Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Patrick McCaffery gets another year | Explaining why Iowa's football schedule isn't controversial |TBT downsizes

Episode Date: June 1, 2020

Patrick McCaffery is granted a medical hardship waiver, and the recruiting dead period is extended. The TBT is shrinking in 2020, and the Iowa football schedule is released, creating a bit of controversy among Hawkeye nation. We break it all down on today's episode. 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. Welcome back to a Monday morning episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast,

your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade, and today's episode is brought to you by Bilt Bar. Bilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to BiltBar.com and use promo code LOCKEDON and you'll get $10 off your first order. And on today's show, we're going to be covering quite a bit of, you know, random topics, things that have popped up over the last couple of days in the Iowa Hawkeye world. Patrick McCaffrey's medical hardship waiver was approved and granted. Iowa football has released their schedule for 2023 and 2024. And there is some controversy with that.

There were some changes made to the TBT, the $2 million winner-take-all tournament. We're going to talk a bit about that and some of the big announcements that have been made in the tournament and also for the Iowa United. Gary Barta made some comments on the coronavirus. Want to discuss that. And then finally, the dead period for recruiting was extended to July 31st. And we're going to discuss how that hurts and impacts all the programs, including the Iowa Hawkeyes. So before we jump into that, though, if you do like what you hear and you haven't done this already, make sure to give us that five star review on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or the brand new Himalaya Podcast app. Also, make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

And make sure to check back tomorrow for our special TBT Tuesday episode. As you may know, if you've already been listening to the show for a while, we have a special TBT Tuesday episode every single Tuesday where we break down and cover the Iowa United and the $2 million winner-take-all tournament. And we do that by interviewing one of the players from the team. Last week, we had Josh Young. The week before, we had Tyrus McGee. in the $2 million winner-take-all tournament. And we do that by interviewing one of the players from the team. Last week, we had Josh Young.

The week before, we had Tyrus McGee. This upcoming week, I'm going to surprise you with the guest on Tuesday. But really excited to have this interview drop as well, so make sure to check that out. But let's jump into some of the news. Patrick McCaffrey getting his medical hardship waiver granted. That was to be expected. Didn't play in a lot of games this past season for the Hawks after joining the team as a four-star recruit a guy who definitely needed to put on some weight it's interesting how the Hawks continually grab these you know top recruits that sometimes need a little

bit more development I look at the fact that you know Patrick McCaffrey was a four-star recruit he was a top 100 player 86 in the nation nation, according to 24-7 Sports Composite. And yet, coming into college, his dad, Fran McCaffrey, felt like he might need to gain a little bit more weight before he could play. He did play a little bit, though, the first couple games, but then had some lingering effects from cancer from a few years ago, which basically sidelined him for the rest of the season. Iowa went on to have a pretty darn good season, all things considered. But getting Patrick McCaffrey for four years, if he does even stay for four years, again, a top 100 player, a guy who has a very versatile skill set, really excited to watch him play more minutes for the Hawks. But

getting him back for four years is huge. And again again to be expected um just surprising that Jordan Mohannon's you know waiver and Patrick Nunji's waiver got approved and then we had to wait to hear on Patrick McCaffrey um but again this is a huge gift for the Hawks to have him back for four years at this point um a six foot eight guy it looks like he's a little bit over 200 pounds now um is able to run the floor from a point guard position, is able to play four different positions. I think the size, like the weight, might be a little bit of an issue to guard that four. But as he develops more and develops that body, he's going to be a matchup nightmare for the Hawks and a really interesting chess piece for Fran McCaffrey to be able to utilize. really interesting chess piece for Fran McCaffrey to be able to utilize.

And I really see his value being on that second string, the second team coming off the bench, because he can play so many different positions. He can give the Hawks a guy who can run the floor, can shoot, and also can guard multiple positions. So really excited to have him back for four years, hopefully. Some other kind of general recruiting stuff. I know Patrick McCaffrey, this isn't really recruiting. It's just the fact that he got approved. But we're going to jump into some of the recruiting stuff as well on segment number one. The dead period

was extended to July 31st. This is in response to coronavirus. I think it's really interesting to see how the NCAA is letting some of these things play out. The fact that they are allowing, you know, student athletes back on campus beginning today to do voluntary workouts. I was, you know, waiting another week to be able to do that. And they have a lot of strict protocols in place. But the fact that they are, you know, extending the dead period to July 31st, that's a huge deterrent from a recruiting standpoint. And I think one of the big long-term impacts this could have is the potential to have a lot of signing day switches, a lot of, you know, maybe it'd be interesting to see how

many more transfers happen over the coming seasons from this class, because that's a, this is a really big time for recruits to be able to visit campus, to be able to meet coaches, to be able to meet the players, to see the city when it's alive and well, and they're not getting the opportunity to do that. And now we're butting into their football season. So it makes it even more difficult. And if this extends further, if we're not able to have face-to-face visits going into fall, that could also hurt recruiting.

I think Iowa is at least in a better position just because they already have a lot of, you know, they have over half of their class already secured. And right now, I mean, putting together a really impressive class with 15 hard commits, ranked 11th in the nation, fourth in the Big Ten. So Iowa is one of the teams that isn't impacted as much, but still never an easy thing, especially for a program like Iowa that really values having that face-to-face interaction, having players not just listened about the culture, but see and feel the culture. So I think that's really interesting. We'll obviously keep our tabs on that as we continue to move forward

in this coronavirus pandemic. Also in recruiting news, Jordan Oladokun, a guy who committed to the Hawks about a month, month and a half ago, and then decommitted, did announce, and this was a couple days ago, so a little bit late, but announcing his commitment on June 21st on Spectrum Sports. What I find interesting about that is he just decommitted a couple weeks ago. Now he's ready to announce his commitment, and he's already announced his top four. Iowa is back in that mix.

Louisville, Pitt, and Kansas State are also in that mix. I honestly don't understand what in the hell is going on with this recruiting. This is one of the weirder recruiting stories that we've had in some time for the Iowa Hawkeye program, especially the fact that he committed and decommitted. That typically doesn't, you know, you typically don't see those players commit back to the school, but they decommitted from, I'd be very interested to understand kind of what happened or, you know, what led to the school that they decommitted from. I'd be very interested to understand kind of what happened or what led to the decision to decommit if he does decide to commit to the Hawks again. But I'm not holding my breath.

I don't foresee him joining Iowa at this point. The fact that he did decommit, maybe he just wanted to make sure. Maybe he was having some second doubts and Iowa said go for it, test out a few other schools. But he's still not able to visit those schools. So I just don't understand, um, you know, how, how you can make a decision that quick again, but, um, I'm not in his position and I just wish whatever he decides is the best decision for him. And it ultimately works out. Um, if that's what the Iowa Hawkeyes fantastic, if it's not, um, wish him the best of luck

regardless. And on the note of the kind of the dead recruiting period, again, people cannot visit face-to-face, but we do know that Joey Labosse, the quarterback recruit that Iowa just extended an offer to not too long ago, he's a hard commit to Ball State right now, but I think Iowa is very much in the running to grab their quarterback of this class. He is actually going to be visiting Iowa City's campus just to get a feel for it. Even though the dead period is currently happening, no, no, there's no rules or prohibitions against him just, you know, going to the campus and walking around. So it sounds like that is something he's going to be doing over the coming weeks. So it'll be interesting to see how his recruiting develops as he does take that, you know, his, his own personal tour of Iowa city. That being said though, that'll wrap up the recruiting,

some of the roster construction topics that we're covering on segment number one. As a reminder, segment number two, we're going to talk a bit about the Iowa football schedule and the controversy that has sparked from the release of the Iowa football schedule for 2023 and 2024. And we're going to discuss a few teams that we think would be really cool if Iowa was able to schedule in the future. Before we do that, though, I want to give you some quick announcements from our sponsors of the show. And the first one we have is our sponsor of the show today, which is Bilt Bar. Bilt Bar does have the most fantastic tasting protein bars on the market today. All flavors covered in chocolate, um, 16 flavors with four new ones. They just recently released up to make it up to 20 and it is, they are really fantastic. High in

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Go to BuiltBar.com. Use the promo code LOCKEDON for $10 off. We are back for segment number two of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast today. And like I said prior to going into the announcements, we're going to talk a bit about the football schedule. And the reason why we're talking about this is the 2023 and 2024 schedules have been released. And why that's a big deal is there was some controversy from Iowa fans because they did not like the schedule that was released. And most specifically, they don't like the fact that Troy is on that schedule. Troy is not a football powerhouse,

and some people want to see the Iowa Hawkeyes play a football powerhouse. And I 100% understand why you would want to see that. It can be, you know, you always see Iowa play in the Big Ten. You only see them play big schools outside of the Big Ten in bowl games. So I understand the want for that, but it is just not something that can really happen with the way Iowa schedule is constructed, the way the Big Ten constructs the schedules, the fact they have to play nine conference games, that only gives them three non-conference games.

You look at teams like Alabama, they only have eight conference games. And that's a big deal. That is a huge deal because then they can schedule a big team outside of the SEC. More often than not, though, they typically just try to schedule a few cupcakes because the SEC is a tough conference. But it's not really a win-win situation for the Hawks. If you schedule a good team as one of your non-conference games and you lose that, that's one more loss on your record. If you win that, yeah, great. It's great for bowl eligibility and getting into a better

bowl, but the Big Ten is already a tough conference, so you don't necessarily need that to be able to get further. I'm taking a look, for example, though, at Alabama, a team that people typically say play a tough schedule only because they play the SEC, which is generally referred to as one of the toughest or if not the toughest conference in the nation. But for example, last season they played Duke, garbage, New Mexico State, garbage, Southern Mississippi, garbage, and Western Carolina. They collectively won those games by nearly 200 points to 40. So don't talk to me about Iowa needing to schedule a big school in that. They already get Iowa State, which is really why this schedule is so interesting

for the Hawks because they do have that rivalry game with Iowa State. And that takes them to 10 games against power five teams. So you need some games to get kind of the rust off. You need a warmup game to be able to get, you know, kind of get your ducks in a row and work on a few things prior to playing your full gauntlet of a big 10 schedule. That being said, again, they scheduled Troy. Troy is a, you know, at least they're not a D, you know, at least they're not a D one double a school. They are a D one school, just a non power five school and not a school that historically has been very good um except for the last three seasons and that's why it's very interesting that people are getting so upset about this in 2019 they went five and seven but prior to that 2018 10 and 3 2017 11 and 2 2016 10 and 3 granted that was under Neil Brown. They have since switched coaches as Neil Brown

has left and went to West Virginia and taken over that program. But still, Troy is not the worst program we could possibly schedule. Honestly, it's kind of a crappy scheduling for Iowa in general because if they lose to Troy, that looks terrible on them. And if they beat Troy, it doesn't really look good for them. And it's still kind of a decently tough game they're not going to get just a a rollover team when they play Troy so I don't know I think the the outrage over it goes to show there's not a lot going on in sports so people just want something that you know talk about but let's calm down a little bit I don't think Iowa can add another power five school to their schedule it just doesn't make sense but before we get into what could they

add or who should they add if they were able to do that, let's look at these schedules because one of the things that popped out to me about the 2023 schedule and the 2024 schedule is the teams that are not on that schedule. 2023, Iowa doesn't play Ohio State or Michigan. That is a pretty easy lineup. 2024 though is where it gets very interesting. Iowa has Illinois state, Iowa state, Troy. Then they get Purdue at Purdue, Northwestern at home at Rutgers at Illinois, Maryland at home at Indiana at Minnesota, Wisconsin and Nebraska at home. That means they don't have Ohio state, Penn State, Michigan State, or Michigan. That's the four toughest teams over on that side of the conference,

that side of the division that they don't have to go against. Obviously, these teams could get better. We could see Rutgers get better. Northwestern is going to be a decent team. Purdue has perpetually been around that 7-5 area. These teams could get better, right? But Ohio State is historically, you know, for the last 10, 15 years has always been a very dominant program. Michigan has always been up there. Michigan State for the most part has. And so has Penn State. Not having any of those teams on your schedule is undoubtedly a huge win for the Hawks. And that could actually coincide potentially with a fifth year for Deuce

Hogan. Deuce Hogan's joining the program 2020, got 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. Theoretically, if he red shirts his first year, as Spencer Petras takes over, he could be there for his fifth year. Now, I do think there's an opportunity that Deuce Hogan could be one of the better, you know, he's already shown so much leadership potential and he has such a dynamic skill set. There's always the option that theoretically an Iowa quarterback could leave for the draft early. But if he does not, that would coincide with his fifth year, and that is quite the freaking schedule for the Hawks to have in the fifth year with Deuce Hogan potentially as a quarterback.

Granted, a lot of things can change from now to then. That's five years from now. So much could change in between now and then. But again, I wouldn't focus too much on the Troy piece. Having Troy is not that big of a deal. Iowa already has 10 Power 5 games. To add another one would just be ass 9-2, their scheduling, or to their, you know, bull berth hopes.

You want to be able to go in with a 3-0 non-conference schedule going into the Big Ten schedule. And the teams, though, if we did have to add a big team, here's a couple teams that I think would be interesting to see Iowa play. And I'd love for you to let me know what teams you would like to see Iowa play. But Notre Dame, I think, is the big one that Iowa fans would love to see. Notre Dame is a program that probably should be in the Big Ten, but for money reasons, they are not. Missouri, I think, geograph, makes a ton of sense, and it gives you an SEC opponent that is not a historically good SEC opponent.

So you get the SEC vibe but without having to take on Alabama. And they're not that far away from Iowa. If you look at it on a map, they're actually, I think, one of the closest schools to Iowa in general, one of the closest Power 5 schools. I'd also like to see Arkansas, again, the SEC thing, a bad SEC team, relatively close to the Hawks, one of the closest SEC schools to the Hawks, or like a Vanderbilt would be kind of fun.

It'd be fun to have a game in Nashville. I think Iowa fans would absolutely love that. Arizona and Arizona State, or Arizona State, excuse me, I just think it'd be fun to have a game down in Arizona and back over in Iowa. These teams don't face off against each other a lot, but there have been some interesting battles in past decades, which I think would be really fun to revive. And then finally, Oklahoma.

Obviously it would have been different under Bob Stoops because they have that Iowa connection, but Oklahoma is a great program in the Big 12, and being able to take on Oklahoma would, without a doubt, either put Iowa on the map or show that we're not ready to compete. But I do think Oklahoma is a top-level team that would be a winnable game for the Hawks. So I think those are the teams that I think would be really cool to see Iowa schedule. But that's just not happening until the Big 10 loosens the restrictions on the games and maybe makes it an, you know, in the conference. But I don't also see that happening anytime soon. But that'll do it though for segment number two. Coming up on segment number three, we're going to discuss

some of these changes that have been made to the TBT format. The $2 million winner take all tournament has made quite a few changes in response to the coronavirus pandemic. And we're also going to talk just briefly on the Gary Barta, just, you know, quote about coronavirus. So basically, segment number three is going to be talking about how sports are being impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Before we jump into that, though, I have some really important news for you. With the ever increasing numbers of makes and models, it is now impossible to stock all the parts you need in a traditional chain storefront. Why endure often pointless or seemingly intimidating questioning? You know, when I go in and talk about my Subarus, yes, I live in Colorado. I own two Subarus. When I go

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They know we sent you. Again, amazing selection, reliably low prices, all the parts your car will ever need, rockauto.com. All right, we are back for our third and final segment of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast today. And like I said before, we took a quick break. We're going to be breaking down the changes to the basketball tournament, the $2 million winner-take-all tournament, and we're going to be talking about Gary Barta's quote about coronavirus.

And I'm going to actually just start with that. Gary Barta basically said if any athletes do not want to play because of coronavirus they will not lose their scholarships. I think that is awesome for him to do that. It takes the onus off of the players to feel like they are obligated to return to campus. That being said I don't foresee a lot of athletes taking up that as an option. A lot of times these players come in with their recruiting classes. They want to be a part of the team. I find it really difficult to imagine they want to potentially delay a future career

or what have you because of coronavirus. If they feel like they are safe, I feel like they are going to come back. And I know Iowa is taking this incredibly seriously. I know we've heard from Iowa parents that they are, you know, they feel like they can trust the Iowa Hawkeye program. So I don't foresee it happening a lot, but it is nice that Gary Barta did come out and say that takes the pressure off these student athletes to have to make a decision that is potentially threatening to their health. Now onto the changes that have been made to the TBT because of coronavirus, they have switched.

They are no longer doing the regions. They are no longer doing 64 teams. They have narrowed it down to 24 teams over the course of about eight, nine, 10 days. And that is a big deal. Over 110 teams have applied already for entry to the TBT. And if we were looking at, for example, last year, when the Iowa United joined the tournament, they were, I believe, a fifthth seed or a 6th seed.

They might even be a 7th seed. I'll need to check that out. They were definitely lower in the total. Let's say they were a 5th seed, though. Eight regions, 5th seed, that puts them somewhere in the ranking of 32 to 40. That means in a tournament like this, they wouldn't have been in the tournament last year. So that's why this is kind of a big deal. That being said, Iowa United has stacked the roster. They've done a really good job of building up a roster and building off a very solid first year.

I know they lost in the first round of the TBT, but they put up a fantastic fight in a really hostile away environment at Wichita State. The big thing, though, is they have added Royce White. And I know Iowa fans, you probably aren't as familiar with Royce White, but you probably know that he is a very good player. He's had some mental, not mental issues, I should say, mental health struggles that he's been very open about. But when he's on his game, he is a fantastic player and a huge asset to this team.

Can you imagine having two big men, Royce White and Mike Dahm, down low? They have the ability to distribute the ball, basically guard a couple different positions, and run with the ball. So they provide a ton of versatility. And last year, I would say the frontcourt was one of the weaker spots on the Iowa United. They had a lot of guard depth. This year, though, that frontcourt is absolutely a strength. You have an NBA player in Royce White. You got an NBA potential player in Mike Dahm. Liam McMorrow is another guy to

watch out for. Nick McGlynn's a freaking beast down low. Led the MVC in blocks previous year, I believe, or at least he was the defensive player of the year. But that's really huge for the Iowa United to get a guy like Royce White on the roster. If he's able to play and play well, they're going to be a team to contend with. And I do think because of the additions they made, getting Royce White, getting Deontay Garrett, Peter Jock, these kind of guys help make the case for Iowa United to be ranked a little bit higher. And right now the power rankings, the pre-TBT power rankings have Iowa United as the 12th ranked team. So it bodes well. I think Iowa United should be in the TBT. I have no doubts about that. I'll try to get Matt Crawford on the

show as well to talk a little bit more about that and some of the changes that are being made. It's definitely a very fluid situation. I know they're looking at moving up the date as well. So lots of things going on. We'll try to get Matt on the show to talk a bit more about the TBT. Unfortunately, though, with obviously all the changes, I will not be able to attend the game and attend the games and give any highlights, but I will definitely be watching and breaking some of that stuff down after the games. In addition to the Iowa United adding Royce White, though, the competition is heating up in the TBT. Former NBA player Nate Robinson was added to the roster, or to a roster, excuse me. Former Ohio State player Caleb Wesson, former Michigan State player Nick Ward, NBA

players Mo Spites and Johnny O'Brien III have all been added to rosters. So the TBT is heating up. The rosters are getting more competitive, and it's going to be a lot of fun this year. And obviously I'm really excited just to have some competitive sports back. So that to be a lot of fun this year. And obviously I'm really excited just to have some competitive sports back. So that'll be a lot of fun to watch this upcoming month, I would think, or even the next month and a half. So we'll obviously give you more information as we get that information for the TBT. And like I said, I'll try to get Matt Crawford on the show as well to talk a bit more about the changes and how that impacts the Iowa United.

But that will do it for our third and final segment of the show today. And that will wrap up our show today. So again, if you liked what you heard today, please make sure to give us that five-star review and subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast at, and make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Also, if you love the content we're producing right here on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast,

I highly recommend you check out Ben Stevens' show, the Locked On Big Ten podcast, covering everything on the Big Ten gauntlet. He covers every single team, and we have some fantastic crossover shows there. I highly recommend checking out The Locked On Big Ten Podcast if you want some more Big Ten sports in your life. Again, thank you all for tuning in to today's episode of Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast. I hope you all had a safe weekend, and obviously stay safe out there

with everything that is going on. And as always, let's go Hawks.