Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Kirk Ferentz press conference notes, Pro Football Focus Numbers

Episode Date: September 7, 2022

Trent Condon is back for a solo edition of the Locked on Hawkeyes Podcast after the weekly Kirk Ferentz press conference for Iowa football.The conversation of quarterback comes up once again with the much maligned Spencer Petras, injuries were also a big part of the talk.Then a look at the wide receiver position and trying to figure out exactly what is happening with Keagan Johnson as it appears that he is out again this week and Kirk mentioned that he still has not practiced.Then a breakdown of the Pro Football Focus numbers from last week's win against South Dakota State.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at Linkedin.com/lockedoncollege Terms and conditions apply.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!UpsideDownload the FREE Upside App and use promo code Locked to get $5 or more cash back on your first purchase of $10 or more. Underdog FantasySign up on underdogfantasy.com with the promo code LOCKED ON and get your first deposit doubled up to $100!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

the Iowa Hawkeyes are circling the wagons we hear from Kirk Ferentz and the players as they get ready for the matchup against Iowa State more questions and answers about Keegan Johnson and Iowa's wide receiver group continues to be incredibly depleted and some numbers from Saturday just how bad was it was it We go analytical with some numbers from pro football focus. All coming up on today's Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen each and every day. A big thank you to everybody that has been going to our YouTube page and subscribing.

Apologies for me and the way that I look. But hey, we got LaShawn. We got Jace. We got a lot of great crew here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. And thanks for hitting the subscribe button over there. I also want to say thank you to LinkedIn Jobs. They are an official college football recruiting sponsor across the Lockdown College Network. LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to.

And with that going on right now, you can find the candidates you want to talk to faster. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash careers. Again, that's linkedin.com slash careers, an opportunity for you to post your job for free and a big thank you to linkedin let's get going here as we hear from kirk parents yesterday and many of the iowa football players after of course a long week again three-day weekend but they're right back at it as they were reviewing the film an opportunity to look back at what we saw in the 7-3 win against

south dakota state and one of the biggest takeaways we saw in the 7-3 win against South Dakota State. And one of the biggest takeaways, we talked about the quarterback position happening, but this is something that you'd also anticipate. Iowa's backs are against the wall. There's a lot of frustration inside the fan base. There's got to be frustration inside the walls at Kinnick and inside that football complex. After what they saw offensively, after some of the things in the bills of goods that maybe we were sold during this offseason it was back to more of the same and more of the struggles that we've seen again out of this Iowa offense so you get that you understand

it but one thing that Kirk Ferentz has been incredibly good throughout his career is well first of all a willingness to to play it's boring but it's so truthful week to week, right? You just keep going through the process. You never get too high. You never get too low. That is Kirk Ferentz. And it's something that all coaches ultimately want to do. He is one of the best at that.

You think of some of the bad performances that I was had in the past and some of the rough starts that they've had, disappointing efforts, and then the way that they have been able to battle back go back just two years ago 2020 obviously a very tumultuous offseason we have a virus happening that we'd never seen certainly in our lifetimes you have that happening and then you had what happened obviously of the course of many african-american players talking about the way that they were treated as players. So that was also happening inside the program. Iowa gets off to an 0-2 start. It looked like maybe it was the beginning of the end, again, of the Ference era. What did they do? They rip off six straight victories. They had the season ranked in the top 25 and carried a lot of

that momentum into 2021. Other times throughout the years. Go back to that Penn State game in 2017 before Iowa beat Michigan the next week, 14-13 on the walk-off from Keith Duncan. And Iowa played as poorly as they had in a long time in that football game against Penn State. Michigan was obliterating absolutely everybody that season. What do they do? That's a fair and special. A couple weeks before the big victory against Ohio State. Same thing.

Those same kind of questions were there. And this is what Iowa does. And what it looks like backs against the wall, either for an individual team or the program as a whole, that they have been able to respond. And that's your hope at this point in time, that the Hawkeyes are going to circle the wagons. They were saying all the right things this week.

Starting with Kirk Ferentz. You know he was going to give the coach a speak, and that's what he did. He said all the things that you would anticipate. Talk about some of the injuries and a couple of things there. He also said that, again, we know this is going to be Spencer Petras' job. He has continued to maintain that this is not an issue just with one person. This is not one thing. There's not a magic elixir out there that putting in the backup quarterback is going

to change what this Iowa team is and what they're going to be the rest of the season. That's the belief that he has. And he talked about getting to 1-0. Again, a lot of the things that you anticipate, you're going to hear from Kirk Behrens. But there's some others we're going to get into today. The wide receiver position, certainly among them at the biggest. The evaluation, though, is Spencer. And this is what Kirk had to say about Spencer Petras, and evaluating what it is, and an open competition as compared to what he has done. And that's a question that I've had. It's a question that

is something that has bothered me. It's something that I have struggled to wrap my mind around. This is what Kirk said. Yeah, I think it's full-fledged. In my mind, and every player builds a resume when they're here, through the way they practice. Again, there's that word practice. Practice, practice, practice. And when they play.

We see more practice than we do game competition. But I think he's done a lot of good things for us, and he did some good things on Saturday. Some things he could have done better. I think overall right now, I think our biggest challenge, just a little bit like last year, is just team execution right now. I don't want to give him a fair assessment just like I would anybody that's in there. It's all well and good, but we have so much, so much now that says he's not the guy, right? That guy that we saw even early in his career as a sophomore, as a starter, that guy's not coming back. I don't think there is any coming back from it.

And this is the evaluation that you hear Kirk Ferentz say it. It leaves you scratching your head. Now, later today, we're going to find Ferentz. And this is something that was set up before the season. This is not something that, you know, Kirk said, hey, let's throw in the wolves. This is something that was already set up as they had the assistant coaches speak at different times throughout the course of the year. And Brian just happened to be first up. They didn't change it. They didn't shy away with it, which is good, right? Because it would have been very simple to come up with a lame excuse to say what's scheduling wise

Brian has something going on. We're not going to be able to make it this week. Instead, here's Phil Parker after the great performance. Here's LeVar Woods after what the specialty teams are, right? It would have been very easy to do that. So a credit right there. And the credit has been few and far between for me

to Brian Ferentz throughout his five-year, 10-year offense coordinator. Even before that, as the offensive line coach, that aside, credit there because he's going to stand up and he's going to answer the question. Now, is it just going to be verbal diarrhea? He's going to say a lot of things without saying a lot of things. He learned from his dad. There's going to be plenty of that.

We'll see if there's going to be answers, but that's going to be intriguing. We'll of course break things down as we always do here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. So that was one part from Kirk. I thought that was very good. A couple of injury updates for you as well. Justin Jacobs left the game. He's got a hamstring injury. He's going to be away here, looks like, at minimum for a couple of weeks. And we've talked about the wide receiver group. We're getting into that a little bit more. That's obviously a huge one to talk about. But when you continue with that conversation with the injuries, what does this do for this Iowa? What they're going to do defensively against Iowa State this week? Justin Jacobs was playing incredibly well. A little bit later, we got the pro football focus

numbers for you, and we'll show you just how well he graded out in his limited snaps before he exited with that hamstring injury this is something though that's going to be multiple weeks not going to be back right away so just cross him off the list and that's going to mean we're going to see a couple of younger linebackers Logan Klemple be out there and he'll be the guy more than likely when they go for three that's going to be on the field you're also going to see plenty though of the cash as we did on Saturday. Cooper DeGene out there a little bit more.

I mean, the depth of the cornerback spot is going to be a little bit more important. But get ready to see plenty of that in the injury update there on the defensive side of the football. And offensive line, you know, guys in and out. I thought it was also very interesting, as Kirk mentioned, talking about a guy like Jennings Dunker, who played pretty well on Saturday,

a guy that has been battling injury. A lot of this young group getting their feet wet. Logan Jones, it's so funny because the way that we talked to him going back to spring football and throughout summer and now into August camp and where we are today, is we talked about him so much and he almost felt like a veteran. But remember, he's playing center for the first time right at the collegiate level he'd never done it before certainly at that

kind of level and being a starter and going out there and snapping the football we forget sometimes it can be a little rough and it was for logan jones so a couple of things certainly to take away on the injury front but one of the big ones is we mentioned Circle the Wagons and what this team is doing. And hearing Arlen Bruce talk about Keegan Johnson, we're going to talk about that. We continue here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Pro Football Focus numbers also coming your way. All happening here in just a moment as we roll through on a Wednesday edition of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast.

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receiver group for the hawkeyes is incredibly depleted there's nothing that you can say right now that's going to change just how scary it kind of looks at this moment for this iowa receiver group it's arlen bruce who's an undersized receiver he can make some plays but he's a guy that'd be a nice complimentary piece, certainly this part in his career, right? So more true sophomore, you'd hope he's out there playing half the snaps, being your slot guy, doing a couple other things, get him in the jet sweep

because that's his skill set. Well, he's your number one. Now, without Keegan out there. Now, Keegan and him are roommates. They're friends. They know each other well. Just some interesting comments he's talking about. Well, first of all, the question was asked, when do you anticipate him back? What about the injury?

And Arlen Bruce did not want to talk about that. Good for him. But, you know, that's what you try to do. We're trying to get some answers, and that's what we're looking for with Keegan Johnson. There has been injuries. There has been things around Keegan for a very long time. Now, there's people that will believe that he played his last game in an Iowa uniform, which would be hugely disappointing just because of what a revelation he has been.

There's others that say that he is close. This is what Kirk Ferentz had to say today about that and about what we see going forward with Keegan Johnson. Very short in these comments. Read into that what you will. This is what Kirk said. He still hasn't been with the team. He hasn't practiced with the team.

He's with the team, but hasn't practiced. So I don't think this week you can expect him. A little bit more. Another question. How many more weeks do you think it'll be? Kirk responded, I wish I was that that smart it's whenever he's ready he'll be ready hopefully soon that's it very short when you see responses like that you know kirk doesn't want to trip over his words he doesn't want to have something that could be used against him or maybe swayed a different way. Tight with his words. Not a lot to

say. But the beginning part on that first response, he still hasn't been with the team. He hasn't practiced with the team. Okay. What is happening here? It's incredibly difficult to wrap our mind around what this is.

This is one of the craziest situations that I can remember. Look, if it was an injury, it'd be easy, right? If he tore his ACL, just say he tore his ACL and he's out for the year. It's not what this is. If he had some trouble just during camp and got banged up, we talk about that. If he got hurt in a game, we talk about that. And yes, with laws and regulations,

you have to be a little bit careful. This is different. Now, it doesn't appear that it's anything legal. There's no legal problems that are happening. That's not what it is. But this goes back to last season. This goes back to last spring, during spring football, when he wasn't out there.

And then, throughout summer workouts, and now through August camp. And now we're into the games, and where's Keegan Johnson? Out. Why? Speculation. Big guys. Scott Dockerman has mentioned a hamstring issue. Heard some talk about sports horny.

And there's been all kinds of other rumors that are out there but it's just that it's just such an odd situation in a year where iowa needs help with that wide receiver group as badly as they ever have and that says a lot because we know how bad that wide receiver group has been at times throughout the ferris era and here they are and they're by far the most talented guy, is unavailable. How different would this offense look if they had a competent number one wide receiver like Keegan Johnson? How much better would Spencer Peterson look? Now, if he was missing the targets like he did to most everybody else, not a whole lot different, but it's at least a guy that can go up and make a play up the field, right?

The biggest play was a little seam route to Arlen Bruce on Saturday. That's not going up and get the football. That's a little gap in the defense and hit it up the seam. Keegan can make those kind of plays. Interesting. And I think very important to see what this is.

I don't know. We'll get a little bit deeper on that. We're going to get a little bit deeper inside the numbers. One final look back at what we saw on Saturday against South Dakota State. The numbers, analytically, from Pro Football Focus. What do they tell us? We'll talk about that as we continue on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. And back with you one final time.

I'm Trent Condon. This is the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen each and every day. Available wherever you get podcasts. You can also see us on the YouTube. That's right. Hit the subscribe button over there. We're trying to get to 1,000 subscribers,

and we're getting close, over 900. At last check, a big thank you to you for joining us. You see the scrolling bottom line that we have here, a new addition last week, and the point spreads that are available earlier this week. We'll be making our picks a little bit later on. Myself, LaShawn Jace, we'll be making our picks later on here this week. Very interesting, speaking of point spreads,

you guys know my love of betting. Iowa State, currently 3.5 is what these Cyclones are getting. That over-under 40.5. I jumped aboard right when that number came out at 41.5. It's down to 40.5. If you like the under, like I do, I will tell you to jump aboard because you're not going to be alone in that one. What's it going to take to win this game for Iowa? How many points is it going to take for the Hawkeyes to win? Those are some of the things that we're going to take to win this game for Iowa. How many points is it going to take for the Hawkeyes to win? Those are some of the things that we're going to be talking about here

as we ramp things up and get closer and closer to kick off with the Hawkeyes and the Cyclones. Before that, though, mention a final look back. I want to take one more peek back at Saturday and get some of those numbers, an analytical look, not just me watching on television, right? Nothing like that.

Let's go a little bit deeper here inside these numbers. So let's kick things off on the defensive side of the football. Let's start with the positive step forward first, right? And take a look at the good side of the football from the matchup, starting with the defensive line and some of the numbers. Now, Logan Lee, he graded out the best. and then we talked about this in the Instant Reaction podcast, just how good Logan Lee looked out there. A little bit surprised why he was making some plays out there, and he was the second-ranked defensive lineman from pro football focus. Only played 17

snaps, but he was getting there. Unfortunately, though, he got a little bit of a foot or ankle injury. He got rolled up on, and he's not going to be available, it sounds like, for the next couple of weeks. Noah Shannon, he's making that senior leap. He's going to have a great senior year, health obviously withstanding. That is what you're hoping for Noah Shannon, but you can see it right away. He was a big talk of August camp with some of my contacts that I had there. Noah Shannon really putting it all together.

Lucas Van Ness, he looked like Hercules and played like it at times. Just 32 snaps, but they were keeping a lot of guys fresh. Noah Shannon played the most defensive line snaps in the game on Saturday. Deontay Craig got to the quarterback. He graded out well. Joe Evans, of course, had the second safety that made it 7-3 to the disappointment of some people in the national media. John Wagner finishing things along with Ethan Hurkett and Louis Steck.

Louis Steck's going to see a little bit more playing time now with the entry of Y.A. Black. You're going to see him out a little bit more. And Aaron Graves, the true freshman, a five-star. He is also, sounding like Kirkham mentioned, he's going to get a little bit more playing time. So I mentioned earlier the injury to Justin Jacobs, another disappointing one, playing well. He's a guy, we know Jack Campbell's the

All-American, right? He's a middle linebacker, not exactly a feature position in the NFL, and because of that, that is not usually highly regarded when it comes to in the draft, and you see those guys going out. It's outside guys, it's at rushers, that's what you see, you know, your top-level picks on the defensive side of the football, and certainly out of the linebacker those guys going on it's outside guys it's at rushers that's what you see your top level picks on the defensive side of the football and certainly out of the linebacker spot and people had said this summer and a scout that i had talked to on a radio show had mentioned that there are scouts out there that really like justin jacobs even more than jack campbell is an nfl prospect for this coming season even though jacobs has another year of eligibility and it's because

of the elite athleticism the ability to cover in space of this size, and they think he's still got even more upside maybe to him than Jack Campbell. That's a finished product, and it's a great product, no doubt, but it's the NFL right there. They're always looking for that upside, and the guy that can even take a step, maybe a guy that you can get in the third round, and Leighton's first contract is playing like a first-rounder. That's what you're hoping for. Well first contract is playing like a first rounder.

That's what you're hoping for. Well, Jacobs is playing that way before the injury. He graded out as the top linebacker on Saturday. Jack Campbell's second right behind him. Seth Benson didn't grade out real well compared to some of the games that we've seen in the past. Both up in the 80s for Jacobs and Campbell. 83.8 for Jacobs and Campbell at 1.6 and then after that it is Seth Benson at 68.6 and limited snaps Tyler Fisher he displayed two Logan Klemp he played five don't want to read

anything into those numbers out of those two guys finally defensively in the backfield and the analytic numbers show up just like our eyes do right Quinn Schulte was great and he graded out great at 88.6 for quinn schulte's terry roberts right behind him at 87.1 cooper dejean was good came on mary weather was at a 69 and the lowest ranked defensive back was right leigh moss the preseason all-american shows you how good though that group certainly played on saturday so that's all well and good. There's another side to the football, though. Let's go to the offense. The analytic numbers measure with any other number.

The eyeball test, whatever you want to use at the quarterback spot, it was brutal. Spencer Petras was bad. We talked about how we can move past that. A couple of numbers for you, though. Under pressure, one of seven, 26 yards and an interception. When glitzed, 0 for 3. And how about this? A couple of numbers for you, though. Under pressure, one of seven, 26 yards and an interception. When blitzed, 0 for three. And how about this?

Non-play action. These are just straight dropbacks. These are the times where you're not fooling the defense. You're just running a pass play. 8 of 21, 65 yards, and that interception. Sidious. That's really, really bad. Run game, not much better. LeSean Williams, he was a 53, as was Caleb Johnson.

Both those guys, not great. 52 snaps for LeSean Williams, 9 for Caleb Johnson. It does sound like Gavin Williams, though, has a chance to get back this week. And Matty Potty Bomb did not grade out well either as a running back, if you will. I did get that one carry in the game. And I don't think he blocked real well, though. Don't have those numbers here. At the wide receiver group, not great.

Arlen Bruce, my top-rated guy. Luke Lachey, he was down at a 54. Alec Wick at a 53. Sam Laporta, 45. Really poor numbers out of that wide receiver and tight end group. And then the offensive line, as I mentioned, Jennings Dunker, it showed up as it looked like on film. He graded out well in his 17 snaps.

He was the top offensive lineman. Logan Jones was behind him. So you kind of wonder about Logan Jones that we talked about. That's something maybe a little bit off the snap. Talked about that a little bit with LaShawn Daniels in the podcast yesterday. Nick DeYoung third, both Stevens after that, Connor Colby and Mason Richmond. Richmond coming back from injury, Connor Colby, he was shifting around. He went from guard to tackle, so he bounced around a little bit.

Need to be better there. There's not a have to be better on the offensive line, but I just like these pro football focus numbers. Look, ultimately it's one guy or maybe a group of people that are grading out the film in whatever capacity that they do. Who knows exactly which each of these guys that are diagnosing this film with their credentials are. Where are my credentials? I just watch football for my whole life. I mean, credentials are all kind of different things, right?

But ultimately, it's just a way to see if your eyes are marrying with what the numbers go with. And that's why I like to see if your eyes are marrying with what the numbers go with. And that's why I like to look at these. And we'll do this throughout the season and take a look at these numbers from pro football focus. I just think always an interesting, a different kind of look to see exactly what we're seeing and see if it does match. Well, we're running a little bit short on time here today. It's been a lot of fun. We got Jay stopping in later in the week. And of course,

John's going to be here for a Friday edition of things, but Hey, we're getting close. Well, season right around the corner. Want to thank you for making lockdown Hawkeyes. Your first listen every day for your second listen, though,

go to the ultimate pro football preview, 2022. It's an eight episode, big cut time stuff for the NFL season, local experts across the Lockdown Network. They're going to get you inside each and every team, each and every division. Plus the betting side of things. I love that with my man, Lee Sterling from Lockdown Pets, all into one big preview for

the NFL. Just go right now and search for Ultimate Pro Football Preview 2022 on your Odyssey app, YouTube, or wherever you get podcasts. We will flip the page coming up tomorrow. We will start to get more and more ready for Iowa State. We'll break down the Cyclones a little bit more, went back and watched their game start to finish the other night. We'll get into that, what we saw out of it,

how difficult it's going to be, how many points is it going to take to beat this Cyclone team? Does the winning streak continue? And as we talked about today, Iowa, Kirk Ferentz, say what you will, there's something about this team when they have their back against the wall. At times, the Hawks play their best football. Will it be this week? Let's hope. Back with you tomorrow. Thanks for being with us here on the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast.