Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Three Hawks declare for NFL, where does Iowa go from here? | Northwestern reactions

Episode Date: January 15, 2020

AJ Epenesa, Toren Young, and Tristan Wirfs declared for the NFL Draft. Here's where the Iowa Hawkeyes go from here and what this means for those three guys. After discussing the draft, we break down Iowa's win over Northwestern last night. 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 even one you haven't. Go ahead and three. Yes. Two-point lead for the Hawkeyes podcast,

your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network. As always, I'm your host, Andrew Wade. Excited to be back for another episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. We have a lot of stuff to cover on today's episode. A couple big announcements that happened yesterday. Want to make sure we touch on that. And one announcement that hasn't happened yet. And yes, I am talking about the NFL draft.

AJ Epineza and Torin Young both declared for the NFL draft. And we have yet to hear about Tristan Wirfs. So that is going to be covered on today's show. We're going to be talking about how to replace those guys, why those guys left, and so on and so forth, and then talk about what to expect for Tristan Wirfs. Some interesting news coming from Matt Miller from Bleacher Reports' Stick to Football podcast about what the decision is for Tristan Wirfs. And then we're also going to be talking about the Iowa Hawkeyes football team and where

they're ranked in the top 25 AP pool. And then we're going to wrap up about the Iowa Hawkeyes football team and where they're ranked in the top 25 AP pool. And then we're going to wrap up covering the Iowa versus Northwestern basketball game and giving our reactions to that. I am pre-recording this prior to the Iowa versus Northwestern game, and I'm going to record that segment after the game. So if I sound happy and for some reason Iowa falls to Northwestern, that is why I sound happy now and not pissed off when I get into that segment. So just keep that in mind as well as we run through the show today. And we do have Matthew Crawford, the general manager of the Iowa United, showing up on tomorrow's episode of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. So if you have any questions about the Iowa United, feel free to send that our way.

We also, you know, it's going to be talking about how that team is going to be formed this year. So if you are a fan of the team, you do not want to miss our Thursday morning episode of that show. Also, if you've tuned in for the first time today, and you do like what you hear today, make sure to like review and subscribe. And if you've been a longtime listener, make sure to like review and subscribe as well. And tell us what you love about the show. And also make sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. All right, that takes care of some of the housekeeping items, though. Let's jump into the main news of the show today, and that is A.J.

Peneza has finally declared for the NFL draft, a decision that we definitely saw coming, but it was kind of starting to make me wonder why it was taking so long. The draft deadline is the 17th. They have until the 20th to rescind that declaration. But it does sound like this is definitely going to happen. He has decided to forego his final year of eligibility and enter the NFL draft. He is ranked within the top 20 of most NFL big boards, at least on the draft analyst big boards. And I expect him to go anywhere between 10 and 20, kind of depending on the fit. And I expect him to go anywhere between 10 and 20, kind of depending on the fit.

One of the things interesting about AJ Epineza is the fact that while he was dominant in college football, especially over the last two seasons and especially over the last couple games for the Iowa Hawkeyes, including that huge win over USC in the Holiday Bowl, he's kind of a tweener. It's not really sure where he fits out at this point at 280 pounds he you know he's a bit big to play that 4-3 end um but you can't really slide him in as a tackle uh i think personally he will be fine as a 4-3 defensive end he also could play 3-4 defensive end but it does remain to be seen how scouts view him how nfl teams view him and that'll make a big impact on where he ultimately falls in the NFL draft.

But we're going to be covering a lot of that over the course of the next couple of weeks and a couple of months heading into the NFL draft in April. So lots more information to come on AJ Ibaneza and lots more study of his tape and kind of what he's going to bring to NFL teams and also kind of highlighting what are some potential opportunities for teams to pick up a Japanese. But one of the things I'm more interested about today specifically is how does Iowa replace him? And I think first off, let's just be honest.

Iowa can't replace an A Japanese. A guy like that is irreplaceable. He is a difference maker. He is a, you know, an all American type of player. He is going to go down as one of the best defensive ends in Iowa football history. You just don't replace a kind of guy like that. And so Phil Parker has a tough challenge on his hands of replacing that production, replacing that tenacity at that defensive end position. And I feel like he's going to be doing a lot more of a rotation style defensive line with Chauncey Golsan's kind of being that mainstay on one side,

but rotating a few different guys in depending on the situation. Those guys who I think are style defensive line with Chauncey Golsan's kind of being that mainstay on one side, but rotating a few different guys in depending on the situation. Those guys who I think are really going to be kind of the difference makers and the guys who are looking to replace A.J. Pinesa, though, kind of starts with Joe Evans, moves on to John Wagoner and also looks at Zach Van Valkenburg. Another guy to watch out for is Tahir McCall, a late pickup in recruiting last year. Those are the four guys I think that are really going to be tabbed to potentially replace

an AJ Paneza coming into the 2020 season. Evans is an interesting case because he's incredibly small for a defensive end, checking in at 6'2", 240 pounds. But we saw him make some big-time plays this year in just a limited amount of snaps. He registered four sacks this past season. But I think what he brings is some versatility. Being that small, it kind of allows him to drop back, play some interesting defenses for Phil Parker. So with that small frame, he is able to drop back, potentially cover a tight end for a few seconds out in the flats, that kind of thing.

But it also brings a big-time motor. If you're looking for a more traditional fit in that 4-3 scheme for Iowa, John Wagoner is the guy who's really been kind of that replacement in waiting for AJ Paneza, a top 400 recruit out of West Des Moines Valley. He is going to be a redshirt sophomore coming up, and he has had just one sack and three tackles last year in limited playing time. And the other guy, Zach Van Van Valkenburg is a guy who Iowa brought in as a graduate transfer player something that Iowa doesn't typically do they don't typically bring in grad transfers

so clearly they see something pretty good in this guy whether that is a depth goal or a starting position personally I think Zach is more of a depth player along that line, and we're going to see Evans and Wagner really battle that out. And then Tajir McCall, again, a guy we've seen Iowa do a really great job of bringing in relatively low-rated recruits or recruits late in the recruiting cycle, a la George Kittle, that kind of thing. He's a guy to watch out for in the weight room with Chris Doyle. Could put on some weight and be in line to maybe get some playing time this season. His athleticism was something that definitely set out on tape. He played tight end and defensive end down in Florida. So definitely a player to be keeping

on your radar, but I really feel like this is going to come down to John Wagoner being the starter, Joe Evans being kind of a rotational player, and Zach Van Valkenburg also rotating in slightly less, with McCall continuing to gain a bit of experience on the Iowa defensive line. So some interesting stuff. A lot of transition in general with the defensive line. Cedric Lattimore and Brady Reif are both graduating, moving on to hopefully the NFL. Ajip and Ezzigon, the only mainstay is Chauncey Golsan.

So it'll be interesting to see how this defensive line kind of fills back up for this upcoming college football season. Phil Parker definitely has a lot of work on his hands to get this defensive line in as good of a shape as it was late in this past season. And it sounds like we actually do know what is going on with Tristan Wirfs. I had to rerecord this segment. Tristan Wirfs is going to the NFL. Obviously, it's a decision we kind of expected, was hoping it would not be that way. We'd love to see him back at Iowa,

but you cannot turn down guaranteed millions of dollars, and he has ultimately decided not to, and he is going to be going to the NFL this season. A projected top 10 pick, a huge get as far as a tackle in the NFL. So we'll be covering that on later episodes of the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast as well. And we'll be covering a little bit on an upcoming episode, probably Friday morning about how does Iowa replace him and where do they go from here at the tackle position?

Just having to fit this in though, as the news happened after we recorded the episode of the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. So coming up on the next segment of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast, we're going to be talking about a bit more surprising decision with Torin Young declaring for the NFL draft and what that means for the Iowa Hawkeyes and for the young running back from Wisconsin. That'll be coming up in just a few short seconds. All right, we are back on the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. And the same day that A. Gepanesa made the declaration for the NFL draft, Torin Young made the declaration for the NFL draft,

and it definitely came as a surprise. I don't think anyone expected Iowa's backup running back to make a decision to go to the NFL. If anything, I think people expected him to transfer, and I think that's what people actually initially thought when he made the announcement that he was leaving Iowa. People probably thought that he was going to be transferring to a different program to possibly get a bit more playing time. But instead, he is going into the NFL draft. He leaves having had 262 carries for 1,262 yards at a 4.8 yard clip and eight touchdowns. And let's be honest, I think this is a decision that's probably smart for Torin Young.

He has the opportunity to go pro. If he does latch on, fantastic. If he doesn't, he's just getting a jumpstart on the rest of his life, whether that is in the football realm or just outside of football. Today's running backs, the shelf life is so short. You really need to get a headstart.

Having a limited amount of carries is gonna be a big deal. Means he doesn't have the wear and tear, but he's really gonna need to run well at the pro day. You know, I think a guy like Torin Young has become more valuable watching Derrick Henry play this past season and be that bulldozer running back. Torin Young's running style is that run over guys, not run around guys. He's going to, you know, put his head down and knock you down.

So I think watching Derrick Henry's success is be a benefit to him. He's not on Derrick Henry's level by any means, but that might get him a shot as a UDFA type of player, a guy who's going to come into camp a la James Butler and maybe catch on to the practice squad for a year or two. I don't foresee him sticking to a team though. It just doesn't seem like it's in the cards for him. He wasn't able to really carve out a huge role in the Iowa offense despite a lack of reduction from the running back position. When he did come into the game though, he did do a pretty good job of moving the stakes and being that guy to wear down defenses.

And I think that could get him a spot on the practice squad, but I don't expect to see him playing on the 53-man roster anytime soon. Nevertheless, though, I really wish him the best. He's clearly going to train hard for this. And again, if he can run well at the pro day, run a 4.5 or even a sub 4.5, that's going to get teams looking at him and, again, give him that look and give him some UDFA money to come in and play during training camp. Again, one of the things I think with him that's kind of interesting, he's definitely a one-cut runner kind of guy. The guy who's going to go north to south, not east to west. He's not going to do the Tyler Goodson type of stuff. He's going

to do kind of the Mike Shanahan offense type of stuff where you get that ball, you're heading downhill, you're putting your head down, and you're knocking some guys over. Another guy too that I think we're kind of just waiting on to see is Ivory Kelly Martin. I wouldn't be surprised if he were to also leave the program as well. More of a transfer situation than a going out for the NFL draft. But that remains to be seen, and we'll be covering that on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. And any other decisions to leave the Iowa Hawkeyes football program will also be kind of touched on here and how that impacts the team. The big thing here is Tyler Goodson is the starter going forward. There's not a chance that

he's, well, I guess there's always a chance, but he is definitely going to be the starter going into 2020. And they have some really good recruits coming in. Gavin Williams from Dowling Catholic, Shadrick Bird, a guy who was doing pretty well in camp last year, ended up redshirting. I think he's a guy who could steal some carries. Makai Sargent also looks like he could be back again I wouldn't be surprised if some of these guys decide to leave but at this point Makai Sargent is going to be back with Iowa Hawkeye full program so another guy to be on the lookout for as well as you know considering the fact that he was the starter for the majority of the last two seasons he's going to be a guy that is also going to be taking touches from other guys as well. One of the other things I want to cover before we take a quick break and jump into our

Iowa versus Northwestern recap, Iowa checked in at 15th on the AP poll. I definitely thought they could be a little bit higher, but the AP poll has been low on Iowa throughout the season. And they fell below Minnesota who jumped from 16 to 11 with a win over Auburn. Again, seeing that SEC bias and the fact that Minnesota beat an SEC team stands out more than Iowa beating a USC team. Auburn did drop five spots from 9 to 14, still going above Iowa despite four losses. And then, you know, Michigan dropped from 17th to 18th. So giving Iowa that opportunity to go in there after starting at 19th prior to the bowl season. And Utah also fell from 12th to 18th, so giving Iowa that opportunity to go in there after starting at 19th prior to the bowl season. And Utah also fell from 12th to 16th. So just some interesting movement along the AP poll.

Hopefully we're going to be getting the college ball playoff poll rankings coming out. That is, to me, the most official rankings that we could have. A little bit less bias, although there's still bias that exists there. Like I said on yesterday's show, I expect Iowa to be checking in at 14th with the possibility of 13th in the college ball playoff polls. So we have an opportunity to see that hopefully pretty soon. But again, coming up on the final segment of today's show on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast, we're going to be breaking down the Iowa versus Northwestern game.

So stay tuned after a few messages from our sponsors. All right. Welcome back to segment three of the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. And as promised, we're going to be covering the Iowa versus Northwestern basketball game. A big win for Iowa, getting a win on the road. I don't think that can be sold enough, right? I mean, we've seen a lot of teams lose on the road in the Big Ten to a Nebraska or to a Northwestern and whatnot. And so getting a win on the road in the Big Ten is huge regardless of the opponent. A good opportunity for Iowa to get a win they absolutely must need simply because getting

wins are going to be tough to come by in their very difficult Big Ten schedule. They only have one game remaining on their schedule that is going to be considered an easy game, and that is Nebraska later in the season when Nebraska comes to Carver-Hawkeye Arena. So first and foremost, a big opportunity for Iowa to secure a win here. Now they have number 19 Michigan, I believe number 19 Michigan, coming up on Friday evening in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. So it will be another big opportunity to get a win there. And I think the big news for last night is simply the fact that CJ Frederick came back,

looked pretty good after he shook off the rust and put on a pretty good performance. Obviously, the stress reaction seemed to have healed up. Didn't have any issues coming from that as we saw, or at least as we know of right now. Put together a nice performance, though. Went 4 of 10, 4 of 11 points, and again, struggled a little bit early, but got it going later on. Also dished out 5 assists and had 2 rebounds and 2 steals. Also on the night, kind of an interesting night in general. I really thought last night we were going to see Luka Garza put in a big performance,

and we were going to see Joe Toussza put in a big performance, and we were going to see Joe Toussaint put in a big performance as well, simply because Northwestern's defense was not a turnover-prone defense. I thought they were going to be able to collapse on Luka Garza and allow Tussain some opportunities to score the ball. Unfortunately, neither really happened. Garza put together a nice scoring performance, but was really limited by foul trouble in only 24 minutes of play, which is actually less than Evelyn.

He had 10 of 14, 8 of 11 from 2, and 2 of 3 from downtown for 27 points. Only had three rebounds, which I believe is the lowest total he's had this season. Joe Toussaint, 0 of 5, no points, one assist. Only played 16 minutes and really kind of struggled early. Fran put Bakari Evelyn in and Evelyn played a really good game and this is why you bring in a graduate transfer like him. He doesn't necessarily need to start every game, but you can expect decent minutes out of him when people are struggling. He's going to be able to step up and play consistently when needed to. In 27 minutes of play, went 3 of 7 for 8 points,

but also dished out 7 assists and 5 rebounds. So a really outstanding performance by the grad transfer from Valparaiso. One thing I think is kind of, I wasn't expecting from this game, though, is Joe Wieskamp struggling again to shoot the ball. Two of eight from the field, only 11 points. Again, got involved in other aspects of the game. Six rebounds, three assists, two steals, and a block. But something's up there.

And I think when you're an Iowa team and you want to go to the NCAA tournament, you absolutely need Joe Wieskamp to be a consistent scorer. You need Luka Garza to be a consistent scorer. And we've seen that from Garza, but Wieskamp has been sort of up and down. But given the trend of his play, the down was today. Hopefully the up is against Michigan. And it's just something that you kind of wonder as far as what to expect from him going forward. There just isn't that consistency. Where there is some consistency that I've been really impressed with all season,

and I think if anyone is still on that Connor McCaffrey sucks training to get off it because he has been playing outstanding and probably one of the surprise guys from this season developing a shooting stroke. I wouldn't say he's the best shooter on the team, but getting better at it. He's making defenses actually play up on him as opposed to last year where he would get the ball and they would sag off so much that you really couldn't do much

with Connor McCaffrey on the floor. This year is definitely different. He put in two of three three-pointers for eight points and got seven rebounds and three assists. One of the things that I wasn't expecting, I mean, this game was just a really weird game, kind of all around. I wasn't expecting Northwestern to come out and be such a good offensive rebounding team. Coming into this game, they're one of the worst offensive rebounding teams in the nation, and specifically in the Big Ten. But against Iowa, things were just falling their way.

They had 13 offensive rebounds compared to Iowa's five. They out-rebounded Iowa 36-32. Thankfully, they didn't shoot very well across the board, 36% from the field and 29% from three points. So good for Iowa to figure out a way to win on the road without some of their players playing well, getting into foul trouble, Luka Garza being in foul trouble, Joe Wieskamp not being able to play, not really shooting the ball very well,

and Joe Toussaint not playing very well in general. So good for Iowa to put that performance in and still be able to manage to get a win on the road against Northwestern basketball squad. And one final thing to touch on before we close out this segment and ultimately close out the show of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast for this Wednesday morning is looking at the advanced metrics.

A couple things jumped out to me. The offensive rating of Bakari Evelyn was 142, which is tops in the game, followed by Connor McCaffrey at 141. From a defensive perspective, Joe Toussaint was the top one with 112 defensive rating, but he had the lowest offensive rating by far out of anyone in the entire game, posting 16. So not exactly great for the freshman. But I think it is. Some people are getting a little bit frustrated by the play of Joe.

And I think, honestly, you need to calm down a little bit. This is to be expected. He's a freshman point guard. That's a lot of pressure being put on a true freshman. A guy who has a ton of potential. But, again, plays a little bit reckless at times. Plays a little bit out of control. But he brings a lot to the table and brings a lot of energy. I think in a perfect world,

you'd be able to bring him off the bench, right? In a perfect world, you'd have Connor McCaffrey at the one, you'd have Frederick at the two, Wieskamp at the three, Jack Nudge at the four, and you'd have Garz at the five, and you'd be bringing Joe off the bench and bringing the energy off the bench defensively against that second unit. But because of injuries, because of stuff like that, he is becoming a starter. He is a starter now. And you're going to have to live and die with his ability to impact a game. Sometimes he's going to have it. Sometimes he's not.

And thankfully, Iowa has an option to put in Bakari Evelyn, who I think is a very good contributor on that second unit. But if needed, he can come in and play starter type of minutes like he did last night. And then Cordell Pemzel just, I would say, had probably the most average to below average game of the entire squad, having the second lowest offensive rating and the lowest defensive rating of the team. Just a guy who he brings some energy off the bench, but you just start to wonder, I mean, after these injuries, after some of the off field or the off court things, he just hasn't been the same type of player. And you wonder if he would be seeing really any minutes if Iowa had a deeper bench and had most of their guys for this year.

But nevertheless, he is going to be a key contributor down the stretch. Hopefully his play can pick up as we get even more into the Big Ten slate of games because they're going to really need a guy like Pemzel to step up, especially when Garza gets in foul trouble or Ryan Kreener gets into foul trouble. So something to keep on the lookout as Iowa gets into more of the big 10 slate of games, starting with Michigan on Friday. All right. And that will do it for our show today.

Again, a big shout out to, you know, everyone for tuning into the show. I absolutely appreciate the love and support. And please make sure to check out tomorrow's episode with Matthew Crawford, the general manager of the Iowa United. You're not going to be disappointed.

A fantastic interview, as always talking about the development of this team in year two and what they're looking to do in year two of the TBT tournament for the Iowa United. So tune into that. Again, thank you for tuning into today's episode. If you liked what you heard today, make sure to like, review, and subscribe

wherever you downloaded this podcast app. And also make sure to go follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, so you can make sure to keep up on all the latest news of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Again, thank you for tuning in. Have a fantastic day, Hawkeye Nation. Go Hawks. We'll see you next time.