Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - REVELATION: Sullivan's Exit SHOWS Iowa's QB Depth | Will Gronowski SILENCE All Doubters?

Episode Date: April 14, 2025

Brendan Sullivan's departure from the Iowa Hawkeyes football program might not be as impactful as it seems. With Mark Gronowski poised to lead, the Hawkeyes are reshaping their strategy. How will this affect their upcoming season? Dive into the latest basketball transfer portal updates, where Trevin Yurok and Brennan Hauser are making waves. Yurok's high basketball IQ and Hauser's shooting skills promise to elevate the team. Meanwhile, the Iowa baseball team is eyeing the NCAA tournament, battling through Big Ten challenges. Can they secure their spot? The softball team's recent triumphs, including a sweep against Maryland, are also in the spotlight.Join the conversation for an in-depth look at the Iowa Hawkeyes' evolving landscape. Don't miss out on these game-changing insights and strategic shifts.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Supply HouseJoin the Trade Master program today at SupplyHouse.com/TM and start ordering plumbing, HVAC, and electrical supplies with just a few clicks. Plus, use promo code SH5 for 5% off your first order. That’s SupplyHouse.com!Amazon Fire TV Stick 4kDid you know your Fire TV is also an Xbox? Turn any TV into your gaming and entertainment hub with Fire TV Stick 4K devices — no console required. Head to Amazon.com/firetvlockedon to get started. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription and compatible controller required.UpworkVisit Upwork.com right now and post your job for free. With Upwork, you can find specialized freelancers in marketing, development, design, and more—experts ready to help you take your business to the next level. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.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)

Hawkeye quarterback Brendan Sullivan is leaving the Iowa program. This is not a big deal. You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, welcome in. I'm Trent Condon and this is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. I've been covering the Iowa Hawkeyes for the last 20 years, a fan for the last 45, and ready to talk Hawkeye hoops and football with you today. Thanks for

making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available wherever you find podcasts. You can also watch us on YouTube. While you're there, hit that subscribe button. Just takes a moment and helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. This episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKDONCOLLege at MonarchMoney.com

for 50% off your first year. Plenty to get into today. The Iowa baseball team with another series victory as they are able to take two out of three at home against Nebraska and solidify themselves at the top of the Big Ten Conference. What that means for them and the possibility of being an NCAA tournament team. We will get into that a little bit later on. The transfer portal is open. It is hot and heavy in basketball and Iowa with a couple of commitments that we talked since we talked last here on Monday. It was the announcement that how is there the shooting guard from Kansas State who gained his career at Villanova has committed to the Hawkeyes.

And then last Friday afternoon, Trevin Yurok, who we've been speculating about early for the last couple of weeks, made it official as he has committed to the Iowa program. We'll talk about them. Trevin Urock, I know a lot about his game probably over the last three years. The three state championships that he won at Valley, I would say I called 25 probably of his basketball game. So I'll give you a firsthand scouting report of Urock coming up here in just a little bit. But we opened up things today with the transfer portal on the football front. The spring transfer window is a lot different than what we go through after the regular season concludes.

This is going to be a time where you're going to see a lot less movement than we see in December and into January. It's just a completely different time. For the most part, guys are going through and know where they're going to be. There are not as many people in the portal, and sometimes that can lead to a little bit of a feeding frenzy, leading to some more money that's being thrown about. And with what we have happening on the national front with Nico Aimeleva, you have a bunch of people that are looking at this

structure of college athletics and thinking that it's going to be a wild change. That's more of a one-off. That is something that is certainly a different realm than what we're worried about on the Iowa perspective of things. So we come back to this and Brendan Sullivan making the decision to enter the portal. It shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody because Brendan Sullivan, we saw a year ago what what he was able to do in providing, it was just a breath of fresh air, to have a guy that was able to go out there, make some plays with his feet, add a little bit of fun to the quarterback position

for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Going back, Cade McNamara, we learned, was never the answer. Cade McNamara was a lot of bravado and not a whole lot of substance behind it, and that proved out during his two-year tenure. And you bring in this Sullivan guy. Remember, that was basically pushed out the door at Northwestern because he was beat out. Not a great Northwestern program either by any means, but he came in here with an ability to do really one thing. He's a great athlete, and he could run the ball.

And ultimately, it led to them developing a package for him in the red zone, short yardage situations, using him as that running quarterback. But after it had to be shut down again by Cade McNamara, I think we also learned and found out that there are a lot of limitations to Brendan Sullivan as a full-time quarterback. As a gadget player, as a guy that's a change of pace, using his amiss talents with his legs, that's great.

But twofold, he's not an elite-level passer. And we saw that many times throughout the course, not just of his career at Iowa. It's what we talked about when he came to Iowa and going back and looking at his film at Northwestern, you could see that there were limitations to him as a passer. But the second component to that is as great of a runner as he was. And maybe it was just because he didn't play a ton, didn't have the understanding of when to get down. I mean, you go back to when he was knocked out and we learned Jackson Stratton at UCLA, when he was knocked out of the game, he

took two monstrous hits, just absolutely ones that as a quarterback, even a running quarterback, you can't take those kinds of hits. Certainly at the Big Ten level he did. He was knocked out of the game. And we saw what that turned into. So limitations, yes. But here's the main reason this is not a big deal. This is the main reason that I don't look at this as a huge concern. It's because of who the starter is going to be, and Mark Gronowski. Mark Gronowski has a lot of great qualities. You look at the passing profile, you look at him as a quarterback, you take a look at him as a winner, you take a look at the leadership skills, the story of him going sleeveless in a game where it's in the teens at South

Dakota State in Brookings because that's what his offensive line did. You know, all those things. When you have a guy that has those kind of capabilities, that's all well and good. But one of his best assets as a football player is his running ability. This is a big, hulking, strong quarterback. This is a guy that is gonna put his nose down and get that extra yard. He is gonna be the guy that can do a quarterback sneak. He's gonna be the guy that you think of Brendan Sullivan's strengths as a short yardage guy. Arkhanovsky already has that. So the package that they developed a year ago is not necessary anymore. Brendan

Sullivan wants to play. He wasn't going to play this year at Iowa outside of injury. And when you're going into your final year of eligibility and you want to have one last chance to play a lot of football, you know it wasn't going to happen in Iowa City again unless an injury happened. So that's where we are. For Brendan Sullivan, it makes sense. And then there's one other component. This quarterback room looks a whole lot different than it did in the past. You start with Hank Brown coming in from Auburn. And a guy that's not going to be the starter this year, but there's been some buzz.

A lot of arm talent. You can see that go back to his two starts he made at Auburn. One good, one bad. But you can see this guy certainly has arm talent. Big, 6'4", can move around a little bit. And a developmental guy that very well, by the time we get to August camp, maybe he was going to surpass Brendan Sullivan.

Then you look at the young guys, and the young guys that they're bringing in, and a quarterback coach and an offensive coordinator that is competent. That Tim Lester has shown that in the past, he can put a good offense out there. He made huge strides with this team a year ago on the offensive side of the football. And now the last one that they got to figure out is how to get this passing game going. I think he'll be able to do just that.

Brendan Sullivan loved the toughness, loved that spark that he brought to the team, but in the grand scheme of things for 2025, don't freak out about this loss. We got some additions on the basketball front. We're going to talk about them as we continue on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. I was gone out and gotten a couple of new additions. We'll talk about the freshman coming in, Trevin Yurok.

We'll take a look at him. As I mentioned, I've seen a lot of him. We'll talk about that. Plus, Hauser coming in, a new shooting guard for the Iowa Hawkeyes. They needed shooting to go along with Bennett Sturz, and they seen a lot of him. We'll talk about that. Plus, Howzer coming in, a new shooting guard for the Iowa Hawkeyes. They need a shooting to go along with Bennett Sturtz, and they got it in this one. That's next on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast.

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football continues. We talked about the quarterback position a ton. Just talked about it in Brendan Sullivan. We're gonna get into a little Iowa baseball and softball a little bit later on. But let's get to the basketball front and a couple of different nodes, both for the men's basketball program and the women's basketball program

and what they've been able to do here over the weekend. So it's an important time. When you go through and you look at what is happening with basketball and you have the portal open. This is the opportunity right now where you can go out there and you can make some big additions. So I wanted to start with what we had last Friday with Trev and Yurok. And when Trev made the commitment, not a surprise. Again, we've been talking about that plenty here recently on Lockdown Hawkeyes. The possibility that it was going to happen.

So watching this young man develop and starting as a sophomore two years ago for this Valley basketball team. For people that don't know, I call Iowa, I call basketball, football, baseball, wrestling on the Iowa Sports Radio Network and here locally on KXNO in Des Moines. And I do all of our high school play-by-play.

So got to see Yurok a lot after winning three state championships. I mean, there's eight games right there, plus everything I've done in the regular season. All told, probably 25 times, I've broadcast one of his games. When the first thing that I think of when it comes to Trevin Yurok is,

he is a guy that is incredibly smart with the basketball. His basketball IQ is incredibly high. So he had an older brother, Drew, who was a 6'3 guard, really good athlete, was a safety on the football team. And then here comes little brother Trevin, and he just spurts up one summer and grows like six, seven inches.

And all of a sudden he goes from a kid that was a guard growing up into the center that he is today. But the skillset that he developed, obviously the shooting ability, but maybe the most important part about it is his ability to see the floor as a passer, as a distributor. And the number of times that Valley used him

as a de facto point guard at the top of the key. Now it wasn't bringing the ball up, but he'd also help from time to time in press breaks, but they'd given the ball at the top of the key because he was so good, reading defenses, understanding, and such a good passer on top of it. His skillset, it does remind you a little bit of a European player.

When you think of that European big, that's kind of what you think about with Trev and Yura. Now, the one knock against him is going to be the athleticism. He's going to have to get stronger. He's going to have to get quicker to be able to compete in the Big Ten against some of the players that he is going to see. There is no doubt in my mind, though, he is going to put in the work. And as he was committed to UNI, I did have the thought. Love to see him go there for a couple of years, have a couple of good seasons,

then maybe end up as an upperclassman, you know, the back end of his career, at a place at the University of Iowa. That was something that I was always lingering about, because I think he's gonna be a good player. But the anticipation should not be, this guy's gonna come in right now, and he's going to be an impact player.

That's not what it is. Developmental pick, that's what this is, and a very well could be a developmental guy. We'll see what else they're able to get as it pertains to Biggs in the portal. But Trevin Yurok very well could be a guy that is a redshirt candidate, that that's what they look at. I don't know what kind of conversations McCollum and the staff had. And also remember, Ben McCollum, he also saw Trevin Yurok aaketan because Waukee Northwestern Valley, they tangled quite a few times during his sons one season here.

So that is something to definitely to think about when we're taking a look at this. He's seen a lot of him. He knows his game incredibly well, and he thinks it translates to the big 10. Again, as we've said a lot here in the springtime, I think we just have to let Ben McCollum and his staff cook a little bit. The latest commitment though,

this one is a big one for 2025-26, and that is K-State transfer Brennan Howsen coming in. Howsen, averaged 11 points per game a year ago, knocked down 93 pointers, and now you think of a bad court with Brennan Howsen coupled with Bennett Sturtz. It gets exciting. If you saw Sturtz just a couple of times, maybe in the NCAA tournament,

you know what a facilitator, what a game breaker he can be on that offensive end. But the best thing and something that Ben McCollum told us just last week as we had the play here for you of the interview that I had with Coach McCollum is he likes to have shooting on the floor. This is something that is a huge part of what he wants to do and their offensive system of having a bunch of shooters. And you look at the Drake guys, really outside of Sturtz, you wouldn't call any of those guys elite level shooters. Cooper Koch, who comes back, I think he has that ability. I think he's going to turn into that. I remember as a high

school recruit, many people called Cooper Koch one of the best shooters in that class of 2024. And remember, he was banged up all the season. We never got to see the full compliment. He's got a beautiful shot. So now you're adding more shooting to go along with it. This is big. A guy that began his career at Villanova, played two seasons there. Excuse me. At Kansas State last year, career at Villanova, played two seasons there, excuse me, at

Kansas State last year. My memory that is seared into my brain is Brendan Howes in last year, going into Hilton Coliseum. And shoot, and I was stayed out of the way. I mean, he was dynamite, a couple of dig just dagger threeinters that he was able to knock down for K-State as they pulled one of the bigger upsets of the year last year against Iowa State. So that's what I'm gonna remember about Howzen, and I think it's gonna translate well.

The final piece to the puzzle. What Iowa still needs to be able to do is they have to go out there and they need base. They need to find a way to get more size on this team. There's still some other guards that are out there that Iowa is interested in. Utah Valley Guard Tanner Toulson, this is a young man, six foot five,

shot it incredibly well last year out at Utah Valley. They've had a bunch of guys that have gone through there that have translated and moved on to the Power Five Conference level. Another one, excuse me, to keep your eye on is Texas Tech sophomore Kevin Overton. So Kevin Overton began his career at Drake. Also remember, though, he began his career at Drake

under Coach DeVries. Now we're putting a few things together. But before he eventually ended up at Texas Tech, he had conversations with Coach McCullum. And Coach McCullum fought hard to try to keep Kevin Overton there. Well, then he who fast forward to this year and the Elite Eight had a guy that easily could have been not on just a Final Four team, but maybe a National Championship team. With that Texas Tech team, I think you could argue, might have been the second or third best team in the country. That's how good they were before they let that big lead dissipate in the final minute against Florida in the Elite 8.

Kevin Overtun though is in the port. I don't know if there's something already happening with Indiana in this form of Coach DeVries, but there is at least some kind of relationship with McCollum and Kevin Overtun. Next part, remember the connection. Grant McCaslam, Texas Tech, and Ben McCollum are really good friends. Pieces figured out, we'll see, just something to chew on a little bit. But yes, there is more.

And there is certainly more going on as it pertains to what is happening in the portal. It is hot, it is heavy, and it's not over. Yes, Iowa missed on Honor Huff. And what a name the 5'11 Chattanooga guard Honor Huff was as he's going to West Virginia. However, I like the trade that they got. If it was between two, Huff and Housen, I think I like Housen for Iowa just a little bit better.

Mention also the women's basketball program, and they are Jan Jensen and company fighting hard to build out their rosters. They have three more open spots available for this year. Well, they brought in a visit this weekend, and that is Elena Arndesalo from UCLA, a combo guard and an opportunity for the 5'10 guard to put together a good season. Now, she is a foreign prospect and that changes the way things work as it pertains

to NIL, but as a freshman, averaged 5 points, 3.5 assists per game last season. I would need a point guard. There's no doubt about it. They absolutely, positively have to have a point guard in order for them to be, I believe, even an NCAA tournament team next season. Lucy Olson covered up a lot of the wards that this team had. I know Addie Deal's coming in, and I know there's a ton of excitement for her, but you're going to be asking a lot. You know, a lot of people believe that she is more of the kind of that two guard combo guard. Yeah, she can handle a little bit, but she is not a day one start with the ball

every time down the floor point guard like what you have with Caitlin Clark. You need a point guard out there. And this would be something I think that would solve that a little bit, not putting all the pressure that you have on Addie Deal to come in and have to handle those kind of duties. This would be a great fit. We'll see if there's more to it. It's portal season.

We're with you every single day. That's what we do here on the Lockdown Network, and we got you covered on that front. We continue Lockdown Hawkeyes. Big weekend on the Diamond, both the Iowa baseball team and Iowa softball team. Get it done. And are the Hawkeye baseball squad, can they be an NCAA tournament team? We continue Lockdown Hawkeyes. NCAA tournament team, we continue Lockdown August. Get the supplies you need from the site made for the skilled trays. Supply House, whether you're into plumbing, HVAC or electrical work, Supply House is the reliable way

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For your every dayers, really appreciate all of you also clicking on that and subscribing with us. It helps immensely. All right, let's wrap things up here with some baseball talk and softball talk as we go to the diamond. Iowa takes two out of three against Nebraska over the weekend. Just an absolutely huge series for Iowa. You had a great crowd on hand. You go back to Friday night when things were a little chilly.

Things got colder than it kind of felt initially and Iowa gets the win in that one. Then they bounce back and get the second game in comeback fashion on Saturday in the biggest crowd in Iowa baseball history under Rick Heller. That says a lot. There's been a lot of successes there. Come roaring back in that one, put a sixth spot up in the eighth inning as they win that one 11-6. Now, they fall in game three in the finale on Sunday as Nebraska was able to come back from a 4-3 deficit and get the win. But Iowa takes two out of three.

They remain in the top spot in the Big Ten. Hawkeyes sit at 14-4 on the season. For the most part, the Big Bats have continued and that's how they're going to be able to do things. Slugging their way to victories. 14-4, they're half game ahead of UCLA. Oregon, USC completes the... just think of that part right your top four UCLA

Yes, packed well power Oregon spends as much money as anybody USC packed well power Washington's tied for fifth with Illinois And then here's I'm just wild what Coach Heller does But there is concern and the major concern with this Iowa team is currently, they sit at number 92 in the net rankings. They don't have a quadrant one victory as it pertains to the RPI. They're nine and five against quad two, but they have five losses in quad three. That is a demerit. That's a negative mark. They still have a lot, a lot of work to do to be a tournament team.

The midweek games that they have remaining this week against Bradley, next week against Western Illinois. They rescheduled the game against St. Thomas. That will be a help as St. Thomas is at least a top 100 team in the RPI. You can't afford probably more than one more midweek loss, and you just got to continue to stack up the victories. Michigan's good, and they go on the road this weekend. Michigan is a good team in the top half of the conference, and the team likely going to be in the Big Ten tournament. It's a road one.

You get Indiana, obviously a solid program, and what they've done recently, they're going to be there. You go to Washington before wrapping up with Oregon State in a non-conference series, that'll be played at Principal Park in Des Moines and then the finale at home against Oregon who's ranked in the top 25. It's difficult but here's the great news, Iowa has a path. I don't get the RPI sometimes. I know it's a schedule-based metric and there's a reason that college basketball went away from it. It's not a very good metric, but it's a metric that we have for college baseball. And then on the other side for the women's program, it continues

to be a feel-good story. Mention the week previous went over to Pearlfield and was able to see their game Saturday against Nebraska. Didn't end going the Hawkeyes way, but they bounced back and got a win on Sunday against the Huskers. They go to Maryland this weekend, albeit not a great Maryland team, but get the sweep, a road sweep for the Iowa softball team. That's important because it puts themselves also in good spot to finish in that top 12, and with it top 12 finish means you qualify for the Big Ten tournament. Iowa sitting at 7 and 6, they're in 8th place currently in the Big Ten, but we talk about kind of the mark against Iowa baseball and the RPI. Iowa softball now,

with the win that they had earlier this year against UCLA, that win that they have against Nebraska on their resume, four quad one victories, an RPI of 51. There is a path for them to be a tournament team. They get Penn State coming up this weekend, out to Michigan State as their next one, who is not very good. They wrap up against Rutgers.

Their final three series have to win all three of them, and if they do, maybe, just maybe, they can be a team, at least with something to play for when we get to the Big Ten tournament. That does it for today. Coming up tomorrow, we will be joined by Scott Dockerman from the Athletic. We'll talk plenty of Hawkeyes with him.

That's coming your way tomorrow, and whatever happens in the portal, we have you covered. Thank you for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen today. For your second listen, check out Lockdown NFL Draft with Damian Parson and Keith Sanchez. As your favorite collegiate players, get ready for the next level, get the latest draft rankings,

rumors and news every day. Find Lockdown NFL Draft on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Go Hawks.