Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Kirk Ferentz press conference notes, Iowa Hoops rolls in Game 1 Instant Reaction, 4 * Nick Brooks decommits

Episode Date: November 8, 2023

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It was press conference today in Iowa City, and certainly a different feel to Iowa football compared to where we were a week ago after the firing of Brian Farris. Plus, an instant reaction. Iowa basketball starts off the season with a big win today. Locked on Hawkeyes. You are locked on Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

Welcome 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 find us on YouTube. While you're there, make sure you hit the subscribe button. Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Today's episode is brought to you by the GameTime app.

Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. A week later, and though things are certainly not unbelievably wonderful in the world of Iowa Hawkeye football, they are 7-2, and we find out here on Tuesday evening that they are the 22nd ranked team in the country according to the College Football Playoff Committee. out here on Tuesday evening that they are the 22nd ranked team in the country, according to the college football playoff committee. In the grand scheme of things, what does that mean?

Not a whole lot. This team is not getting to the college football playoff. They're not finishing in the top four. They're likely the only path they have to getting to a major bowl game would be pulling an upset of the century in the Big Ten championship game. So in the grand scheme of things, it's nice to see their name there. They'll show up on all the rankings for ESPN as they obviously have the rights to the college football playoff and I'll be able to get them on there, get their highlights on TV.

Let's hope there are some highlights to actually put up on TV. But a week later after the press conference on the Wednesday of the week, the normal Tuesday press conference after a game and no bye week this week, it was a lot different feeling in Iowa City. And Kirk Ferentz, I don't want to say he was jovial, punchy at times, but kind of funny. I had some good lines and we don't always get that out of a Kirk Ferentz press conference. And we certainly did in the press conference here earlier today. But you know what? A couple of things stood out.

Kirk understands the limitations of this team. But when the story of Caleb Brown, the guy that has one catch, right? A guy that had one catch at Ohio State. And yet, for so many people, myself included, he was such a godsend to this program this summer because it was what you'd hope at minimum is a competent wide receiver. A guy that has the requisite speed to make plays down the field. And as he saw on the one catch of his Iowa career,

his second career catch at the collegiate level, he's got speed. And there was a reason he was able to get leverage on the defensive back on that play to come back for it. The ball was actually thrown on time and rhythm. You pick up 23 yards and, well, you set up a game-winning field goal. But it gives you hope that this is a guy that is figuring it out. And more importantly, what Kirk had to say about it today

is hearing from Caleb Brown, a guy that definitely has talent. Iowa just does not get the kind of playmaker that Caleb Brown was coming out of high school, a guy that put up huge numbers as a running back that people thought was destined to be an excellent wide receiver, was a four-star. He went to Ohio State.

He played as a true freshman in that Ohio State wide receiver room a year ago. I mean, that says a ton. With the best wide receiver coach in the country in Brian Hartline teaching him the ropes. This is a dude that can get it and can be good. And maybe this is all it is. And another thing, we talk a lot about and the frustrating avenue of Iowa football.

And Kurt talked about practice again a ton during the press conference today. It was a big, big topic. And talking about guys that are able to help out in a variety of different ways. They don't have to be a starter and things like that. But we know how important practice is. But another component is when you get an opportunity, you have to make the most of it. If you fail in the opportunities, and even if they're rare, that hurts you with Iowa football. Quarterback, different conversation. We know that,

whatever reason. But for most every other position, if you go into a game and you screw up, other position. If you go into a game and you screw up, if you get a couple opportunities, they go with the next man in adage. And it's cross football. Most everybody talks about next man in. Iowa feels like maybe takes it to another level. But if you're the next man in and you make a mistake, you're the next man in and you're not able to make the plays, the makeables, it's going to be very difficult for you to get back out there the next time one of those spots arise. He was able to do that because Deontay Vines was out and he made a play. And maybe that is just that little nugget that Kirk and the staff needed to get Caleb Brown out there a little bit more, to find a way to get this guy with elite athleticism

an opportunity to get the football in his hands a little bit more. Also brought up Cooper Dijon. And, you know, it's the fair point that Kirk brings up because when we've talked so much about Cooper Dijon getting the ball offensively and doing something to just get something out of this god-awful offense, just find any way to be able to move the football. A drive here, a drive there, a play here, a play there. Just try something. And they did.

Credit to them. It took a long time, but they did. They took their best playmaker that they have right now in Cooper DeGene and what he can do as a returner, and they put him out there for a couple of plays. And Cooper DeGene today during the player interviews, he didn't want to say too much, but you have to think that there's more of the package. There's a guy that is a high school quarterback.

He can throw it. You have to anticipate that there's more there, but how much is too much? Travis Hunter played the whatever it was, 130 plays in that first game of the year. Was that a pretty major injury? And not only does Cooper Dejean play defense, number one, he plays on a defense that's on the field a lot. That's number two. And then he plays special teams and not just play special teams.

And you see him in the punt returns, obviously, but he's also out there doing other things in special teams. And being a returner, that's impactful. How much is too much? It's a fair question to ask. And another great point that Kirk brought up is, yeah, we love to see Cooper out there making plays, right? You, me, everybody.

We love to see Cooper Dejean in some kind of offensive role trying to help this offense out. However, you lose him, it's significant. And it is a very fine line of figuring out what makes the most sense. What is the thing that makes the most sense for this Iowa football team? How much is too much on the plate of Cooper Dijon? You got to move the football. You got to pick your spots.

And maybe it also helped that last week we saw Deshaun Lee come back off of injury. And with it, you have another cornerback that can help you out a little bit if something bad would go out there. Talked about Caleb Brown, also Caleb Johnson. Weird, right? Touched on this, I believe, in the reaction podcast after the game against Northwestern. Just not seeing him out there. This guy's dynamic. He's talented. It has not gone well this year.

He's been banged up. Kirk said there's nothing nefarious, nothing to be overly concerned about. He just said the other guys had better practice. Read into that what you will. We'll see. Kirk also brought up he had a big game, and he's got an opportunity this week to get out there

and do this against Rutgers like he did a season ago. Odd? Yeah. We'll keep an eye on it. Keep an eye on Iowa basketball as well. The Hoopsters kick off the season with a big win against North Dakota. A reaction to that one here this evening. Instant reaction. Iowa with the win over North Dakota. How's this men's basketball team? And after an exhibition game? After a opening regular season win? Have we changed what we think this team can be? Are we going to overreact?

Maybe. We'll do that as we continue. This is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Today's episode is brought to you by the FanDuel Sportsbook. Score early this NFL season with FanDuel. It's America's number one sportsbook. Right now, new customers, you can get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 Moneyline bet as simple as that.

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As always, thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. So as we cruise through here, it's time to talk a little basketball. And yes, it was against a North Dakota team that is not very good. This is a North Dakota team that is likely going to get pummeled throughout the course of their season. But so be it. A win's a win. And in game number one, put up 110.

Like, Fran McCaffrey could take you, me, and three of our dorky friends. He's going to be able to have a score. I mean, basketball. He is such a good offensive mind. And, yes, anybody looks good is such a good offensive mind. And yes, anybody looks good when they're hitting threes. And that was early on, this Iowa team. You had Sanford knocking down a bunch of triples early on,

and they just went out and really cruised from there. But the depth that this team has, the number of different guys that can score the basketball, gets you excited because there are some different things that they can do. And if they can just be a tick better on the defensive end, I have, that was my major concern with this team coming into the season, rebounding and defense. Now, you can say that with most every Iowa basketball team. And you just take a look at the raw numbers, rebounding wise, Iowa out rebounds North Dakota by 5 42 37 that's not great gave up 11 offensive rebounds that's not great so maybe there's a couple of concerning elements here but

it's two games in Owen Freeman that dude is so good and we've talked about this one in the past every day as you know about this and I was always just so baffled why this guy that had as good offers as almost any Iowa basketball player of the Fran McCaffrey era. There's not many people, not many basketball players that had the kind of offer list that Owen Freeman had. And he just kept going lower and lower on those recruiting lists year after year or every three, four months when they'd put out a new rankings all right here we go click on this we got a new ranking out for august all right you do it right i do it too so i i it was something

that i just couldn't understand i talked to people you know on the grassroots circuit and they kind of said the same kind of thing he's athletic enough he's got the size he has a skill set he he has all the pieces he's going to be really good really really good and maybe even really really good throughout the course of this season so right now your starting lineup as they did in the exhibition game was the same desante bowen tony perkins your backcourt up front, Patrick McCaffrey, Peyton Zandvoort, and then Ben Kricke in the middle. You know, Kricke, he's crafty. He's going to make plays. He's just going to be a good score. He's going to have to rebound more,

certainly, than he did a year ago at Valpo. We averaged 5.9 a game a year ago. He probably needs to be in the 7.5 to 8 range, I think, for this Iowa basketball team to be successful. to be in the seven and a half to eight range, I think, for this Iowa basketball team to be successful. Maybe I'm drinking the Kool-Aid and that's what I do with Iowa basketball. I love Iowa basketball so much. It's my first sport love. It is, for me, I get higher and lower with Iowa basketball than any other sport. Just the way that I am wired and watching this team, seeing Dambale come in there, hit a three early on, hit a couple in the game, show the athleticism on the dunk that he had. I mentioned Owen Freeman, the dunk that he had in the first half of the game,

just going right through the middle of the lane. That was a sight to behold. Brock Harding going out, having seven assists in his debut. There's going to be times that Harding is going to be overwhelmed physically. But boy, he is going to make some plays that are going to get the people out of their seats, even the blue hairs that are knitting in the front row, they're going to be up and wild for this one. He's going to be entertaining, and he's going to be our guy. This team has a chance, how about that, to be a better shooting team than they were certainly

a year ago. Peyton Sanford had, what was it, a three-and-a-half-week stretch where he shot it terribly. And he worked his way out of it and became a really good player and was a big part of the comeback against Michigan State a year ago. Really, probably the game that solidified themselves a season ago as an NCAA tournament team was that comeback victory against the Spartans at home when Freyna's staring down their official. year ago, really probably the game that solidified themselves a season ago as an NCAA tournament team was that comeback victory against the Spartans at home when Freyna's staring down their official. And he is, if he has that consistency now where you're not going to see those lulls,

you're not going to see him go through any kind of shooting slump for an extended period of time. You got something. Perkins okay. And DeSante Bowen, it was an exhibition game. I was incredibly disappointed from what I saw from Bowen. And he looked like a different guy tonight. He looked like what he did, whatever it was in this last week of practice, that he was a guy that we hoped we got when he committed back a couple years back. DeSante Bowen was one of the handpicked guys for Freya McCaffrey, a guy that he offered early and actually got him.

And that has been such a struggle, especially at the point guard position for Freya McCaffrey. He's been on the doorstep so many times to so many different dudes. Cesar Guerrero, remember that name? Obviously the big one with Uless. There's been so many examples of that. Being so close and not being able to get it down. DJ Carton, we could go on and on and on.

There's been so many times that he got there and just wasn't able to get it. DeSante Bowen was one that he got. Last year was frustrating. I think we all expected to see more out of DeSante Bowen. And then I watched the exhibition game and he shouldn't take a 40 minute exhibition basketball game and overreact to it. Just like tonight, we shouldn't overreact to a 40 minute game against a bad North Dakota team. However, DeSante Bowen stepping back that way. This is the guy I thought they could get. It's

that three early on was passing it, moving it very well. This team's got a chance. And that was the one caveat I always said when I said this team, you know, I had them pegged for 18 and 16, something like that. Maybe in the NIT, probably not even getting a home game in the NIT, something like that. There's a chance. And for him, McCaffrey, he continues to surprise us year after year after year. He puts a quality team on the floor. Has he hit the heights that fans want? No. Has he got to the second weekend? Absolutely not. And that's always going to be the knock. However,

this team, I think they got a chance again. I can't believe I'm saying that. I can't believe how quickly my tune has changed on what this men's team can be this season. Well, there's also a changing tune. That's Nick Brooks. He's a four-star offensive lineman. Just played last season at Cedar Rapids Kennedy.

He was in Georgia for a couple of years. Georgia. Yeah, the Bulldogs. They're after him. Alabama. Took a visit to Texas Tech. That's weird. Now Deion's calling, and he says he's no longer committed to the Hawkeyes. We'll get into that. A little more football to wrap things up. The four-star is no more,

at least at this point in time, with the Iowa Hawkeyes. What does that mean? What do we read into that? We'll do that as we continue here. This is the Locked On Hawkeyes. What does that mean? What do we read into that? We'll do that as we continue here. This is the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Today's episode of Lockdown Hawkeyes is brought to you by Game Time. You shouldn't have to worry when you're buying tickets for your next big event. And it doesn't matter really what that next big event is. So many different things that you can take a look at. Of course, sports, basketball going on right now here back in the state of Iowa. Wrestling, but they got music, comedy, theater events, all that near you.

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and use code LOCKDOWNCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply again. Create an account, redeem code LOCKDOWNCOLLEGE for $20 off. Download GameTime today. Last-minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Trent Conant back with you one final time on the LockedOn Hawkeyes podcast. As always, thanks for making LockedOn Hawkeyes your first listen every day. So here we are.

And talk some football at the top. Get a little basketball. We got a lot going on. Got a soccer team in the NCAA tournament, a field hockey team in the NCAA tournament, women's basketball, and oh, how delicious was it seeing last night Kim Mulkey and LSU go down to Colorado. Colorado team Iowa beat, by the way, a year ago.

That was, yeah, I think we all had a smile on our face after that one. However, back to football to wrap up. And Nick Brooks. So Nick Brooks, an interesting case. A young man that has background in Iowa, grew up in Iowa, moved to Georgia a couple years ago. And then this summer we found out that this four-star offensive lineman

was moving back to Iowa. And he shows back up at Cedar Rapids where he's got family. And though he had offers from Georgia and Alabama and basically the who's who of college football, he still announced that he was going to make his commitment. Remember, he just started his junior year. Not going to be signing until a little over a year from now, still has another season of high school football in front of him.

And then we find out on the recruiting message boards that he's taking a visit to Texas Tech. And today he announced that he is no longer an Iowa Hawkeye. Does this have something to do with Brian Ferentz? I wouldn't think so. I think the overall offensive ineptitude maybe has something to do with it. I don't believe that the firing of Brian Ferentz, though, is the reason that Nick Brooks decommitted. I think it's the state of this offense. We'll see if Iowa is out of it. And there's opportunities out there.

There are real opportunities for these young men to figure out exactly what it is. And this is such a better situation for this to happen now, as opposed to what they dealt with with Caden Proctor. Look, if it's over, if Nick Brooks sees the glitz and glamour of Dion and wants to go to Colorado, or maybe there's more NIL opportunities at Texas Tech, and some oil tycoon is giving them hundreds of thousands of dollars, whatever it turns out to be, it's all well and good. At least you know it now. At least you can plan for it now. And I believe that Iowa will probably still try to recruit him. Don't know officially that front yet, but I would anticipate that's going to be

the case. There's a long ways away. Remember the story of Juan Harris and he's committed to Iowa and then Indiana and a bunch of other places. He was all over the place and it never worked out. I don't know if we're heading to the same direction here with Nick Brooks and what kind of direction that young man needs, but Iowa has an opportunity to go out and find another player. They didn't have that with Caden Proctor. Signed, sealed, and delivered. Said all the right things and then did the exact opposite. Here we're talking about 13 months away from next year's signing day

when he's going to be signing on the dotted line. Don't equate these two things because they're not the same. Nick Brooks, it stinks. Look, it's an Iowa kid. It's a big-time offensive lineman, and God knows this team needs good quality offensive lineman. However, Ken Proctor ultimately screwed the Hawkeyes. He'd be starting.

And though his freshman campaign at Alabama has not gone very well, he would have helped out this team and probably helped him out a lot more than what's happening at Alabama. And what could have been? Better offensive line play. Maybe somebody slides inside.

All of a sudden, rising water lifts all boats. And this running game could have been better than what we've seen at this point. We don't exactly know. Maybe the tutelage would have been better along the offensive line. Maybe the system would have worked better. Whatever it is, we don't. He would have helped. But these are not the same. And I was going to hire another offensive coordinator. And maybe they hit it off. Maybe there's a new offensive line coach that comes in with the new OC. We just don't know. Different situations. It stinks. But that is the reality for today. The reality also for today is we are out of here. We'll be back with you tomorrow on

Lockdown Hawkeyes, though. My buddy Biz will be stopping by. We're in Chicago together, still trying to dry out a little bit from that one. If we have fun in Chi-town. And a big thank you to everybody that stopped by at Merkel's. Great to see you all throughout Chicago, throughout the couple of days being there. Such a good time. Looking forward to that and looking forward to some more Hawkeye parties here in the not too distant future. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Go Hawks!