Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - NFL Draft Analyst Sayre Bedinger joins us to talk about Iowa underclassmen who could declare for the 2019 NFL Draft

Episode Date: December 7, 2018

We spend the full episode talking about each underclassmen that either did declare or could declare for the 2019 NFL Draft starting with Noah Fant who has decided to forgo his eligibility and the Outback Bowl to begin preparation for the draft. After discussing Fant we jump into whether or not TJ Hockenson and Anthony Nelson should declare after their outstanding season, and we wrap up by discussing how fantastic of a safety Amani Hooker is and why Iowa may be fortunate enough to see him black and gold for another year as well as why Nate Stanley should stay in Iowa City for his senior year. You can follow us on Twitter:Show: @lockedoniowaHost: @wade_andrewSayre Bedinger: @sayrebedinger Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to another episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. The Locked On Hawkeyes podcast is a part of the Locked On Sports Network, and we are the latest addition to the growing lineup of college podcasts underneath the Locked On Sports umbrella. I'm your host, Andrew Wade, editor over at DearOldGold.com, where you can find analysis pieces on all things black and yellow, and we have a fantastic episode for you draft junkies out there. As you know, the Iowa Hawkeyes are preparing for the Outback Bowl, but a few of the players are

also preparing for what's ahead of them, what's going on in the future, and that is the NFL draft. We already know that Noah Fant declared he's not coming, you know, he's not coming back to the program for the Outback Bowl, but there's a few others that we want to talk about in addition to the seniors who are playing, you know, playing their last game in the black and yellow and are ready to prepare themselves for the NFL Draft in 2019. We also have a special guest on with us today to help us talk about all this fun, exciting NFL Draft items. We have Sarah Bettinger, one of the site experts for NFL mocks on the fan-sided

network. Sarah is a fantastic person to talk to. You're going to love talking to him. He's actually one of the editors over on Predominantly Orange, where you can also find some of my writing at as well. If you didn't get a chance though, make sure you check out yesterday's episode. We talked a lot about Hawkeye Nation and how awesome our fan base is. As you may know, if you did get a chance to listen to it, and as you don't know, if you didn't get a chance, the Iowa Hawkeye fan base was ranked the 22nd best fan base in terms of universities in the nation by Fansided's Fandom 250, which is their yearly list of the top fan bases in the country. yearly list of the top fan bases in the country.

We also talked about TJ Hawkinson and how he won the 2018 John Mackey Award and just touched on how great of a season he had this year. Before we jump in though and talk to Sarah about Noah Fant, the other classmen who could be declaring for the NFL Draft, and the seniors who are eligible right now and will be playing their last game at the Outback Bowl before they begin preparing for the 2019 NFL Draft, make sure you subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast at, and please leave us a review. You can also find us on Twitter at LockedOnIowa, and you can find me, the host, Andrew Wade, on Twitter at Wade underscore

Andrew. And lastly, you can email us at LockedOnHawkeyes at gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you. We'd love to hear some content suggestions, feedback, whatever it is. We just like interacting with our listeners. So please feel free to reach out to us at any of those mediums. So with that being said, let's jump right into our conversation with Sarah. So with that being said, let's jump right into our conversation with Sarah. that on tonight's episode we're going to be talking about both the nfl draft and the iowa hawkeyes sarah thank you so much for joining me today i really appreciate it i'm excited to have you on the podcast i'm glad we could make it work between our two busy schedules man man it's my

pleasure andrew i mean what uh what are the odds denver broncos iowa hawkeyes nfl draft all these different common bonds that we have i mean that's pretty awesome yeah i mean that's uh that is my three favorite types of sports between iowa hawkeyes Denver Broncos, and NFL draft. I kind of live, live and breathe those, those three things. And so to combine them all into one show is pretty great. I love it. I absolutely love it. So how did you get started with, you know, obviously NFL mocks and, and the NFL draft process and evaluating players kind of what was your end? And when did you kind of think this is something you kind of like doing? Man, it started way back when I was a kid.

I still remember I asked my parents for a box of the 1999 tops collection of cards, just the entire series. And from that point on, I kind of just started like memorizing the backs of players' cards, memorizing where they were drafted, what college they went to, what their college stats were. I was I was super into rookie cards because they were, you know, they were rare. And it was this I mean, back then trading cards was cool. And so like having different cards from your friends or like just being able to pull like a cool rookie card was awesome. And so I've loved that aspect of football

for a long time. And team building has always been my thing. Like I'm one of those weird people who when I would get maddened, like I would simulate to the end of the season and upload my draft class from NCAA football and just build the team and then watch it dominate from simulation and play like the Super Bowl and things like that. But I've always been into team building. I've loved that. And then finally, when I was, I believe I was a freshman in college, I finally found an outlet to write about sports that was free. And that was generating some kind of just actual conversation with real people

that I had no idea who they were on the other end. But I was writing about everything that I could think of from the draft to Broncos to Hawkeyes to Chicago Bulls, Cubs, all these different things that I was passionate about. And I would just gauge people's reaction and engage in the comments and just have a lot of fun with it. And just over the course of a couple years of doing that, I got an offer from NFL Mocs.

And then from that, I got an offer to, to take over predominantly orange. And so it's just been a wild ride, man. It's been a lot of fun, but I've, I've enjoyed every step of it. I've enjoyed all the things that I've learned, all the cool things that I've been able to see. And it's been a blast. That is, that's an awesome story. And I didn't know that kind of jumping into that question. It was just kind of a spur of the moment. I wanted to know.

I appreciate it. It kind of jumping into that question. It was just kind of a spur of the moment. I wanted to know. I appreciate that. And it's, it's funny you say that. I obviously have not gone into the, you know, fully into the evaluation of players, but I can a hundred percent relate to you on the Madden and simulation. I hated, I didn't care about the regular season. I love the drafting. I love figuring out how to fit certain free agents in the teams. And as far as the football cards, same way, man. I used to go to a babysitter,

and I would legitimately bring binders full of cards and figure out ways to reorganize them to better match how I can search for the cards. And I remember looking at it was – I loved looking at the back of stats as well, and I remember thinking, you know, 1,000 yards rushing is such a big deal. And I saw that this one player for the Bears

had like 1,000 to 6 yards. And I was like, i didn't realize this guy was good um but that's just some random memories of like things that uh i i loved looking at you know looking back to football cards and actually you'll appreciate this one of my favorite christmas presents ever was a kevin casper rookie card um jersey card i loved kevin casper and he was the first iowa hawkeye i remembered and first time i remember watching the draft and seeing him get drafted by the broncos in the sixth round i was instantly hooked man and that was back when you know having bleach blonde hair was cool and yes when you know you're in fifth grade and sixth grade you get the highlighted tips and whatnot and so kevin casper was like this idol to me yeah and to get that rookie car was just one of the

coolest things ever i I still have it. Absolutely, man. You're speaking my language on that. I mean, back in those times, me and all my brothers had the bleach tips. Kevin Casper was playing for the Hawkeyes. My dad graduated from U of I, and so we watched every game. And I remember seeing Kevin Casper, and I just remember thinking like, man, that guy is so cool.

And then he got drafted by Denver, and we were out at training camp his rookie year. And I remember flagging him down because the players, you know, it's pretty all access out at training camp, or it was back in that time when they were practicing the Broncos at University of Northern Colorado. And I'll never forget just like that was the one thing that I didn't care who else was at that camp. I was going to find and meet Kevin Casper and I'm pretty sure it happened.

It might've been, it was a blur. I'm pretty sure it happened and I got to meet him, but yeah, man. Oh my gosh. That brings back some serious memories and yeah, I love it. Yeah. That's what I actually reached out to him on Twitter, hoping he would respond thinking this guy, there can't be a lot of NFL fans that are actually reaching out to him anymore. I mean, he was only in the NFL for a

couple of years. Unfortunately, I didn't hear back, but if I had the chance to meet him, I think he'd be a little concerned with why I knew who he was and why I was so excited to meet him at this point. Yeah. Yep. That'd be cool though. That'd be sweet to see what he's up to now. It would be. Yeah. Maybe I'll try to get him on this podcast, but we'll save that for hopefully another episode. That'd be pretty awesome. So, so Sarah, I wanted to jump in and, and talk to you about, so first we want to talk about Noah Fant. We're going to also talk about the underclassmen that,

that may or may not declare. And I actually wrote an article on dear old gold today and happened to find randomly kind of doing some Google search to kind of, you know, pull some different sources in. And I actually found an article from you. So I was able to quote that, which is pretty cool. And then I want to talk about some of the seniors that are going to be graduating this year after the Outback Bowl and looking towards the NFL. So to start off, though, with Noah Fant, wanted to get your thoughts on him.

Obviously, he's declared for the draft. He's not playing in the Outback Bowl. A lot of expectations coming into the season. And I would say, from most people's perspective, not that he was a disappointment, but his utilization in the Iowa offense was a pretty big disappointment and not understanding how we couldn't get him the ball more effectively throughout the games.

And there's a couple games where he had one or two catches, or I think he had zero catches in one of the games. So not exactly ideal, but he should be a top 15 pick so wanted to get your thoughts on on him and and also the fact that he was you know he's the first Iowa Hawkeye football player to not go to the bowl game he's the first one to kind of jump into this you know trend that's been starting over the last two years so I want to get your thoughts on him as a player. Talk about his blocking, that sort of thing. Yeah, I think just from my perspective, even if I weren't an Iowa fan, I'd be super excited if my team could get their hands on Noah Fant. He's one of those types of players where in today's NFL,

with the way things are going and the rules and all these different things and the lack of the ability to really play as physical as you would want, I think a player like him in the passing game is really going to work well because he's such an athletic mismatch, and you can't spear guys down the middle anymore like you used to be able to do. And so he's going to be such a weapon down the deep middle of the field. And just even as a wide receiver, I think you can split him out anywhere. And I think Iowa, you know, did that at times.

But he showed over the course of his career with the Hawks that, I mean, he's got the kind of speed and the kind of athleticism that it doesn't matter who you put on him, he's going to be able to win one-on-one matchups. And I love that about his game. I think just the fact that, you know, you throw the ball up to this guy, you put him in the right offense. You're looking at a guy who could be a Travis Kelsey type.

I mean, he's not the same size as Kelsey, obviously. But, I mean, we all know Kelsey's not known for his blocking skills. Let's be honest about it. And so Noah Fant is, you know, if he's not a great blocker, I think that there's a lot of teams right now that can use those two tight end sets and really excel with it if they have to have a blocker out on the field that one time, or maybe you could put him out in the slot and just match him up on a linebacker or a smaller defensive back. I just think there's so many ways that you can move him around the field and he's

going to be a mismatch at the next level. And that's what I love about his game, especially to, especially in the red zone, the red area, where you get in him, those, those 50, 50 opportunities and those chances where he can really, he can really use his quickness and he can make defenders guess and guess wrong. A lot of the times, I mean, 18 touchdowns over the past two years and then 19 for his career. I mean, look at the touchdown, the touchdown percentage on his catches. I mean, what does he have? I think 70, I'm looking at it here right now. It's he has 78 career catches,

19 touchdowns, and that's a high, high rate. Yeah. It's great. I mean, one out of every four is essentially what that, what that amounts to. And so if you've got a guy who can catch a touchdown, one out of every four passes thrown his way, even if it, I mean, it doesn't matter where you're at on the field i guess ohio state knows that all too well right so um very very good player excited about him man yeah and i one thing i wanted to clarify too i think with the blocking you know personally when i've watched some of the games especially against nebraska it's not i feel like it's not that he's at least he's a willing blocker is what i want to say i mean i think

there's potential for him to grow at the next level if given the right coaching and tutelage i don't because i think one of the comparisons i like to make is kind of a jimmy graham type where he can he can really be a big mismatch jimmy graham is prime obviously but the difference between jimmy graham i feel like is graham doesn't engage or isn't willing to block and basically he only comes in on passing downs and i do feel like although fan isn't the best blocker, he may have looked worse being next to Hawkinson and being compared to general Iowa tight ends. But I do feel like he's at least willing and at least wants to engage. He's just not very technically sound with it.

Yeah, yeah. Not unlike our own Jake Butt with the Denver Broncos. You know, that's kind of how he was known coming out of Michigan was unbelievable receiver and a willing blocker. I think that's the key for guys coming into the NFL. I mean, you're not going to get, not everybody's going to be an OJ Howard where he's an extension of the

offensive line. But no fan. I mean, if you're willing to do it and you're willing to stick your, stick your body out there and make some plays in the running game. I mean, the NFL teams will find extra ways to get him out on the field. If even that is the case.

We're going to take a brief break from talking to you about the NFL Draft and what Iowa Hawkeye football players could be declaring for the 2019 NFL Draft to give you a very important message from one of our sponsors for today's show. Because if you're like me, you hate to miss your favorite team play regardless of who they are playing. And that's where Sling TV comes in. Now I never have to miss a football or a basketball game. And the best part is I no longer have to pay for a bunch of channels I don't even watch with a typical cable package. For just $30 a month, you get access to ESPN, the Big Ten Network, and more without the hassle of a long-term contract.

What's even more exciting is that we have a fantastic offer for you. Locked On listeners can get a free 7-day trial by going to sling.com. That's S-L-I-N-G.com. Never miss a game again with sling TV. Absolutely. And what are your thoughts on, you know, him deciding to not go to the outback bowl i know there was a little bit of backlash i know kirk said a few not kirk you know is very pc on a lot of things he's very politically correct in how he speaks and he tries not to you know make a lot of

things controversial but he did say he wishes he would be with the team but he fully supports his decision you know personally i like i don't I don't, I don't like, I don't blame him for not going to the Outback Bowl. There's a chance to get injured. He's not really getting too involved in the offense late in the season. What are your thoughts on the situation? I completely agree with any of these guys who aren't playing in the college football playoff.

I mean, if college football wants to eliminate this problem, I mean, and this could be, I mean, you could do a whole nother series of podcasts about this topicoff. I mean, if college football wants to eliminate this problem, I mean, and this could be, I mean, you could do a whole other series of podcasts about this topic, but I mean, if college football wants to eliminate this issue where a lot of these talented underclassmen are basically, you know, they're not abandoning their teams, but they're moving on to their professional dreams, you know, before their season is over, if they want to eliminate that, they've got to add teams to the playoff system.

That's as simple as that. And Iowa, to me, showed over the course of this season that they're good enough to be what I would consider a college football playoff team. Not in terms of the Final Four, don't get me wrong. But I mean, just if you're putting together a tournament, Iowa looks like a team that could compete in a tournament. And the fact that they're not competing in a tournament is disappointing to me.

And the fact that only four teams get to compete, I mean, it doesn't make any sense to me that Georgia's not competing. And so to circle back, I mean, I definitely don't blame any of these players who aren't in the college football playoff for sitting out these games. I mean, Christian McCaffrey did it,, Christian McCaffrey did it and he ended up being a top 10 pick still. I mean, these guys, their draft status doesn't suffer because of it. In fact, looking back at Jake Butt's injury, to talk about him again, back against Florida State, I mean, he injured his ACL and ended up being a fifth round pick instead of a first or second

round pick. And so Noah Fant could look at this the exact same way and say, all right, I could go out and play this bowl game, which doesn't matter for anything really. And I could get injured or I could maybe even have a great game. And what's the difference? What's the difference if I have a great game? Is my stock going to rise? But if I get injured, you know, I'm going to lose potentially millions of dollars. And so I think that these guys are making actually the right decision as a fan i don't like it but i think given the circumstances given the fact there's only four playoff teams in college football they're making the right call i couldn't agree more and i i do i think you could literally devote weeks to talking about how the college world playoff could be expanded and talking about how the Iowa Hawkeyes had the talent to be a top eight team this year.

And to be honest with the schedule they had, they theoretically could have squeaked their way into the top four. And believe me, that would have been a whole nother set of controversies with everyone else that doesn't believe in the big 10, in my personal opinion. But like I said, I think we could, we could probably go on for days on that. The one thing, the one thing I wanted to up, though, you talked about, you know, not wanting to get injured and not wanting to potentially threaten your career. And I think, you know, jumping to the underclassmen, that's where the situation with TJ Hawkinson, I think, gets really interesting.

This guy has skyrocketed up draft boards this past season, and he really had a breakout year despite having you know roughly 25 catches as a redshirt freshman you know he wasn't expected to do much in the shadows of no offense but he broke out in a big way obviously just you know just was named the 2018 John Mackey award winner for being the nation's best tight end he won the Ozzie Newsome best tight end award he was first team all big 10 he had 46 catches for 717 yards you know know, John Ledger, one of the top draft analysts for the draft network has him rated as the 35th best prospect. Wanted to get your thoughts on Hawkinson and what he brings the table and whether or not you think he might actually declare based on, you know, some of that stuff with Noah Pham. Yeah, I think, boy, I think he'd be really wise

to declare for the draft right now. I mean, I hate to even say that because a sophomore at Iowa, has any sophomore at Iowa ever declared for the draft? I mean, I'd have to think about it for a long time. Yeah, it'd be historic. But, man, is he worth it. I mean, this guy, NFL teams would be chomping at the bit to get their hands on him. I mentioned O. OJ Howard earlier. This is a guy who I'm not going to say he reminds me of OJ Howard,

but similar body type, similar skill set, great receiver, great blocker, does everything well, the first sophomore to ever win the Mackey Award. Just incredible what he did in such a short amount of time. It doesn't get any better than that. It doesn't get any better than that as a college football tight end. And for you as a future professional tight end have got to think about it in that way. It doesn't get any better than that. So he, he, there's nothing he can do to improve his stock. In my opinion, I think 35 is even too low considering the fact that he does everything well as a tight end. I would say, I would say

from my perspective, he's a surefire first round draft pick. Um, and if he is selected on day two, boy, some teams getting a real steal there because guys like this who have that kind of athletic ability, I mean, 16 yards of catch almost that's, that's crazy from the tight end position. This is a guy who can really split the seam. He can make plays after the catch. And I just remember this wasn't that long ago, obviously, but I remember in the Nebraska game, that fourth down play late in the game. Who did Kirk Ferentz and Brian Ferentz, who did they trust with the ball on that play?

They put it right in Hawkinson's hands. They didn't go to anybody else. And I think that says a lot about what he brings to the table just as a sure-handed veteran type of player that you say, okay, this is the most important play of the game. We're going to put the ball in our best players hands. And they said in that moment, in my opinion, they said TJ Hawkinson's our best player. And so I think he's, I think he's going to be a good NFL player and he's got to come out after the season. I don't know if that affects his bowl game status, though.

We'll see. Yeah, it sounds like he does want to play in the bowl game, and I do agree. I mean, I can't imagine him coming back. At the same time, this is a small-town kid from Sheraton, Iowa, a town of like 5,000, 6,000. This is the kind of stuff that you grow up dreaming about, playing for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

So, I mean, the only thing I can think of is if there's some sort of nostalgia and sentimental value there, but I hope if you're Kirk Ferens, that you're giving him the full honest truth and you're saying, you know, you got to cash in while the money's good, especially in a week wide receiver or a relatively weak wide receiver class. And when tight ends are kind of in vogue, you know, people love to have an athletic tight end. Look at, like I said, Travis Kelsey or Zach Hertz or george kittle man like you want to have a tight end who

can be athletic and split the team and hawkinson can block so that'll be interesting to see kind of what happens there another guy i'm kind of curious about anthony nelson probably the second most likely guy to potentially declare you know he was pretty he's been pretty high pretty highly rated throughout the course this season you know he's pretty he's been pretty high pretty highly rated throughout the course this season you know he's a tall athletic defensive end who can play the run in the past why don't you get your thoughts on him what does he kind of translate you know to the NFL he has nine and a half sacks is he going to be one of those elite pass rushers when I look at the size of him I feel like he could really fit a 4-3 or a 3-4 or 2 even so yeah you said it perfectly right there he's scheme versatile

I did I did a lot of Iowa games last year for pro football focus and just basically my role was identifying which player was on the field what position they were playing and what they were doing on each play and anytime Iowa went into their NASCAR package, Anthony Nelson was the guy that he moved outside way to the outer edge. And I love that they did that with him because it showed to me that they trusted his ability to bend around that edge quickly. As a 6'7 player, I mean, they trusted him to speed rush around the edge. But you can move him inside. You can do anything with him because he's so

strong. He's got such great length. There's not really a specific type of offensive lineman that wants to deal with that. For him, having 20 plus sacks over the past three seasons, a bunch of tackles for loss, this guy's just playmaker man and so um i believe he's a fourth year junior if i if i remember right yep yep he's a redshirt junior yeah so that to me that makes a lot of sense for a guy like that to go ahead and and you know if the nfl draft committee comes back with a favorable review and says hey you're going to be picked in the top three rounds to me that would say to anthony nelson go because I just remember all these different, uh, Iowa defensive ends through the, through the years. Um, and it's hard for me right now to even piece their names

together. But I think of a guy like, like Brian Madison, who I thought was going to be such a great pro player. And then the pro scouts didn't end up liking him all that much. Or, um, there's been a number of other guys that I thought, well, these guys are going to be great in the pros because Iowa, you know, Iowa's got a tough defense and they're coached by former NFL coaches. And this is, it makes sense. NFL teams should want them, but I don't know. It just hasn't been the case. And so Anthony, even, even a guy like Mike Daniels, I mean, look at him.

He was overlooked by NFL teams. and so now he's a superstar. But if Anthony Nelson is getting a positive and favorable review and it's a top three, maybe even four rounds, I'd say cash in on that. You've done a lot for the Hawkeyes and made a lot of plays, and so I would encourage him to leave for the NFL as well. I couldn't agree more. And I think the other thing with him is what are you going to prove in your last year? I would encourage him to, you know, leave for the NFL as well. I couldn't agree more. And I think the other thing with him is,

what are you going to prove in your last year? You've shown that you can rush the passer. You've shown that you can defend the run. I feel like his stock, similar to Hawkinson, isn't going to go up anymore. I mean, he is what he is. And I feel like what you get with Iowa football players, you get a very high floor and maybe not as high of a ceiling as some of your, your sec type players who have less production. And in those cases, you're going back to school, but you're not improving your draft stock.

So go out now, get well, the getting's good as my, as my thought on that. Absolutely. All right. Jumping into the last two underclassmen, we have a Monty hooker and Nate Stanley, and we don't have to focus on these, probably Nate Stanley a little bit more. But Imani Hooker, I know he's looking to get his, you know, get word back from the NFL Draft Advisory Board on where he could potentially be selected. You know, we just won the Tatum-Woodson Defensive Back of the Year Award. But in every big board I've looked at, he's not on there. He's not on the top 100.

He's not in the top 10 safeties or even top 10 corners if you want to look at him for whatever reason like that i don't think he would translate as a corner but he has shown in iowa's defense he can be very versatile and i think that's a very key thing that you know nfl teams need to realize but wanted to get your thoughts on him you know what are the chances that you know what what round would he probably be selected at in this point if you were to go out after his junior year well I think I think first of all I think you and I and all the rest of the Iowa Hawkeyes fans out there are really privileged to be able to be kind of the first on the scene with this guy because if if if nobody

out there is really ranking him in the draft rankings Iowa fans are going to have a leg up and be able to say oh yeah I knew about that guy back when. Because Amani Hooker, to me, I've been talking about him with another Iowa Hawkeye slash Denver Bronco fan, Nick Kendall, all year. We've been talking about this guy. And personally for me, I view him as a Tyron Matthew type, where you could line him up in the nickel maybe as a corner every now and again, but he's just a guy who makes plays all over the field. And he's a, he's a guy who can create turnovers, uh, six interceptions over the past two years, one of them for a touchdown. He makes plays behind the line of scrimmage. He hits hard. He can break up passes and man coverage. He does. He just does everything. He reads plays so well. It seems like, it seems like he's always Johnny on the spot I think that that's that's the

type of guy that really will ascend as more NFL draft analysts and experts watch tape on guys who declare especially if he declares now I think that there's a chance that people will say oh who's this Amani hooker from Iowa and then like I can just picture like a guy like Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network turning on the tape and tweeting about how did we miss this guy all year long because he makes plays everywhere and he's got good size. He's exactly what the NFL likes right now as far as that versatile defensive back like a Tyron Matthew who's doing extremely well for Houston right now.

And just the way the NFL is going, I mean, you got to be able to create turnovers. And this is a guy who reads, plays well, and he creates turnovers. And I think that he translates to the NFL extremely well. So I would say, you know, it's hard to put him, you know, can you put him on the day two conversation? Because look at a guy like Desmond King who had just this stellar career at Iowa. And he just, I mean, might as well have been undrafted the way the league overlooked such a great career with the Hawkeyes and fifth round pick for the chargers. And now

he's balling out as, as one of their starting defensive backs, but that was a mistake by the NFL. And they made the same mistake with Micah Hyde. Just these guys are just naturally good football players who keep getting overlooked by the league. Even, even Josh, uh, Josh Jackson, I felt like he should have been a first-round pick, and he ended up going in the middle of the second round to the Green Bay Packers. And so I don't know what it is about Iowa defensive backs that they keep getting overlooked, but these are good players. They translate to the league. And so maybe if they realize their mistake with those previous players,

maybe Hooker has a chance to go on day two, but I'd say he's probably a good safe bet for early day three. Absolutely, and you just said it right. I mean, I don't understand how they're getting overlooked, but I saw a good tweet from, I can't remember who it was, but they basically said, you know, if the player can play, we need to stop overthinking this, and Desmond King can play. You can find things to be wrong.

I think he ran a 4-5 540 Josh Jackson the concern was can he turn his hips I don't remember the the Micah Hyde talk coming out about you know exactly what the concerns were there but it's getting ridiculous I mean you got to look at the tape and see that these guys can play these are playmakers and they can do a lot of things that translate well to the next level just because you don't run a 4-4-40 doesn't mean you're not going to be an effective nfl player i remember pounding the table for desmond king hoping to god when you know we're in the third round and i was like please draft desmond king and we drafted you know brandon langley which with mixed results i would say

at this point but yeah it's frustrating to see iowa secondary players get overlooked consistently yeah that's that's looking like a pretty big mistake at this point, isn't it? I mean, the rest of the NFL should be kicking themselves for passing on him. I mean, he led the nation in interceptions. This is a turnover-driven league, and that kind of a player is valuable. And he can also return kicks. Like, the Chargers use him everywhere. So it doesn't make sense to me a guy who can play the ball like that

and who is instinctive as a returner. Again, that was a player that when Iowa needed a big play, they put that guy on the field, and they intentionally put the defense on the field to get Desmond King on the field because they knew that he was probably their best chance of making a touchdown scoring play because he's just that talented and so yeah you're right the teams need to just start trusting the tape trusting that these guys play at the speed that they're playing

at and they're reacting in the same speed I mean he's he's just a good football player so yeah it's a it's a shame that they're getting overlooked maybe Hooker will be the pioneer for changing that around. Absolutely. It'll be interesting to see what kind of grade he gets back. I mean, when I wrote the article today, I felt like because he's being overlooked, that may actually work in Iowa Hawkeyes' favor because he may be more likely to return. Maybe as they're watching tape, though, if Anthony Nelson declares,

as you're watching tape, there's a chance that Imani Hookerer is going to stand out in the tape maybe get some buzz going into next season yeah yeah absolutely that's a great point so jumping the last the last underclass i want to talk about uh nate stanley and i think a lot of iowa football fans have some mixed opinions on nate stanley at the end of the day this guy has the size and the general traits of what you look at for a professional quarterback this guy's 6'4 240 pounds has a great arm I think the big concerns for me and I wanted to get you know your thoughts on this is his accuracy and his general decision making and then also you know while he may have some concerns he does come from a pro style offense but he's also coming into a

potentially terrible quarterback class this year where there's not really a true clear cut number one so how does that play in his favor in terms of does he go out for the draft does he stay back because if he stays back he's potentially going into a loaded 2020 class that features a lot of top quarterbacks so wanted to get your thoughts on Yeah, gosh, he's in a really tough position, isn't he? I don't feel like he had a good enough season this year to be able to legitimately put himself in the mix, even with guys like Will Greer or Drew Locke or guys like that. Even though this is considered to be somewhat of a down quarterback year,

I don't feel like he did enough to really set himself apart. I know Todd McShay has been super high on him all year, and I think you're exactly right. I think he does have the tools to be an NFL quarterback. He's got the size. He's playing in a pro-style offense, which, I mean, we'll see how much longer that really even matters with all the things that Patrick Mahomes is doing with that college-looking offense in Kansas City.

So we'll see how much longer that really matters to NFL coaches, but I do think it's valuable that he has that experience. I think that teams do value that because he's going through different progressions and he's reading defenses and he's doing things before the snap. So that is very valuable. But I think you're exactly right, man. He struggles with his accuracy.

He struggles with decision-making. I'll never forget the crazy touchdown throw he had against Ohio State where he's being pulled down by one of his legs, and he makes just this perfect pass under intense pressure. That's a play that I would put at the top of the highlight reel if I was him and I was thinking about declaring for the draft. I mean, that's the best play of his college career thus far. But then you will have those head-scratching throws or those times where it's like,

why is this guy who's supposedly an NFL quarterback or a future NFL quarterback, why is Iowa unable to score 17 to 20 points to win a big game? And that's concerning to me. And so I think that he needs to go back to school, refine his game. He that's concerning to me. And so I think that, that he needs to go back to school, refine his game. He's got the arm strength. He's got the arm talent. He's got the size. He's going to have a lot of experience, but I definitely think he needs another year refining his tools, becoming a better decision maker, finding ways to be more accurate. And I think Iowa really has to adapt more of a pass-heavy –

I mean, you get into that familiar pattern of run, run, pass, and all of a sudden your quarterback's not doing well. And I think that Stanley is kind of – I mean, he's kind of that rhythm quarterback. He gets into funks. He gets into rhythms. And for better or worse, Iowa rides with whatever he's doing. So it just seems like he's too inconsistent for me right now and I think I'd like to see him come back to build on that yeah absolutely I feel like for for Stanley he hasn't shown that he can play in the clutch I

mean look at Wisconsin they had an opportunity to close that game out he couldn't lead a game you know a game clinching drive and even they were down, he had the opportunity to bring them back through an interception. Penn State, in what basically was their season-defining game, in my personal opinion, that was an opportunity where they still were in control of a lot of things. And he had the worst game, one of the worst games I've seen him play in a while. And then against Northwestern, just how do you score 10 points?

And the other thing I want to bring up is that it's frustrating to me because he's playing under Brian Ferencz, and Brian Ferencz learned under Bill Belichick. He's a disciple of Bill Belichick. And at times, Brian Ferencz looks like a genius. His offense is running on, you know, firing on all cylinders. And other times, it's like, what are you doing? Why are you calling these plays?

Why are you calling all these horizontal passes? You have Noah Fant. You have TJ Hawkinson. You have Brandon Smith who, for some reason, can pull out OBJ-type catches on a consistent basis. And you have Amir Smith-Marset who can run maybe a 4-3-40. And then you have a fantastic possession receiver, Nick Easley. What are we doing throwing horizontal passes?

So part of that really frustrates me and I'll be interested to see if he does return how they evolve the offense in year three for Stanley yeah I think you're right about that they've they've got to find some way to adapt to modern day college football I mean there's no reason with the players that they had this year that they shouldn't have been dominating offensively. Even in those games where they played good defenses in the Big Ten, there should have been times where it's just like, all right, we know we can go get a touchdown or at least a field goal by running these specific plays where just people can't stop Fant and Hawkinson at one time. And so, yeah, I think that they need to do a better job of scheming,

but that is on Ferentz. I mean, he's got to figure that out. There's times that they look like the Iowa of 10 years ago. That was just maddening. Just basically might as well have punted on third down, you know? Yeah, I 100% agree with that. And that will conclude part one of our draft discussion sarah and i continue to discuss the senior class for another 20 minutes or so but we'll be saving that for

monday's episode as timing wise it got a little long we want to keep these episodes between about 25 and 30 minutes but we just got a little bit excited talking about iowa hawkeye football and what some of the underclassmen may or may not do in regards to the 2019 NFL Draft. For those of you Iowa Hawkeye fans out there listening, Sarah Bettinger is a fantastic follow on Twitter. He's extremely knowledgeable in the NFL Draft. He's also extremely knowledgeable in Iowa Hawkeye football and sports in general. And then if you like the Broncos, it's a trifecta.

He loves the Broncos and he's one of the site experts for predominantly orange. So if you like any of those three items, I highly suggest you follow him at SarahBettinger on Twitter. And that'll conclude our Friday morning episode. I hope you have a fantastic weekend. As you already know, I'm your host, Andrew Wade, and you can follow me on Twitter at Wade underscore Andrew. You can also follow all of the exciting happenings of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast on Twitter at Locked On Iowa. Also, make sure you subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify,

or wherever you get your podcast at. And please leave us a review. Feel free to reach out to us. Love to hear from our fans and our listeners about what you love about the show. With that being said, thank you for joining us on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Have a fantastic day, Hawkeye Nation, and we'll be back tomorrow.