but i could see them wanting to play with each other for another year before they head to the nba maybe bring a big time you know team to Iowa, get a little bit farther than this past year's team. So fun stuff all around for the Iowa basketball team. Definitely some happier things coming out as opposed to the C.J. Frederick news.

Although C.J. Frederick was apparently contacted by Kentucky now, although I would argue he's been contacted by Kentucky way before now. So that's just me. That's just my thoughts. But nevertheless, as we get more information on that, we'll make sure to keep you updated. And Felipe Rabraca is about to make a decision.

So if Iowa can land him, that will be huge from a frontcourt perspective. A big man who can also shoot the three. The offense would, without a doubt, have a focal point on him. UND transfer should be making a decision hopefully by the end of this week he is looking at minnesota iowa and a few other schools but getting him to go to iowa would be huge for fran mccaffrey coming up on segment number three we're going to get into the player interviews again we heard from seth benson john wagner noah shannon and sam laporta we're going to talk about all of that on segment three of the show. But I do have to tell you about some of the awesome stuff we have going on here with BetOnline.ag.

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Search the Ultimate Mock Draft 2021 on the new Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast app. Odyssey is your audio home for all the sports, podcasts, music, and news that matters to you. That's A-U-D-A-C-Y. And before we took a break, I told you we were going to talk about some of the press conferences we saw from Iowa football players. We heard from Seth Benson, John Wagner, Noah Shannon, and Sam Laporta. We've had some awesome time listening to some of the

other Iowa football players. I would argue this was probably one of the more dull interviews that we've had. Seth Benson, I mean, all these guys are great guys, right? They're well-spoken, do a phenomenal job, but they say a lot without saying anything at all. And when you hear, like when you listen to Tyrone Tracy, he does a really good job of kind of giving some really good insight into what is happening. I cannot say the same for a lot of these guys, but we did hear some good stuff from Sam Laporta.

But we'll kind of go down through the list. Seth Benson, you Benson, they were asking about him and the defensive linemen. And he said, the guys are really doing a good job up front. They're really good at keeping the guys off of us. Again, very PC answer. But he also mentioned that Noah Shannon, Logan Jones, Louis Steck, and Y.A. Black are all doing a great job. They're really helping us out. And I would argue that's probably the main rotation at this point so again that was probably the big takeaway Louis Steck a former walk-on a guy who not a lot of people probably are aware of seems to be working his way into that rotation could be a breakout player this year from that

defensive line perspective and again as we've talked about so many times Iowa plans on rotating between eight and ten guys so so seeing four guys there, you know, yes, it's important to be the starter, but there's still going to be a lot of guys rotating in and out of that defensive line, but it's great to see that, you know, they're happy with the performance so far, and it's interesting to see Louis Steck kind of pop into that name right there. Y.A. Black, also going to be a big-time player as well. He also said that Coach Wallace has been rotating both those guys, Jack and Seth to put them in uncomfortable positions and to ensure everyone

gets experience. I think this really goes back to, if you look at the way the linebacker core has worked the last couple of years, there's been injuries throughout and you know, coach Wallace, Seth Wallace and Phil Parker have been willing to move guys around. And so the best way to make sure you can move guys around is to get them experienced in all those spots. So if Seth were to get hurt, Jack can slide over, vice versa. Then you have Justin Jacobs who can slide in. So that to me is just playing smart football

and getting that linebacker core ready because it is a tough position and can be very difficult. John Wagner spoke to the media. Again, not a lot of information here other than the fact that he did battle COVID throughout the middle of last season, definitely hurting his progress. But he said that a lot of his reps had been going against Nick DeJong. And I thought that was really interesting. John Wagner playing with the first team and going up against Nick. And he said Nick does a great job. He comes with the ball really hard. He's got great pass sets. So to me,

Nick is clear. I mean, I did not think that Nick was going to be the one who won that starting job, but it sounds like to me that he is very much the front runner at this point, doing a pretty good job against one of our first teamers on the other side, John Wagner. So again, not a lot we got from these guys. Let me see if I have any other notes on the John front. Oh, he did say that he knows all four positions, whether that be to go inside on passing downs, but he also mentioned, because someone asked him about the NASCAR package.

Again, the NASCAR package is when Iowa typically slides defensive ends inside and brings some speedier guys on the outside, like a Joe Evans or even a Deontay Craig on the outside, just purely pass rush. He did say he's had some experience in the NASCAR package but they haven't gotten that far yet that package hasn't been installed but that Deontay is a great pass rusher so we're starting to really see the formulation of what this defensive line can look like and now things can definitely change we see things change even

in mid-season we see things change even in mid-game so there's a lot of things that can happen but to me it really starts to look like John Wagner could be on one side. We've got Zach Van Valkenburg on the other. We've got Noah Shannon in the middle. Y.A. Black, I would say, is probably the second starting defensive tackle, but we could see a lot of different variations. Joe Evans playing a lot of defensive end. John Wagner sliding inside.

We could see Zach Van Valkenburg sliding inside and Deontay Craig going to the outside. Again, giving those four defensive ends as a pass rush set could be very interesting. So that was fun to hear from him. Noah Shannon was, again, not the most open player, but did a really good job. And I thought the biggest thing he said that I noticed was that he's really taking it seriously this season. Not that he hasn't taken it seriously before, but he mentioned that every morning before practice, Bell gives him a point of emphasis sheet and it starts with a quote and then what focus needs to be today. And that he then writes at the top what that focus is. And

today or yesterday was separation and vision, making sure he has vision on the ball carrier. And he said it's just something that he just recently started doing as far as taking his notes, but he does go back and look at it and it's been really helpful for him. So I think becoming a student of the game and another year in this program is going to be huge for Noah Shannon, a guy who many are projecting to be that breakout player, unfairly comparing him to Davian Nixon, but very excited to see that he is taking that development or the taking that growth very seriously, both on the physical side and the mental side. He also mentioned that coach Bell is like a father figure to him that he looks up to and that he absolutely loves their new online coach and the way those guys get going every

single day. He said going up against Kyler Schott and Kyler Linderbaum has really helped him a lot. And again, just really speaking high praise on that offensive line, which is good to hear, right? That was an area of concern. We have a lot of new guys coming up. Tim Polasek leaves. What is that offensive line going to look like? It sounds like Noah Shannon has been very impressed with that Iowa offensive line, so that's great to hear. Sam Laporta also spoke to the media, was the last Iowa football player to speak to the media. And what I really took away from his press conference is that he's ready for a big year.

I mean, absolutely ready to break out this year. When I talked to Matt Miller of thedraftscout.com and ESPN, he had mentioned that Sam Laporta is a guy to watch out for coming into this year. And I couldn't agree more. Sam Laporta said a couple things that I thought really spoke to me. He said, spring ball is huge for everyone in the room. This is also my first spring ball. And he said, one of the things he likes to do is you want to be

able to look at your former self as how could I have been that bad and he said the game has slowed down for him so much these past couple months getting to look at film and seeing the little steps he's making every single game every single practice and game has really helped and that for him now after being in the program for two years, he really feels like he is flourishing. He said, I'm no longer just knowing what route I'm running. I'm knowing what is happening across the entire field. Again, becoming a student of the game as he continues his development and becoming a leader in that room. Not just a vocal leader, but mostly leading by example with his team. He understands that this is a developmental program and he wants to help develop all the players behind him.

And that those guys are trying to push him and he wants to push them as well. He said he loved how awesome it is that Iowa can be tight end U and that he is tight end number one, but that he knows that his spot is not secure if he cannot perform day in and day out. So understanding what is at stake and really just going hard in spring practice to better himself. That was really cool. He also mentioned several times looking at some of the older guys watching film on TJ Hawkinson or watching a film on Noah Fant and seeing what they can do and kind of emulating that in his game.

But again, the big thing I took away from this was the fact that Sam Laporta is ready for a big-time season. As a true freshman, he got playing time, which is hard to do. Again, can you imagine the whirlwind of playing tight end? Because you have to play, you have to understand all the route running concepts, you have to understand the passing game, but you also have to understand the run-blocking game as well. So Sam Laporta being able to get on the field as a true freshman was absolutely huge.

Last year really became the key target for Spencer Petras, but not able to get his hands on every single ball. Not able to be as consistent as we would like this year. Expect big, big things from Sam Laporta. I honestly would not be surprised to see him win the John Mackey Award this year. I know that's a little bit of a hot take, but Sam Laporta could win the John Mackey Award. This might be his final season in Iowa City. That's the kind of growth I expect to see from him and it's not that far-fetched look at what TJ Hawkinson did

similar build kind of guys similar backgrounds it could happen and I honestly kind of expected to happen with Samuel Porta coming into the season they also asked him about Spencer Petras and he said Spencer is a great leader on the team he's's a field general, but he also loves all the quarterbacks and the way they deliver the ball to the tight end spot. Makes sense. Any guy who's going to be catching passes wants quarterbacks. We're going to give him the ball. But I think what we've heard coming out of camp is just very positive about Spencer Petras.

So if you're in the camp of I want Deuce Hogan or I want Alex Padilla, you might want to start bracing yourself because it's looking more and more like it is going to be Spencer Petras without a doubt in this season. So be on the lookout for that. Spencer Petras is going to be the starter going into the 2021 season. I have zero doubt in my mind about that unless he just absolutely drops the ball the next couple of days. But I am excited about the growth and progress of Alex Padilla and Deuce Hogan. What I'm more interested in is whether or not Deuce can beat out Alex Padilla. Alex Padilla has had a very good camp from everything it sounds like,

but can Deuce make rounds and get over him? That will be really interesting to see. But Spencer Petras clearly has a strong hold on that quarterback position. That does do it for our show today, though. We do have three assistant coaches speaking to the media tomorrow. So, or sorry today, as you're listening to this, but we'll be talking about that on tomorrow's show. And if we have any other news coming out, we'll make sure to break that down as well. So stay tuned for our episode dropping tomorrow morning as well. If you liked the show, give us that five

star review and follow us wherever you downloaded this podcast at. And of course, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Have a fantastic day Hawkeye nation. And as always, let's go Hawks.