Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Michael Ojemudia talks about day 3 of practice | Analyzing the impact of Coy Cronk's transfer to Iowa | Lisa Bluder gets her 200th B1G win

Episode Date: January 24, 2020

Another action packed episode this Friday morning. We chatted with former Iowa corner Michael Ojemudia about his experience on day three of the Senior Bowl and asked him what the defensive back position will look like for Iowa next season. In other football news, we break down the impact of former Indiana guard Coy Cronk's transfer to Iowa, and we review the awesome win by the women's basketball team over Ohio State. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I thank God I was born on the good arms of the Midwest, and not on the battlefields of the U.S. It's a time of panic, and it's intercepted! It's picked off right away! Intercepted by Marty Hooker! Pick six! Eight seconds into the game! Buffen sets up deep in the pocket, goes down the field for Smith!

Oh! He's got it! Smith! Touchdown. 85 yards. High on. Touchdown, 10. Taking a shot in the end zone.

It is caught. No offense. Touchdown. That's either one or you have it. Go ahead and three. Yes. Two-point lead for the Hawkeyes podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network.

As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade. Excited to be back for you for another morning of this episode and this show covering the Iowa Hawkeyes. Some great stuff coming up today on the show. Wade, excited to be back for you for another morning of this episode and this show covering the Iowa Hawkeyes. Some great stuff coming up today on the show. As we've been teasing, want to talk a little bit about Koi Kronk, the graduate transfer from Indiana to Iowa. Wanted to get some thoughts and tidbits from folks down here in Mobile, but was unable

to do that yesterday with some of the interesting weather that we experienced. Wasn't able to have as much media access as we would have liked, so didn't get as much opportunity there. But we're going to be talking about Coy Cronk and what he can do for Iowa, what it really means for their offensive line going forward. Also had an opportunity to talk to Michael Ojemudy again yesterday. We had some hard-hitting journalist-type questions, you know, like does he like pineapple on his pizza?

The short answer is yes, he does. But no, we actually, and all jokes aside, we got an opportunity to talk to him a little bit more about his day three and kind of what he's looking forward to at the Senior Bowl. And also talking about some of the things he expects from Iowa next year at the cornerback position. So great conversation with him. Again, a big appreciation and shout out to him for taking the time to talk to us. And then we're also going to be talking about the women's basketball team. Another great win for that squad. What they're doing is just truly, truly impressive.

And then we're going to be covering some of the Nate Stanley stuff. Been trying to ask around here to figure out why in the heck Nate Stanley isn't down at the 2020 Senior Bowl. And at this point, honestly, I have zero clue. Unless I was to go ask Jim Nagy himself, which he is a popular man down here in Mobile, Alabama, during the Senior Bowl week, I'm likely not going to find out. But I have a pretty good idea of how upset people are about it. So we're going to be talking about that on today's show as well. So again, before we do that, make sure to like, review, and subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast at,

whether that is Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or the brand new Himalaya Podcast app. And make sure to go find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. If you were on Twitter, you would have noticed that I did actually post the pineapple question to Michael Ojemudia and posted it on Twitter. So you could have saw a little bit lighter, more relaxed question. He's been dealing with scouts and all sorts of folks.

This whole week, I wanted to make sure that our interview was a little bit more fun for parts of it. So I wanted to make sure I asked him that question as well. So let's jump right into it, though. Let's cover the women's basketball team. Like I said, they had another great win last night, another great performance by them, beating the Ohio State women's squad 77-68. Ohio State is not an overly good team in the Big Ten. They're very middle of the pack. They're 11-8 now.

That win moves Iowa to 16-3. I fully expect them to continue to move up in the rankings. This team is on a hot streak and they're doing very well. And they extended their Carver win streak to 31 games, which is truly impressive. I don't think the fans get enough credit for what you're doing for that women's team. 31 straight wins at home, especially in college women's basketball. It's a struggling sport. You look at even some of the top programs, they struggle to fill the arena night in and night out. And Iowa does it every single time for Carver. So love the passion and support for that women's basketball team. 200 Big Ten wins for Lisa Bluter. Again, she should be probably the coach of the year this year with what she's doing with this squad. Just amazing, amazing results,

amazing stuff after losing those folks. Kathleen Doyle putting together a senior season that honestly should be considered potentially National Player of the Year worthy, at least Big Ten Player of the Year worthy. In the game against Ohio State, she had 26 points on 8 of 12 shooting, went 1 of 3 from 3 and had 8 rebounds and 7 assists.

Mackenzie Meyer also putting in a great performance, at least with 19 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists. Not as great of a great performance, at least with 19 points, four rebounds and five assists. Not as great of a shooting performance, but getting the job done whatever way possible. And then Amanda Olinger, as she's been doing all year, grabbing eight rebounds and really being that consistent threat on the glass every single night. So great win for the Hawks, 77-68. They take on Michigan State Sunday at Carver,

and I expect Carver to be absolutely bumping because the GOAT, Megan Gustafson, is going to be returning as she gets her jersey retired. I think it is just really awesome that Iowa made it happen so soon. Megan Gustafson put together a career that could possibly go down as the best career in Iowa history. I think it already is. I think it has been. I don't see anyone topping her any time in the near future. What she did was just amazing. And how much she inspired everyone in the Hawkeye community, especially some of the young children, some of the young women who are looking up to her.

Her impact went beyond the court. And that can't be overstated enough. So that will be a really fun experience on Sunday as Iowa takes on Michigan State, looking to move to 17-3 on the season. So make sure to tune in for that. Also want to kind of quickly transition over and talk about some Nate Stanley stuff, but we're going to talk about that in just a few seconds. So stay tuned after a few messages from our sponsors.

We'll be coming up and talking about the Nate Stanley item and kind of why he isn't here at the senior bowl in 2020. All right. We are back with segment number two of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast, covering everything Iowa Hawkeyes all the time, every single day of the week. Today, though, on segment number two, I want to talk a little bit football, first starting with Nate Stanley. One of the things I was curious about coming down to the Senior Bowl is why is Nate Stanley

not here? And I'll be honest like i said earlier i have no clue when i look at some of the quarterbacks on this roster i personally believe without bias nate stanley is better than at least three of those quarterbacks i have not been impressed with shea patterson i have not been impressed anthony gordon and i wasn't impressed with steven montez during his college season i Haven't had an opportunity to see him practice as much. I've been mostly following the North squad and having some other stuff to do during the South squad practice. But to me, Nate Stanley should have been potentially the third or fourth quarterback invited from this group.

And even then, considering the fact that in past years the Senior Bowl has brought eight guys before, Nate Stanley should have at least been in that mix as well. When asked to stick to football, guys, if you haven't heard that podcast, make sure to check it out. It's a Bleacher Report podcast hosted by Matt Miller, Connor Rogers, and Mello Miller. They actually had a cool draft event down here in Mobile, Alabama. Had an opportunity to ask them a question, basically what they call a draft-on-draft question. My question was, why is Nate Stanley not here? And they were shocked.

They were just as shocked as I was. They basically said they assumed he would be here. They thought maybe he could be injured. That's a reason why he wasn't down here. But they were just flabbergasted by the fact that he wasn't here and specifically pointed out that he is, without a doubt, better than multiple quarterbacks on this squad, and they would have loved to see him.

They thought it would have been a really great opportunity for him to build on his draft stock. A three-year starter at Iowa, never missed a game, has a lot of great traits. So being down here at Mobile would have been a good opportunity to show his leadership skills and to show what he can do and how much work he's been putting in since the Holiday Bowl. So one of the things I also noted to them is that he is not injured. It does not appear he's injured. He's been getting videos posted daily of his performance, working with his quarterback trainer.

So sucks to not see him here. Also asked Michael Ojemudia if Nate Stanley should have been here, and you'll hear that interview answer in just a few moments. But he said, you know, I'm surprised. He said, I'm surprised I'm the only Iowa guy here. I thought Nate Stanley should have been here, and you'll hear that interview answer in just a few moments. But he said, I'm surprised. He said, I'm surprised I'm the only Iowa guy here. I thought Nate Stanley should have been here. So that will be coming up in just a few short seconds. But it is shocking to not see Nate Stanley here.

Coming into the season, if I had to pick one guy to bet a ton of money that would be here at the Senior Bowl, it would have been Nate Stanley. I thought he had a really great senior season. He definitely came down really well along the stretch, playing well in those last few games. Not necessarily statistically speaking, but I thought he just stepped up and did what he needed to do to win those games and put Iowa in a position to win those games, especially in the Holiday Bowl.

He was going pound for pound with USC and their golden boy quarterback. So loved seeing that. Just shocked he's not here down at the Senior Bowl. I hope it doesn't impact his draft stock too much. It could have really positively impacted it, so that would have been nice to see. But now we have to wait and see if he gets invited to the Combine and see how well he tests there. Otherwise, it's to Iowa's Pro Day,

and let's see if he can put on a really nice performance with a scripted throwing session there. So let's transition over to Michael Ojemudia though. Day three, his third day of the Senior Bowl week. To be honest, I thought he struggled a little bit, didn't do as well as he had the past day. And he hasn't really been doing super great in some of the individual drills, but you also got to consider where he's coming from, right? This is an entirely new scheme, an entirely new concept. He hasn't played a lot of man coming into senior bowl. He had played roughly like 10% of his snaps in press man coverage. It's just not something that Iowa does predominantly. They typically focus on that cover three defense, having the corners drop

back, allowing them to read the quarterback's eyes and aggressively attack forward. So not exactly something he's as familiar with, but he is getting acclimated to the process. And I think one of the things that can't be overstated enough as well is the fact that on day three, this has been a grueling week, right? So they show up, they get here, they do weigh-ins Tuesday, they get a playbook, a brand new playbook that they have to learn. They're also getting media requests, they're getting interviews.

I know he did an interview with Benjamin Albright for our Denver Broncos radio show as well. He's been talking to me each day and just really, like I said, trying to get acclimated to the process and learning a new skill set. He didn't have to do that press man coverage technique as much. So trying to learn that at the senior bowl as well. And he's going up against a pretty good group of wide receivers. Denzel Mims has been up and down, but a tough guy to cover. K.J. Hill has been just annihilating folks in his routes. I mean, he made every corner look bad. And then you got, you know, Gandy Golden, who is a monster of a receiver

and is basically mossing people relatively consistently. So he's going up against some pretty good wide receivers, and that obviously makes it difficult as well. But again, didn't do as well on day three as he had in the past. I think, again, it was more of a – and it sounds like he is overwhelmed when I talk to him. More of just like tired and beaten down at this point. It's been a long week. I know tomorrow or today, actually, as you're listening to this,

they are going to be having basically a community day. They're doing a little bit of a parade. They're meeting some of the fans or whatever at their fan experience. So a little bit more of a relaxed day so they can get ready for tomorrow's game at the Senior Bowl, which I will be covering, and we'll be there to take notes on Michael Ojemudia, and we'll be offering up some of my observations on that. Some other observations outside of Michael Ojemudia,

just a couple quick things I think were kind of interesting. Josh Medalist, the Michigan DB, and K.J. Hill were jawing back and forth. K.J. Hill got the best of him on a route. Medalist was talking crap. Hill said, you couldn't cover me. And Medalist said, I had a safety over top. And they were kind of going at each other for that. K.J. Hill did look great in general.

A small, shifty guy. Did a really great job with route running. And then I know all you Iowa fans will probably love to hear this, but Nebraska corner Lamar Jackson, not exactly the best day for him. One of the things I've observed from him is he is certainly not lacking in confidence, but that doesn't make up for his inability to cover at times. Very tall, long corner who could be very good but still needs some work on some technique.

At one point, I think it was Denzel Mims or either Gandy Golden, but he was covering him and just all over him in a bad way and got three pass interference calls thrown on him from three separate officials and then tried actually complaining as if that was bullcrap. Wasn't overly impressed by him in day three. I tried to get an interview with him on day two to kind of talk about some of his performance as well, but let's just say that he was a little bit preoccupied. So wasn't super impressed with that.

Neither here nor there, though. That's just one, you know, one of my opinions. But I mean, going into the Ojemudia stuff, as I said, I talked to him a little bit in yesterday's practice. I'm going to drop that clip in right here so you can hear kind of how his, you know, what his thought process was on day three, talking a little bit about the Lions staff coaching styles and what he expects from the Iowa cornerback group going into next season. And like I said, whether or not he likes pineapple on his pizza, he's pretty excited about the answer there. So I'll be dropping that clip in right here.

Do you like pineapple on your pizza? Yes. That's my favorite part. Really? Yeah. All right. How was your third day of practice, bud? Yeah, I mean, it was a long day, really.

We did a lot of things. Much different structure. Really. You know, it was a long day, but the biggest thing for me, just finishing, you know. Absolutely, man. Are you excited for tomorrow, a little break day? Yeah, I need it. But, you know, I'm excited for tomorrow, getting ready for Saturday.

We're going to game mode now so we can prepare for the South team. Awesome, man. And how has it been? A little overwhelming learning the new playbook and kind of dealing with the new coaching styles? Yeah just a little bit but not really though I adjusted quickly you know that's kind of that's gonna be that's how it's gonna be the next level you have to adjust quickly so I'm just going with it right now. Absolutely man and growing up in like the Michigan area are you a Detroit fan? I guess you put me on the spot. Nah but uh yeah I'm a Detroit fan I'm always following them. I love it man and are you enjoying working with the Lions coaching staff? Yeah they're really good guys really tough guys down on earth they kind of remind me of you know our coaching staff so yeah. I mean there's some tendencies that are similar

like the Patriots kind of scheme and Brian being from there so you know how it is. Yeah absolutely man. The other question is from the cash position, how it looked at you potentially playing cash last year for Iowa. Do you think you have that versatility at the next level of playing slot corner, playing a dimebacker role, kind of sliding all over the place? Yeah, no doubt. When the league was rolling the cash, I was learning it behind hookers,

so I definitely can do that easily. If the team needs me to do it, I'll do whatever they want to absolutely man and then as far as replacing you obviously it's gonna be a big hole who do you think is gonna be the person who's gonna fill in for you for Iowa next year it's gonna be a battle because you know there's a lot of good young dudes you know we got Juju we got Riley you know Matt's I think he's stable DJ get some time, there's going to be a lot of good dudes coming up. Yeah, man. The quarterback here just keeps getting stronger and stronger. Yeah, I mean, you know Coach Parker.

Yeah, he's a beast. Somebody leaves, they're not going to miss a step. Absolutely, man. And last question for you. Nate Stanley, do you think he should have been here? No doubt. No doubt. It's sad that I'm the only Iowa dude here, but I know wherever Nate ends up,

he's going to be great because he's a really good leader for us through all the years. All right, so again, a big shout-out and a special thank you to Mike Logemudia. He's been super nice the past couple days being willing to talk to me and answer a few of my questions and whatnot, even after kind of a long practice.

Yesterday was a longer practice. It was cold. It was technically indoors, but South Alabama Stadium or indoor practice facility, really nice, but it's open on the sides and it was a cold day out there, rainy day out there. So I was freezing. I can imagine those guys are pretty cold too. Again, a longer practice, went about 25 minutes longer and they were doing a ton of one-on-one drills, which is never a great opportunity for cornerbacks. It's a little bit, kind of puts them on an island and not exactly the easiest spot for them to be in.

And I know Jamudia was heavily involved in a lot of those. I was trying to tweet them out at LockedOnIowa on Twitter, but obviously wasn't able to keep up entirely, but able to get as much as I could out there. So like I said, he was a very busy guy. Appreciate his time. Coming up though, we're going to be talking about Coy Cronk, the grad transfer from Indiana, and then wrapping up the show for today. So stay tuned after a few messages from our sponsors. All right. So unless you lived under a bubble, you heard that Iowa landed a big graduate transfer, and big, you can be used in a couple different ways.

This guy is big in general, standing at 6'5", 325 pounds, a mammoth of a human being. He's also a big recruit because he could potentially fill that starting position that Tristan Wirfs had just vacated. And as much as we would love to believe in Iowa's depth, and their depth is pretty good, they've been doing a pretty solid job of recruiting at the offensive line position. We haven't seen that play really translate to the field when others step in. We saw a lot of issues with the interior offensive line. Wasn't until midway through the season that Iowa kind of figured out kind of what to do and that

team started gelling a little bit. But losing a guy like Tristan Wirfs, a potential top 10 NFL draft pick, is never easy. And you can't replace that kind of production and that kind of player. But let's be honest, getting a guy like Coy Cronk is probably as close as you're going to get to replacing a Tristan Wirfs with the market that's currently out there and with the options that are currently available on Iowa's depth chart. Love to see Kirk Behrens go to the grad transfer portal or the transfer portal, excuse me, and pull out a grad transfer. You know, you don't see it very much with Iowa as you see like with the Miami where

they're really hitting that transfer portal hard, and mostly because Iowa likes to find guys, again, that fit with the program, that make sense for the program, that are going to work hard in the program. And I think a guy like Coy Cronk, he's a Big Ten guy. He's a big guy with a lot of talent, and he has a high, based on what I've heard and what I've seen, he has high character. He was a captain his senior season. He was named a freshman All-American. He's a guy who probably could have been at the Senior Bowl this year had he not had

a gruesome ankle injury in game four of his senior season at Indiana. Likely going to be at the Senior Bowl next year. On draft boards, he was ranked anywhere between a late day two to a midday three with a lot of that mostly being the midday three pick. So with some opportunity in time with Brian Ferentz, the Iowa Hawkeyes, the offensive line coach at Iowa, you know, Timmy, I think this will be a really cool opportunity for him to potentially improve his draft stock, show that he has gotten better from the injury because he was actually looking at even just entering the NFL draft without coming back. So that's the kind of talent level this guy is. He's an NFL prospect right now. Imagine what he can do with some of the coaching from Iowa's renowned offensive line coaching staff. So that'll be fun to watch his development

at Iowa. And I would be shocked if he did not start at right tackle during the season opener. He is a left tackle by trade. Hasn't played right tackle, at least in his college career, after playing it for the left tackle for three seasons at Indiana and obviously that bit of the fourth season. But I think he'll be able to move over pretty well. That'll be a really good chance for him to show his versatility as well at the next level, being able to play left and right tackle. As easy as that sounds, as easy as Madden makes it seem

that is not an easy process you're basically complete you're doing everything completely backwards right if you throw left you're throwing right now think about it like that and that's what your footwork so and then you have to figure out your arms and kind of your your structure and your frame and all that stuff so it is not an easy process for tackles just to switch seamlessly between the left and the right and that's why what Tristan Wirth said this past season was even more impressive because he was doing it on a series-by-series basis while Larrick Jackson was out. But what does this mean for Iowa? Like I said, I think Coy Cronk is going to be slotted for that right tackle position.

Makes sense. The dude has 40 career starts in college football. You don't really get that kind of seniority in production at that position, especially after losing at worse. I think what that means though, is that this offensive line has a chance of being pretty good this year. There's going to be a lot of experience on that offensive line. You have a Larry Jackson, a guy who could elevate his draft stock to be a first round draft pick by the end of next year, a left tackle. You have Coy Cronk, another NFL draft eligible prospect or draft type of prospect at the right tackle position. You have Tyler Linderbaum, who was really skyrocketing up some people's board for a couple of years based on his play at center.

It was a little bit more up and down, but his aggression, his tenacity, he's a guy that NFL draft evaluators are going to be looking at him in a couple of years as an opportunity to kind of jump to the NFL and play NFL football. At the guard positions, Cole Bandwert went out last year with an injury. Kind of just never really got healthy last year. And if he is healthy, we're returning another guy who has starting experience. And I think at the other guard position, you really can't go wrong at this point. You have Justin Britt, a guy who was a true freshman last year, saw some playing time.

Kyler Schott, a former walk-on, played really well at spurts at times last year. When he came back from his injury, didn't have as effective of a performance, but did still play pretty well leading up to that injury. And then you have Mark Kallenberger, who started in the Holiday Bowl. I really think he's likely my best bet for playing um playing that guard position for iowa next year and you again regardless of who you pick unless it's brit you're going to get a guy with some starting experience if you get brit it's going to be a guy with a lot of potential but you would like to see that from your offensive line having a few guys who are going to have a few years left

can learn the ropes from other guys in that starting position so i'm really excited to see how this offensive line looks with the addition of Koi Kronk. Just fantastic get by the Hawks, getting Koi in the transfer portal. He's already enrolled in classes at Iowa. He is ready to go, ready to make an impact. So love to see it there. Hopefully, if we get some time,

maybe on next week's episode, one of the episodes, we can cover some of the other opportunities or targets that Iowa could have in the transfer portal. They definitely still have a few holes. When you lose eight guys to early declarations for the NFL draft over the course of two seasons, that is not easy to replace. This is not an LSU or an Alabama.

This is a team that builds and develops players. So those type of losses are huge losses, bigger losses than it would be for an Alabama or an LSU. So I want to cover some of the potential targets they would have on the transfer portal and talk to you about why it would make sense for them to pursue those guys specifically. But that'll do it for our show today. I appreciate you all tuning into the Friday episode of the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. I might be delivering you a Sunday episode covering what went down in the Senior Bowl. It might be a little bit shorter of an episode as I break down the Ojemudia experience here at the Senior Bowl.

On Monday morning, we are going to be having a crossover episode with the Locked On Badgers podcast covering the Iowa-Wisconsin men's game that's taking place Monday evening. So stay tuned for that as well. And lots of other great content coming up next week. Probably jump a little bit more into the NFL draft evaluations as that is starting to take some prevalence with the NFL draft coming up next week. Probably jump a little bit more into the NFL draft evaluations as that is starting to take some prevalence with the NFL draft coming up in April.

We'll be covering all that next week on the show. Again, I appreciate you all tuning in. Have a fantastic Friday, Hawkeye Nation, and go Hawks! We'll see you next time.