Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - STARTER BATTLES? Iowa Hawkeyes Depth Chart PREDICTION —Answering Questions at Quarterback & Defensive Tackle
Episode Date: August 24, 2026Iowa Hawkeyes’ quarterback battle heats up as Jeremy Hecklinski and Hank Brown fight for the starting job ahead of the season opener. Can Hecklinski’s poised performance and dynamic play elevate I...owa’s offense, or will Brown’s steady progress in practice tip the scales? Key questions linger as hosts reveal early depth chart projections across running back, wide receiver, and offensive line, spotlighting impact players like Evan James, Tony Diaz, and Kamari Moulton. [Trent Condon] breaks down Iowa’s defensive lineup, highlighting projected starters Bryce Hawthorne, Cam Buffington, and Jayden Montgomery, while raising concerns about depth at defensive tackle. Attention shifts to special teams with the kicker and punter competitions wide open, featuring transfers Eli Ozick and Tanner Philpott. Offensive coordinator Tim Lester shares insights into route-running and position versatility, offering a fresh perspective on player development and game strategy. Who will emerge as Iowa’s offensive leaders, and how will these key battles shape their Big Ten campaign? Photo: USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect Follow Trent Condon on X: https://twitter.com/trentcondon LISTEN TO THE PODCAST: APPLE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-hawkeyes-daily-podcast-on-iowa-hawkeyes-football/id1441592240 SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/0GTyz5ygevcGXdTF6QSoEo YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnHawkeyes Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! KALSHI For a limited time, Download the Kalshi app and use code [LOCKEDON] to get $10 when you trade $10. . Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast. Wayfair Patio season is here and these deals won’t last! Head to https://wayfair.com right now to get your outdoor space ready for way less. Wayfair. Every style. Every home. LARINECO Give Larine a try. Right now, Larine Co is offering our listeners up to 50% off at https://BUYLARINE.com/LOCKEDONCOLLEGE. Odoo Great organizations win because operations matter. And that’s why you should get Odoo. Try for free today at https://Odoo.com/lockedon. 5-Hour ENERGY Bring on the sweetness with Cotton Candy 5-hour ENERGY®️ shots—available online now at https:/5hourENERGY.com or on Amazon. Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Join all the action at https://FANDUEL.COM to play Daily Dingers and make your free pick on who’s hitting a homer this MLB season. 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) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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The first official Iowa depth chart comes out on Monday, but the picture is already starting to take shape.
We'll break down the Hawkeyes' depth chart what it looks like today from quarterback and every key position battle.
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 Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast, your daily Iowa Hawkeye podcast.
Thanks for making lockdown Hawkeyes, your first listen every day.
Coming up today, we'll hear from the OC, the offensive coordinator,
Tim Lester is going to stop by, conversation from last week over at Iowa Football Media Day,
some good insight into the speed at the wide receiver position,
and a little bit of fun talking hockey as well.
Tim Lester coming up a little bit later on.
Today, we're going to tackle the depth chart.
We're going to hit the defense, what it looks like at this point in time,
what it could look like going forward.
We'll hit the offense, we'll hit the special teams,
A little bit of everything as we break down the depth chart coming up next week.
Next Monday, that is when the official Iowa depth chart will be released.
Remember, in the past, this is something that we have seen a ton usually released around Big Ten Football Media Day,
sometimes Iowa Football Media Day, not the case anymore in this new environment of NIL.
That has definitely changed, and we are going to tackle it here today.
That is a reason behind it.
And in the past, a couple of years back, there are some guys that showed up on the depth.
chart and because of that, well, maybe we should get a little bit more money.
Maybe we should get a little bit more into the NIL coffers coming our way because
now we're listed as a starter.
Now we're listed in the two deep, those kind of things or the other direction.
So in order to make this, I guess, a little more equitable, Kirk Farrance made the decision.
We're just going to wait until game week and that's when we're going to find things out.
Now, Friday, if you missed the show, we had Tom Kaker from hawkerreport.com.
He said maybe in the middle of this week, we could hear some kind of announcement of
what's going to happen at the quarterback position before we get the depth chart.
We'll keep our eyes on that one.
But let's kick things off here on the Iowa football depth chart and get into what we think
things look like right now at all the positions.
We're going to start today with the offense.
And, of course, the big conversation begins who is going to be the quarterback.
Now, hearing some things of practice after the great performance by Jeremy Hecklinsky last week
at Kids Day are only open glimpse at things.
I've laid it out before.
If you're in every day or you have heard my thoughts on this one,
it is so much easier to go from Jeremy Hecklinsky to Hank Brown,
if a change is going to be made or needs to be made,
as opposed to Hank Brown to Jeremy Hecklinsky.
I think there's too much negativity.
There's too much fan frustration.
I think if it is close, Hecklinsky needs to be the guy.
With my depth chart, that's what I have.
Now, of course, it was one glimpse.
And even talking a few people and getting some insight into what's been happening at this week
at practice, Hank Brown.
definitely even things up.
And that was for most reports, the worst practice that Hank Brown had came at the one that we all got to see.
I see that as a problem.
I see that as an issue.
And when you're in front of a live audience, guess what?
That's when games are played.
You're not played on a practice field.
There are certain guys and certain guys that cannot translate from the practice field into the game.
And I have my concerns about that with Hank Brown.
So is Jeremy had Glinski first, Hank Brown for me.
I still anticipate something I've said all summer long.
We're going to see both those guys and both those guys early in the football game against Northern Illinois.
I don't know if it'll be a true rotation, but I think both the guys are going to get an opportunity in that one.
Hopefully more insight coming up this week, though, on that front.
Let's go next to the running back position, the way that it is.
I think going into the opener, it will be Kamari Brown, Kamari Moulton, excuse me, as your starter.
Kamari Moulton will get the shot.
Of course, had a nice season a year ago.
He's back for another year, but I think L.J. Phillips is right there.
And I will not be surprised.
One iota, injury aside, if we see L.J. Phillips ultimately take over as the starter in this offense.
He's compact. He's low to the ground.
He's lost a little bit of weight.
He was incredibly productive a year ago at South Dakota.
He's just so hard to get to the ground and talk to a defensive coach from a year ago that went up against him.
That was one thing they said about L.J. Phillips is the difficult.
nature of that even three-yard gain and he gets five out of it and just the frustration that grows
out of that. I think we're going to have a fun, fun season coming up of L.J. Phillips. I listed three
wide receivers is the direction that I went here. So your starter out wide, of course, Reese Vander Z.
We know about that one. Tony Diaz definitely going to be out there a ton this year. And then I put
Evan James as a starter at the slot receiver spot. I think you're going to see a ton of Evan James.
His speed is real and something that definitely excites.
It's John Budmeyer, Tim Lester, and the rest of that offensive staff.
They've been looking for that speedster, and they have it now in Evan James,
a guy that was very, very productive in a year ago at Furman,
guy that had a touchdown reception against Clemson,
so he's done it against, at least talented opponents.
I don't know if we want to call Clemson good,
but they had a lot of talent last year.
He scored a touchdown against them.
Those are your starters.
Behind Tony Diaz, I put Jarrett Bowie there.
I think you've heard if you listen every day.
Definitely my thoughts on Bowie, the incredible athleticism.
all the injuries that he has sustained being back out there.
I think he's going to be part of the rotation.
The backup in the slot spot, I got KJ Parker there.
No surprise.
We've heard KJ Parker a ton.
Now it comes down to consistency for him.
And then out wide at the big X receiver position, I put Dayton Howard there.
And I think Dayton Howard, you can make the argument.
It's going to be part of the top four this season, how they translate.
The guys work through a bunch of different positions as well.
That's something that is asked to them in the Iowa offense.
But there it is six.
I should also put this out there, too.
As I was going through this, I'm kind of coming up with the parameters.
No repeats here.
We know there's going to be flexibility.
And as we get to the offensive line, look, you can probably make the argument that Lucas
Allgaier is maybe the top guard backup and maybe the top tackle backup.
That's what you think of with Lucas Allgaier.
I think they're going to get his feet wet this year.
There's going to be some rotations.
Well, Algear is going to be in there because he's a huge piece for next season.
If you, as anticipated, lose Trevor Lough, to the NFL draft.
out of eligibility this year is Jack Dotsler.
Both those guys moving on, you need tackles.
We know tackles are expensive in the transfer portal,
so that's why I think Allgaier is going to be there.
Your starters, pretty easy at this point.
If you anticipate, like I do,
that Kale Winter is going to be the guy at the center position.
Trevor Loughoutt out at left tackle.
Layton Jones is your left guard at the center spot.
Is Kale Winter?
That means Kate Piper goes back to where he played a year ago at right guard,
and then your right tackle is Jack Dutton's.
Don't slur. But since we're not listing multiple guys at each position here, this is what I came up with for the backups.
Your backup center then in this scenario is Michael Mislinski. The six-year player got granted another year of eligibility.
We're just hoping for a little bit of health. I think we will see some Lucas Allgaier this year, but I put him as the backup at left tackle because of an injury happens there.
Dotsler would probably slide over, but again, we're not playing that game right now.
So we got Al-Gaier as your backup at the left tackle spot.
At left guard behind Layton Jones,
I went with the transfer from James Madison,
Trent Wilson,
banged up back during the springtime,
maybe starting to find his footing a little bit
and make the big step up from the ranks there at James Madison
coming up to Big Ten football.
Your backup at right guard,
but big hudson parliament there.
The big man, I love this group of offense alignment,
the young guys that they have.
Coach Barnett's done such a good job
of building this thing up after a,
A slow start to the beginning of his career in Iowa City has done a great job.
And then big six foot nine Cannon Leonard had him as the backup then at the right tackle position.
So those are your backups along the offensive line.
We're just going too deep.
There's other names that we could throw out there with all these different position groups.
Obviously running back.
We know they go four deep easily at that position.
This is how I see it right now.
We will see how close we get to that as we go on.
We move on to the defense.
Next, we go to our depth chart on the defense.
Who is going to be the starters at the all-important defense-and-tackle spot?
We'll take a look at that, how deep this team is, and try to crystal ball what this is going
to look like a week from today as we will get the Iowa football depth chart for the first
time.
Stay right there.
We're talking defense next.
This is your daily Iowa Hawkeye podcast, Locked-on Hawkeyes.
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As we continue, we go from the offense to the defense.
going to take a peek here at the special teams.
Obviously, not the same kind of volume that we have in these other position groups.
Let's go up front.
We know the importance here as you feel very good about the linebackers.
Jane Montgomery played well last year.
He'll go over to the will spot.
You got Cam Buffington taken over at middle linebacker, how good he is.
Obviously, Phil Parker, what he does year and year out with that defensive backfield.
All these things together, you feel good about the back seven.
However, up front, that's where the question marks.
are. Let's start out a defensive end. Kenneth Maryweather, we didn't get to see him last Saturday. He was not practicing because a little bit banged up. Sounds like nothing that's going to be overly debilitating there. But Kenneth Maryweather anticipated a guy that was part of the rotation a year ago that he's going to be out there. Now, hopefully not making penalties like he did at the end of the first half against Indiana. It's got to be smart out there, but certainly an experienced guy, guy that's shown some quick twitch, a guy that can definitely get to the quarterback. He expect a big bounce up for him coming to.
up this year. The other starter for me at defensive end is a guy you saw out there last
Saturday. That is Yose Eppinesse. Now, there is still a lot of growth potential for Yose.
It's about doing everything that is asked. And, you know, I talked about the story before
of him, maybe growing a little bit frustrated at times and getting, maybe questioning himself
just a little bit as he was going out throughout the course of practice. And one thing was brought up
to him. Look who you're going up against every day. You're facing off against an all-American
tackle in Trevor Lough every single day. Iron sharpens iron. This is going to get him.
And most times, this is going to be something where this is going to be your most difficult
part of the week. It's not the game. It's what you're doing in practice when you're going
up ones versus ones and facing off against Trevor Lout because there's going to be very few
tackles he see this year as talented as Trevor Lout. The backup's a defensive end. We're not going
deeper than that. This is just a two deep. That's all we're doing here. So we're not going to
play around or do anything special on that front. Certainly, Drew,
Campbell, who we saw Saturday, had a couple of good moments, some moments that still show him as a young
guy and a guy that's battled injury himself. Definitely you can see the skill set, though, of Drew Campbell.
And then on the other side, I went with Camari Brown as a backup. I think he's going to play a lot this year.
Pass rush specialist. That's going to be a piece of it, building it to the quarterback, an elite level
athleticism for the transfer coming in from Elon. But here it is, the big question marks. Now, here's an easy one, a defensive tackle.
it's going to be Bryce Hawthorne.
We know that Bryce Hawthorne is going to be one of the guys in the middle.
As long as he's healthy, he's going to be out there and he's going to be playing a ton.
On the other side, I went with the veteran.
I went with in the middle, Will Hubert.
We talked to Will Hubert, if you saw it here on Lockdown Hawkeyes.
I thought some really good insight from him.
A veteran, a guy that knows exactly what you need to play at this level,
is he going to have the size to hold up throughout the course of the year.
That remains the question.
Then the backup's a defensive tackle.
I went with Devin Kennedy.
I just can't quit the guy.
I'm hopeful the bloodlines, what we've heard about him,
still got to get bigger, definitely to be able to play and play 25, 30 snaps a game even.
That's going to be a piece of it.
But just like the skill set out of Devin Kennedy and a guy that looked all right out there.
I thought last Saturday.
And then the other backup at defensive tackle, I went with Luke Gaffney.
I think he's going to be playing at minimum.
Are there other guys that can unseat him?
Emmanuel Alibaggio.
We've talked about just the sheer size of him at six foot six foot four,
320 pounds.
He just looks different out there.
You have guys like that.
Some of the young ones, Brad Fitzsimmons,
who a guy that definitely looks the part already has gained a ton of weight since he's got there.
We're still talking about a very young prospect, though, at defensive tackle.
There are other guys that can maybe help out there, maybe a Bryce Stevenson,
who they got out of the transfer portal, some other names there.
But those are your T2 deeps there.
at defensive tackle. Starters Hawthorne and Hubert with Kennedy and Gaffney as the backups.
Let's go over to linebacker mentioned earlier, Cam Buffington, the anticipated starter at middle
linebacker, great athleticism and Eastern Iowa kid.
Grew up wanting to be a hawkite.
He definitely is going to get that opportunity this year.
That means bouncing out to the wheel spot will be Jaden Montgomery, Montgomery, who played
so well coming in for Jane Harrow last year.
And he's not tall by any means, but the dude can make plays.
He's a good leader.
That's something that's important.
He'll be out there.
Now, when they go four, three, and they go with the Leo spot out there, I went with the surprise.
I think everybody thinks it's going to be landed Van Kekricks.
And I think maybe early in the season, maybe it would.
But boy, Derek Weiskopf, he is coming and coming in a big time way.
They definitely like his ability, the athleticism, again, that we talk about there.
So I put him as a starter with Van Kekricks as the backup.
The backup at the outside spot at Will.
I went with Preston Reese, banged up a year ago, a special team's demon, great athleticism, great speed.
Now's got to get it, put it all together on the football field and not just running around and making plays on special teams, but everything that is asked for you in the Iowa defense.
And then at the middle spot, again, since we're not using guys that we've already used as we're putting this together, I went with one of the young linebackers.
I went with Burke Goucher.
Maybe he's a guy that can step forward.
There's so many, though.
They're so deep.
It could be a freshman, Billy Wavoda, who I know they're excited about his services.
So many good young linebackers.
I was done a really, really good job of recruiting this position.
And then we wrap things up in the defensive backfield.
The five starters here.
And because of what Tom Caker told us on Friday show that there could be a real chance.
We don't see Tyler Brown in the opener as he's working his way back from injury.
That's how I played this.
I did not put Tyler Brown in there as a starter.
If he's healthy, we know he's going to be a starter at strong safety.
Another transfer from James Madison.
He's going to be out there.
But I played it like he's not going to be out there.
And this is what we came up with.
Your starters at cornerback.
One side he got to Sean Lee, most veteran guy out of this group in the cornerback spot.
And then Jalen Watson, who we saw quite a bit a year ago, both him and Rashad Godfrey,
both had to play a lot in the game against Nebraska.
Both had a couple of good plays in that game.
Godfrey is one of the backups.
And then Darien Jones, a true freshman.
at the other spot at cornerback.
Love the size, six foot one, fluid can really move.
This is going to be a guy.
We're going to be talking about a ton going forward.
Your starter at free safety, we know, is Zach Lutmer.
There's a lamp, free square in the middle of the bingo card with Zach Lutmer.
Then I put the starter as Anthony Hawkins, who has been practicing his strong safety
with the injury to Tyler Brown.
He's versatile.
He can play both ways.
Love the size, 6 foot 3, a bigger safety than I was had for the market.
part Xavier Wamp also had some good size to him as well but Hawkins definitely has
ascended as he's got a lot of reps out there then your backups at the free safety and the
strong safety spot I went with Xavier styles another guy they got out of the portal
at strong safety and then Drew McPherson who is a young guy just a second year player
I know coming out of high school though they really liked him and it definitely kind of fits
the personality that they normally have at that free safety position and then
finally we go to special teams
I'm going with Eli Ozick.
I like Caden Burr a little bit more on Saturday.
I just think that ultimately the transfer, the guy that they went out out of the portal and nabbed,
he's going to get a little bit more of a leash, a little bit more leeway.
And I think Eli Ozick, the North Dakota State transfer, will be the guy at kicker with Caden Burr as his backup.
Putter was even more difficult.
Boston Everett might have more raw leg talent at this point over Tanner Philpott, who came in from Simpson College.
I just, I go to not just a veteran, not just a guy that has experience,
because his experience playing in the old Iowa conference is a lot different
than playing in the Big Ten.
It is Boston Everett translating over coming in.
He's never kicked in American football game.
And that kind of transition when he have a guy that's pretty much on equal footing,
I'm going to go with a veteran here in Tanner Philpott.
And then finally we'll wrap things up with just a crack at the return guys in special teams.
Zach Lutmer, a lot of people are pointing to,
to that. I'm going to go there as well at the punt return spot. I had KJ. Parker as his backup.
Saw him a little bit. How about your kick returners? I'm going to go with Brevindal in one spot.
KJ. Parker in the other with backups Nathan McNeil and Evan James. Love the speed element of getting
him out there. We'll see. I mean, talk about throwing some darts at the wall. They don't practice
very often and certainly not live action kickoff duty. So it's one of those things you just got to see it.
Brevindal we know has elite level speed. We'll love to get.
get him out there and all these guys have play making potential.
And if you're not going to take a step forward in special teams and certainly in the return
game, then what you had with Caden Weechin, if you can at least be good though.
And solid like Iowa normally is year in and year out, that's going to go a long, long way.
Well, we talked about the offense to kick off the show and how I see the two deep a week away from the actual depth chart being released.
Well, let's hear from the man that's running the offense.
Tim Lester is going to join us on the other side.
Some thoughts from Iowa Football Media Day with the Iowa Offensive Coordinator.
That's next day right there.
This is your daily Iowa Hawkeye podcast, Locked on Hawkeyes.
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Trent, I'm back with you one final time here on the lockdown.
Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for being with us and making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first list
every day. Here on the lockdown network, your team every day. We got you covered each and
every day on the Hawkeye front. Whatever your favorite team is in the other sports, we have you
covered there as well. Let's hear from the Iowa offensive coordinator, Tim Lester.
How much he enjoys his being out there and working with the guys? How are Evan James and Tony Diaz?
I don't know. I know they're up 20 pounds since they got here, right? They showed up in January.
And I think Evan was like in the high 140s, the low 150s, and now he's like 170s.
Like Tony was like in the like low one, like high 150s or low 160s.
He's like high 180s or 170s now.
Like that, it's like, hey, meet Ray.
You know, Ray, meet new guys, you know.
And anyway, it's an adjustment.
And I don't know anything about the, I'm not saying anything negative about the two schools that came from the strength program.
Because as freshman, you're really not into it yet.
anyway but they came into the Iowa strength you know and they're eating and they're
lifting and watching their weight and it's not gonna stop like in the next couple years I
mean they're gonna be 185 hundred nine pounds I don't think they'll be that this year
but where they were as far as just being healthy being able to take hits you know
they both put on 20 pounds in eight months since they got here so it's a good start
you couldn't really do many more than that in a good weight way you know and so we
got them to the best place they can be for this season. And in future seasons, I can only assume
they're just going to get bigger and bigger, you know. Going back to DJ, you gave him the Brock
Bowers' comp or said you could use them in a similar way as Brock Bowers. Maybe not specifically
with DJ, but when you're, you find a, you know, NFL comp or another, you know, college comp
for a guy and how they're used, how does that happen? Do you like see, you just watch an NFL
network and you see a Brock Bowers play or how does that go down? Yeah, I think you just, yeah, I love,
I watch football all the time, right? That's what we, we're, you like, you.
do for a living and it's funny when I'm out when I'm not at work and people come up and
they want to talk football and I was like I'm sorry I'm going to talk football and my
wife's always like he'll do it all day with you like this is what I do and so uh like I
watch a town of football so watching Brock Bowers move around and run um this remind me
a Disha you know last year I'll say the comparison when um we've we've been doing the
push since 2017 or 18 when I was at Purdue we watch Northwestern do it I think was
on a fourth down they motion a guy in and pushed him you know and so we started doing it at
western michigan um and then philly took it the whole new level with the three dudes and they've taken it
you know and and so we've always still used it and um when i saw mark grunowski on the field for the
first time in the fall with shoulder pads and helmets on he reminded me a jamler i looked at
i looked at his body and i was like holy mackerel he's huge like i mean just a muscled up
and i was like i mean we're already good at the two o're like we might be really good so we
we start putting in more plays.
We put the Jets we've gotten,
and then we put the roll into it.
And like,
so you just look at their body types,
you look at a move.
I would think,
I mean,
I think Mark throws a little bit like Jaylen hurts too.
You know,
so every once in a while you,
you run into that comparison,
you know,
and then you can learn
because, I mean,
there's a ton of great football coaches
in the NFL.
So you start watching how those,
randomly enough,
I was up at,
I go to Green Bay every year,
obviously.
And so Ketsi is the quarterback coach there,
and he was the,
the office coordinator for the Raiders with Brock Bowers.
It worked out really good because I was hanging out with Getzzi.
So I got a first, you know, first take.
There's something on the board and I'm like, listen, I know the sole offense.
Like, what's that word?
He's like, oh, I brought it with me and then we started talking.
So there's always ways to try to continue and to get better.
And I would tell my guys, it's their job to execute and execute at a high level and under pressure.
It's my job to try to put them in positions to make it as easy as possible to execute.
I can use a shift or emotion to get you better leverage.
leverage you still got to run the route and catch you know but I'm trying to
continue to put you in the best place human like possible for your talent to go to
shine but it's not like I'm gonna there's like guys are gonna be running
wide open all time but hopefully I can get it more open by foot my step with some
of the stuff you see which you have some motions and different play designs and
so so when you have a guy like it's your comparison guy could be wide out could
be a tight end you just turn out the NFL's home and start watching
and all the different things that they did with the PFF is a great thing for that, you know?
So, yeah, it's been fun this offseason study and some of that stuff,
and the stuff's been good, that's hard.
You mentioned route running.
I know this summer you mentioned Caden, probably not one of his strengths out there on the field.
How do you feel about the wide receiver group as a whole,
what they're doing, both timing-wise and route running?
I think it's good.
I mean, the one thing that we still have to get our depths better, you know,
and there's so many, like when you're talking about running routes in this offense,
It's not just full split, right?
We're full split, we're mid split, we're tight.
So the sprays are everything and how much you spray and what's your landmark to get to before you break down or in.
So to play wide receiver in this office, there's a lot more to it.
It's not like, hey, you're at the bottom of the numbers every time.
Let's just work on our 12 routes.
It's no, these routes, there's 12 here, there's 12 when you're motioning, and then we snap the ball,
and then there's 12 when you're motioning this way, and then there's the time you're line right next to the tackle, and you got to run that route.
right and so watching these guys i've been talking about dayton and buoy the veterans that
Reese kj parker uh and even tony and evan because they they were lost a little bit in the
spring as far as like you know how do i run this wrong from in here you know you got to
perfect i can guarantee leverage if i put you there and and from spring to now them understanding
and we're not we're not perfect yet heaven's got a couple things he can still get better at
but man he can double up at top to make place you know he made a catch today that was insane
And so it's been fun.
They've all gotten so much better
in understanding where to get to, how to get there.
And we're doing a lot less being, you know, rerouted.
You know, like, you got to play fast, man.
Like, we're working off the safety
and you're taking time to deal with that linebacker,
you need to run by him.
Like, if you get to run around him, he gets to run ahead and stop his feet,
but, like, we're waiting the safety.
And we're, I mean, we had a little issue in our first year here,
and it got better second year, and now we're better.
Still, we're not perfect.
where we'll come off and we'll be doubling up and working with this linebacker trying to get around him.
And meanwhile, we're getting sacked.
You know, we've got to get, we've got to go.
And we've got a couple guys that naturally.
Evan is a natural.
He runs now.
He gets everywhere fast.
DeAndre Smith, our young freshman, he plays fast.
Everything he does is fast.
I mean, he is rolling.
No one's getting in his way.
And so it's been fun because the guys see how they're getting it done.
And even some of our veterans are getting better, right?
So it's been, it's been fun.
The competition in that room is fantastic.
And it's just making everybody.
Take you say you could sit here and talk football all day.
All day.
Yeah, you have a son that is a high-level hockey club.
How did that happen?
My wife loves hockey.
Is that right?
Loves hockey.
Yeah, she was in, when I met her, she was assistant general manager of hockey.
Really?
Yes, a CHO?
It was the Memphis River Kings.
Oh, okay.
I was playing arena football.
They won it the year we were there, which was really sweet.
And so she grew up going to, she's a Ranger fan, Pierre La Roche.
I was the head coach of Western Michigan, right?
And they're really good at hockey.
Yeah, yeah.
We won the national championship.
And so she can sit in there with the head coat, like Andy Murray,
and they're talking names from the 1990s and 80s,
and it just rolls off her turn, right?
We have, I have so many signed sticks, like Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretz.
It's all in my house.
It's, for Father's Day, I got a miracle jersey,
the 1980s team signed, you know,
has an 80, it was signed by everybody at my heart out of that for me.
I just love the sport.
I can say physical, fast sport.
It's a lot like our sport.
How they play 70 games, I don't know.
I wish I could skate.
I can't.
Like when they have the parents' games, you know,
like she'd go out there and I can't even stand in this games.
I wish I learned how to.
But yeah, so they love it.
And they both those guys, they also play football.
But yeah, hockey is part of mom's life.
And then we lived in Michigan.
Sure.
It's hard not to skate when you're in Michigan.
And so they've grown up front.
I think it's the one time of his kids.
I remember talking to Clark Lee, where at Syracuse together a long time.
He's head coach of Manorville.
And his son, C-3, came back from hockey the first time.
He plays hockey.
So we still see him at like triple-lake tournament wherever we're going in Asheville or wherever they're at.
And I mean, the kids come off the ice and they are drenched in sweat.
And they're happy as hell.
They're like, that was so much fun.
I mean, it looks miserable.
I mean, just covered in sweat.
And it's a fun.
It's a fun.
And you can play it your whole life.
I mean, there's like 50 and older leagues.
Guys are still out there playing.
You know, they're good.
That is Tim Lester, Iowa offensive coordinator from Big Iowa Football Media Day last week.
Out of time for today.
Thanks for being with us in making Lockdown Hawkeyes, your first listen every day.
So I got some more coach and player interviews.
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Until then, go Hawks.
