Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Stick to Football's Mello joins the show to discuss Hawkeye draft prospects and 2020 expectations

Episode Date: July 28, 2020

We've got a special guest from Bleacher Report's Stick to Football podcast, NFL Draft Analyst Mello Miller. Mello recently released his yearly award watch lists, All-Conference predictions, 2021 Draft Big Board, and his breakout players to watch this season. We break down which guys were included (such as Tyler Goodson as a breakout player) and which guys weren't included (such as Tyler Linderbaum on the All-Big Ten teams). If you want a preseason understanding of expectations for the Iowa football team, this is the place to be with Mello's expertise in college football, he brings an incredible understanding of the college football landscape to today's show.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I thank God I was born on the good arms of the Midwest, and not on the battlefields of the U.S. It's a time of panic, and it's intercepted! It's picked off right away! Intercepted by Marty Hooker! Pick six! Eight seconds into the game! Buffen sets up deep in the pocket, goes down the field for Smith!

Oh! He's got it! Smith! Touchdown. 85 yards. High on. Touchdown, 10. Taking a shot in the end zone.

It is caught. No offense. Touchdown. That's either one or you have it. Go ahead and three. Yes. Two-point lead for the Hawkeyes podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Lockdown Sports Network.

As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade. I'm excited to be bringing you this fantastic episode for today. We have a very special guest on the show. We have Mello Miller from the Stick to Football podcast hosted by Bleacher Report. We have Mello. He is one third of that trio that hosts that show that is returning next week. So I'm very excited for that Stick to Football podcast to be returning. They have taken a little break this summer as they well deserve to do. They were taking a little break as the sports world has kind of shut down for a bit, and they haven't really had a break in a couple years. So it was great to get Melo on the show, have him talk a bit about Iowa football and kind

of what his expectations are. So I hope you all enjoy the show today as well. If you do like what you hear today, just remember we have tons of great guests on all the time. On Thursday, we have Lucy Rodin coming on the show, Iowa's Funniest Women in Sports. She's going to be on the show on Thursday, and we have a couple interviews with some 2021 recruits coming up as well. And we have some interviews with some recruit players as well. Talk a little bit about their experience in the recruiting process. I think it's a pretty unique perspective, and I'm really excited about that as well. So again, if you like what you hear today, make sure to like, review and

subscribe. Give us that five star review and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. But that being said, let's hop into the interview with Melo as we talk about some of his preseason rankings and what he expects for Iowa prospects this upcoming draft year. Lots of great insight from one of the best NFL draft analysts out there. So let's jump to that interview right now. I am joined here today by Bleacher Report's Stick to Football co-host, Mello Miller. How are you doing, Mello?

Doing good, man. Thanks for letting me come on. Anytime I get the chance to talk about college football, I'm more than willing to do it. I love it, man. Yeah, you are kind of known as the guy who is most involved in college football out of the three co-hosts, you, Connor, and Matt. Connor's more of the NFL.

Matt's kind of the draft. And you are the college football expert. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, that's just kind of the way that it happens. And I think we get a nice little blend of, you know, opinions there and what happens. Usually these guys are asking me, like, hey, what do you think about this kid? Like, oh, you're going to love him.

Just wait. You know, he'll be eligible in two years. Like, who are the freshmen that are coming up? And then we just have a nice little process of taking these guys pretty much all the way through their career now. Absolutely, man. But one of the things I really like about you guys at Stick to Football is there isn't a Big Ten bias.

And by that, I mean, you all don't overlook the big 10 and kind of what the value provides. So I've really enjoyed the show simply for the fact that it does seem like the coverage of the big 10 equals that of the other major conferences. There are plenty of podcasts where it feels like sec is the, the main topic and the only topic, but I really appreciate your guys's coverage of the big 10. It's nice to hear people say that we're not biased

because we get that a lot. And it's like, oh, you hate my team or you've said something bad about my team. You must hate my team. Like, man, there's one team in all of sports, college football, NFL, NBA, baseball. There's one team that I hate and it's Oklahoma. And I feel like I've sang their praises even. Like, I, NBA, baseball, there's one team that I hate, and it's Oklahoma.

And I feel like I've sang their praises even. Like, I know they're good. I just hate them. But, you know, with the Big Ten and Iowa, and Big Ten West is one of my favorite divisions in all of football. I feel like it's always kind of up in the air. Even if you think Wisconsin's going to be really good, here comes a Minnesota where you know Iowa is always going to produce and be at the top as long as Kurt Francis is there. Yeah man yeah the Oklahoma bias is funny

I mean you'll even praise an Oklahoma player and then say I still hate Oklahoma so I mean I think it's pretty obvious that you don't like them but you still at least give the credit where credit is due and like I said I appreciate the fact that you all still talk about the Big Ten and the fact that there isn't talk about the Big Ten and the fact that there isn't necessarily a bias towards a certain conference either way. So as far as the Big Ten West, I think it is interesting that you said that. It is a very much up in the air conference. Wisconsin is typically favored. Iowa is a school that could always come around, is always going to be probably second or third and has an opportunity at first. You have Minnesota.

Northwestern kind of comes out of nowhere every once in a while with Pat Fitzgerald. And then you have Nebraska where people seemingly think they're going to win a national title every single year. If you had to pick this year's winner of the Big Ten West, who would you pick? I think it's going to be Minnesota. I think that that team returns a lot of good players. I think they lost like two players, and they're both really good.

Tyler Johnson and then the safety, who I loved and can't think of right now, but they lost two players in that whole team and they returned all 20 other starters. They're going to be very hard to beat, but I do worry. Was it a flash in the pan that we saw with Minnesota or is this really who they are? And I think when you're returning that many great players, it is going to be really tough to deal with the gophers next year. Absolutely. It is frustrating that Minnesota is good. This past year, Minnesota was benefits.

Minnesota fans were all up in my mentions about me talking about Minnesota and saying they haven't really played anyone, but I was very impressed watching them actually play the last couple of games this season. Once they beat Penn state, I realized this team actually is pretty legit. PJ Fleck has something going on. And also the safety name, Antoine Whitfield, it was really killing me. I could not remember his name, but he is an absolute stud. I am so glad he is not with Minnesota anymore. Right. And you talk about Minnesota fans coming at you. Man, last year I was releasing like

my own top 25 after every week. So like Sunday morning I'd sit down after watching all the games and I would start ranking them. And I put Minnesota in my top 25 early, like week two or week three. And I even had Minnesota fans coming at me saying like, Melo, I love the Gophers, but like we don't belong there. I was like, no, you do. Like you guys have a really good team and your quarterback's finally playing well. But they, I mean, they'll come at you for everything.

If you hate on one of their receivers, they won't let you hear the end of it. If you say that they're good when they think they're not that great, they're also going to let you hear it. So they're, they're always chirping at you whether you said something good about their team or you've said something bad. Absolutely. I mean, the Tyler Johnson stuff was ridiculous. People were not happy that y'all had Tyler Johnson ranked so low. Personally, watching him against Iowa, he had several drops,

a couple key drops that really hurt Minnesota in that game, and I came away pretty impressed with a shot Bateman. So I thought y'all's evaluation of Tyler Johnson was pretty spot on, but as you said, Minnesota fans will find a way to hate or hate anything you do pretty much. It's pretty impressive, actually. Yeah, it's like the draft Twitter and Minnesota Twitter just combined to be like, you guys said something bad about Tyler Johnson.

And I didn't even hate on Tyler Johnson. I thought he was a good, hell of a college receiver. I mean, I didn't think he was going to be like the worst receiver prospect in the draft. But, man, you say something bad about a guy that people like, whether it's a draft prospect or somebody that plays on their favorite college team, they're going to get on that keyboard and they're going to let you have it on Twitter. I just want to remind you all to check out rockauto.com because it is the place to go for your auto part needs.

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All the parts your car will ever need. RockAuto.com Absolutely, man. Well, I'm going to be bringing up a few players that I feel like were not on your list that I thought might have been or should have been from an All Big Ten perspective. And kind of a National Player of the Year award perspective. But it is not hate. It is just probed questioning, I guess you could say. Uh-huh.

Yeah, so looking at your All-Big Ten list, you had a Larry Jackson listed as the second team All-Big Ten tackle. No disagreement there. I think he's a guy who last year was projected by some as a first-round pick, had an injury early in the season, and really wasn't as effective. Wanted to get your thoughts on him. At this point, where do you feel like his range is in the NFL draft next year? I think he's an interesting prospect because, like you said, there were some expectations for him last year of like, ooh, this might be, I mean, I think even as high as like the number one tackle in the class.

And then people kind of took note of Tristan works, at least for me, that's the way it happened. It's like, okay, I'm going to check out this tackle from Iowa. Let's see what he's all about. And then you're like, wait a second, this kid on the right side is actually probably better. And that's not a slight against the Larry Jackson. I think that he can both, you know, both of those guys can be very good and then coming back this year I think that was a good move when he had to make the decision of let's get another year a healthy year prove that I can

be a left tackle I wouldn't be surprised if he sneaks into the first round I would say right now he's probably looking like second or third round pick. But this is such a good offensive tackle class. It's even better than what we saw last year, in my opinion. But there's still a lot of room for these guys to move up boards or move down boards. Even when you look at like a Sewell out of Oregon, who's supposed to be like the clear cut number one tackle in this class. You have a lot of people even saying like, actually, there's a kid from North Dakota State that's a really good tackle. I like the kid out of Texas. And there's some, you know, a lot of varying opinions on these guys.

So I think Larry Jackson coming back is going to be good. Being, like, the leader, the guy on that offensive line can really help his draft status. Definitely, man. I mean, it's kind of nice to see the tackle class be better and rebound after a few years of kind of having a down year for tackles. I'm a Denver Broncos fan, and the fact they took Garrett Bowles, he was a, you know, an athletic freak, but not really the best technical prospect. And so it would have been nice to have some better prospects

a few years earlier. But nevertheless, as far as the tackles go, Coy Cronk also transferred from Indiana to Iowa. Prior to being injured at Indiana, he was considered by some, you know, a draft prospect. I think the Senior Bowl had him on their radar as well. I know you guys work pretty closely with Jim in the Senior Bowl. Do you have any thoughts on Coy Cronk, and do you think he is someone that is still on the NFL's radar as well? If he's on the Senior Bowl radar, he's on the NFL radar.

That's just the way it goes. Like Jim does a great job with senior bowl. And I think that he does a really good job too of talking to scouts and GMs and being like, Hey, are there any guys that are seniors that you have your eye on? And he'll get that list and then, you know, he'll make his own too. But if there's guys with the NFL's interested in, he's going to bring them to the senior bowl and he's going to put them on those little watch lists and things like that so Jim Nagy's talking about him for the senior bowl he's definitely a

guy to keep an eye on I haven't watched any film on him yet he's the guy that I'm going to have to get to later in the season or the spring but bringing in a grad chance for in from in conference to to fill that right tackle spot, that's going to be really good for Iowa, because obviously Tristan Wirfs has a huge void, and it's going to be very hard to replace that guy. Absolutely, man. I couldn't agree more. So those are two guys in the tackle position. I wanted to touch on some of the guys, though, that I was a little bit confused why they weren't on the All-Big Ten list, so I wanted to get your thoughts on that.

The first one is going to be Tyler Goodson. You sang his praises on a few other documents as well. Talk about him being one of your breakout players. I know the Big Ten has some pretty good running backs. So I wanted to get your thoughts on how tough of a decision was it to not have Tyler Goodson on there? And also, what do you feel like the ceiling is for Tyler Goodson? Could this be one of the first running backs from Iowa to be drafted since Sean Green? Yeah, I definitely think that he will be.

I really like him. And you talked about him last year. I mean, as a freshman, I think he roughed for like 600 yards and really didn't get going until later in the season, if I remember right. But I really like what he's doing behind a great offensive line I know Iowa lost a lot on all his ones like you talk about they're bringing in grad transfers and they always seem to just replace very well along the offensive line so I do think that Tyler Goodson coming in another year and I think there's something about being used to the

speed of the game going from high school to go into the Big Ten is a huge jump. So now that he's used to the speed of the game and preparing for games every week, I think that he's in for a breakout year, obviously, like I said. But I really think that he can be special. To leave him off of my all-Big Ten team, there's just so many good running backs in the Big Ten that have already produced. Like, I expect a big year from him, but, you know, I do feel like there were probably four running backs last year that produced already and are also young guys behind really good

offensive lines. Like, Muhammad Ibrahim from Minnesota is another guy who returns all five of his offensive linemen. He's going to get the bulk of the carries this year. Zach Charbonnet at Michigan, I thought, was another guy who kind all five of his offensive linemen. He's going to get the bulk of the carries this year. Zach Charbonnet at Michigan I thought was another guy who kind of had his breakout last year. They still have a pretty good offensive line. Then, you know, the other two running backs, Journey Brown.

Journey Brown's turning into like a draft Twitter guy that everybody loves. I think he's really good too, and he's going to have a good year. Penn State's going to rely a lot on the run. And then Elijah Collins at Michigan State, I think the new coaching staff there is probably going to look at that and say, we don't have a whole lot else. Let's run the hell out of the football with this big running back. And then, you know, if I had to pick another running back,

it would be the guy from Ohio State, whichever one wins the starting job, either Sermon or Master Teague. But then Tyler Goodson, he's a really good running back. He's that short, stocky build. Only a sophomore, though, so I think that eventually we will be talking about him as a guy that's going to be drafted. I think that he can continue to add bulk and, like I said, get used to the speed of the game, and he's going to have one hell of a year this year, and hopefully the next year, and maybe the next year after that for you, Iowa fans. Definitely, man.

I think it's interesting. Iowa, you probably know this as well, but it seems like Kirk definitely values seniors and the upperclassmen. And Goodson, despite seeing the flashes in the pan, just couldn't get on the field that many carries. And so finally they unleashed him late in the season, and it was just as magical as we were all hoping for, which is awesome to see. Two other guys I was interested in, specifically

Tyler Linderbaum and Amir Smith-Marset. The Amir Smith-Marset from a wide receiver perspective, I definitely understand. Although I could, I guess as a biased Iowa fan, see him make an all Big Ten team from a wide receiver perspective. But as a a returner I was shocked to not see him on there and then Tyler Linderbaum I was shocked to not see on one of the offensive line lists for all big 10 offensive line of the year yeah I mean with the receiver I really like him too but the question for me was even you're breaking in a new new quarterback now in the offense which is why I love Tyler Goodson so much. And I just, I don't know how much Iowa's going to throw the ball.

I know over the last couple of years, they've really upped their, you know, how much they throw the ball. But now with the new quarterback, I could really see Ference just be like, all right, back to old Iowa. We're going to line up two tight ends. We're going to run the hell out of football. You know, it'll probably work for them. So that's kind of what my thought process there was with the receivers I think they have two pretty good

receivers that are both Smith but yeah yeah Smith-Marset is I think he's gonna be really good he's gonna be a special guy I think that he's another guy who's probably gonna be like a senior bowl watch list guy if he can have a good year uh and produce like he has in the past I think that he can and then I think it's their center was the other guy you asked about? Yeah, Tyler Linderbaum. Yeah, he's a redshirt sophomore. Yeah, and I do think that he's really good too. But it was just looking at some of the other guys that are there.

I really like the center out of Ohio State. And, again, he's been doing it for a while. And when you look at these, like, all-conference teams, it's going to be guys that have been doing it a while. And when you look at these like all conference teams, it's going to be guys that have been doing it a while. It's not always, you know, who's going to be the most deserving. I think that eventually you're going to look at a guy from Iowa who's playing on the interior. You're going to get a nod there, whether it's guard or center. I haven't seen him play as much as I have the kid from Minnesota or Ohio State, but I'll definitely put him more on my radar to look at this year. Yeah, man, he's a nasty guy. He switched over from the defensive

line to offensive line and definitely needs some refinement on the technique side, but the guy just plays real nasty. He loves just throwing guys in the dirt, so definitely recommend watching him. Moving over to the defensive side, so in the last couple years, the Hawks have produced a fifth, second, and a third round corner in back-to-back-to-back years, plus a fourth and fifth round safety the last two years. Does that make draft analysts want to look at Iowa's secondary a little bit earlier in the season, just to see if there's any other guys who could kind of shine from that perspective? Because each time, these guys have kind of come out of nowhere,

other guys who could kind of shine from that person because each each time these guys have kind of come out of nowhere save for Desmond King who had a breakout year his junior season came back for his senior season but like Josh Jackson Michael Ojemudi I know he was drafted a little bit higher than most people thought Gino Stone Amani Hooker I mean these are all guys that kind of came out of nowhere and had breakout seasons and then got on the draft radar so does that lean you to kind of look at Iowa's secondary a little bit more, a little bit closer? I think most guys that cover the drafts will tell you no, and they'll say you can't scout the helmet.

Like, when stick to football returns, listen for how many times you hear that. Don't scout the helmet. But it's bullshit because you do. You know a school produces constantly at a position. Like we talked about with the Iowa offensive line, I know Iowa produces offensive linemen. So if I'm needing to look for a Big Ten center, if we're looking at the Big Ten and we're like,

who are the guys that are coming out in the interior? I'm going to start with Iowa because I know they can produce offensive linemen. And like you said, they're starting to get that reputation with defensive backs too. And I love Josh Jackson and he's still kind of burning me because I thought he was going to be like the top corner in that class. But you will. Like you'll go to Florida and be like, all right, let's look at the defensive backs here. But now they're starting to burn you and be like, oh, we thought they they were good but now they're getting a reputation for being bust in the NFL so yeah I will I know that Matt and Connor are probably like why are you saying that's not a podcast that they hear but

I think it is true I do think that we look at these schools that constantly produce at a certain position like I'm going to look at Ohio state receivers or, you know, Oklahoma running backs, whatever it may be. And excuse me, I think the Iowa defensive backs and you know, if you just want the gritty hard-nosed guys, it's going to come in, going to work his ass off, going to play a special team. Yeah. You can look at Iowa and find those guys. So I guess to go against scouting rules, yeah, I'm going to look at the helmet, and I'm going to say, who do you have here? Absolutely. And I definitely understand. You don't want to say, well, because they play at the school, they're good. But you definitely

want to use it as at least a little bit of a narrowing down to say, okay, where could I find a diamond in the rough potentially that people aren't necessarily looking at? It's a great starting place. Exactly. Yeah. So that actually leads me to my next question. Iowa is known as one of the best schools for producing tight ends. This past year they had a walk-on play, you know, starting at tight end. But they have a guy who kind of came on late in the season, kind of like a Tyler Goodson, true freshman, Sam Laporta. Have you watched any tape on him? My guess is no, just because he was a true freshman

and didn't get a lot of action until the end of the season. But just curious if you've watched any tape on him? My guess is no, just because he is, he was a true freshman and didn't get a lot of action until the end of the season. But just curious if you've watched any tape on him yet. I haven't watched any tape on him yet, but there was a couple of games where he stood out. And it was like, Ooh, Iowa has another tight end. And it was like, how old is this one? Ooh, you're super young. So he stood out to me, but no, I haven't watched any tape on him. Other than knowing, like, he seems like a willing blocker, which you have to do to be playing at Iowa so early. And he made some really good grabs that were impressive to me. And it says in, you know, a couple years,

he's going to be a guy to keep an eye on. Definitely, yeah, couldn't agree more. Like you said, Iowa does not let you on the field if you don't block. Look at Noah Fant. Noah Fant's not the worst blocker in the NFL, but there was a reason why he didn't get on the field as much as he should have given the fact that he was a first round prospect it's because he wasn't the he was the third best blocker on his team at tight end so you know yeah and like you said with with ferens he is kind of one of those coaches they're like if there's a tie he's going

to give it to the older guy he's going to give it to the senior so for a freshman to get on the field so early i think that says a lot about guys like um tyler goodson and then sam laporta also definitely man um so then you listed out your top 25 and i don't want to make Iowa fans dislike you but you had Iowa State in the top 25 and you did not have Iowa my guess is the quarterback uncertainty is definitely concerning and potentially the schedule so I wanted to get your thoughts on Iowa not being in the top 25 and some of the reasons behind that I know I'm not saying I disagree I don't know if I'd had them in the top 25 either, but just wanted to get your thoughts on that.

No, you hit the nail on the head, man. That's exactly what it was. Breaking in a new quarterback who I haven't really seen play yet and the uncertainty there. You lose key pieces on your offensive line. You lost some great defensive players as well. There's a lot of turnover there. Even though you're returning some really good players that I like,

that quarterback position is going to be so important. And then if you're not looking at quarterback, you're looking at offensive line, and you lost one of my favorite offensive linemen at right tackle, now you're replacing him with a kid from Indiana who hopefully is really good, but I think we can all agree he's not going to be Tristan Lurks. So you have a quarterback who needs protected. You need a running back that needs protection and holes to open up for him so I really like Iowa I always have but it's going to be tough for them with the new quarterback and

then like you said strength of schedule like Iowa State in the Big 12 they they can probably easily win eight or nine games just it's not a good conference there are two good teams and I think after that you start looking at teams like Iowa State I wouldn't be surprised if you know I guess we won't see it this year but if an Iowa is better team than Iowa State but in the rankings and the standing I think that Iowa is going to have their hands full because that is like I know that the Big 12 they're, the Big 10 West has kind of been like a laughing – like, oh, you're a little brother of the Big 10 or whatever.

You're not the Michigan-Ohio State. But that's a really good division of football where you have top to bottom really good schools. Like I'll leave out Illinois. I wouldn't consider them a really good school yet. But, you know, Lovie Smith even has some things going at Illinois. But even Northwestern will come out of nowhere, like you said, Lovey Smith even has some things going in Illinois, but even Northwestern will come, will come out of nowhere. Like you said, every once in a while, it's like, damn,

this is a really good team. Purdue has a lot of really good talent on offense. They scare me. As it's young. Right. Like they could come out of nowhere this year and Rondell Moore could look like a Heisman trophy candidate, which I think he will. And then Nebraska, I'm just waiting for Scott Frost to build this thing like I think that it's going to happen it's gotten me for like the last three years but I think that if he

just gets this offense going and we've seen it happen before in those spurts you just can't keep it consistent I think they can be good and then you have to deal with Wisconsin and you have to deal with Nebraska those I mean those are really good football teams and then whoever you have to deal with Wisconsin and you have to deal with Nebraska. I mean, those are really good football teams. And then whoever you have to play across over on the east, Iowa's got a tough road to, you know, eight wins, nine wins. But it seems like Kurt Ferens always does it. Absolutely. Well, I agree with everything you said.

Purdue is honestly a team that really scares me. David Bell was a stud last year, despite not having Rondell Moore most of the season. And I just hope you're wrong on Nebraska. I hope Scott Frost never turns around. I hope Nebraska continues to win three to four games and loses to Iowa every single season. They have quickly become my most hated team in the Big Ten somehow. Just those fans, man, I tell you. Oh, I get it, man. I get it. Yeah, they're tough. I just have two more questions for you, though.

One, you know, kind of actual draft one, and then a couple non-serious ones. But are there any other players from Iowa that are on your radar for the draft as of this point? I know, you know, you haven't done all of your scouting yet. You and Matt and Connor, you know, you'll look at 400 or 500 players. But as of right now, are there any other players that are on the Iowa roster that you could see as being kind of a day one or day two potential pick that we haven't talked about yet? I don't know about day one, but their linebacker, I think his name is Neiman. Yeah, Nick Neiman.

Nick Neiman was impressive last year. And, again, you're not supposed to scout the helmet, but when you have a linebacker out there running around wearing a 40 number for Iowa, that just screams talent. And a guy who is going to prove more than just being a linebacker, who can come in and play some special team coverages and is going to be solid in the locker room to work his ass off. But, you know, as you watch the games, and even for me,

as I start to watch more, like if I want to watch Tyler Goodson, it's hard to not notice guys like Smith, Marstatt at receiver or what happens with this quarterback this year. Nate Stanley was another guy who was there for a while and was kind of just the heir apparent at quarterback, the guy that was going to have that job. So maybe whoever wins this competition is actually a pretty good quarterback too because Nate Stanley kind of came out of nowhere and it was like look at this kid he's got a big arm maybe this guy can play maybe we'll see more of that at Iowa maybe that's kind of what they're going for but as far as guys that are on my radar I think Nick Neiman is the one that I'm most excited about yeah man his older brother plays for your Kansas City Chiefs too exactly yeah yeah so I'm very familiar with him. Yeah, absolutely. Nick Neiman is a good kid,

and a guy who they actually put out in coverage a lot as well. Had some issues kind of getting on the field, but he's a guy who even last year I was talking to a buddy, and, you know, that was one of his kind of big prospects as well to watch out for for Iowa, so couldn't agree more. Definitely check out Brandon Smith as well he is the other wide receiver yeah a real big guy uh I guess he plays bigger than his body is 6'2 220 but can go up and kind of um get any kind of contested catch so really excited to see him play as well um a couple non-sports things well I guess non-draft things but do you think we're gonna have football this year what are your honest opinions um I think we're going to have the NFL I really do think that they're just

so stubborn that they're going to make it happen I mean they're even talking about yesterday oh if you want to have fans they have to have a mask and that was like a holy crap moment for me like we're still talking about having fans in stadiums I couldn couldn't believe it. So NFL football, yes, I think it's going to happen. And there's even like rumors that those first four weeks of the season were scheduled so that they could be just tacked on at the end. So I don't know if we'll see it start and finish like we usually do. We're not going to have preseason games. So I don't know if they'll look at those first four weeks of the season

and say, let's tack these things on the end things aren't clearing up as fast as quick as we thought they would but we will see the NFL college football I'm not feeling great about it which is really saddening to me but um I just don't know how you're going to get all these conferences together and to agree on things like the Big Ten and the Pac-12 going conference only and then other schools trying to scatter around and reschedule games and do stuff like that. If it were up to me, everybody would go conference only. Probably say no fans in the stadium just because it's such a hassle. Do as much testing as you can. Hopefully we have football this fall. Hopefully everything works out and it's safe.

But my confidence is pretty low on if we'll have college football or not, especially when Mark Emmert is the guy who's kind of in charge of everything. Like, after Baker Mayfield, it might be Mark Emmert that I hate the most. Yeah, no, I don't disagree at all. I think the fact that they moved

to the conference schedule, it also throws off teams like Notre Dame, who only plays a non-conference schedule. So it'll be interesting to see what happens there. Last two questions. What have you been up to this summer, man? I mean, I'm sure you'll talk about it on the Stick to Football podcast, but what have you been up to this summer, and how has it been, man,

having a summer off for the first time in a while? So I would actually say that, like, you know, my job is usually teaching. So I'm used to kind of having these summers off. But this year, this was my last year teaching. I don't know if I should say I retired from teaching or what, but I'm not teaching anymore. And Matt and I and our cousin, we started a local radio show. And it kicked off, we started in June. So this has been like the busiest summer that I've ever experienced. Usually it's me sitting around watching players, doing a lot of scouting, doing my college football preview. But now there's a lot more to it with the

radio show that we're doing. And, you know, we wanted to travel a lot too. Obviously Matt, who I do stick football with, is my brother. And we do this thing every summer where we like to take our parents on a vacation while they're still mobile and able to get around. Our dad's 70 years old. So we want to go to places that are kind of on their bucket list. Where haven't you seen? Now, what would you like to experience?

So we've done like the Grand Canyon. We went to D.C. one summer. And this year we took a week and a half and we went to Montana and Wyoming and saw a lot of the national parks. So I've been super busy. And then, you know, I have two daughters, so super busy summer. It looks like we're taking time off because there's not that podcast every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, but honestly, this has been the busiest summer I've had in probably five or six years. That was not the answer I was expecting, but I think that was

an amazing answer. So the teaching thing, it sounds like you definitely quit. My wife also went through that. She taught for five years at a lower income school and kind of just got burnt out at a certain point. So congratulations to you for kind of taking a step back. I know that can be really tough. It sounds like you're very passionate about your children, specifically your students and whatnot, and obviously your actual children. But congratulations to you for taking a different step and going somewhere else, man.

Yeah, it was tough. It was not an easy decision. And, you know, honestly, I've been hearing it from people for a while, like, hey, you should really take a shot at this whole media thing and see what happens with it. And they got to a point this year where, like, you know what, I probably should. I don't want to be sitting here at 50 years old still teaching and wonder, like, hey, what would have happened in my 30s if I would have taken a chance and done more of this? Or how happy would it make me to, to get out of the classroom? Because I do love the students,

but any teacher that I think you could talk to will tell you how stressful of a job that is. And I know it sounds like, Oh, eight to three job. You don't work in the summers. Bullshit. Because it is definitely not. I mean, you're working 10 to 12 hours a day, trying to prepare for everything, trying to grade papers, create lessons. It's a very demanding job. And even in the summer you're going and you're doing these different things. So it's not exactly three months off either.

It's a very demanding job and I appreciate everybody that's still doing it. Yeah, man. My wife was working 80 hour weeks every single week. And then like you said, in the summer, it was not three months. It was more like a month and a half. You have like a month and a half and then you start really gearing back up pretty quickly. So again, congratulations to you. And I love the fact that you're shooting your shot, going for the media thing. I think that's absolutely awesome.

My last question want to end on a really light note. What is your go-to order at Casey's, man? My go-to order at Casey's? Yeah. Any of the pizza. I don't even know if I have to order pizza there anymore. You just walk in, and I gravitate towards that little rack. And they're for a while before like quarantine and all this stuff I

don't know if your Casey's have changed but they went to the same where they they wouldn't let you grab the pizza and so that I have to stand there and I'd have to wait for it like an employee to come over and say man this is this is tough this is gonna what makes me wear a mask and and do all the social distancing that I have to and I can't just grab my own pizza off the rack. But anytime, like whether it's the breakfast pizza, just grabbing a slice of pepperoni or whatever. And it doesn't even matter how old it is.

Like you can tell that some of that pizza has been sitting in there for like three hours. And it's still so good. It's still good. That's funny. Yeah. So I actually live in Colorado. So the closest Casey's to me is three hours away.

But I went back to Iowa where I'm from this past week. And in the span of five days, I ordered two large pizzas. I had eight individual slices of pizza and potato cheesy bites over the course of five days. So I really tried making it as worth it as possible. And I brought back a pizza for my wife. I brought back a pizza for my wife. Yeah. A lot of my family members love the taco pizza that they have too. Yeah. I don't know if that's as popular up there, but they can't get enough of the taco pizza. It's a little too much for me,

but a lot of people do love it. Yeah. I'm not a fan, but yeah, no people in Iowa are big fans of that as well. It's like kind of a cultured pizza for them, I guess. Not to make fun of my family and everything, but yeah.

Well, Mello, I really appreciate you hopping on the show. I to make fun of my family and everything, but yeah. Well, Mello, I really appreciate you hopping on the show. I took a lot of your time up. I told you it's going to take like 25 minutes to end up taking almost 40, but I really appreciate the conversation. Really excited to get Stick to Football back. Where can the folks that are listening to the show find you at and how can they also help donate to the students that you used to teach? help donate to the students that you used to teach? So you can find me on Twitter. It's at Mello. It's M-E-L-L-O. And like we've been talking about, I do a college football preview every year and I sell it for 10 bucks on Venmo or PayPal. You can check my pinned tweet for more information there. But I like to use a lot of those proceeds to help out with students in need, whether it's getting them school supplies or

buying them new school shoes or whatever. And this year, I'm trying to do it towards like mask and the personal protective equipment that these students and teachers are going to need. I even saw a school supply list come out yesterday in this area. And it's like, oh, there's really mask on that school supply list. Or if you have any young children, you know that you might buy a mask for them and it costs $12 or whatever. They're going to lose that thing within the first week of school and you're going to have to replace it. So I'd love to help out families and school districts as much as I can

so that they have a stock and a supply of you lost your mask or it got a hole in it or whatever happened. It wouldn't even matter the reason. But here's another one, free of cost. You don't have to worry about it. So that's kind of what I'm trying to do this year with the college football preview. I love it, man. Yeah, no, I thought – definitely highly recommend everyone checking out

that college football preview. Had a blast reading through it. Obviously gave a lot of discussion points for this conversation today. But, Melo, thank you again. Really appreciate you hopping on the show. Have a great rest of your Thursday, man. And I'll talk to you later. Thank you very much.

All righty then. And that will do it for our show today. I hope you enjoyed that interview with Melo. And again, go give some money to his foundation. Help support giving kids masks in Missouri. He was a teacher, obviously taking some time to become a member of the media now, and so really awesome for him to shoot his shot and take that lunge. Really excited for him.

As a husband of a former teacher, I understand the toll that can take and how important it is for them to be safe as well, and how important it is to make sure the students are safe and how much they care. So make sure to check that out. Also make sure to follow Mello on Twitter at Mello Esquire, and make sure to hit up the Stick to Football podcast when they return this next week. It is my favorite football podcast on the podcasting waves. So I highly recommend checking that out. And again, if you liked what you heard today, make sure to like, review and subscribe wherever

you downloaded this podcast at. Give us that five star review. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And as I always say, have a fantastic day today, Hawkeye Nation. And as always, let's go Hawks.