Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - The last week in Iowa Football with LeShun Daniels & offseason workouts

Episode Date: February 8, 2023

Trent Condon and LeShun Daniels get together for the latest edisode of the Locked on Hawkeyes Podcast.They open talking about the latest development with Brian Ferentz being given certain benchmarks that he needs to hit to have his contract renewed.Then some talk about what needs to be done schematically in order for the Hawkeye offense to make strides in 2023.Finally a look at what the offseason training program looks like for players before spring practice begins from a former player in LeShun. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trent Condon alongside LaShawn Daniels back with you again on Locked On Hawkeyes. A look at the football offseason. What the last week has been. The benchmarks that Iowa has to hit. 25 points per game. We'll get into that and a whole lot more today on Locked On Hawkeyes. Locked On Hawkeyes. Your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day. Welcome in once again to the Locked On Hawkeyes. I'm Trent Condon. That's LaShawn Daniels. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes. I'm Trent Condon. That's LaShawn Daniels. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen each and every day. We're available wherever you get podcasts. You can also see us on YouTube.

While you're there, hit that subscribe button. It helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, official sportsbook of Locked On. Make every moment more. Visit FanDuel.com slash Locked On today to get started. Well, LaShawn, it's been a couple of weeks. Appreciate you hopping on once again. Schedules weren't well, but we're ready to go here.

And what a week it has been for Iowa football. Boy, there is plenty to talk about. How you been doing? Doing good. Doing good. Yeah yeah it's just been crazy crazy few weeks uh just getting back in the swing of things for the new year and um just happy to be back on the pod today well looking forward to a big conversation we're going to talk a little bit kind of what the players are going through right now but want to dig into what we've heard here over the last week and start with the latest news from the other day as they put some benchmarks in place for Brian Ferentz to maintain his

job. The contract will be terminated if he can't hit two very simple benchmarks. Seven wins. I didn't know that was the goal of Iowa football, but apparently it is when you have Brian as an offensive coordinator. And secondly, 25 points per game, not 25 offensive points per game, just across the board, 25 points per game. So that's where we are. Well, I think you can tell already where I stand on this one.

Your takeaway when you saw those numbers the other day. Yeah, I was a little surprised. I'm going to be honest. I was a little shocked. Just because of the benchmarks that they chose for that. I mean, for really a couple of different reasons. Like, for starters, first off, like, seven wins. I mean, that's not entirely decided on by your offense or whatever. Obviously, you know the

defensive special teams is going to do uh typically do a great job but i mean a lot of different things happen throughout the year so seven wins seems like an odd benchmark and i know that's not something that we ever really strive for as a program um obviously every year we strive to firstly win the west win big 10 title and then then wherever it takes us after that, win the next – whatever the next games we have after that. But, yeah, seven wins is never something that's on our table as what our goals are. I mean, usually the one year we didn't win seven – only won seven games, it wasn't a fun time in the complex. So that's why it seems like such an odd benchmark and then yeah 25 points per game it mean granted it's not great it's not a it's not

a real high mark to to reach i think it is like 25 points per game average it's like 80th i think in fps uh football uh around there which again that's not anything above average but that said 25 points per game last year iowa sports 25 points think they would have had a record of 11 and 2 but you can't think of uh what could have happened is just focusing on the future and what now and i feel like 25 points is just it i feel like there's other benchmarks i feel like that you should have to strive for as offense versus just just that and obviously again like you said 25 points is again that's a part of a collective team thing like it's not 25 offensive points there's a lot of different factors that play into scoring throughout a football game um and obviously defense and special teams have done their fair share of that

over the past several years. They're not very difficult marks to hit. And with Iowa, with the schedule they're going to have, with the team they're going to have, they're going to be much better offensively. I mean, a huge upgrade at the quarterback position. Offensive line can't be worse than it was a year ago. Caleb Johnson now for another year under his belt at the running back position. And LaShawn, we're really excited about his future. than it was a year ago. Caleb Johnson now for another year under his belt at the running back position.

And LeSean, we're really excited about his future. And he's got a chance to be just a dynamic playmaker back there. Wide receiver, again, another position that can't be worse. And then a tandem of tight ends is as good as anybody, certainly in the Big Ten and maybe across the nation when you combine Eric Hall along with Luke Lachey coming back as he becomes an upperclassman. You have all these things come together. They're going to be better offensively so my question is why this isn't something that satiated the fan base in fact it pissed off the fan base i think even more so why do they do this

is this gary barda is this kirka why come up with this why put this out there did they think it was going to help to be honest i honestly have no idea i honestly have no idea i feel like like i definitely feel like this probably had to have been a part of thing but i don't want to make any assumptions i'm like i'm just taking a guess and just spit balling right now because like it just seems odd to put that out there and let everyone know, like, hey, this is exactly what he has to have to keep his job, for Coach Bryant to keep his job. And you're looking at it, it's like everyone's going to know exactly where you're at, where you're staying. And I feel like that's only just going to add to the pressure that you already had in the building to begin with. to add to the pressure that you already had in the building to begin with. And then, yeah, like you said, it only made the fan base more upset because it's like those marks, again, like you said,

they're not anything out of this world. There's no reason why a Power 5 football team shouldn't be able to hit those marks, especially a Power 5 team in the Big Ten, such as Iowa. So it's just like why even bother putting that out there, letting the entire world know, yeah, this is where we stand. And this is where we're at with Coach Brian Ferentz and his offense as a whole.

So I just thought it was strange. I thought it was just odd timing as well. It's just everything around it was just weird, just weird for lack of better term. You know, a week ago, there were very pointed questions towards Kirk during the press conference about Brian. I believe it was Scott Dockerman of the athletic asked what makes Brian a good coach? What makes him a good offensive coordinator? And Kirk didn't answer.

Instead, he said, well, I'd lump him together with Phil and LeVar. Well, that's not what the question was. There were very pointed questions and Kirk wouldn't answer. And this is a spot that we were. And when you put your son in the role that you are, there has to be some kind of accountability. Yet Kirk doesn't want to answer that. That's the way he runs the program. We've talked about this in the past, LaSha don't say anything in press conferences right don't give

anything to the media don't do anything like that so we know that's going to be something that frankly they do seemingly every single time but that's the frustrating part Gary Barta is supposed to be his superior and I guess that's what it is this is Gary Barta showing the fan base hey I am doing something here I am something. I am actually being Brian's manager. I guess that's what it is, but it's difficult to wrap your mind around all of that. What about the press conference last week? I'm sure you saw some clips or maybe read through the transcript. What did you think as you were going through there and reading it? Because another one that led to a lot of frustration, certainly in the fan base. Yeah. You know,

with that, it's another one of those things where it's like, obviously, Coach Ferris was trying to kind of cool everything off, try to create some, I don't know, inspiration, motivation,

like, hey, like we understand where we're at as a program. We understand kind of what things need to be done and how to get it done. We're obviously working to get that stuff done. And obviously, he tried his best to, I guess you would say, win the press conference. You can't really win a press conference, but that's what he tried to do. And frankly, I mean, there probably wasn't too much that he was going to be able to say that was going to make everyone be like this rah-rah like yeah unless obviously he's just like yeah we're going to go ahead and make significant overhaul change uh staff changes

on the offensive side of football and so on and so forth and obviously we knew that that wasn't going to happen so uh you know looking at the press conference as a whole, I mean, there wasn't too much that Coach Ferentz was going to be able to say that was going to, like, change everyone's minds right now, I guess where the program is at. So I didn't – I wasn't really expecting too much from Coach Ferentz, to be honest. Like, once he talked about, hey, there wasn't going to be any staff changes,

it was just like, okay, like, there's not really much else from him that I'm going to be expecting for him to say that's going to sway the minds for everything. Obviously, they're in a part of the program, part of the offseason right now, where they're really taking a long, hard look of what they did last year and a bunch of things that didn't work and how to fix those things and see he kind of talked about that a little bit over the past uh past couple weeks um and throughout the media so as we move forward here it's just going to be

interesting to see how this sort of stuff starts to develop what changes they start to make offensively how they start self-scouting each other themselves how they start looking when it gets in the spring ball and moving forward because you see there's a lot of work that has to be done and coach mentioned that in the press conference and as a fan base it's going to be one of those things you want to see um significant improvement versus last year because obviously, like you said earlier, it can't really be worse last year offensively than what we were at. They're going to get there. It's going to be better.

We're going to talk about what we expect to be better next year. We're also going to talk about what if something happens and we don't get to that point. The future of Iowa football, if they don't hit these benchmarks, not only is Brian gone, is Kirk going to be gone? We'll get LaShawn's thought on that as we roll through here. This is a Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Today's episode is brought to you by our friends at, we got the Super Bowl right around the corner. The only app that you need for your party is FanDuel.

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official sportsbook partner of the NFL. Trent Conant, LaShawn Daniels back with you again here on the Locked On Hawkeyes. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your favorite show to listen to every day. All right, LaShawn, what another comment that I have had over the last day or so, and that's if they don't hit these marks. Let's say a Cade McNamara injury. We're not wishing for anything like that, but things happen. It's football.

And they don't hit the benchmarks. And Iowa, how about this? Iowa has a nice season. They go 9-3. They don't get to the championship game, but a nice season. They're 9-3. They average 24 points a game as opposed to 25. And Bryant's contract is terminated. Does Kirk stick around?

Does Kirk come back for another season knowing that? That's something that is sitting here in my mind. If ultimately because of these and things that are put in place, we know this is Gary Barta's doing. I mean, he wanted to show the fan base that, that hey i'm doing something here to make them happen if they don't hit that for an injury for whatever reason and they even have a nice year could you see kirk ferentz saying no the hell with it i'm out of here my son is fired i'm not going to go through this again i'm not looking for another offensive coordinator because i certainly could envision it LaShawn uh see that's the thing I

honestly don't know I mean I know uh Coach Ference uh loves our program he loves football um obviously he spent a big chunk of his life uh at at Iowa so I it So it would be something that would be very, very interesting to see kind of where he would go after that. I mean, I see that would be something very, very tough to go through. Obviously, it's been tough on both Coach Ferentz and Coach Prine over the past few years around the offensive side of the football program. And I'm sure that they feel pressure and pressure, you know, week in, week out, just kind of mounting whenever the offense doesn't produce.

And I know it's not something that he's enjoyed. That's for sure. I know that for a fact he hasn't enjoyed the way that they performed. And I don't know. I don't know if he would just flat out walk away i mean obviously it's getting to that point in time where i mean it's i would be shocked obviously if he start if he coached another 10 years at iowa but you never know um but yeah i mean you make a good make a good point that hey if son does get fired um and you know you finish off

on the on a good note, like it could be a situation where it's like, hey, like I can go out like this. I can leave the program like this and then leave it to the next guy. But I don't know. Coach Perrins is a person who is very, very prideful. And he's always going to want to right the ship and obviously end things on the way that he wants to end it versus on someone else's terms.

So like you said, if they don't hit the benchmarks, obviously he's probably going to feel some type of responsibility for it and possibly not want to end it that way. But like you said, if he does have to fire his son, if his contract does get terminated, possibly not want to end it that way. But like you said, if he does have to fire his son, his contract does get terminated, who knows? Maybe it's something that him and the family won't want to go through. But I don't want to make any assumptions or anything like that. Players are going to be upgraded.

Quarterbacks is a huge upgrade. And we've gone around and around in our conversations last year, LaShawn. I've been doing it for three years as a quarterback. They need an upgrade, and they have it. Offensive line is going to be better. They go into the portal, get a couple of players, look like two guys that are going to come in. One's going to help a tackle.

Another one's going to help inside either center or guard. There's going to be improvement. Plus the guys that are around and come back for another season have just that, another season of it. When you look at what the offense is schematically, though, and we've seen this now for six years, the one thing that I continue to talk about, and obviously, you know, X's knows a whole lot better than I do, is it just doesn't feel like the passing game marries

with what they're trying to do with the run game. This tree, the route trees that they run, what they're doing in the passing game schematically just doesn't work with Iowa. I know you're limited at times with wide receiver and protection and all those different things I know they work hand in hand but do you see some of the same things where just at times it doesn't feel like what they're trying to do both in the run game in the pass game they work together real well yeah no you you make a great point there because yeah there's no like the offense doesn't flow and we've seen it we've seen it a

bunch of times throughout the football season and a lot of times it's really like you see the first the like the scripted drives usually like the first 10-15 plays of the game offensively and they look pretty good like they look decent it's like okay they put together a drive they go down um they at least move the football they're not they're not ending on three and outs um and maybe they even get a field goal or you know if in rare circumstances score on the first drive uh score touchdown on the first drive and then it's like like after that uh it's almost like it feels like you're it almost feels like they're doing coach suggestions like off of madden like that's what it feels like sometimes like like just the plays just kind of

seem like like random and it's not like and it doesn't feel like they're really building off of each other um throughout the game and when you look at on the first first drive it's everything's kind of hitting on a bunch of cylinders obviously Obviously, there were some games here and there last year where it wasn't that way, but there were times where you saw the first drive and they're moving the ball, they're humming. Run game's working, ball's coming out fast, they're completing passes, and it looks like a regular offense. And then you get into the game, and then the other team starts

making adjustments, and then after other team starts making adjustments. And then after that, it just feels like, yeah, it's just like things aren't marrying together. Whether it be, hey, we're trying to run outside zone plays. And then we're trying to come off of that, and we're trying to take a deep shot down the field. Just things, the things don marry well, well at all. And I feel like that's something that they've got to look at. And that's something they've really got to look long and hard at, because you can't just come out and have a good, you know, first five to 10 plays. And then after that, not be able to produce.

And that's part of that's a big reason of issues of why they weren't able to move football score points last year and obviously yeah there were injuries line play wasn't great um wide receivers were down to like a couple scholarship guys out there on the active so yeah there's a lot of trouble there but yeah like you said like the plays sometimes they don't mirror well and there's times where it does when it feels like they're humming. And there's other times where it's just like, yeah, it's almost like you're picking plays out of a hat and you're almost trying to be too smart versus just doing what you know how to do best and letting your players go out there

and play fast to a pretty good point. So that's kind of where I feel like where they were at last year. And let's hopefully this year with the, uh, insert of new players and potentially better players that you're able, that they're able to do a much better job with that. No doubt about it. Well,

we're going to take a look here at the off season. As we wrap up, what are these Iowa football players going through right now? We always hear about the off season. That's where games are won and well, they are going through it right now. LaShawn's going to fill us in on the details, what's happening in Iowa football as we continue on Locked on Hawkeyes. Trent Connell, LaShawn Daniels back with you one final time here on Locked on Hawkeyes. All right, LaShawn, let's get into it. These guys are going through workouts.

It's February. Now, right now, it's not freezing cold, but there are plenty of those cold days you're getting up. So what's a typical day like in the life of an Iowa football player as a setup currently getting up, going through the workout during the offseason? Before we get to spring football and you got practice to get to and those kind of things, what is the offseason kind of playing like for these guys yeah so right now this is probably the most chill part of the entire year um yeah this part is definitely the most chill part of the entire uh you know year of a student athlete year of a student athlete, life of a student athlete. So, um, you know, you get back,

school started, school gets started. Um, and then like, as far as like your workouts here, all the workout, all the lifting groups are in the morning. Um, and you know, depending upon how your schedule is, will depend on when you lift. Usually there's like, there's what it's six, seven and 8 a.m groups or something around there uh it was probably actually it's probably like six seven thirty and then uh nine a.m groups um i usually try to make sure i was in the latest group so i sent my classes a little bit later so i'd have to get up early like you learn that you learn that early on in your career you're like yeah as a freshman you're like you're usually in the 6 a.m group and then after that you're like that's the worst so you're like yeah i gotta make

sure i move my classes so i'm able to uh go to a little bit of later groups um and then lifting program is like the first couple weeks it's really focused on gpp which is general physical preparedness and um that's just obviously getting things back. You haven't been lifting in about a month. You really haven't been working out. So now you're trying to get back into, you know, lifting strength conditioning mode. So we'll do like a lot of sled pushes, tire flips, ropes, you know, all the, you know, typical cliche stuff you see around, you know, football program training.

And then after that that then we really start getting into heavy lifting and a lot of speed work and that's basically like in the mornings and then you obviously have classes most of the day um you'll come back in the evening for for a training table and then usually maybe once or twice a week players will get together and uh just just watch a little bit of film or we'll do we'll run routes with quarterbacks and catch passes and things like that um because like right now the coaches can't really be involved at all so like a lot of the stuff is is player led or strength conditioning led at this point in time so right now yeah this

is the most chill part of the the entire life of student athlete, but it's a lot of work. This is part of the year where usually a lot of your youngest guys are going to make the biggest gains strength conditioning wise. Guys are going to put on a ton of ton of weight if they need to add weight or they're going to get a lot stronger and a lot faster. weight um or they're gonna get a lot stronger and a lot faster um basically from this january to you know late march uh strength conditioning phase good stuff there well a good fill in and kind of what these guys are going through getting ready for next season getting ready for spring football we'll see what that looks like when we get there there'll be a few reports we'll hear some things we'll of course also get to see the team out there, hopefully for a spring game or a spring practice that's open to the public.

Always fun to see the black and gold that are hitting helmets one time out there during the spring. LaShawn, a lot of fun. Big week setting up here for Iowa basketball. The men take on Purdue on the road. The number one ranked team in the country coming up on Thursday, 530. It'll be the women against number two, Indiana. So a couple of huge basketball games and what a fun week it was both men's and women's last week on the hoop side of things yeah yeah no it's been great obviously it

was it was awesome watching uh i would be illinois the other day that was a that was just a great great great day and then caitlinlyn Clark's been on a complete tear. Absolutely just lighting it up. You know, what she had, like, last two games, triple doubles, and then a 40-pointer. I mean, they've been

firing. She's been playing like the best player in the entire country. Yeah, it's been an exciting week for Iowa basketball, both on the men player in the entire country. So, yeah, it's been an exciting week for Iowa basketball both on the men's and women's side. So, let's hope that, you know, we can continue that momentum. Obviously, they got some big matchups

this week. Going to play the number one team. You know, at Purdue, it's not going to be the easiest task at all. But, you know, hopefully they go out there and they put out a good showing and then yeah the girls have another tough matchup um against indiana again um going to their place as well so it'll be it'll be exciting week and you know you just hope that you see some

some continuing encouraging basketball play so because we're getting closer and closer to the tournament and you want to, you want to be firing on all seven letters when you get there. So no doubt about it. Hey, LaShawn is always great catching up with you. We'll do it again next week. All right.

Yeah. Sounds like a plan. Thanks again for making lockdown Hawkeyes. Your first listen every day. Make sure you check out our brand new podcast, locked on college basketball, everything you need to know about college basketball in one place. Hear from our big name experts, the insiders, coaches, and players. Locked On College Basketball, available on YouTube and wherever you get podcasts.

Well, great stuff from LaShawn today. We will talk to him when I get back from vacation. Coming up tomorrow on the show, we will preview that Iowa Purdue game, break things down. Biz is going to stop in. We'll get his perspective on things. We're LaShawn Daniels. I'm Trent Cotton. We'll talk to you again. Go Hawks.