Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - NO MORE OR: Iowa Hawkeyes ELEVATE Hank Brown—Will This DECISION Spark OFFENSIVE BREAKTHROUGH?

Starting point is 00:00:01 The quarterback battle is over. Hank Brown officially QB1 for Iowa against Michigan. With no or next to his name, the Hawkeyes have finally made the call. And now we'll see if this offense can take a step forward with a clear leader at quarterback. You are Locked on Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Welcome in. I'm Trent Condon, and this is the Lockdown Hawkeyes.

Starting point is 00:00:37 podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes, your first listen every day. Today's episode is brought to you by Fandul. It's time to put your knowledge to the test with college football pickum from Fandual. Download the Fandual app and play college football pickum for free, only on Fandual. Coming up today, we're going to be joined by John Bowen Camp from the Associated Press. We'll take a look at the Iowa Hawkeyes from his perspective. What we've seen out of this football team and talk about some of the depth continues to emerge from this squad. Plus, we'll pose the question, is it time for Brayden Jackson to get a little bit more run at the running back spot after his performance on Saturday? One of three 100-yard rushers, and Brayden Jackson certainly looks apart with some good time speed out there.

Starting point is 00:01:22 We'll also take a look at the grades from Pro Football Focus as we do, recapping the weekend that was brought you a rapid reaction podcast right after it went final. Now we'll take a look back, see if some of the things that we saw on the screen matched up with the grading scale from Pro Football Focus. We'll get in that momentarily. Injury concerns. It'll continue to be some question marks here. And we start today with the conversation as the depth chart was released. Now, on Tuesday, we will hear from Kirk Farrants. We will get the latest from Iowa City on that front.

Starting point is 00:01:51 What exactly he had to say about the quarterback spot, what he has to say about some of the injuries guys coming back. We didn't see a number of players on Saturday. DJ Vonami, Kamari Moulton, both of those guys sat out. Another interesting nugget to the depth chart, Tyler Brown, who was out there. to begin the ball game at strong safety coming off the hamstring injury that he had been dealing with throughout camping into the beginning portion of the season. Well, he's not listed at the depth chart, but I think we anticipate he's going to be the starter on Saturday against Michigan. So certainly some questions there, and we'll see the latest kind of on the injury front. The biggest one from Saturday, Bryce Hawthorne, after the game, everything sounded good, and he has listed at the top of the depth chart.

Starting point is 00:02:33 Definitely great news on that front, as we know the importance of Bryce Hawthorne to. this Iowa football team. But the one big change of the depth chart was this. The oar is no more. The ore that was listed between Hank Brown and Jeremy Hecklinsky is no longer there. It is strictly Hank Brown as a starter. Jeremy Hecklinski is the backup and Jimmy Sullivan now, the number three quarterback. So that is a change on the surface. And there's always a rhyme or reason to it. But as we've talked about before, and every day, as you heard us, plenty of times talk about that. The way that things went throughout camp leading into camp and throughout August. I just had questions.

Starting point is 00:03:12 I didn't like the way that the path went. They talked about this competition, how close it was. You're splitting reps throughout the time. Well, there are some good factors that are going to come out of this. And one of them is Jeremy Hecklinsky has got about as many reps as anybody as a number two quarterback, probably in the Big Ten and maybe in the country throughout the course of the season because of that. Unless there's injuries out there and the like, there's not many backup quarterbacks that have got the same type of experience, at least in practice reps,

Starting point is 00:03:39 that we seem from Jeremy Hacklinski. He also got a lot of run in both the Northern Illinois and the U&I game. So a lot of opportunities for him to run the offense and to be at least a little bit more settled if it gets to the point where you do have to go to the backup quarterback. But for Hank Brown, let's just start with this. Hank Brown's been really good. And yes, there's been things.

Starting point is 00:03:59 He's not been a perfect quarterback. But you go through and you look at the numbers, albeit not against the most difficult competition. Northern Illinois and you and I, both those teams stunk, certainly on the Saturdays that they were in Kinnick Stadium. Iowa State was a step up in competition, yet we saw him make some plays. We saw him do some things that you can see the talent. The way that he spins it, the way that Hank Brown throws the football,

Starting point is 00:04:21 there is a ton of armed talent there. And when you take some of the positives that you can do, coupled with one thing that Tim Lester wanted, you know, Iowa had an opportunity. They definitely could have gone out into the portal and went shopping for a quarterback this offseason. But they made the choice, and I'm going to anticipate the choice that Tim Lester really wanted. He liked both of the guys that they had in the room. He also liked the idea of not having to go through what he did his first two years.

Starting point is 00:04:47 First season, implementing a completely new offense. He did it with Caden McNamara, who was injured during that time. Then last season, they get Mark Garnowski. Great. Then we find out less than a day later that Mark Gronowski needs shoulder surgery, and he was going to be out for spring football. I really do believe that Tim Lester liked the idea of going into this offseason. They were going to have quarterbacks with experience in the system.

Starting point is 00:05:11 You weren't going to have to reteach a bunch of different things. You were going to have that shot. And I just think that he really likes the talent of Hank Brown. At Glinsky's fun. He's a little guy. He's out there. He throws a crazy angles. He does some wild things.

Starting point is 00:05:25 It's fun. And it's fun for us fans to have a guy like that. But for a coach and for a coaching staff that definitely skews much more conservative, you can definitely understand why eventually they went with Hank Brown. And Hank's delivered. There's been a couple of throws that you want back overall, though. This has been really good at the beginning of the season. Normally, a time that the Iowa offense is not playing at an elite level.

Starting point is 00:05:49 The matchup against Michigan's different. This Michigan team is loaded defensively. They are really good on that side of the football. And everybody wants to talk about Bryce Underwood, and they want to talk about the number of times that Michigan's put it on the turf offensive. this year, but that defense is absolutely 100% legit. They got dudes, they got speed. You're not going to go out there and just be able to play bully ball against this Michigan

Starting point is 00:06:12 team and think that you're going to be able to come out with a victory. So those are a couple of the components that you look at and you see, I think overall, that gets you, Hank Brown has deserved this job. He is put in the work and he has shown enough on tape now that the decision it is over. That doesn't mean that it's over for Jeremy Hecklinsky. As we know, obviously injuries can happen. And with the competition now stepping up against Michigan, Ohio State, Washington, even Minnesota on the road over the next month of the season.

Starting point is 00:06:42 When you look at that stretch, three of those games are on the road. How is he going to deal in those circumstances? It's one thing to do it, even against a team that looks very good defensively in Iowa State. It's one thing to do it in Kinnick Stadium. What's it going to be like in front of 110,000 people at the big house? What's it going to look like with Ohio State coming to town? the at the time preseason number one team in the country, a road trip to Washington, a road trip to Minnesota. These are going to be different environments, even in the Iowa State game for Hank Brown.

Starting point is 00:07:14 We don't know how it's going to go. You hope that some of the happy feat that we saw in the past, some of the struggles that he had going back to the game against Indiana, that those have been alleviated and we're going to see good, solid quarterback play. He's got to get better. He's got to continue to build. but you see enough of the building blocks there why this was the right choice. Going with him as QB1, stopping with the charade, no more or behind the name. We saw it during the Iowa State game. Hank Brown went the distance.

Starting point is 00:07:42 He is the starter, and now it's official on the depth chart. Hank Brown is QB1. We got a few other things to get into today, including the numbers from Saturday, grades from PFF. Pro football focus will get into that when we come back on the other side. Stay right there. This is your daily Iowa Hawkeye podcast. We are locked on Hawkeyes.

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Starting point is 00:09:04 Only on Fandual. Visit Fandual.com to get started today. That's Fandual.com. Trent, kind of back with you once again here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for being with us and making Lockdown Hawkeyes. Your first listen every day. All right, back into it as we talks about and will football with you. Let's get into the grades from pro football focus.

Starting point is 00:09:25 We like to do this each and every week and see what it matches up with what we see out there on the field. We'll start at the offense and snap counts this week because, well, there's just so many guys that were out there playing in the 550-0 blowout against you and I. Not a ton to take away from that. I don't think we get a good feel of what the rotation looks like, anything like that. But that aside, all right, quarterback Hank Brown, 91 grade, elite. Well, when you go 12 for 12, that's going to happen. Jeremy Hecklinsky, though, was pretty good as well. A 73.5 passing grade for him, a 70 overall.

Starting point is 00:09:57 Very good there for Hecklinsky. And what are the better grades that we've seen from him? throughout the course of his career. At the running back spot, the three guys go over 100 yards. Your top rated guy, though, was Xavier Williams, a 91.2, and when you're averaging 25 yards of carry, definitely going to have that. There's Braden Jackson, an 80.8 grade for him. That is another elite number, 79.9.

Starting point is 00:10:20 Very good also for Nathan McNeil. Alante Dean, who he got to see a lot during the second half of the game. He grades out with a 63 grade out of the running back spot. limited action for a lot of the starters again, but good numbers from the wide receiver group. Evan James with a 72.3. Also saw Jared Bowie with a 71 as he played a ton of snaps out there, number zero out there for the Hawkeyes, had a catch in the game. One thing that stood out, though, Evan James, obviously the smaller out of the regular wide receivers, he had the best run blocking grade out of anybody with an 82.5. 65.6 grade for Tony Diaz.

Starting point is 00:10:58 Dayton Howard with the 65 saw a little bit of him out of the regulars. At tight end, not great numbers here, of course, playing without DJ Vonami in this game. Zach Ortworth, he grades out as the best player out of the tight ends with the 65.8 grade and the best run blocking grade with the 76. Michael Bert up next, then Thomas Meyer, and Addison Estringa, who had the touchdown grab. He grades out with a 60 on the scale. to the offensive line. And yes, at the top of the list,

Starting point is 00:11:27 no surprise on this one, Trevor Loughke grades out as the highest guy, a 79.8. Good to see good numbers, though, from some of the newbies, if you will. Candon Leonard, who very well could be a right tackle next season. He grades out with the 71 grade, Bodie McCaslin, a 69, 66 for Layton Jones. Josh Janowski, excuse me,

Starting point is 00:11:47 he was able to get out there with the 65 grade. Michael Mislinski with the 65. A little bit lower down the list, Cade Piper, not great. His run, black and grade, in fact, was down at a 56th grade, 61 overall for him. A little bit of a surprise on that front. So there are the grades on the offense. Again, as we try to glean a whole lot out of this game, it's kind of a difficult exercise.

Starting point is 00:12:09 Let's jump over to the defense and start up front with the defensive line. Your top-rated guy, once again, Will Hubert showing up in a big-time way, an 83.7 grade, an elite against the run with an 82.9 on that one. Great to see Devin Kennedy grade out well. 78.5 for him. Bryce Hawthorne in his limited snaps. He was a 76. Very good on that front. Chima Shanique, haven't seen a ton of him. He grades out with a 74.9, a very good grade for him. Joseph Anderson, who once again got to the quarterback, he grades out with a 71, some of the notables there on the defensive line. Let's jump over to the linebacker spot. Cam Buffington, again, didn't play a ton, but when he did, he was great, a 79. 77.7 overall for Jaden Montgomery, really good out of both of those linebackers.

Starting point is 00:12:58 Julian Manson didn't play a ton, but he grades out with the 75.9. What hurt him, I guess, is his pass rush grade with a 49.5 on that front. But you can just see. Number four, Julian Manson, that young man is going to be a problem. And after Jaden Montgomery graduates after this year, I wonder if maybe it's Julian Manson that's starting alongside Cam Buffington next season. A couple of other guys of veterans. note out of the linebacker group, Nolan DeLong guy that's been around for a long time.

Starting point is 00:13:27 He got a 74, really good grade out of him. A little bit lower down the list, Derek Weisskopf, he got caught up a couple of different times in coverage. He grades out down at a 61.8. Finally, a defensive back, your top rated guy that played extensive snaps was Tyler Brown. Great to see that really good physical. You can see the speed that he plays at along with the physicality. he's going to be fun to watch at that strong safety position

Starting point is 00:13:54 and looking like he definitely belongs out there. Good numbers as well for Xavier Stiles. He's found a little bit of a roll out there and he's going to be a fun part, I think, of the future out of that safety group, one of the youngsters that they got out of the portal at the safety position as they brought in three newbies. We've talked a ton about Tyler Brown and Hawkins,

Starting point is 00:14:12 but Xavier Stiles, what to keep your eye on. Zach Lumpur graded out well, which is good to see after a couple of down performances from PFF, a 74.9. We also have to mention Darien, Jones. The young man from Omaha, he is going to be a stud. 73.1 grade in his second extended run out there with the defensive backfield. Great game. A lot of guys got an opportunity, a lot of opportunities here, but definitely

Starting point is 00:14:36 seeing Tyler Brown. I think that's my biggest takeaway out of the defensive side of things. And then the great, great, of course, out of perfect performance, 12 of 12 for Hank Brown. A couple of the good notes there from PFF this week. Each and every week we do this. A look back at the rankings from Pro Football Focus. here on Locked-on Hawkeyes. Let's get deeper into the conversation now as John Bowencamp is going to join us. We will talk a little bit about the quarterback spot.

Starting point is 00:15:00 Hank Brown has QB1. We're also going to get into the running back position. Braden Jackson, what he was able to do, what is it going to look like coming back this weekend? We anticipate, Kamari Moulton is going to be back and back as a starter. What about L.J. Phillips as he works his way back? What is a running back spot going to look like? And what's it going to take to beat the Michigan Wolverines?

Starting point is 00:15:21 We'll talk about it with John Bowen Camp when we come back on the other side. Stay right there. This is Locked on Hawkeyes. College football is back, and so are the predictions. Who makes the playoff? Who wins the conference? Who takes home the national title? Calci America's number one prediction market platform

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Starting point is 00:18:40 us to talk some Iowa Hawkeyes as we go up to the press box. He has John Bowen Camp from the Associated Price Press as we talk some Hawkeyes with him. John, it was another laughter, Laffer, another dominating performance out of the Iowa Hawkeyes and certainly an eye opener in two realms. A, Iowa doing this against anybody and doing it twice in a season just doesn't happen very often, but also I think for a lot of people here in the state, just seeing how far that Panther program has fallen. How are you doing today, John? I'm doing good. I thought we were going to talk about the NASCAR fight. But okay, we'll talk about the Hawkins. I'm not being facetious. I have no idea what you're talking about. And I'm thinking. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. We need to work with you on your NASCAR stuff. Anyway.

Starting point is 00:19:24 You're not going to get me there. You're not going to get me there. Nope, no, fine. I'm going to get you there. You're going to come to Iowa Speedway next year. You're going to have fun with us out there. Well, we're going to do it. Do I get to drink?

Starting point is 00:19:34 If you want. Well, now we're starting to rev up a little bit. Get my engine going on that front. And I think you can gamble on NASCAR. You know my buttons over there, Boen, you got me going. No. I'm hitting all on them. Let's talk about Iowa football.

Starting point is 00:19:50 Let's let's do that. It was, no, it was, that was a good win on Saturday, and they've done what they need to do. You know, they've done what they need to do in these first three games. I mean, you had a couple of blowouts where you got to see a lot of young guys playing. I mean, there is a lot of talent on this roster, what I've seen in the two blowouts, and then you win a tough game at home. So I really like where they're at right now.

Starting point is 00:20:15 And so I thought Saturday was, you know, you didn't need to use Kamari Molton. You didn't need to use some of the injured players. Hank Brown was, you know, perfect, 12 of 12. You did a lot of good things. You got a lot of momentum now going into the big 10th season. Really do. And let's start with quarterback and not just a perfect performance,

Starting point is 00:20:34 12 for 12 for Hank Brown. But afterwards, Kirk had mentioned he didn't outright say it, but it was kind of a glancing blow that, yeah, Hank is going to be the guy going forward. Now, definitely felt that way, going back to Iowa State, going to distance in that one. Is it important, though, for that announcement or, you know, depth chart, those kind of things to take away the ore and just go that direction? Is there any importance to that at this point or we all can kind of see it with our eyes?

Starting point is 00:20:59 We don't need an official announcement that Hank Brown, he's a starter going forward unless, of course, something happens. We need, we already know. I mean, we know it is, but it would be nice to just have it specified that way in the depth chart. And I'm sure Jeremy Hecklinsky understands it. I'm sure I'm sure he knows where he kind of stands at this point. But also, he's gotten good experience in game one and game three. So now you know you've got two pretty good quarterback in my mind. And I mean, I thought Jeremy Hecklinsky was okay on Saturday.

Starting point is 00:21:32 I mean, it wasn't, you know, Hank Brown obviously clearly had the better numbers. But you know now who your starter is. You know who the number one is. And in my mind, he has earned it. I mean, he's played well. He's thrown the ball well. he's managed this offense. It hasn't made mistakes.

Starting point is 00:21:50 And it's just, you can just tell that right now this is his offense. Running it well, was taking the checkdowns that were available there. Made a great play to Braden Jackson in the end zone as he was coming up. Tony Diaz was wide open kind of coming underneath. But he took, I guess,

Starting point is 00:22:06 the more difficult throw and threw it into the end zone and made the play there. You can see the comfortable part of the game starting to raise with him a little bit. But it's a big step up now. You go into the big house. It'll be the first road start, obviously, for so many of these guys. This is still a very, very young and inexperienced Iowa football team. You have that component on it. 110,000.

Starting point is 00:22:26 It's not the most difficult environment of all the Big Ten stadiums I've been to, John. And now you've been to a ton as well. It's not, it's not what Ohio Stadium is. It's not what a whiteout at Penn State is. But it's still 110,000 people. And Hank, we see it a couple of times still, gets those happy fee from time to time. because there's going to be a lot more pressure at him this game. Sure, absolutely.

Starting point is 00:22:50 And I do think he is going to have to play well in this game. But you're right, it is, it's a tough atmosphere, but it's not the toughest atmosphere within the league. So I do think you're going to see, we're going to learn a lot about him. We're going to learn a lot about a lot of these guys this weekend. So that's why I think this is a really big moment for this team to kind of show where they're at right now.

Starting point is 00:23:12 Let's go to the running game, three different guys, go over 100 yards first time since 1983 that that happens John, I'll tell you, I don't remember that game. I was three at the time. You might have memory of that one though. Kind of sort of do, but, you know, that was, I would have been

Starting point is 00:23:28 a senior in high school. Okay. You know, I wasn't a real big Iowa fan back. But anyway, I do kind of remember, but I remember the names. I remember the names of all this guys. So anyway. I'm right there with you. Well, we look at the ruddy game. We see Nathan McNeil. He gets the start. He looked good. David Williams

Starting point is 00:23:44 looks like he had a little bit more burst to him than we've seen the first couple of games where he might have been one of the guys he kind of put on the more disappointing side of what we saw at least early on in the season. But then Braden Jackson and the track speed, the NFL bloodlines with his dad, Fred Jackson. I've said the story a bunch here before, John. I called a bunch of his games in high school. I was shocked, A, that Iowa was able to get him as a walk on. I thought, well, there's got to be a bunch of not just FCS programs, but mid majors, like Max schools that were after him. That's not the case. It was either take this opportunity at Iowa or go over to Iowa Western and play in Juko. I know he was little. He was 160 pounds in high school. Still,

Starting point is 00:24:23 if you watch the film, I'm not a scout by any means. Boy, talk about a miss by a lot of college evaluators out there. Oh, yeah. But it is like you said, the size, I think sometimes turns coaches away and they don't look, you know, really deep into a guy after that. And they probably should have because, I mean, he was really good the other day. And if you look at this running back, room right now. Those are four really good running backs right now. And I think Xavier Williams, that was a big game for him. I know he's been a little bit banged up. I think he was a little bit in the, in, in August camp, but you can see him now what he can do. You know, you've seen McNeil, you've seen Jacks. Now you know what these guys can do. And this is a very deep room. And they've

Starting point is 00:25:05 been talking about that all, you know, during the, during the spring. And then in the fall, that this was a deep room. And we got to see that the other day. And now you get Kamari Moulton, he's at a week off. I'm assuming he's going to be back on Saturday. You know, you got L.J. Phillips waiting there somewhere, you know. So it's just, it's, it's such a good room right now. And there's a lot of depth that they can withstand some injuries here and there. And let's not forget, that was a really good game for the offensive line. I mean, they, they opened some big holes for, for those running backs. And so that, just that whole running game from beginning then just really looked good the other day. And

Starting point is 00:25:42 And it's the sign of that this team can run the ball. Absolutely. Didn't run it great against Iowa State. Found a little bit of footing, though, in the fourth quarter against the cyclones, this Michigan defense is going to be very similar the way that they're going to certainly clamp down. And I'm going to guess they're going to make Hank Brown beat them through the air if I was going to find a way to move the football.

Starting point is 00:25:59 But you mentioned that running game. Let's say it's the third quarter. It's 10-10. Haven't seen a whole lot out of Bolton. Phillips isn't ready. That ankle injury still not ready to go out there. and you're looking at another running back. Are you giving Braden Jackson a shot in a game like that against Michigan in a tight one in the third quarter?

Starting point is 00:26:18 Why not? I mean, you know, you may maybe look at the older guys and then maybe say, okay, let's give one of these. But it doesn't hurt anything to try. And I think he showed the other day he can do the job. And so, you know, those kind of games give those kind of players confidence. And so if you're Kurt Ferrence, you look and say, okay, maybe this is the end, Tim, Lester, you look at, okay, this is how they can use them. This is what they can do with him. Now you know.

Starting point is 00:26:45 And so like I said, you saw a lot of guys. You saw a lot of guys on Saturday. Offenson defense that really proves some things that you may need them as you get as the season goes on. And with those guys, I would be comfortable with any of those running backs right now and then the back. Talking to Hawkeyes with John Bowencamp as he joins us here from the AP. John, over on the defensive side, the scariest moment of the game came when Bryce Hawthor went down with that injury right away. you see somebody going low on a defensive tackle.

Starting point is 00:27:13 That gets scary. But very quickly went into the tent, popped out there, and he was on the bike moving things. Kirk said afterward sounds pretty good. That would have been devastating because I've said it before. I believe he is the most indispensable player, the importance of that position in the Iowa scheme and what they do. Hawthorne's taken his game to another level,

Starting point is 00:27:31 and they just don't have the same kind of depth of defensive tackle. That was a scary moment there in the second half of the game. Yeah, and I mean, you know, I, I think they've got a lot of good pieces on that defense line, but you also can't lose your best. And, you know, that, you don't want to lose something like that in a game like Saturday. So the fact that right now it doesn't appear that it was a serious injury, you know, and that sort of thing will, it, it, it, there was some exhaling there, I think,

Starting point is 00:27:59 because, you know, you, like you said, you worry about losing a very talented player like that in a very key position on that defense and to not, you know, for not to be serious. I think that's a good thing. You have to see Tyler Brown out there for the first time. He got some run around. He was run around and making plays. Again, we talk about it's the opponent. That's a component of this.

Starting point is 00:28:21 I get all that. But the speed of this Iowa defense, are they going to be able to hold up? Well, we're going to find out this week if they can hold up against some physical teams. But the speed of what they play out from guys like Buffington, now we see Tyler Brown out there running around. We know about the speed that Zach Lutmer can play with.

Starting point is 00:28:36 We get to see Wallace and Godfrey both get their first career interceptions. it's the speed of this defense that excites me that they're going to be able to do some different things, I think, not just this year, but going forward out of this group. Right. And you're right. And you look at the game and you look at who they played, but you still look at, in these kind of games, you look at what do these guys do fundamentally and what skills do they have? And it's like you said, this is a very fast defense, and this is the defense that hits hard. And you can also tell that it's very well disciplined in what it does.

Starting point is 00:29:07 So when you have that combination, even in a game like this, you look at it and you say this is a really positive defense. Because there were a lot of questions, you know, that we had at the beginning of the year. You didn't know what the line was going to look like. You had a pretty good idea on the linebackers. You didn't know what really the back end was going to look like. Now you know. And now we've seen them in three games. And I think this is a very good defense that I think is only going to get better than this season.

Starting point is 00:29:32 That's John Bowencamp, joining us from the Associated Press as we take a look at the matchup. coming up this weekend, Michigan, and what we've learned after the big win against you and I. Thanks for being with. This is always, making Lockdown Hawkeyes, your first listen every day. We'll be back with you tomorrow right after the press conferences go final. We'll get you updated on everything. Kurt Ferrence and the players had to say from Press Conference Day over in Iowa City. Your daily Iowa Hawkeye podcast, it is Lockdown Hawkeyes. Hope you have a great day.

Starting point is 00:29:59 We'll talk again tomorrow. Until then, go Hawks.

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