Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Kevin Kasper talks breaking combine records, his draft day experience, and his NFL career

Episode Date: September 22, 2020

Former Hawkeye wide receiver Kevin Kasper joins the show for part two of his interview (catch part one last Friday!) where he talks about his incredible combine performance, his draft day experience, and his time in the NFL. Kevin talks about playing with Tom Brady, how fun it was to play with Jake Plummer, and the time he blocked Ray Lewis. He also gives some insight into winning a Super Bowl and how crazy that entire week was before we talk a bit about coaching his three children!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.KeepsIf you’re ready to take action and prevent hair loss, go to Keeps.com/lockedoncollegeto receive your first month of treatment for free. 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 I'm excited to be bringing you part two of my interview with Kevin Casper. If you missed it, check out Friday's episode. We had Kevin on and we talked all about his journey to Iowa and his time at Iowa. On today's show, we're turning

things over to the NFL. We're going to focus on his pre-draft training and that process, getting ready for the NFL and ultimately his time in the NFL. So that's what's coming up on today's episode of the show. If you are tuning in for the NFL, and ultimately his time in the NFL. So that's what's coming up on today's episode of the show. If you are tuning in for the first time, again, make sure to check us out every single day. And hit that subscribe button wherever you downloaded this podcast at to make sure you tune in every single day for your daily show of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. With that being said, though, I don't want to waste any more time because the Kevin Casper interview was absolutely fantastic.

So let's hop into it right now. When you're looking at it, I mean, after your senior season, you had, let me see, I believe it was 82 receptions. I just lost the stat right now. I believe it was 82 receptions for almost a thousand. Let me see. 82 receptions for a thousand and 10 yards and seven touchdowns. You accounted for over probably about two fifthths of the total offense that season, which is pretty impressive. And then you go into the combine, and you put on one of the most impressive performances in the history of the combine. You know, just doing some of my quick research,

when I talked to Kevin Kasper prior to this call, it came up with your combine performance. And actually, Bleacher Report has you listed as the second most impressive combine performance in the history of the NFL, right in front of bo jackson right behind bernin davis so when i when i say that to you what does that mean to you i mean you came into the combine and just put on an absolute show did you realize you were going to do that well honestly yes i did because i went over like the pro agility i have that record, the 510.5 pro agility, whatever you want to call that, 20 plus years later, but I ran that same time that I ran in the facility at University

of Iowa multiple times and going even in, you know, days before the combine, I kind of knew exactly what steps to take. If you know me, as soon as I get my mindset on something, I'm just going to keep doing it and practicing it. And if I can't be the best, I can't. But I'm going to do everything I possibly can to beat everybody and to be the best at it. And I went to the Combine with goals. The night before, I can't tell you how many people I said, or managers and other coaches, they say,

oh, how do you think you're going to perform tomorrow? I said, well, I'm pretty sure I'll set three, three records. And I know I'll run in the fourth quarter. And, and I would tell them, which I did, I said, I said three records and you know, I thought it was, it was a pretty, it was pretty cool. And it was, for me, it was fun. It was never like, I never got stressed about it. I never worried about it it was just something like okay this is about to be fun for me because I've done all the training I've done everything possible that all the tough maybe not fun things you know to prepare me and I was ready to roll and

at the end of the day I you know set some records and ran a 4-4-2 electronic. And what bothers me to this day is when I do every year, they put the combine records and they put my pro agility and I think I'm number five vertical jump and three in the three cone drill. But the 60-yard shuttle, I still hold that record and they don't see that for whatever reason. They show for some reason the 60-yard shuttle changed, and it's from 2003 and beyond. But in 2000, I crushed that.

And for some reason, they don't put my record up there. But in my head, I know I'm still the fastest one to ever do that. I think regardless, you absolutely crushed and dominated the combine. And I think it's safe to say when you have a performance like that, it leads into, you know, more opportunities. And that's, you know, probably one of the reasons along with a bunch of other reasons why the Denver Broncos selected you in the sixth round that year. What was that feeling like? What was getting that call?

Like what were you doing to kind of buy time and pass time as you were waiting to see if your name got called in the NFL draft I was at my parents and I just didn't want to be around too many people my brother was there and my mom and dad and I remember so the night before Mel Kite Mel Kiper was still doing it he came out with his final draft thing and he had me actually going to Denver Broncos so he had the right team but four rounds off so he had me going i think 56 um it was the second round and then i i became uh i think i had the most tv time in the history because the the end of the the last pick of the second round i became milk hyper's best available the entire third i was number one for the entire third round the entire fourth round entire fifth round and eventually you know eventually I got a call from the Buffalo Bills and they said hey we're

about to draft you and two picks from now and I was like super excited it was awesome and then next thing I know I got a phone call from Denver Broncos I so I never saw myself get drafted I ran outside it was some lady and then she transferred me to uh Mike Shanahan I ended up talking to Mike Shanahan and so I never saw when the draft it or when I you know they showed highlights and all that stuff but my parents got excited and they came out and um right away I told my brother like literally I'm still on the phone I said hey go uh go print out the the rosters I wanted to see who the receivers were and who the defensive backs were. So then who was my competition on both?

Who was I going to go against on a daily basis? And then who – I knew Ed McCaffrey. That's one of the reasons I wore 87, one of them. And my brother was 87 in high school. But I knew he was there, so I thought that would be cool. And then I knew Terrell Davis was there. And I knew certain guys like that. But I wanted to see exactly who my competition was and see how I can make this team

but it was an exciting yeah for my family it was really cool and for me I just wanted to get to Colorado right away and start it up I think that's so cool so basically you get drafted and the first thing you're thinking of is not celebrating not getting super. It's let's go to work and who can we beat out now? Yeah, I would have been excited. I think more excited if it was earlier rounds. But at that point, I went out and shot some baskets. And, you know, because it was in the second day, you know, you had to go to sleep and three rounds got done.

There was only two days back then. And every time there was nine receivers taken ahead of me. And I was really frustrated that those nine receivers were taken ahead of me. But that happens. I didn't care. All I honestly wanted was an opportunity. I wanted an opportunity at University of Iowa. Shoot, I wanted an opportunity at Butler, Valparaiso, and Milliken, all those other schools, but they didn't want that. But Iowa did give that opportunity. Denver Broncos gave an opportunity. And that's literally all I ever asked for to this day is opportunities and then see what I can do with that. Definitely, man. And what can you do? Remember your first catch with the Denver Broncos? Yeah, I was 19 yards and Rod Woodson, who's I don't know if he's Hall of Famer yet,

but he will be against the Baltimore. And it's the easiest play ever to remember because it was called all go Casper drive. So if I don't catch it, then Ed McCaffrey, Bob Smith, all these guys, they pushed out, they, they did all go. And then I was on the all way to the left-hand side and it was a Casper drive, which is a drive route, a shallow cross, whatever you want to say, but it was called all go Casper drive. I caught it, went up 19 yards and Rod Woodson was the one that tackled me. And that was the Ray Lewis days.

They had a really good defense, the Baltimore Ravens. I think that's the year they went to the Super Bowl. I remember one of my best favorite stories in the NFL is that same game. I used to cut block everybody. I don't think you can cut block as many people anymore, but I would try to cut block everybody. That means just think you can cut block as many people anymore, but I would try to cut block everybody. That means just run full speed and try to take out their knees. That's one of the things that I loved doing in college,

and I loved former wrestler. That's all I did was shoot. And I went out and cut block Ray Lewis really bad. And he got up and went nuts in front of my – I can't exactly say, you know, unless you can bleep out what he was saying, but he did say a lot of come here, the white boy, come. And all I did is go back up. I was backing up and saying, ref, ref, ref.

So that was a big joke with the Denver Broncos. This happened to be right in front of our whole sideline. So they were making fun of me for a while. But Ray was a big dude, so I wasn't trying to mess with him. Yeah, I mean, I don't blame you. I wouldn't want to mess with Ray Lewis either, man. Yeah, yeah. No, he was a stud.

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So what was it like being in that wide receiver room? Because the Denver Broncos at that time, I mean, they were transitioning obviously from John Elway going to the Brian Greasy years. And then they had, you know, Ed McCaffrey and Rod Smith both ring of, you know, ring of honor type players in the Denver Broncos organization. What was it like playing with those guys and learning from them? Well, it was interesting. Initially, when we went in training camp, there was 15 of us. So 15 seats. Carl Durrell, who was our coach that went on to coach at UCLA and then some other places.

But he was our receiver coach. And he said, hey, we're keeping five of you and showed five fingers. And I looked and I'm like, OK, McCaffrey's here. Rod Smith is here. At that time, we had Rob Moore, who was one of the greats at, you know, played receiver all over the place. I think it was his 13th or 14th year. Keith Poole, Scotty Montgomery, Traz McGiff. I mean, we had a really good receiving core. And I was like, oh, man, this is going to be, there's going to be 10 guys missing. So that was kind of like welcome to the NFL type thing where this is a business. It's not go out there and have as much money as it is. It's fun, but there and have as much money as you have.

It's fun, but it's also a business when they tell you that. So that was crazy. But what I did, I just – I basically followed everything Ed McCaffrey does and did. I still talk to him to this day. He's now a head coach at Northern Arizona. He's one of my biggest mentors and the person that I looked up to a great deal with the Denver Broncos, even going to his house. I knew Christian McCaffrey when he was three years old and he

became a pretty good player, but my wife and I went, yeah, my wife, Lisa and I went to their house with, with McCaffrey's, which is Lisa McCaffrey, his wife. But we got to see kind of what having a family is. And they had four boys and seven five three and one all boys and again Christian was three but we got to see him like okay this is cool you can have a family life you can you can enjoy playing football and then he was just I mean the most professional of professional people to the media to his teammates his work ethic he took every single practice like it was a Super Bowl I've never seen him jog anything, every single route, even during the walkthroughs. This guy who's already a stud,

all pro player, Super Bowl rings, the walkthroughs, he was always doing a little bit more than a jog. So I'm like, I'm going to do that too. People would tell me to slow down. Hey, hey, stop, stop. And I'm thinking, well, you don't say that to Ed McCaffrey. I was only a rookie. So I didn't have that privilege to do that. But he was such a professional. And then Rod Smith was just an awesome player. He was a character. He loved the game so much and made, you know, he made a lot of fun.

You know, he made a lot of fun in just the cracking jokes and enjoying himself. So learning, I guess, taking little things from both of them, especially from myself, Ed McCaffrey, I think it helped me continue my NFL playing career and going to eight training camps after the first two going with Ed McCaffrey. So it, yeah, I was very, very lucky to get drafted and put him immediately. Yeah, I mean, a pretty impressive wide receiver group to be able to learn from. And obviously, Mike Shanahan being the coach that he is and his pedigree, a pretty impressive wide receiver group to be able to learn from. And obviously Mike Shanahan being the coach that he is and his pedigree, a pretty great opportunity to learn from those, those folks. And you actually said, you mentioned,

you played in eight other training camps. You played for several other teams, the two teams I want to hit on first, you know, Arizona, you played with Jake Plummer just as a Broncos fan. And I was also a huge Jake Plummer fan. I just have to ask this, but what was it like playing with Jake? What was, what was it like playing um you know him and as a wide receiver people ask me all the time who's your favorite quarterback to play with and um I say well Tom Brady was the most professional as far I know it sounds cliche because what he's done but he had a couple or a few Super Bowl rings in 2004 until he won that year. But seeing how he approached practice,

and I would always go there early as I can and, you know, work out. He was already there. He'd watch a film or he'd already be showered after his workout. So when people kind of hate on him because, you know, he's such a good player, I'm like, dude, this guy works so stinking hard to be, you know, to do what he's done. And but so, yeah, I always say Tom Brady as far as all aspects. Yeah, best quarterback I ever played for.

The most fun quarterback I ever played for, without a doubt. And the guy that threw me three touchdowns in my last five games with Arizona was Jake Plummer. He always had this. I mean, he had fun. I've never seen and played with a lot of different quarterbacks. I've never seen, and I played with a lot of different quarterbacks, I've never seen a quarterback have that much fun during games. I mean, talking about people on the sidelines, and then talking about what we're going to do tonight, and hey, let's just go, you know, we're going to go party, we're going to have fun, we're going to do whatever.

Just, he was a character, but he was such a good athlete, and he was such a, you know, such a good dude. Everybody loved playing for him. I can't say that about every quarterback. Some of the guys necessarily didn't necessarily like playing for them as a starting quarterback, the whole team, just like they loved the dude, including the coaching staff. And, but he made practices fun. He made everything that much more fun to, to, you know, to get the opportunity to play with him. So yeah, he was just an awesome dude.

It's cool to hear that what your thoughts are on some of those guys is exactly what people on the outside thought and what I've always kind of grown up thinking as well so it's really cool to hear that uh perception can equal reality at times and you already touched on the Tom Brady thing but what was it like winning that Super Bowl that year I mean being a part of that team uh winning the Super Bowl is something that every kid grows up dreaming about what was it like winning that Super Bowl and year? I mean, being a part of that team, winning the Super Bowl is something that every kid grows up dreaming about. What was it like winning that Super Bowl? And I have to ask you, what was that night like?

Was it pretty crazy after you won that Super Bowl? No, that can be a whole nother podcast from the just Super Bowl. Because it was fun. The whole week leading up to it was just really cool. Just seeing the media. And I remember I was getting all these phone calls because i was on the jay leno show because jay leno sends his people out there and they actually

said the quote was this is the jackie robinson of the new england patriots they called me jackie you know on on that the reason why is because uh troy brown this was his 14th year there and no white receiver ever made the active roster so now there's it's changed Patriots obviously from the West Walkers Tim Gleitz all those guys um but that's they had a nickname for Jackie because I kind of broke the color barrier so that was um so yeah I was on that Jay Leno show but then even going to practice every day we had our own hotel you get in the you get in these huge buses and then next to you there's there's eight armored you know uh big uh suvs and then two helicopters would actually rise

up maybe two three hundred feet above you or yards above you and they would you go to practice with a police escort every single day i'm like this is pretty awesome they shut down the whole highways we had to drive and we were in jacksonville took about 30 minutes to get to practice. And we'd actually go practice at like a high school facility. So but it was actually real nice. And the things just leading up to is really cool. And then after winning, by far the most I was most excited because my dad got on the field, my wife and my two brothers, they were on the field within seconds after we won which was just really cool so they got to see the confetti coming down and because they had the family pass obviously and then being being there and being part of that part of the Super Bowl I was just

more excited for them than anything and then afterwards yeah we went to the hotel and it was just uh family and friends immediate immediate family, friends, whatever. But we had a party, and there was a Snoop Dogg through the party. So everybody knows Snoop still, so I don't feel that. But Snoop threw a party that lasted about 6 in the morning. And my dad and we were all out, you know, having fun and in the hotel and just having a great time, even seeing Coachichick out there and it was just it was really it was really cool and um and then we flew out we flew back to new england just myself i flew back to new england the following day at about 7 15 after being up till six so that that kind of sucked but then we went and did the duck boat parade in front

of you know a couple million or whatever it was people and so all that was it's kind of a blur now but it was so much fun when I look back at like pictures and and just the opportunity that I had and my family had to go see some of these things and be part of the Super Bowl was really cool and until a couple years ago it was the biggest ring in the history of any sport so I can't that anymore. Cause I think there's two more rings that are bigger, maybe one. But, but just having the Superbowl ring and then you know, my kids get to see it or maybe show some people I don't wear it. I think I've worn it only a couple of times. But being able to show even kids, my, my, my sons and daughters, friends, they think it's pretty stinking cool to be able to put it on and, and wear it. So it's really big andy though so you can't wear it on a daily basis yeah i mean i feel like that'd be a little bit ridiculous to have that on every single day but maybe if you know have you did you hear the

thing about andy reed using his ring to potentially get like a free cheeseburger maybe you can go out and get a get a nice steak say hey here's my super bowl ring give me a nice steak yeah i've never i've never done that um i actually wore it one time and it caused a big uh kind of uproar in the restaurant where people want to see it and the chef came out we end up getting our food comps and I didn't ask for that but I know if I wore it a lot more we'd get a lot more free stuff and um but yeah I'm not I'm not gonna wear that around it's it's it's too big and I'm not uh I'm not that big of guy, so it kind of makes me look kind of silly, but it's pretty awesome to have, though, that's for sure. That's crazy. So, last question

I want to ask about the NFL piece is, you know, the last play of the game you did, or the last play of your career, you did break your neck. I just want to quickly ask, you know, what was your thought process dealing with that, and, you know, were you scared? I guess, like, to me, when you hear breaking your neck, that's a pretty scary man yeah yeah it was my eighth season I was with the Cleveland Browns and I actually um I read a hot route and two guys came up and I caught the ball Brady Quinn threw me a little slant went up for nine yards as I was going down my helmet got ripped off and and uh safety put his head down it was helmet to head so my helmet popped off off and, and, uh, safety put his head down and it was helmet to head. So my helmet popped off. I have no recollection and feel anything. It was approximately, I actually popped right up. Um, and I didn't know this until I saw it later. Um, but it was

approximately two hours later that I realized that, um, that I broke my neck. I had no idea. I actually, when I became coherent, I I guess I was awake but when I actually became coherent I I thought I just because I had broken my nose twice and had two nose surgeries from breaking pretty bad and I opened my eyes and I thought that's I'm like how did it go I thought it was another surgery and I had this big thing on my neck and the thing I do remember is they said um they said you actually broke your neck I said no I didn't and and I was and they said, they said, you actually broke your neck. I said, no, I didn't. And, and I, and they said, I said, can I walk? And they said, yeah, you walked off the field. I said, no, I did not. And I said, does my wife know I can walk? And I remember that it's weird things I remember,

but I did it six, six plus months of rehab. And in my mind, I wanted to come back and play and, and, and, you know, continue my playing career. About maybe a week prior to breaking my neck, my third child was born, which was Braylon, my son, and my wife with them three kids. And I already played. I already became a vested veteran, so had a longer career and had fun doing it. And she was pretty much opposed to it. And I'm glad she spoke for me. but I wasn't able to play anyways my the way my neck healed it wasn't like proper so I guess it

would have been I would have put myself in a very unsafe position for myself and my family and my kids and whatnot if I tried to go back and play so I I was done after that. See that happy wife, happy life thing, man. They, uh, they're smart. They know what they did was right for us. Yeah. Yeah. She was a lot smarter than me. Cause in my head, I'm the say, I'm playing. That's the only thing I really knew how to do and wanted and love doing at that point. So, um, you know, I thought I can go back and play, but it didn't work out that way, but I'm, and I'm glad it didn't.

Yeah. And you mentioned, you mentioned your kids multiple times. I did want to touch on this because it seems like you're kind of, you know, you're a big family man now. It seems like you're really, you know, enjoying coaching your kids. You know, how active are you in their lives and working with them on a daily basis with some of their athletic, you know, accomplishments? Yeah, I'm with them on a daily basis. I help coach my oldest son, now 16, all the way from

seven years old, all the way on. My daughter's a really good soccer player, so I like even working with speed and agility with her and working with all three of them doing that. But then her soccer games and my little one at 12 years old, it's really fun watching his his routes he just started twitter and he's put on some routes on twitter and he looks like uh you know advanced high school or maybe some of the smaller colleges route running wise he's he's like very robotic i tell him what to do and he'll do exactly what is so it's really fun being part of that growing process and seeing them and helping them in sports and even nutrition and all that stuff. It's really cool. My, now my oldest son, he is six foot five inches at 16 years. He's a sophomore class of 2023. And you know, so seeing him, he's already doing stuff that I,

let's just go back to the combine thing. My broad jump, he's already surpassed that by four inches so it's uh he's a freak he's in size 13 shoe six five can backflip go through the legs dunking um the guy's a freak of nature the kid's a freak of nature with the work ethic behind it and then just me helping out with whether it's nutrition or working on speed and route running he's always up for that you know to learn more and more about that. And he does love playing football. He loves playing basketball.

I guess all three of my kids got the sports traits because they all love to just be out there, whether it's jumping on a trampoline or shooting baskets or catching a ball or doing something, jumping into the pool, backflipping, not just walking in, kind of like that I grew up doing. They're very, very similar. All three of them are one way or the other very similar to me, which is kind of fun to see. That's super cool. So any chance we get a future Hawkeye in the making there? Yeah, you know, I think 100% that Kyler has an opportunity.

Without a doubt, he'll have an opportunity to play at a high level of college at D1. And I've, I've, I've been multiple coaches that have reached out to me. They can't reach out to him from, cause he's a younger class, but I've talked to multiple coaches that are interested in him as a sophomore. And again, I I've taught him a lot. I've taught him work ethic and nutrition, and I've taught him a lot of routes, but one thing I could not teach him is be six foot five inches tall he's literally five he's five inches taller than me

and he does things as a sophomore that I was never able to do as in any part of my college or NFL career like with his jumping and with his route running and his his hands are very similar to mine except they're a little bit bigger and he catches everything so the sky's the limit for that kid um so i i do know uh you know barring health and all that stuff obviously um i do know that he'll get an opportunity to play now i'm biased uh my wife was born in the iowa onesie i mean her her whole family they live 15 minutes from uh i. So between her and I, we're Hawkeyes through and through. It's Hawkeyes everywhere. We represent our license plates to, you know, our decor and different workout room.

Everything is Tiger Hawk and Iowa Hawkeye. We're almost obnoxious about it. But we're very, super proud because she went to the University of Iowa, too. We're proud to be Hawkeyes. And so with that being said, yeah, would I love to see him in black and gold? Obviously. If that opportunity ever comes up, that'd be great. But right now he's just, he's, he's looking forward to, they have a game in two weeks because we're playing football down here in Arizona. He's already practiced 10 weeks of practice, so they'll be ready and he's definitely ready.

He's already practiced 10 weeks of practice. So they'll be ready. And he's definitely ready. And I'm super excited, more so than I was ever. It's weird. My dad used to say, like, oh, the most nervous, most excited, you know, is when I watch you. And I never. And he said, one day you'll understand.

And I get more excited about my kids about to play, especially now that my son's a varsity football player. And to see him on five night lights, I'm so jacked and excited to see that more so than I ever was even playing on the Monday night football game with the Denver Broncos. It's just, it's a weird feeling. And now I understand what my dad would always tell me, you know, it makes sense after you have your own kids. Yeah. I mean that I'm, my wife and I are going to be, you know, starting a family soon at some point. And that,

that definitely gets me excited to just think about that. I mean, I coach a little league team and I remember getting so excited for these kids that I don't even really know when they'd hit a ball. I'm like, Oh my gosh, this is actually kind of like playing. It's pretty fun. So I can only imagine having a kid would be 10 times amplified for that. So that's super cool, man. Dude, I would go when, when I'm coaching my, my, the little kids, my son's seven years old flag,, eight, nine, ten, going on.

I would get done coaching the game and have to go take a nap. I'm exhausted just from like physically exhausted. And then I think to myself, how do these guys do it? And, you know, how does Coach Ference do that? And for whatever reason, the guy is always upbeat. I've never seen the guy sleepy or tired or I'm like, what the heck? And I see him, especially when I played, I saw him all the time and then now he's very just upbeat. And I'm like,

he must have to take a lot of naps during the day because just coaching, I couldn't the task. And cause I know that, you know, the seven-year-old flag football team that we played and we, we got to the championship game and barely won. It's like, Oh like oh man that was exhausting I need to just go rest and take a nap I'm physically mentally drunk you know drained so so that's that's me and coach and I and I I get excited about it and I love doing it um and just helping the kids and their friends and stuff but yeah it's tiring that's for sure that. Yeah, I'm looking forward to that. It's going to be a lot of fun when I can get to that point in my life.

But, Kevin, I have taken up almost an hour of your time. I was not planning on doing that, but we were having a good conversation. I didn't want to stop it, and I was really enjoying listening to the stories. I know you have a busy life with your children as well, so I want to let you get back to doing that. Any last words, though, for Hawkeye Nation, man? No, I'm excited. As of yesterday, I said the Big Ten is coming back.

So for us, that's a huge deal. It's a religion for us watching Iowa. And I think that on 10-23 is when the start date is, I think. And I'm just super excited to sit there and get an opportunity to watch them. And I'm just super excited to sit there and get an opportunity to watch them. And, you know, it's being an Iowa Hawkeye former player and now a fan, there's nothing more special than being an Iowa Hawkeye. It really is.

I've been around the NFL, and people get annoyed. Other players just get annoyed because we wear so much Iowa stuff and talk about it. They're like, okay, all you do is talk about Iowa. That's how proud these guys that had the opportunity to wear black and gold and put the Tiger Hawk on them and run out in Kinnick Stadium. Because we've got the best fans in the country. I know there's other fans that say, you know, people can say different. I have no doubt. Because when we weren't doing good and when we're doing great,

they're going to be out there supporting us. And I've seen that through my wife's parents. They're, I mean, huge Hawkeye fans since day one. And, and, and now I realize that there, a lot of them are just the same thing. They, they bleed a black and gold. And I just want to say thank you to every fan out there to, you know, to all the former players and they built a great bridge to these, these players coming out and, you know, getting recruiting. And I don't think they realize how much of a great opportunity if they get to, you know, chance to put the Tiger Hawk on.

I hope they relish it, take advantage of every opportunity because it goes quick, but there's nothing better. Once you're a Hawkeye, you're always a Hawkeye, and I love it. And that got me excited, man. I'm pumped now for Saturdays for watching football and, you know, going out with our friends and then watching some games. But, dude, Kevin, it has been an honor to be able to interview you. Obviously, you know, my fangirl moment at the beginning of the interview.

I really appreciate all of your time and talking through everything with me, man. So I hope you have a great rest of your day, though, and we'll talk to you soon. Sounds awesome, man. Thanks a lot. Great talking to you, and go Hawks. All right, and that wraps up our time with Kevin Casper. I hope you really enjoyed that conversation. As you probably noticed,

if you listened to Friday's episode and today's episode, you know, Kevin was a huge, you know, a huge idol to me growing up. And it was really an honor to get to interview him. And I really appreciate him taking the time out of his, his busy day to talk to me and,

and talk all about his time at Iowa and his time in the NFL. Really appreciate him doing that. And again, if you liked the show, we do have other great guests on pretty consistently. So make sure to check out our other episodes. We have episodes posting literally daily, Monday through Friday.

We'll have them up by 8 a.m. every single morning, except for on the occasion when I have to record the morning of. But for the most part, we've got daily episodes dropping of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Make sure to check that out and give us that five-star review if you like the show.

And as always, check out our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Hawkeye Nation, I appreciate you tuning in for this two-part series with Kevin Casper. Have a fantastic day. And as always, let's go Hawks. We'll see you next time.