Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Luka Garza is an ANIMAL | What are postseason expectations for Iowa football? | Reviewing the analytics from win over Nebraska

Episode Date: November 30, 2020

The men's basketball team was back in action so we break down what we learned from the two wins at Carver including the ridiculously hot start from Luka Garza. Segment two has us analyzing the results... across the Big Ten and the NCAA and how it impacts the Iowa Hawkeyes. We close out the show by reviewing what the analytics tell us about the win over Nebraska.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order.BuiltGoVisit BuiltGO.com and use promo code “LOCKED,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 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 today's episode is brought to you by Built Bar. Go to BuiltBar.com and use promo code LOCKEDON, and you'll get 20% off your next order. And stay tuned, because we have some great deals kind of going through Built Bar as well, so you're going to want to check those out on one of our little breaks we take in between each segment today.
Starting point is 00:00:40 But coming up on today's show, we have a lot to talk about. And we have a very busy week this week, especially with basketball really kicking off and football still in play. Lots of stuff to talk about. We're going to first recap the two basketball games, talk a little bit about that, what we liked, what we didn't like, what things need to improve, etc. Then we're going to do a little bit of a Big Ten heat check. And by that, I mean we're going to be reviewing some of the games that happened across NCAA basketball and NCAA football, how that impacts Iowa, also kind of how the Big Ten races are going on right now, both basketball and football, talking a little bit about the rankings as well.
Starting point is 00:01:15 And then we're going to wrap up with a few of the metrics from the Nebraska win. As you know, if you haven't checked it out, make sure to check out our Monday morning recap of Matt Vandenberg. We did that on Saturday, so you had two days to possibly listen to that. Highly recommend you check that out. But we're going to do a little bit more of a deep dive into the analytics on today's segment number three and we're also going to be handing out our game balls as well. That's all coming up on today's
Starting point is 00:01:36 show. So action-packed episode. Let's not waste any more seconds and let's hop into it right now. First and foremost Iowa got off to two victories. They are 2-0 right now. The men's basketball team started a little bit sluggish against North Carolina Central. I guess that could be somewhat expected, I guess. It was their first game in a long time. You get into a game against North Carolina Central, they started off a little bit sluggish
Starting point is 00:02:00 but they picked it up over the course of the game. Ended up winning 97-67. They also defeated Southern University 103-76. Honestly, they should have been 103-73, but Southern popped up a half-court three-point shot, a buzzer just for the hell of it, and made it. But nevertheless, Iowa got off to two nice victories. They take on Western Illinois this week as well. We're going to be breaking down that game on Wednesday's morning show. But a couple things we noticed from this game.
Starting point is 00:02:27 First and foremost, Luka Garza looks like he's actually hungrier than before. I don't know how you can get more motivated than he already is. We saw the workouts that his dad, you know, Frank, was posting on Twitter. We saw the work he was putting in over the offseason to continue to get better. And what we saw these first two games, Luka Garza is a freaking animal. What he did against Southern University just wasn't even fair. And I know these are mid-major competition, but neither of these teams are terrible teams from a mid-major perspective.
Starting point is 00:03:00 And what Luka Garza did was just downright dirty. Let me kind of read off these two game splits for you. Against North Carolina Central, 11-14, 11-13 from 2, 0-1 for 3. He had 26 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, and 3 blocks. Against Southern, 14-15, 41 points, 3-3 from behind the arc, 10-12 from free throws, which is definitely something he wanted to improve on as well. Nine rebounds and three blocks. Absolutely absurd.
Starting point is 00:03:31 He did this in 53 minutes. He scored 67 points in 53 minutes. He now is ninth all-time in Iowa basketball history, passing Jess Settles. Big-time stuff from Luki Garza. Nice to see him get comfortable very early. You could tell Iowa was like, you know what, screw it. Let's just get him the ball because he's scoring at will here, which is fantastic to see. One of the other things I also noticed was Jordan Bohannon looked healthy and he looked
Starting point is 00:03:53 very comfortable without the ball. Coming into this season, that was a concern for me. Jordan Bohannon has been the primary ball handler and we saw last season, they had a couple guys that really stepped up to do that. Connor McCaffrey, Joe Toussaint, even CJ Frederick and Joe Wieskamp, right? So we saw them handle the ball. What was going to happen when Jordan Bohannon came in the game? And I felt like he did a really great job at impacting the game on other ways other than just shooting. Now, again, that's going to be huge down the stretch with Jordan Bohannon having the ability to shoot the ball so well like he does.
Starting point is 00:04:25 But it is nice to see him be able to do some things off the ball. And it makes you feel pretty good about how this team is going to be able to handle the interesting amount of rotations they're going to have with all the impact players they have on this team, which we're going to get to in a second. They definitely showed a few lineup combinations I think we're going to see going forward. But overall, I thought he impacted the game a lot better than what he typically does outside of just shooting the ball and didn't really shoot the ball that well. On the season so far, he has made four shots on 15 attempts,
Starting point is 00:04:57 so not exactly ideal there, but he's going to continue to get better. We're going to see him progress and get his shooting stroke down. That is to be expected for Jordan Bohannon. A couple other things. Patrick McCaffrey, I thought, looked fantastic. He was a threat on both ends of the floor. I loved when they were pressing and had him up playing the point guard. He did a great job at impacting passing lanes. Just a really big athletic guy, and you could see him being willing to drive to the basket as well that year off, obviously for reasons outside of basketball, but seemed to serve him well as he gained a lot more weight and seems more comfortable in this offense. He is going to be a huge contributor for Iowa as we get deeper into the season.
Starting point is 00:05:37 Keegan Murray, another guy who unheralded recruit. We knew his dad was Kenny Murray. We knew him and his brother, you know, they had those genes, right? But they were, they didn't have those stars behind their name when Fran McCaffrey offered and they accepted, but you can tell these guys are ready to play college basketball, especially Keegan Murray. He played a lot of minutes. Now that being said, those minutes are going to go down as Jack Nunji gets back into the flow of things. Obviously again, condolences to the Nunji family. He's dealing with the passing of his father. But what we saw from Keegan Murray was very impressive in two games. In the first game, he had 20 minutes,
Starting point is 00:06:12 four of 10, two of three from three, and seven rebounds. That's fantastic production from a true freshman. When you have a guy like that, you can come in and play those kind of minutes. That's going to make this team even more difficult to defend. And that's what you love seeing in this game early on in the season, seeing Keegan Murray step up and be a contributor. We knew that he was going to be able to rebound the ball. That was actually what kind of set him apart early on in practices, but really impressive stuff coming in two games and doing so well, like he did at this point. Let me see, he's shooting 50%, 7-14 from the field. He is shooting 42% from three.
Starting point is 00:06:48 He has 10 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, and 3 blocks. So he's getting active on both ends of the floor, and that will be huge, especially now that we don't have a guy like a Nicholas Bayer, which to me, Keegan Murray kind of fills that mold a little bit. Also, it was great to see some of the freshmen get in there, get some playing time. We saw Joe Toussaint get 17 minutes, Aaron Ulis. Joe Toussaint's not a guy I was worried about, but Aaron Ulis, Tony Perkins. We even saw Josh Ogundeli get in there for a bit.
Starting point is 00:07:12 So good to see some of the freshmen get some minutes. They're not going to have nearly as many of those minutes as we get into tougher competition. But let's get into the starting lineups. Obviously, J-Bo took the point, C.J. Frederick at the 2, Connor McCaffrey at the 3, Joe Wieskamp at the 4, and Luka Garza at the 5. I think we could definitely see some switching there depending on where they want to put Jack Nunji at. But when you look at where Murray was playing at, that's really where I see the Jack Nunji role coming in. The second most popular lineup, though, is actually Joe Toussaint at the 1, J-Bo at the 2, Wieskamp at the 3, Patrick McCaffrey at the four, and Keegan Murray at the five.
Starting point is 00:07:46 That could be something we actually see a lot with Jack Nunji taking that Murray role. And then the other lineup that was a very interesting lineup as well was Joe Toussaint, J-Bo, Patrick McCaffrey, Keegan Murray, and Luka Garza. Again, what Fran McCaffrey has at his disposal is a variety of weapons who can defend multiple spots, which allows you to be very versatile with coming up with these different combinations. It's about finding the combinations that work well together, though. And I do think it's interesting to see a Luka Garza on the court with a Patrick McCaffrey, Keegan Murray, and a Joe Toussaint all going to be bench players for this program.
Starting point is 00:08:18 So it is going to be fun to see as Jack Nunji gets acclimated again, where does he fit into these rotations. But the big takeaway here is that I liked what I saw. Defense still needs to improve. That was something we knew was going to be an issue, and they still need to continue to improve on that. They're not the level that I feel like they could be, especially with the athletes they have,
Starting point is 00:08:39 especially with seeing what Patrick McCaffrey was doing. But that, to me, is very interesting and something that we're going to need to be on the lookout for as they take on Western Illinois, as they get North Carolina, Iowa State, and then obviously Gonzaga. The defense needs to improve if they want to win those games. Offensively, though, this team is humming already, and I love to see it. Coming up on segment number two, we're going to be doing our heat checks of the Big Ten in both basketball and football, so stay tuned for that.
Starting point is 00:09:03 Before we get into that, though, I do have a very important announcement for you because if you're anything like me, you're constantly on the go. You're moving, you're rolling, you're rocking, you're hanging out with your family, you're working. Holiday season's also tough. One of my favorite things is to be a little bit active as well. I like to hike 14,000-foot mountains in Colorado.
Starting point is 00:09:21 When we get to the top, though, and this is kind of important when you look at the entire aspect of what I just talked about, always being on the go. Sometimes you just want to relax the top of the mountain and take in the scenery. And when you want to do that, you want to chill out. There's only one beer out there that can help you and literally is made to chill. And that is Coors Light. Coors Light is cold lager, cold filtered and cold package. It's literally made to chill, especially when you're on top of the mountains overlooking the beautiful scenery. There's nothing like cracking open an ice-cold Coors Light. Coors Light is as crisp and refreshing as the Colorado Rockies.
Starting point is 00:09:50 Again, it just makes too much sense when you get down with the hike to crack open an ice-cold Coors Light. Or if you're just trying to relax from a long holiday season, grab yourself a Coors Light because Coors Light is the one I choose and I need to unwind. So when you want to hit reset, reach for the beer that's made to chill. Get Coors Light in the new look delivered straight to your door at get.coorslight.com. That's right. You can have it delivered straight to your door at get.coorslight.com.
Starting point is 00:10:13 And as always, folks, remember to celebrate responsibly. This message is brought to you by Coors Light, a part of the Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado. All right. Before we hop into segment number two, doing our Big Ten heat checks, just a reminder that we do actually have Michael Sleep Dalton joining the show, former Iowa Hawkeye punter, transfer from Arizona State. Did a fantastic job last year. He's joining our show tomorrow to break down the special teams for Iowa,
Starting point is 00:10:40 talk a little bit about Torrey Taylor and what Torrey Taylor is going through. Obviously, Michael Sleep Dalton kind of paved the way for a guy like Torrey Taylor, so he has the best insight. I thought it would be perfect to bring him on the show, and Michael Sleep Dalton's always a fantastic interview, so make sure to tune in to tomorrow's episode where we break down the special teams from Michael Sleep Dalton's point of view. Let's hop into the Big Ten Heat Check, because Northwestern lost a game. We'll talk football first, basketball second.
Starting point is 00:11:04 Northwestern lost to Michigan State. That was unexpected. Technically, Iowa still has a chance at a Big Ten title game. Northwestern has to lose out, though. So it's important that we are rooting for Minnesota this week, as much as that pains me to say. And we're rooting for Illinois the following week to take down Northwestern. If Iowa wins out, they are in the Big Ten championship game. There still is hope, for me at least. It's always good to have that hope, and I do think Iowa has a shot. They're playing solid football. Spencer Petras can
Starting point is 00:11:33 continue to get comfortable, and we're going to talk a little bit about some of those metrics as well. I've been tough on Spencer. I've talked about it with Matt a lot. I think he's getting better. It's just tough to see when you see some of those really bad overthrows we're going to talk about that as Spencer continues to improve though Iowa can go six and two now if they don't get their chance at the Big Ten title game they are looking at a number two spot in the Big Ten West which means they will get a crossover game with Indiana who is continuing to win ball games here I don't think they should have been in that game against Ohio State but nevertheless nevertheless, they are doing well, and Iowa would get Indiana,
Starting point is 00:12:09 which would be a great Big Ten crossover matchup. Wisconsin had their game canceled against Minnesota, though, and that is concerning because Wisconsin is not going to get to that six-game threshold, regardless of whether they win out. What makes this interesting, though, is that Ohio State is also one game away from not being able to play in the Big Ten Championship game. If I'm the Big Ten, I'm looking at this and seeing an issue. You need Wisconsin and Minnesota to play. That is such a huge rivalry. That's bigger than the Big Ten West versus Big Ten East playing.
Starting point is 00:12:35 Honestly, if they can, I would try to actually see if the College Bowl playoff committee would be willing to push things back a week, maybe push the Big Ten Championship game back a week, allow these games to get replayed. But this is what happens when you screwed up so many things early on in the offseason. But nevertheless, it'll be interesting to watch how that does kind of play out over the next two weeks. Also, Iowa came in at number 24 in both the AP and the coaches poll. I think from a college ball playoff poll perspective, we can expect Iowa to move up to number 23. That's kind of where I'm expecting it to be at. Um, actually in one quick, you know, I'm right on
Starting point is 00:13:11 the 24. I wanted to make sure I did a spot check 24, both the AP and the coaches poll. Um, but I do expect them to move up to number 23 in the college football playoff committee poll. There weren't a lot of, it's not a poll, excuse me, but the college football playoff committee rankings, there weren't a lot of losses in the top 25 this week, but Oregon did lose to Oregon State, and I really haven't been impressed with Oregon thus far in the Pac-12. I do think Iowa can make a jump over Oregon. They'll be at number 23, obviously winning against Illinois, beating a Wisconsin team. That will also help Iowa continue to progress in the rankings, and that will play an impact on what bowl game Iowa goes to, which is going to be interesting because right now, we're looking at a possibility
Starting point is 00:13:49 of maybe Iowa getting a Citrus Bowl bid, depending on how the season shakes out. Some of the bowl games are getting canceled, though, so that's something we're going to be paying very close attention to as well. Moving on to the basketball side of things, nothing huge here. I'm recording this Sunday mid-morning, so not a lot I can really give you any of the games that happened today. But overall, Illinois survived a scare after looking pretty dominant in their first two games. They struggled to beat Ohio, needed a last-second basket to win. Rutgers without Geo Baker still getting the W there. It just feels good to have
Starting point is 00:14:20 basketball back. The only two teams in the Big Ten that actually lost this week again prior to me recording, Nebraska and Purdue. And as we said, Iowa got two big wins. And when I say big, I mean just getting wins is huge any time before they have a tough stretch coming up after this Western Illinois game. That being said, in the poll that we're going to get this week, Iowa should move up to number three after Villanova and Virginia lose. That is absolutely huge, seeing Iowa ranked number three in the nation this early on in the season, something we really haven't experienced before. So please, don't take this for granted. It's super cool to see Iowa this high up.
Starting point is 00:14:54 And depending on how they do in these upcoming games, UNC, Iowa State, Gonzaga, they're positioning themselves to be the number one ranked team if they can win those ballgames, which will be a lot of fun. And we're obviously going to be covering that very heavily as we get closer to those games. Next week, we'll have the host of Locked on Tar Heels on the show, Candace Cooper, so we can break down that game.
Starting point is 00:15:12 We're also going to be probably trying to do an Iowa State crossover and then, without a doubt, bringing on a Gonzaga expert to talk about Gonzaga versus Iowa because that is going to be a lot of fun and arguably the biggest game Iowa has played in non-conference play outside of the tournament in probably the last 10-15 years. I can't think of another game that would be bigger than this. So that's all going to be broken down on the show. Coming up on segment number three, we're going to hop into those metrics that matter
Starting point is 00:15:39 though, giving you the game balls and talking about Spencer Petras as well and what the advanced analytics say about our young Redshirt sophomore quarterback. Before we get into that though, we do have an important announcement for you because it is Cyber Monday and Bilt Bar has some fantastic deals going on right now. Bilt Bar is the best tasting protein bar on the market. 18 fantastic flavors. All the bars are covered in 100% chocolate, soft and easy to chew. And they have some really fantastic deals going on for Cyber Monday as well. So if you want to check these delicious bars out, make sure to do that because not only are they absolutely phenomenal in the taste department, they are fantastic in the health department as well. One of my favorite flavors is cookies and cream, 17 grams of protein, 130 calories,
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Starting point is 00:16:55 In addition to the Cyber Monday sales, it's honestly too good of a deal to pass up. Don't pass that up. Grab yourself a Bilt Bar today. Before we hop in to segment number three, NFL analyst Brian Peacock and former NFL scout Grab yourself a Bilt Bar today. the NFL, get your picks, previews, and much more every weekday with the Peacock and Williamson podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Subscribe wherever you get your podcast at. And I couldn't recommend them enough. We've actually had Brian Peacock on the show to talk about the 49ers. As I try to do, I try to cover the NFL.
Starting point is 00:17:35 It's not always as easy, especially when we have basketball and college football going on. So if you want your NFL coverage, especially with all these Iowa Hawkeyes in the NFL, make sure to check out Peacock and Williamson on the Locked On Peacock and Williamson show every single day. But let's hop into those analytics from the Nebraska win. As I said, we're going to talk about Spencer Petras, talk about the top five players, and obviously hand out those game balls.
Starting point is 00:17:58 So first and foremost, let's talk about Spencer Petras because that has been a hot topic here. He has been struggling. And I know that. I know he's been struggling. You all know he's been struggling. We saw Nate Stanley play for the last three years. He is not up to the standard that Nate Stanley has set and I've gotten some weird feedback about me hating on Nate Stanley and then talking really highly of him. You can talk about both. There were definitely some negatives about Nate Stanley and there were some positives. But overall, Nate Stanley had a good career for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Now, that being said, looking at Spencer Petras, the win over Nebraska, 18-30 for 193 yards, 63.6 passing grade.
Starting point is 00:18:37 That was actually his third best of the season, right behind Purdue and Michigan State. So you can see some of the progress there. But the thing that really stood out to me was the five drops. And we talked about this with Matt Vandenberg, but when the wide receivers cannot do you justice, that's not going to help you. Five drops, two from Nico, two from Brandon Smith, one from Tyrone Tracy, no wide receiver graded out better than 57.9, which is average. That's bad, right? That's not good. Especially when you have such a talented wide receiver group, you expect better from them, and they weren't able to bring it in the game against Nebraska. Now, I don't expect them to be an every game problem, but they did not help out
Starting point is 00:19:15 their young quarterback like you expect a Brandon Smith to be able to do. The catches he dropped, you expect him to make those catches. And again, no wide receiver graded out better than 57.9. Amir Smith-Marset was than 57.9. Amir Smith was at 57.9, followed by Tyrone Tracy, Brandon Smith, and then finishing up with Nico Reganey, who I've noticed has struggled with drops. And that was actually something I did a little bit more analysis into Nico himself. And he is at the top of the leaderboard in terms of drop percentage. We have three Iowa Hawkeye wide receivers in the top 35 people in terms of drop percentage with a minimum of 25 targets. So that was obviously, that's a concern.
Starting point is 00:19:52 You expect this talented wide receiver group to do a better job of bringing in those passes, helping out their young quarterback. Also, one of the things I noticed from a rushing perspective, we did a lot better when we went to the middle, right? So the A and B gaps went to the middle or to our left guard, which was a rotation of Kyler's shot. He did kind of rotate between left and right guard there. Kyler's shot, you know, coming back from being out, played 52 snaps, was our second best pass blocker of the day. But interesting that we're doing better running the ball right up the middle, which is where we've been effective at over the last couple weeks. Obviously, the running game took a little bit longer to get going, but nevertheless, great to see it going later on
Starting point is 00:20:31 in the game when they wanted to seal the deal. Also wanted to point out some of our pass rushing over the course of the season. We've talked about Davian Nixon and how tremendous he's really been over the course of the season. He's first in the NCAA in sacks for the interior pass rush. 24th in pressure rate with a minimum of 50 snaps for that interior pass rush. Jack Heflin, 38th, all out of 319 players. On the edge, Chauncey Golsan with 50 snaps minimum pass rush. 79th for the edges, Zach Van Valkenburg, 149th,
Starting point is 00:21:06 and Joe Evans, 165 out of 391 qualifying linemen. So great to see the defensive line be consistent contributors. We talked about this coming into the season. That was a concern. It was a concern about whether or not this defensive line could live up to the lofty expectations that have been set and bestowed upon the Iowa defensive lines. They have been doing a great job without having the star power of handling it and making the plays when they need to, which is fantastic to see.
Starting point is 00:21:30 Now one other person I wanted to kind of point out, Jack Plum getting his first start, he struggled a little bit. Pass blocking grade was down to 57. We talked about it with Matt. Spencer Petras was having to step up a lot in the pocket, and that was because Jack Plum was allowing quite a few pressures. Four of the eight pressures allowed in the game came against him. Cody Inc. had two of the other eight, so the other three or four linemen out that you've considered the rotations only allowed
Starting point is 00:21:54 two pressures. A lot of that pressure came from Jack Plum, so it'll be great. He's a young guy. I expect him to continue to get better, but it'll be great to get Mark Kallenberger or Coy Cronk back in the lineup, help out our young quarterback Spencer Petras a little bit more. Definitely something that I watched out for as well. And we saw Spencer too, a good job of stepping up, but that is a concern going forward. You want to make sure your pass rush can be locked and loaded, especially when we get to Illinois.
Starting point is 00:22:16 We'll talk about this a little bit more on later shows in this week, but they have some potent pass rushing capabilities. They haven't been that strong lately, but there is an opportunity there for Illinois if we don't have our line play settled and ready to go, that that could be an issue for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Now back to the thing you might be all wanting to hear. You might have saw this on our Twitter account, but if you don't follow us on Twitter, make sure you do that as well.
Starting point is 00:22:40 The top five PFF college graded players from the win over Nebraska. Number one was Jack Campbell, 82.2. Alaric Jackson graded players from the win over Nebraska. Number one was Jack Campbell, 82.2. Alaric Jackson came in at second with 81.4. Chauncey Golsan at 80, let me see, 81.2. We have Jack Heflin at 75.4 and Davian Nixon at 74.7. If you look at it offensively, Alaric Jackson, one, Sam Laporta, two, Sean Byer 3, Cole Bamworth 4, Tyler Goodson 5. Defensively, Jack Campbell 1, Chauncey Golsan 2, Jack Heflin 3, Davian Nixon 4, and Dane Belton 5. Dane Belton has been quite a fantastic player for this Iowa Hawkeyes team.
Starting point is 00:23:15 Really versatile, and you can tell that Phil Parker trusts him because he's putting him all over the field. He's done a really great job of timing those blitzes as well and doing a really great job of covering folks in the slot. So that's kind of my take on some of the metrics there. Now let's hand out the game balls, and then we're going to wrap up the show. Defensively, I've got to give it to Chauncey Golston. I don't know how you don't give it to Chauncey Golston.
Starting point is 00:23:40 Obviously, Jack Campbell I thought played a fantastic game. I called him out on the Saturday show with Matt, but Chauncey Golsan played a pretty darn good game and then making that game-sealing sack, that was just fantastic. I don't know how you don't give it to Chauncey Golsan there. On the offensive side of the ball, the game ball has to
Starting point is 00:23:57 go to Larrick Jackson as well. He did a fantastic job in both run and pass blocking. Graded out as the top lineman of the day, top offensive player of the day. And he's been really putting together a nice season. Struggled a little bit against Penn State, but really had a nice rebound game back in this game. And then on the special team side, man, it's tough. You look at Charlie Jones and what he's doing from a Turner perspective.
Starting point is 00:24:21 You look at Torrey Taylor. You look at Terry Roberts. I don't know how you don't do a shared award every single week or how I don't do a shared award every single week, but I've got to give it this time to Torrey Taylor. What he's done, and we're going to hear about this with Michael Sleepdahl tomorrow, but what he's doing is really impressive. And how he's being able to play some of these balls
Starting point is 00:24:39 and impact the game has been truly amazing. Obviously, the Nebraska punt returner struggled to catch that ball. That wasn't him sucking, although I like to say that it would be. It was also Torrey Taylor putting a unique spin on that ball as well, making it difficult to reel that in. So those are my three game balls for the week. Let me know what your thoughts are on your game balls. And a reminder that coming up tomorrow, we have Michael Sleep Dalton
Starting point is 00:25:00 joining the show to break down special teams for the Iowa Hawkeyes, talk a little bit about his relationship with Torrey Taylor, and also how he knew that Charlie Jones was going to be a fantastic player in this program. That does do it for our show today, though. I hope you all enjoyed this episode of the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. And if you did, make sure to subscribe so you get every single one of our daily episodes downloaded directly to your smart device. As always, folks, I appreciate you listening and I appreciate you tuning in.
Starting point is 00:25:27 I really enjoyed. We set some records this month in November with listenership. Let's keep it going for December. And as always, folks, stay safe out there. Have a fantastic day and let's go Hawks.

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