Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Kirk Ferentz makes a HUGE hire in Warren Rufferio for Iowa Football, Scott Dochterman joins the show

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Hawkeye offense has a chance to explode. Kirk Ferentz makes a terrific hire. Warren Ruggiero coming in to help out the. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team, every day. Come in, I'm Trent Condon and this is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available wherever you find podcasts. You can also watch us on YouTube.

Starting point is 00:00:41 While you're there, hit that subscribe button. Just takes a moment and helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fan. Some big news coming out of Iowa city and no, it's the winter sports season. Yes, but it is not about the basketball teams. No, this is about the football team and what I believe is a stroke of genius. I will going out and working to continue to improve their offensive staff with the hiring of former broils award finalists and ACC offensive coordinator Warren Ruggiero comes in to help out with the offensive staff. Now we saw a year ago the improvement offensively out of Iowa after the two years previous, the

Starting point is 00:01:20 disaster that was the previous regime. At least a year ago, we saw that run game completely fixed, completely revamped, a run game and an RPO system that made a whole lot of sense with Caleb Johnson going off and having an absolutely incredible season. Tim Lester, it was a hire that was widely panned. When it happened, myself included, there were other names I thought that made more sense. However, Tim Lester in year number one proved at minimum is the guy that's going to get it and is now improving.

Starting point is 00:01:49 He has completely revamped the quarterback room. We see the quarterbacks that he inherited. They're all out the door. He has brought his own guys in. We saw the run game improvements. And now the final step to this equation is fixing a passing game that has been nothing short of dreadful for the last half decade. You bring in now a guy in Warren Rogero that has an opportunity to do just that. Couple reasons that I absolutely love this hire from the Iowa football perspective. Number one, he's coming from Wake Forest. Wake Forest is a program that is not built like most of the ACC teams that they go up against. It is a very small private school. You look at the kind of guys that they recruit. It's a different level.

Starting point is 00:02:33 They're not recruiting against Clemson and Florida State and Miami. They're taking a different kind of guy. Hmm. What does that sound like? Certainly Iowa football and the way that they recruit. They are behind the eight ball and many different ways. Wake forest. Same thing with Iowa, certainly on the offensive side of things. So you bring in now a guy in Rogero who has proven to be able to put together an offense and a place that is not known for being offensive minded. Tim Lester bringing in that RPO system. We saw the merits last year. Now with his own quarterbacks, with the receiver group that comes back basically completely

Starting point is 00:03:10 intact from a year ago at the wide receiver position. On top of it, you add Sam Phillips to the mix, a speedster out of Chattanooga. Now you're getting that speed dynamic into there. But one of the biggest reasons that I think people need to be excited about this higher is because Rogero is an innovator. This is a guy that thinks outside the box and yes He brings in an RPO system and that is a part of it and you get excited about that part However, you dig a little bit deeper and you look at the rush the mesh concept that he has employed so Warner's arrow comes in started that he has employed. So, Warren Ruggiero comes in, started with Dave Claussen at

Starting point is 00:03:46 Bowling Green. They had a tremendous season there, then came with him, was there for the last decade at Wake Forest. And though the last two years did not go well, they went four and eight both of those seasons, you still saw what they were able to do. A big reason for the step back, at least two years ago, was the loss of Sam Harton. Another developmental program, a guy leaves before, certainly they anticipated was gonna be the case, and they struggled. We see Sam Hartman, who's now in the NFL.

Starting point is 00:04:12 And what did he do in his two years in this offense? He was tremendous. 2021, when this mesh concept was implemented, he threw for 39 touchdownss over 300 yards per game 4200 yards through the air in the 2021 season at Wake Forest then a year later He comes back in two last games there was for 37 hundred yards another 38 touchdowns against 12 interceptions 77 yards touching paths touching passing touchdown, easy for me to say,

Starting point is 00:04:47 77 passing touchdowns for Sam Hartman in this offense. And then you also look back, there's been other quarterbacks that were really good under Ruggiero. Before him, it was Jamie Newman. If you're a college fan, you remember his name. He was kind of the beginning of that build that happened in his final season Jamie Newman at wake for us. This is a great hire. It really is and not only that this is an analyst So there's one caveat

Starting point is 00:05:13 We also have to put in there what we're talking about these analyst roles because they come in varying degrees Some guys come in more than anything. They're just looking for their next job you know that I can put the work in those kind of things but When you're talking about Ruggiero, you could have given him perhaps the running back job I think it also shows you though that he wants to be an offensive coordinator again that he wants to get one more opportunity And he believes it's gonna happen here with the guy that was as innovated as Warren Ruggiero and for people that know him in the coaching less kind and talking to people in the coaching world just today,

Starting point is 00:05:50 that's one thing that they mentioned. They thought that this was a big coup by Iowa to getting him to come here because he's going to get another job. He's going to have another opportunity. And because he is innovative, there's gonna be other opportunities with him with that mesh concept. We'll get to be other opportunities with him with that mesh mesh concept

Starting point is 00:06:06 We'll get to what it exactly is here in a moment because it's so so fun to watch and so different Than what you're used to watching in an rpo based system It says a lot and it says a lot that he is willing to come here You know, there's overrunners now out there in terms of win total iowa the overrunner is seven and a half We've talked about how arduous the schedule is going to be for Iowa coming up this season Much more difficult than this past year of what Iowa football is going to face However with this knowing that you're not gonna just be able to rely on the old defense like you did for years and years and years You're going to have to score. I love it. There's more to be done. Running back job also going to be there, but Iowa for an analyst job. You don't want to overstate what it is, but a guy that understands a guy that gets it. I think this is incredibly intriguing.

Starting point is 00:06:56 We got basketball to get into. We got more football to talk about the NFL draft combine in the books. Some good, some bad, some indifferent. indifferent We're gonna talk to Scott document a little bit about it get Doc's perspective He was in Indianapolis for the NFL draft combine. We'll get his perspective. We'll talk about Jay Higgins We'll take a look at Caleb Johnson and Caleb Johnson continue to be in that second round grade what he did for himself We'll talk about some other of the Iowa guys plus we'll also get a look at Bram McCaffrey for himself. We'll talk about some other of the Iowa guys. Plus, we'll also get a look at Bram McCaffrey, potentially his final game at Carver Hawkeye Arena coming up on Thursday. We'll talk about that all as we continue with Scott Dockerman from The Athletic. This is a Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast.

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Starting point is 00:09:09 SH5 for 5% off your first order only at SupplyHouse.com. Let's get to Scott Dockerman. How are you? Are you back in Iowa or still in Indy? I got back late Saturday night. So yeah, I was there from Monday through Saturday. You know, it's pretty happy to be back. I bet. Well, that's a long week in Indianapolis, Doc. Does it get monotonous at all? I mean, does or does it go by? Does it fly by? Are you, do you now how to know how to air quote, do the combine in your perspective as a, as a journalist out there more so than you did your first year you were there? How has it changed? Is it still, or is this kind of tedious toward the end? Yeah, it gets, it gets tedious by the end of the week. I mean, you know, you, there

Starting point is 00:09:50 are different ways to do it. I mean, I was out there with our entire NFL crew and then on the college's side, we had two editors, me and Bruce Feldman. So we kind of do things differently. I handled a lot of the players in their podium interviews. I mean, Bruce knows a million people on the side. I talked to a few as well, just kind of out and about. And then, then there are other, you know, sometimes it's late nights and sometimes I'm too old to be out that late. So, but I always seem to mess it up at least once and I did last week. week. But yeah, the combine is different now. I don't know that there's as many people there this year as there have been in the past,

Starting point is 00:10:31 but one of the things that really seems to stick out for me is there's a lot of team reporters. People who cover the teams, and they are way more homerish than, say, college reporters at Big Ten media days and stuff. It's a lot worse actually and people may not think know that but when people talk about ask the tough questions well these guys are on the complete opposite spectrum. So you got to navigate that but you know it all works out. It's like having 32 members of the Nebraska media out there, right? No, I would say Nebraska's better than that Positive for the Nebraska media well doc, let's get into a couple of the players and it's wide-ranging

Starting point is 00:11:15 I see the three cone drill for Jay Higgins. That's great. And then you see the 40 time. Not so great There's a couple other ones. So let's just kind of go individually Let's start with Jay Higgins. What you saw, did he improve his stock and kind of where he sits now as we come into the aftermath of the combine? Yeah, I don't think that there's really, I know the 40 time has kind of looked at negatively, but then you start to compare it against

Starting point is 00:11:39 people who are like him in the past. And the first one obviously to me is Josie Jewell. I mean, he ran the exact same time there and he was a fourth round pick and he's still in the league. He's still starting. People really like him. So I don't think that it's really anything that's too bothersome for him.

Starting point is 00:12:00 And you think about linebackers like him, that he plays that way on film. You're not asking him to cover a slot receiver. You're not asking him to even cover a tight end, except in zone coverage. So I don't know that he did anything to hurt himself, even though it is a four, eight, two, that's not bad. It's Bontez perfect. I remember him running a five.

Starting point is 00:12:20 Now that's bad. He was under-rafted, but he is also character concern, which Jay has zero of that. So I think his movement skills that he's shown in the three cone, I mean, that's what you want on a linebacker. Quick bursts, quick agility and moves. And I thought he did really well there. And it's like anything. There's going to be some team that knocks him for one reason or another. And there's other teams that says, you know what, we're overlooking that. We love the guy and his character and we think he's a third round pick. Who else, Doc, from the Hawks that impressed you?

Starting point is 00:12:52 Maybe caught your eye, caught some, or caught some scout size that you're picking up on our ears, picking up on that you've heard that really impressed. Yeah, I think Connor Colby did really well. You know, he ran a five one, but his size and his agility and stuff, I think he looked good. He looked the part. He went to Tampa and worked out, you know, with a lying kind of guru camp. And, and I think he's somebody that, that probably did, you know, did more to elevate himself than, than maybe a lot of guys. And then some of the others, you look at, some people really, really pour over the numbers. I don't quite do that.

Starting point is 00:13:36 I think Sebastian Castro, while not being overly fast, was pretty good in agility. And then again, that know, that, that may have cost them a little bit of money from somebody, but I think overall his play determines it. It's, it's really kind of funny. I asked a couple of GMs on Monday last week, you know, particularly about players that opt out with games left in the regular season or midway through the bowl game. And, uh, and they were all like, we take them individually, we don't look at it collectively.

Starting point is 00:14:09 And a couple of GMs were just like, you know what, we just, I'm not gonna fault anybody for making a business decision on their own. So those are the things that I was kind of more concerned about than actual performance. Because, I mean, George Kittle blew it up when he was there and he still ended up in the fifth round. And so I would expect somebody to come out smoking and then fall flat on their face during

Starting point is 00:14:34 training camp. And then somebody like, whether it's Castro or even Jay Higgins, to be maybe undervalued because of their 40 time and then go out and be really, really good for whatever team drafts. And then we look up and they have an eight, 10 year career and say, Oh man, another Iowa guy that does that. Hey, what'd they ask you about Caleb Johnson, doc? And 40 time was all right, but with this size, I think a lot of people anticipated that a lot of people though talking about him and the do staley drill on what he was able to

Starting point is 00:15:00 do and just showing that footwork. You know, you look through, you got Caleb Johnson and Amario Hampton and Ashton Gentey and Kam Skadebo and on and on. Pretty good group. It's not gonna be what it was back in the 80s and 90s in terms of drafting running backs, but are we possibly on the precipice

Starting point is 00:15:17 of a little bit of a resurgent at the running back position as we've seen NFL teams defensively morph into too high safety, don't let get beat deep anymore, could running backs be coming back in the NFL? Yeah, for sure. It's a position that I think people are really identifying because just as you said, when you've got players who, or you got teams that decide, all right, we're going to go too deep, cover too, too safety deep type of alignment you know, type of alignment with a, with a fifth or even six defensive back on the field most of the time, well, why do you take advantage of that? And then you see Saquon Barksley, you see Derek Henry and teams are taking

Starting point is 00:15:56 advantage of it and you know, you got, you know, you know, Mel Kiefer saying they should outlaw it. And I'm like, it's the yin and yang man, you know, as soon as the defenses adjust and go to an eight man box, then you can throw over the top of them. It's, it's just the way that it all works out. So I believe this is one of the best classes I've seen at running back. And I think gent, gent, he's the best. I mean, I'm not going to pretend to say anybody's close to that, but, but I think after that, it really depends on what you're looking for. Um, you know, Alvin Camaro ran a four, five, six, and he's a guy that reminds me a lot of, of Hampton, you know, in style.

Starting point is 00:16:33 And then you got the two Ohio state backs who are different, but equally effective. And, and I would say the same deal with, with Caleb Johnson, he is he a, he's more of a Strider. It takes them a little bit of time to get the high gear, but he's also very physical. He also can attack the hole. And, and if you're going to judge him based on a four or five, seven versus a four or four, nine, um, go for it. You know, four Davis ran a four or five, six. I mean, but that's just, it's ridiculous when people start to, to really split hairs that way. And he's And he's an elite level running back.

Starting point is 00:17:06 He's going to be really good for somebody if they get him in the right system. And I think you look at across the board, you know, and Kam Scadaboo, who wouldn't love that guy, you know, and he's maybe like the sixth running back. So I think this is a banner year. I think you might have six or seven starters out of this group. And another thing, and, and, and another thing I did ask a bunch of linebackers at the big 10, who was the best one they went against. And all of them said number two from Iowa, except for the Minnesota guy. He goes, well, it's either Hampton or number two for Iowa.

Starting point is 00:17:40 And then one person said, well, you played against Penn state. What'd you think of those two? He goes, well, yeah, okay. They're second or third. I mean, so it's really pretty obvious the way he played so that he's as good or better than anybody else. You know, it comes to Gentie. I'm starting to see some bears love out there.

Starting point is 00:17:54 You bears fans, two of them I'm talking to at this particular moment because Ben Johnson loved what Gibbs did for his offense in Detroit. I think Gentie might be able to pull that one off. Uh, we'll see. How about Lachey, doc? I know the tight ends. did for his offense in Detroit. I think Genthe might be able to pull that one off. We'll see. How about Lachey, Doc? I know the tight ends, there's going to be probably, I don't know, four or five tight ends by the end of the second day, seemingly, are going to hear their name called or very early on Saturday. But Lachey, by all accounts from what I've read, certainly didn't hurt his chances this weekend.

Starting point is 00:18:24 Sure. He did a really nice job. I thought, you know, he didn't run the 40, which is fine. You know, he wants to run it more at his pro day. Like Jay Higgins took the opposite route. He decided to run his 40 at both. He wants to run it at both spots because he figured the adrenaline will help him out. That's what he's told at the combine. And then he can kind of give that a baseline that then maybe improve upon into this pro day. Well, Luke decided not to run it, but you know, he had a really good vertical, um, you know, his broad jump was good. Oh, I mean all the numbers, you know, even the three cone have really showed up. I think, uh, he did a nice job there. We know that in his interviews, he'll do a great job

Starting point is 00:19:00 and, uh, you know, he's a, he's a upper level blocker. So he's, he's in that third, fourth round range. And it's kind of funny. I'm writing sort of about who's the real tight end you, uh, over the last, uh, 25 and 10 years and over 25, it's probably a little bit skews towards Miami. If it's over last 10, it's Iowa. And then number two is blank. And, uh, seriously, I was, you know, if you combine these schools, like Iowa has their tight ends more than 16,000 yards over the last 10 years,

Starting point is 00:19:32 but the draft picks, whereas number two is Stanford with 8,700, um, nine pro bowls to two, you know, and this doesn't count like one teams like Cincinnati with Travis Kelsey, but, but, you know, just these teams that claim to be tight end you it's, it's Iowa. And he's going to add to that legacy. Now, um, Tyler Warren is helping Penn state, but they're clearly fifth on that list, Mitchell Evans and Notre Dame and Elijah Rojo from, um, from Miami. You know, they're, yeah, they're all pretty good, but, and I think Lashay

Starting point is 00:20:04 is probably going to go probably sixth or seventh. But again, it's about one team really liking you. And there's going to be a lot of teams liking him. Hopefully you are enjoying some shrimp cocktail on Friday night, not watching that drag. We've asked you a lot of times here recently, does it continue to feel like we're at the end of days for Fray McCaffrey and whatever it plays out that we're going to see him maybe in

Starting point is 00:20:28 Carver for the last time on Thursday. That is something that I thought about this morning. Actually, I did watch the game by the way, I was at the end of the week and I was kind of tired. Well, yeah, I just ate and wrote and watched while I wrote. But, um, you know, it is something that you have to contemplate I mean, you know, there's been enough discussion about it and Beth hasn't come out and said he's coming back for sure You know not that she has to because he's under contract

Starting point is 00:20:54 but but you know when these types of discussions happen, you know, you really have to but you know, you pay attention to the silence as much as any kind of rhetoric that's said and and as much as any kind of rhetoric that's said. And, you know, it's interesting when you start to break it all down because at a place like Iowa, his on-court accomplishments would normally merit an extra year, some sort of a discussion. I mean, even though he has won anything like the Sweet 16, but it's, you's, you're entitled to a down year once in a while, but I'll say this, then you go back, it's really about

Starting point is 00:21:32 the business of sport. When you can't fill your arena even to a third of it being full, then there's a cultural gap between you and your fans with disconnect. And I think that's where we're at. And it's going to be up to, you know, Beth Gatz to ultimately decide is this something that they can bridge, something they can bring together, or is it something that's just a bridge too far and you've got to reinvent yourself. And I think in order to change the culture, you usually have to start at the top. I don't know how, if this can ever,

Starting point is 00:22:05 this could be amicable. I don't know if this is something that will be, you know, a real difficult situation. I know it's not an easy decision regardless. So, but yeah, I think it's, it's certainly possible that this is the end of the Fran McCaffrey era on Friday, or on Thursday night, and they're going to get the team that's, you know, got the chance to actually win it outright, depending on what happens to Michigan on Wednesday. It's not a clenched share of the Big Ten regular season crown. So there's a lot in play Thursday night. Indeed.

Starting point is 00:22:34 Michigan State, nice win yesterday over Wisconsin. And here we go again. Izzo is playing, got his team playing as well as they have all season in the month of March. Scott Dockerman, Doc, what can we look forward to with the athletic this week with your name on it? Yeah, I'm actually, I wrote today about, I talked to a bunch of the old Pac-12 players about the challenges of what they had to go through first season and the travel and what it did to them record wise and everything. And I thought that was kind of interesting I'd writing today about a bunch of takeaways from the combine. Going to Ames tomorrow for a story that'll appear right around the start of the

Starting point is 00:23:10 NCAA tournament. So I'll be there all day, including BYU-Iowa State game. And then later on, I will do Iowa-Michigan State, see what happens there. So it's going to be a pretty packed week with a lot of football and basketball. stuff Scott document. Thank you, doc Back with you one final time of the lockdown Hawkeyes podcast Thanks for being with us and making lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day We got a lot of basketball plenty of football talk today We got even more we need to get into on the football front, but it's a busy time. Big 10 wrestling tournament begins coming up in just a couple of days. We were gonna get into that.

Starting point is 00:23:52 We're gonna be talking with Zat Saco from Locked On Nittany Lions. We'll give you a preview of the wrestling. We, of course, got the matchup against Michigan State in men's basketball, as we just talked about with Scott Dockerman, potentially the final game at Carver Hawkeye Arena in the Fran McCaffrey era Though Fran says he ain't going anywhere. We'll talk about that a little bit tomorrow. So a lot going on here We got you covered in of course Wednesday evening. It will be Iowa Wisconsin opening up in the Big Ten women's Basketball tournament now as we've talked about I was gonna be a big favorite in this game much like they were in the regular season

Starting point is 00:24:25 Finale against Wisconsin they're gonna be favored But I want to throw this number out to you and I think it was certainly an eye-opener to me going back over now the last month plus I what we've talked about in their last ten games has gone eight and two and An analytical website Bartorvik where you can sort things by date Since I will open up and got back on the right track Since they got that win against Washington out on the road We're talking about a six-week sample size here pretty big sample size. Yeah, I will Hawkeyes are a top 10 team in the country

Starting point is 00:25:02 Not only are they ranked in the top 10 with the analytical numbers, they are number 8 in the country in offensive efficiency and number 19 in defensive efficiency. This team is playing at a high level. Now the turnover rate is still not great but improved. They're shooting the ball incredibly well from the outside. They're guarding the line. This team can proven that they can do that. We've talked about the path, what potentially could be in front of them. If Iowa gets a win against Wisconsin, then beats Michigan State. So you could get hairy in a way and this one absolutely could go where I was making another deep run in the Big Ten tournament.

Starting point is 00:25:58 We'll be back with you after the Wednesday night game. Again, a lot going on. We preview Michigan State with our buddy Matt Sheehan over with locked on Spartans we got a big 10 wrestling preview coming your way all the basketball as well we got football storylines I was still in search of a running back coach the hiring of Warren Ruggiero I think is an absolute slam dunk it's always a good time to be a Hawkeye plus we got spring sports going on track and field the baseball baseball team and the softball team. And there is another story that is happening. What's happening with the softball team already had the head coach,

Starting point is 00:26:33 Coach Gillespie that medically stepped away from the team back in December. Now the assistant coach possibly out for a lot of craziness happening with the softball team and we will get you covered on that front as well Never know what's gonna be happening whether whatever comes up and we are with you each and every day here locked on Hawkeyes Thanks for being with us and making locked on Hawkeyes your first listen every day betty again tomorrow until then go Hawks

Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Kirk Ferentz makes a HUGE hire in Warren Rufferio for Iowa Football, Scott Dochterman joins the show

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