Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Pro Football Focus breakdown of Cooper DeJean, Iowa Baseball advances at Big Ten Tournament

Episode Date: May 23, 2023

Trent Condon is joined by Max Chadwick from Pro Football Focus as they breakdown Cooper DeJean after the latest article from PFF. They also talk about some of the impact players coming up for the 2023 Iowa Hawkeyes football team.https://www.pff.com/news/college-football-iowa-cb-cooper-dejeans-path-to-becoming-one-of-the-best-all-around-defensive-backs-in-college-footballIowa Baseball advances at Big Ten Tournament as they ten run Michigan 13-3 in 8 innings.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BirddogsToday's episode is brought to you by Birddogs. Go to birddogs.com/lockedoncollege and when you enter promo code, LOCKEDONCOLLEGE, they’ll throw in a free custom birddogs Yeti-style tumbler with every order.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cooper Dejean is a star and we're going to talk about the latest article about him from Pro Football Focus. A look at Cooper, the preseason All-American and what's next for the Iowa. Certainly five-star player right now. Plus, Iowa baseball gets it done in the Big Ten Tournament. An opening win against Michigan. All coming up today on Locked On Hawkeyes. Our Locked On Hawkeyes. Your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part ofed 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 Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Available wherever you get podcasts. You can also find us on YouTube. Make sure you hit that subscribe button. While you're there, it helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Well, today, a special guest, our big get from Pro Football Focus.

He is Max Chadwick. Thanks for joining us today, a special guest, our big get from Pro Football Focus. He is Max Chadwick. Thanks for joining us today, Max. Good to catch up and talk a little Iowa football here in the offseason. How are you doing? Trent, thanks so much for having me on. I don't know if I'm as quite of a big get as you made me out to be, but I really appreciate you having me on. And, yeah, I'm super excited to talk about Iowa football with you.

Well, Pro Football Focus has been something of, well, not a punchline. It's just something that Iowa fans say, well, we know it's going to be something good if it comes from pro football focus. Right. Certainly on the defensive side of the football the last couple of seasons. So you wrote an article about Cooper to Jean. We're going to talk about that here in just a moment, but just an overview for people maybe new, haven't checked out pro football focus and what you guys do on both the pro

side of things and the collegiate side of things, just an overview of what pro football focus is. Sure. So we try to do the impossible task of grading every single player on every single play in every single game. So, you know, our work has been, you know, a lot of people may not love the grades and I, for one, I'm not someone who say the grades are everything, you know one, am not someone who would say the grades are everything. And nobody from PFF would say the grades are everything.

But we try to grade every single player and every single play to go more than just the simple stats that you see. Like for Cooper DeGene, for example, yes, he's got a ton of interceptions, but really he does a lot of other things that makes him such a great player than just picking the ball off. So we want to go deeper than passing yards, deeper than stuff like that, and try to really see who are the best players both in college football and in the NFL. And that's why we're great every single player.

And we've kind of revolutionized offensive line, how people look at that. So, yeah, that's kind of, like I said, an impossible task that we try to do. But our data guys are the best in the business. So, yeah, that's what we try to do but our data guys are the best in the business so yeah that's what we try to do at pff you know what i like to do is see if what i'm seeing from you guys kind of measures up with what i watch when i'm watching the game either in the stadium or back home when i'm re-watching the game and and seeing if it mirrors and there's times honestly i don't exactly know how you come up with those numbers and really the biggest one is offensive line now i i do not

have any kind of background in grading offense alignment or anything like that but that's always how you come up with those numbers and really the biggest one is offensive line now I do not have any kind of background in grading offense alignment or anything like that but that's always the most difficult thing is you see a guy and a lot of times he misses a block or two you're like well he had a terrible game but when you're doing every single snap maybe it doesn't grade out there the the offensive line one though I'm sure is that the most difficult position to grade game in and game out yeah it probably is is up there for sure. And quarterback is for sure too, because you try to look at, you know, what the reads are.

And sometimes it's not completely, you don't know what the reads are sometimes, but for us, what we have at our disposal and why, you know, I don't personally grade any of the players, but why I think our graders are some of the best in the business is they are trained by people who've played the positions before. So for example, it doesn't work with us anymore, but Bruce Gradkowski long time NFL backup quarterback,

he used to be one grading a lot of the throws and he, you know, trained all of the graders for quarterbacks. And, you know, it's like that for pretty much every position too. So it's not like it's just me, Joe Schmo or anything like that, looking at a guy and saying, Oh, this is what he was supposed to do. And I know that because I don't know, I just watch football a lot. No, our guys are trained by guys who've played the position and say, listen, when you're watching a guy, this is what you should be looking for on this play is what you should be looking for in that play. So like I said, the grades aren't perfect. Nobody at PFF will say they are,

but they are a very, very valuable tool when you're looking at a player because, you know, we do have tend to have some really good people training us and our grading. Well, Max, let's get into your latest article at Pro Football Focus. And it's about Cooper Dejean, the preseason All-American, five interceptions a year ago. And he was such an interesting prospect coming in from the high school level. He's out there in Western Iowa at Odebelt Arthur Battle Creek, Ida Grove. That's a mouthful of the high school that he played at. Watching him play when he got to the semifinals and the championship at the Unidome,

watching him on the hardwood, just drop step dunking on guys at six foot one. Something you don't see certainly at the two-way level, I don't think at any state. And we knew he was a plus athlete. Most people thought he was targeted to be a safety. That was probably going to be the position that he was going to end up at. But what he did starting two years ago during his freshman campaign, he never played cornerback before. He never played the position and he's thrust into lineup against Nebraska,

goes on, plays the bowl game. And then what we see from him a season ago. The versatility that he plays with, is it sheer athleticism, or is there more, do you think, to the story about what makes Cooper DeGene such a versatile football player? Yeah, and the whole theme of this article, how I wanted to paint Cooper DeGene, was just this extremely versatile, jack-of-all-trades type of not only player, but athlete.

I mean, you mentioned his decorated high school career. Not only was an amazing quarterback and defensive back for his high school, also was a great wide receiver for his high school as well. He also has 55 more career basketball points than Harrison Barnes, who's still in the NBA right now as a top-ten pick in the NBA draft. So Cooper DeJean, superstar basketball player. He also won the state championship in both the 100-meter dash and the long jump at Iowa.

And then also he was a three-year varsity baseball player as well. So the athlete, yeah, is exactly the way to describe him. He excels at pretty much everything he picks up. But, yeah, on the football field too, he plays every single position, basically, for that Iowa defense. He plays outside corner, slot corner, a little bit of that cash linebacker role, a strong side linebacker, and even sometimes lined up an edge defender on a few plays this past season.

So he's a guy that they literally line up all over the field, and I think it is more than just sheer athleticism. I think he's a very savvy football player. You look back at that Rutgers pick six that he had. That wasn't his guy, and he even told me in the interview, he was like, no, I was covering the guy on the underneath route, man-to-man coverage. I saw the safety had help from uh underneath for me so i dropped off and i saw that our linebacker or our safety was struggling with the receiver

so i went over the top and picked it off so not only was a great athleticism obviously you got the pick six on it but not only great athleticism but he's a very very savvy football player and why i think he's able to excel in all those roles because any other normal football player will look at all those different positions they're playing and it'd be too much for them. And for him, it's just out there playing football. So he's able to process everything at such an amazing rate. And it helps for sure that he's a superstar athlete as well. Definitely has that. When you look at him and his best position, when you look either at the next level at the NFL or what he has here, I know Iowa has been looking at the transfer portal,

maybe looking to find another quarterback either for a depth piece, or could that be maybe possibly they believe that the cash position is his best position, and if they can find another starter on the outside that they think his versatility and playing in a little bit more, playing that slot corner playing cash that ultimately that is his best position yeah i think uh he might be a little too small to be like we're talking about the nfl you know full-time he might be a little too small 205 pounds to be playing linebacker full-time but i think his best role is probably as kind of like a strong safety slash slot corner hybrid at the next level but for iowa, I mean, you're saying, oh, what's his best position? It's simply get him on the football field.

You know, you put him – do what you did last year and let him be a chess piece in Phil Parker's defense, who I consider to be the best defensive coordinator in college football. Let him be a chess piece in that defense. I think he still will be that this year. I think he'll play outside corner. He'll play in the slot. He'll play cash linebacker.

He'll play maybe a little safety too. I think he could do it all for Iowa's defense. So it's not until the NFL where I think he'll probably specialize at one position. But for right now, I don't know why Iowa would look to have him rather than anywhere. He should be playing everywhere for that Iowa defense. He is an absolute stud and a great kid on top of it, which makes it pretty easy to root for. So having the conversation with him, talking with Cooper, what are your takeaways? Just as him, you talk to a lot of athletes, you talk to a lot of football players. Just your takeaway of Cooper as a person?

A super humble guy. In every one of these interviews, I always try to go in there and hype him up a little bit so I can get maybe a great quote from him about the NFL or anything like that. But he simply was like, listen, man, I'm just out there. I'm trying to help the team win. And that's kind of his mindset. And it's genuine too. You know, sometimes you get those political answers and sometimes you can tell him that he's being a little political. Um, but no, he, he is genuinely all about the team. Uh, so yeah, super humble guy. Um, you know, he's excited about the prospect of potentially joining the NFL, but he even said, he's like, listen, man, super humble guy. You know, he's excited about the prospect of potentially joining the NFL,

but he even said, he's like, listen, man, for me to even be at that point, I got to excel on Saturdays in the fall. So he's super focused on just taking it day by day, heading into the season. And, yeah, all he cares about is helping the Iowa Hawkeyes. He says everything else in the NFL, awards, whatever, that'll come after. But all I'm focused on is helping the team win. We know Cooper is a stud. We're going to talk a little bit more about the rest of this Iowa football team.

Max, I am not normally the most optimistic person out there as it pertains to the teams that I root for. Got a lot of DNA that has been certainly hit hard with some sad times throughout the years, but I am optimistic about this Iowa football team. We're going to get into that as we continue our conversation. Max Chadwick joining us from Pro into that as we continue our conversation. Max Chadwick joining us from Pro Football Focus as we roll through. This is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast.

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A look at this Iowa football team coming up this year. So a lot of optimism, as I mentioned, from me. The defense, though they lose some pieces. You lose Jack Campbell, you replace him with Nick Jackson, who was a three-time All-ACC player at the middle linebacker spot. But you saw some good things out of Jay Higgins the first time he was thrust into the role a year ago. Defensive line is as deep as I can ever remember

any position group at the University of Iowa, even losing a first-rounder in Lucas Vianess. And then Cooper DeGene in that defensive backfield, going to be very good. Depth may be a concern at linebacker and defensive back, but overall, the defense will be the defense. Are there any guys that you've looked at, any Hawkeye players that you're excited about on the defensive side of the ball maybe a little

bit more under the radar than say a Cooper Dajin oh that's a very good question I think obviously Cooper Dajin is a superstar and you lose not only you lose Lucas Van Ness and Jack Campbell but also Riley Moss is a guy in that defensive backfield too that I was a huge fan of last year uh Quinn Schultz a guy that I actually you know I've watched a little fan of last year. Quinn Schultz, a guy that I actually, you know, I've watched a little bit of his tape. I like what I've seen from him. I think you mentioned before the defensive line is going to be absolutely fantastic this year.

But another guy in that second there, I think Quinn Schultz is a guy that at least I'm keeping my eye on. But for sure the superstar of that defense right now is Cooper DeGene, especially when you lose three guys, two of them picked in the first round, another one picking the third round from the Iowa defense. Cooper Dijon is for sure like that, you know, superstar of that Iowa defense right now. Bringing back another year of Joe Evans.

He decided to use the COVID year. He has a six year of eligibility, really good off the edge, made a great play against Ohio State as Iowa, well, kept it close for a little while until the offense absolutely tanked there, excited about him getting another season. Deontay Craig's another guy that's already getting some buzz, maybe even an early entry next year on that defensive line spot. Didn't play a ton of snaps, but the last two years when he's been out there, he's been

incredibly productive. Long arms, longer arms, certainly than the frame looks like there. What do you guys see with Deontay Craig? Yeah, he's a guy, yeah, you mentioned that. I think the potential is really through the roof for that guy. And I think as a pass rusher, he showed a lot of really encouraging signs. I want to see him grow a little bit more as a run defender, but definitely as a pass rusher, that's a guy that, you know,

has made some impact plays for you guys at edge defender. And yeah, he's a guy that I am pretty excited about next year. You mentioned the tools. I mean, yeah, he could be a guy that i i am pretty excited about next year he mentioned the tools i mean yeah he could be a guy that nfl teams have uh on their radar special teams tory taylor comes back for another season average over 45 yards per punt really good on that we know what he can do pinning teams deep inside the 10 inside the 5 and at times even inside the 2 and that's helped out many times with this Iowa team. Drew Stevens had a great freshman year. But the one remaining question with this Iowa football team, Max,

and I know you know it, is the offense. So a lot of new faces coming in, including a bunch of grad transfers at the wide receiver position and most importantly at the quarterback position. Let's go to Cade McNamara. Didn't play much last season. Ended up having surgery at the middle portion of the year as he sat out the rest of the season before making his way to Iowa City go back two years ago though

what kind of quarterback is Iowa getting in Cade McNamara I think he's a guy that you know is a really good game manager and I think he's that's exactly kind of role he played in Michigan's offense a couple years ago and look they made it to the college football playoff that year so this is a guy who's had the experience in big-time football games, and really he lost out the job this past season, but really it was to J.J. McCarthy who's got sky-high potential and who I think is a top-ten quarterback in the country. So really, I don't think it's unfair to look at Cade and say, oh, he's a backup quarterback. Is he really going to be that good? I think he's going to do

a pretty good job in that Iowa offense. The issue is, I don't think he's a backup quarterback, you know, is he really going to be that good? I think he's going to do a pretty good job in that Iowa offense. The issue is I don't think he's a quarterback that's really going to elevate the supporting cast too much. I think he's kind of going to play to how good the supporting cast is. I like the offensive line. Connor Colby I think is a superstar at offensive guard. But other than that, you know, they need to get some pieces in there. You mentioned all the transfers coming in.

Eric Aul, who Kate is very familiar with at Michigan, I think is a really good tight end. He'll probably continue that Iowa tradition of having really good tight ends after obviously Sam Lepora goes to the NFL. But yeah, I would say Kate McNamara is a game manager. I think he's going to be a pretty good one for Iowa. Just got to build up around him a little more.

Caleb Johnson at the running back spot a year ago, a true freshman, kind of thrust onto the scene in the game that ended up past midnight against nevada with all the lightning delays uh back earlier last season he finished the season nearly in 80 grade at pro football focus he was not the starter laShawn williams is back but it feels like this is going to be caleb johnson's game he's got some incredible numbers i remember you guys had one of those timing things and seeing the speed that he was playing at one season as he was running in for a touchdown. Caleb Johnson, it seems like something that your guys' metrics certainly like over at Pro Football Focus. Yeah, Caleb Johnson's really good, and he's got good

size position at six feet tall, around 210 pounds or so, and he had 800 rushing yards last year, and over 500 of them came after contact. So he's a guy who really plays well through contact. He broke 41 tackles last year as well. So, yeah, I'm super – like I said, he's only a true freshman last year. So I'm super excited to see what Caleb Johnson has in store in his sophomore campaign. And he could be one of those guys that takes some of the pressure

off of Cade McNamara's shoulders. So this is going to be a little bit more difficult one caleb brown comes in from ohio state now he played four years still maintain his redshirt status last year at ohio state people look at the numbers only had one catch last year and say well i mean i well what are you really getting here there's a former top 100 pick though limited reps for oh state, but walk into that wide receiver room. Hey, if you play four games in that wide receiver room, I think that's a heck of an accomplishment as a true freshman, anything at all like Caleb Brown, anything that Iowa fans should be looking for helping out in a big time place, they need help at wide receiver. Yeah. I think, you know, and you mentioned it big

time need that they have at wide receiver. And I think Caleb Brown is, you know, got all the potential in the world. Like you mentioned before, he was nearly a top 100 recruit in his class coming out in 2022, still a very, very young player. And, you know, you look at that stat line, oh, one catch for five yards, you're like, oh, that's not too great. But you really think about that. I mean, first of all, it was a true freshman season.

Second of all, you're playing in the best receiving core in America. You know, you have Marvin Harrison Jr., you have Emeka Igbuka, Cade Stover at tight end, Julian Fleming at wide receiver. They have other wide receivers there too that are very, very good. So I don't think that's really indicative of how much talent that Caleb Brown has. This is a big time get for Iowa. And I think he could end up being the top receiver on this team potentially by the end of his sophomore season. So yeah, I think he's got up being the top receiver on this team potentially by the end of his sophomore season. So, yeah, I think he's got a lot of potential. He's obviously very, very highly ready to recruit.

And, you know, looking at his stat line and saying, oh, he only had one catch for five yards, is he really that good? It's like he was also playing in the best receiving court in America, and it was only his true freshman season. So give the kid some time. He's got a lot of talent, and I think Iowa desperately needs talent in that receiving room, and they got it in Caleb Brown. All. One more for you, a pro football focus grades. I'm really going to have you dig deep. So I will help fortify their offensive line. They bring in Rusty Feth

from Miami of Ohio. I do not have the Miami of Ohio numbers in front of me. What kind of guy do you have any numbers from him? I'm not sure how deep into the Mac you guys go, but Rusty Feth started at center. Also played a lot of guard during his career, three-year starter, all-MAAC player. Iowa needed help certainly inside, and the versatility to play both center and guard, I think that's a good thing as well. Any numbers for us for Rusty Feth? Yeah, Rusty Feth, I don't know if he'll end up being a Tyler Linderbaum type of player

that we've grown accustomed to seeing, but yeah, you mentioned he's a two-year, been a starter over the past two years for Miami, and he was a pretty good pass blocker this past year. He had a 70.6 pass blocking grade. The year before, he actually wasn't very good at pass protection, but he was really good as a run blocker, 76.3 grade. And his run blocking grade this past year was a 54.7, so not too great. So it's kind of interesting seeing how he's progressed. His first year as a starter at Miami, he was a great.7, so not too great. So it's kind of interesting seeing how he's progressed. You know, his first year as a starter at Miami,

he was a great run blocker, not a great pass protector. This past year, pretty good pass protector, not a great run blocker. So if he can put it all together next year, and obviously the big thing, you know, when you're saying for transfers is how are they going to translate. When you're going from a conference, like you said, in the MAAC to the Big Ten, that's a big jump, especially for offensive linemen, where it's so much based on who you're playing against.

That's why I don't know if he's going to make a big jump going from like that, even though it's his third year starting. But I do think Rusty Feth, you know, if he can be more consistent in both areas, he could definitely be a guy that can start for Iowa and be a pretty good starter for them. Awesome. Hey, appreciate your time as always. This has been a lot of fun catching up, talking some Iowa football here in the off season.

The article is up right now at ProFootballFocus. PFF.com is where you can find it on the college link and find everything there. For people interested in Pro Football Focus, we talked a lot about those numbers. They are available. How people could get involved in it and what it takes to become a member over there

to get all the great articles with Pro Football Focus. Yeah, so you can find them all at pff.com. You can subscribe to pff.com, get all the premium stats that we're just listing off. So if you want to go to your friends and say, oh, I know how good Rusty Feth is, like I was able to pull up just immediately because I'll be honest with you, like that was a guy who I've heard the name before, but I really didn't know the stats. I looked them up real quickly as you're asking the question. And I was able to tell you exactly the kind of player Rusty Feth has been

over a couple of years in Miami, Ohio. So if you want those stats, like I just did right there, go check them out. PFF.com get all the premium stats there and, and yeah, and check out all the articles that we do there at PFF too. Awesome. Hey, Max, appreciate your time. Thanks for joining us today on Lockdown Hawkeyes. Thanks so much, Ryan. Really appreciate you. Max Chadwick, appreciate your time. Thanks for joining us today on Lockdown Hawkeyes. Thanks so much, Ryan. Really appreciate you. Max Chadwick, pro football focus.

Find him online at Chad underscore Max Wick. A little vice versa of the name there. We continue on here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. The Iowa baseball team gets it done. Game one in Omaha. We'll talk about it and setting up a punch to the next round of the Big Ten tournament. That's as we continue here on Locked on Hawkeyes. Trey Conner back with you one final time on the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast.

Thanks for making Locked on Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Big appreciation there to Max for hopping aboard with us today. A lot of good information and certainly setting the scene of what should be a lot of pomp and circumstance coming up this year in the off season. The buzz is going to continue to build. I don't think we're going to be alone. Questions are made on offense, but a lot of good stuff there from Max and I really enjoy the article talking about Cooper Dijon. We wrap things up here. Iowa baseball with a great win today against Michigan. There were some hairy moments early in the game,

tied up at one apiece. Michigan strikes first. Iowa comes back. So Marcus Morgan, starting pitcher today, pitching on shorter rests than normal. Remember, he got the opening start. They moved a couple of weeks back. Brody Brecht moved back to the number three role.

He elevated from the number three role up to the number one so they flip-flopped them and Marcus has been really good he was also named one of the top pitchers in the Big Ten this year we saw a lot of great things and a lot of honors for Iowa baseball and we'll get into that in just a moment but to see what we saw out of this team, Morgan's struggling. Not throwing strikes. Throw 85 pitches. Only 45 of them, four strikes. Walks the first two guys of the fifth inning.

And what happens? The team bears down. They go to the bullpen. Great work. Bases loaded. Another walk after that. Loads up the bases with nobody out. Three consecutive strikeouts and just throwing some absolute frisbees up there.

It was a lot of fun to see. Jack Whitlock came in out of the bullpen. He was outstanding there and got out of the jam. Iowa then started to pile it on. The bats came alive, opened things up. Sam Peterson out of Ballard-Huxley. He had a big home run, and the team rolls on to the victory. And they 10-run Michigan in the opening round of the Big Ten tournament. Now they await the winner of the Indiana-Illinois game

that's going on this afternoon. They'll have a day of rest, though. That's another great thing about the structure of this tournament and the way Iowa playing early is going to have a little bit extra rest here, opportunity to set things. We'll see who the starter's going to be. You'd anticipate it'll be Ty Langenberg and Brody Brecht. Then we'll get the third start of the tournament here.

But getting off to a good start, as we told you in yesterday's podcast, you or any of your daters know about that as we were setting the scene, just how important it is. The last seven Big Ten tournament champions won their opening game, and 11 of the last 13 have won their first two games, two games of the big 10 tournament, Indiana. We saw them earlier this season. Iowa fell two out of three games,

won the first game seven to one, and then lost two one run games. That was in Bloomington though. Indiana has not been the same team away from home this year. One of the top teams in the country in terms of home record has not been the case away from home. Still a really good team. They're the number two seed.

I was the number three. We'll see if Indiana or Illinois advances, and they will get them coming up on Thursday. Great news there. Iowa continues to build their NCAA tournament resume. Iowa came into the tournament here today with an RPI sitting at 32. That will increase with the neutral victory against Michigan. That will be definitely a good one for them.

In fact, let's take a peek here and see if it has updated. It has not yet here today. But 32nd coming into play today, in great position to be an NCAA tournament team. They win their 40th game of the year. Now three of them were against non-Division I teams, so they do not count in your NCAA tournament resume as they look at it.

But Iowa put together a really good schedule. Nice win here. 13 runs on 14 hits. The sixth run, fifth inning, as they open things up and then tacked on two more in the eighth inning to win it 13-3 over the Wolverines. And now we await either Indiana or Illinois. And then the NCAA tournament.

Can Iowa, how high can they get? Number two seed, maybe in a region. That'd be great to see. Maybe put themselves in a position where they can make a little bit of a run with the one, two, three punch that they have in their rotation. Boy, don't want to bet against this, this group. They're playing some really, really good baseball. That does it for today.

Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available wherever you get podcasting. You can also find us again on YouTube. Hit that subscribe button. Five-star reviews helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Thanks for Max as well for joining us here. We'll be back with you tomorrow.

We'll preview the second game of the Big Ten tournament and a whole lot more. Every dayers, we got you covered. Thanks for being with us on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Go Hawks.