Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Tristan Wirfs is a top tackle in the NFL already | Why Iowa's schedule favors the Hawks | #Swarm21 doesn't have a TE and that's okay

Episode Date: October 14, 2020

We kick off the show breaking down Iowa Hawkeye performances across the NFL including rookie Tristan Wirfs who is having a fantastic season for Tampa Bay before diving into the recent schedule announcements by the Big Ten. The Iowa Hawkeyes received a favorable draw in the three scheduled games, and we will tell you why. Finally, we discuss a hot topic in Hawkeye Nation. How big of a deal is it that the Hawks do not have a commit at the tight end position in the class of 2021. The answer may surprise you.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.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order.BuiltGoVisit BuiltGO.com and use promo code “LOCKED,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back, Hawkeye Nation, to a Wednesday morning episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast. Your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade. And we've got a plethora of topics to touch on today. We're going to get into our NFL breakdown. I usually do that on Tuesday mornings.

But the NFL season has been weird this year. And we have the Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans playing last night. Want to make sure I gave enough time to talk about all Iowa Hawkeyes playing in the NFL. So we've got to cover that. We're also going to be touching on the news that came out that apparently athletes might be granted a penalty-free one-time transfer starting in 2021. So we're going to briefly touch on that. But mostly we're going to hop into the schedule that came out for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

We know three of the games for Iowa. We're going to talk about why Iowa actually got a favorable draw with the schedule that has currently been released. Not all of it has been released, but so far we know a few games, and we want to talk about that. Also going to talk about the Big Ten and why they did mess up by not building any contingencies and just given what we are seeing across the college ball landscape.

And then finally on segment number three, we're going to be touching on the tight end position. James Carney committed to the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Iowa does not have a recruit in the class of 2021 to fill that tight end position, but do not fret, Iowa fans. It is not that big of a deal, and I'll explain why on segment number three.

So let's quickly get into the news. Like I said, athletes will be granted a penalty-free one-time transfer starting in 2021 2021 they must notify their teams by may 1st which i think is a very good time it's after the spring practices it's after the basketball regular season it goes up for vote in january i personally think this is the a step in the right direction and i don't know if it's because of the pandemic or just the ncaa getting their heads out of butts, but they have done a really good job, I think, of being proactive and handling some of these items pretty well so far the past couple months. And I guess loosening some of the restrictions on these college athletes, which I can really appreciate as a fan of not just the Iowa Hawkeyes, but college sports in general. as a fan of not just the Iowa Hawkeyes, but college sports in general.

That being said, though, let's hop into our NFL breakdown. This week, definitely some big news around the NFL for Iowa Hawkeyes. The Vikings Seahawks, Riley Reif, continues to have a great season, no sacks allowed. He is really performing well on a reduced contract. And Jahlil Johnson played in 48% of the defensive snaps and had two tackles. Colts vs. Browns, Adrian Claiborne was able to return to the field after being injured. He played in 21 snaps, which is 38% of the defensive snaps for the Cleveland Browns. The Dolphins vs. 49ers. Now this one's the one that gets pretty interesting.

Let's kick it off with George Kittle though. Eight targets, four receptions, only 44 yards. And honestly, that's kind of the theme of the day for the 49ers. They really struggled against Brian Flores' Miami Dolphins, who have been doing quite well over the last little bit of last season and the beginning of this season. I mean, they are in every single game. This is a team that, personally, as a guy who likes to gamble on sports,

I don't like betting against the Dolphins because I don't know what to expect from a Brian Flores team and a Ryan Fitzpatrick-led team. They just have the ability to cover almost everything. And this week they blew out the 49ers, which we all thought was going to be a big win for San Francisco. But in that blowout, Kyle Shanahan decided to bench Jimmy G after struggling in his return from his injury. He went 7 of 17 with two interceptions, had a quarterback rating of 15.7. And who came in? C.J. Bethard.

He went 9 of 18, 94 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions, and was sacked twice. He had a quarterback rating of 84. Not a great day, but clearly better than Jimmy G. And obviously you want to avoid the mistakes that come along with those interceptions. There are reports coming out that C.J. Bethard is going to start on Sunday. If that is true, I don't know.

It has not been confirmed by the 49ers, but I do believe with the 49ers sitting at 2-2, they're in an interesting spot. Do they believe in Jimmy G? Do they think he's healthy enough to play? Do they want to see more from C.J. Beathard, who has played a little bit better than what we initially anticipated, especially if you would have listened to our NFL preview where we did with Brian Peacock, host of the Lockdown 49ers. We talked a little bit about C.J. Beathard and whether or not he was a guy who could actually fill in and be a spot starter. So far, I think he's done

pretty well, and I've been pretty impressed with him to this point, all things considered. Does he get a start, though, next week? We will see, and we will let you know right here on the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. Moving over into the Raiders-Chiefs game, Anthony Hitchens played 67% of the snaps. Ben Neiman played 36% of the defensive snaps.

Hitchens finished with nine tackles, and Neiman finished with two tackles and one quarterback hit. A lot of Chiefs fans are on Twitter complaining about how bad Anthony Hitchens and Ben Neiman are. And I see a lot of Iowa Hawkeye fans saying, what's so bad about them? They're doing fine. Well, personally, I've watched a couple of Chiefs games and I will say, I mean, Anthony Hitchens is a little bit older. Ben Neiman, there's a reason why he was an undrafted free agent. Both players are solid replacement players, but neither should be relied on in a full-time starter capacity at this point,

especially given the athletic tight ends in the AFC West. And I know some people don't appreciate pro football focus. I think pro football focus does a good job of helping paint a picture. It shouldn't be the only thing painting that picture, but it gives some context to a situation. Ben Neiman right now has a grade of 28.8 according to Pro Football Focus, which is significantly below average. Anthony Hitchens has a grade of 44. So that gives you a little bit more context.

I'm going to try to watch a few more games and maybe even get the host of the Locked On Chiefs on here to talk a little bit more about those two guys considering it has been a hot topic among Kansas City fans and Iowa Hawkeye fans of what those guys can do. Rams vs. Washington. The Rams easily won that game. We saw nothing from Brandon Sheriff because he is on the IR.

And Austin Blythe, another great performance. No sacks allowed. In the Bucks vs. Bears game, we got a battle in the trenches. James Daniel and Tristan Wirfs, unfortunately, not a good ending for James Daniels. Torn Peck out for the season on IR. You hate to see it. I wish him the best in the speedy recovery. Not a great time, obviously, in a year where he's looking at getting a new contract at the end of the season. Tristan Wirfs, though, although he had a pretty good day, all things considered, got put on the highlight reel when Khalil Mack blasted into him, tackled Tom Brady, and threw Tristan

Wirfs to the ground. But other than that, another outstanding day for the rookie tackle. Honestly, Tristan Wirfs will be on the All-Pro rookie team, and I think he could possibly be on the overall All-Pro team. I think at this point you could consider him a top five right tackle in the league as of right now. He's playing that well. That's right. Tristan Wirfs is a top five right tackle in the league already, just four games into his rookie season.

And then moving on to the Chargers versus the Saints. Brian Bulaga out again. Desmond King getting more playing time. Five tackles, played in 79% of the defensive snaps and 34 percent of the special teams but did not have any punt returns and then the Titans win over the Bills we saw a couple Iowa Hawkeyes play in the game AJ Peneza had a fantastic tackle on Tennessee Titan Derrick Henry a big big guy broke the backfield, got a one-arm tackle on him, finished with one tackle for a loss. Micah Hyde also had five tackles. And then on the Tennessee Titans side, we saw Monty Hooker get some playing time as well.

As expected, he finished with two tackles for the night. All right, and that will do it for our NFL wrap-up. Coming up on segment number two, we're going to touch on the schedule that was released by the Big Ten and why it actually gives Iowa a competitive advantage, all things considered, of course. So we're going to touch on that in segment number two. Before we get into that though, do you ever feel tired

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Let's go. All right, we are back for segment number two of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast, and the Big Ten is starting to release the schedules and the times. We know the start of the Iowa season. It is 2.30 Central Time during primetime, I think, a primetime afternoon game against Purdue in just a little over a week and a half. Are you not pumped? Because I am absolutely jacked up to watch Iowa football again,

especially considering I didn't think we were going to be able to have it. But let's first touch on the fact that the Big Ten wants to play eight conference games in a row, nine conference games, if you consider the Big Ten East vs. West showdown at the end of the season. Nine conference games in a row. Do they have a schedule in place that's going to allow them to even play those games? The reason why I ask is all conferences at this point have had to postpone at least a game. The NFL is struggling, honestly, worse too.

They've had to rearrange a lot of things because they don't believe in just playing, you know, 15 games. They want to make sure they're getting all 16 games in. And these other teams, these other conferences, since they started a little bit earlier, they do getting all 16 games in. And these other teams, these other conferences, since they started a little bit earlier, they do have some contingencies in place. They do have some bye weeks. The Big Ten doesn't have that ability to do that because they're basically playing right up to the point where the college ball playoff will make its selection. They're playing to get a team in the college ball playoff this year. And if a team can't play because of positive COVID test,

I think they're just crap out of luck. They're just not going to be able to play that game. That will definitely raise an interesting situation. Do you take an undefeated 6-0 Big Ten team over an 8-0 SEC team? I was going to say Big 12, but we know the Big 12 is garbage this year. But I think that raises an interesting question about how the College Football Playoff Committee is going to account for that. What if Ohio State doesn't get to play Penn State? That's a big freaking deal. So hopefully this doesn't impact the Big 10, but I do think they screwed up by

not having those contingencies built in. But moving on to the Iowa front, Iowa got a pretty favorable schedule. So if you remember back to their original schedule, Iowa was playing Minnesota on Friday, a short week after playing Iowa State, a very emotionally draining game and week. And then they were also going to get Nebraska on a Friday after Nebraska was going to move up their game before that to a Friday because they have testing. Well, now Iowa has the advantage because Iowa gets Minnesota on a Friday. They both come off short weeks, not a big deal. Iowa gets Michigan State the week before, should be a winnable game. Then they prepare for Minnesota. Then they get an extra

day to prepare for Penn State. That is huge for Iowa. And then from a Nebraska standpoint, Nebraska no longer has the advantage because the Big Ten just does not care about what Nebraska wants. Apparently, it's kind of funny to watch the Big Ten either intentionally or unintentionally. I honestly don't know at this point crap on Nebraska's leg when Nebraska wants things. They are just not giving it to them. But Iowa does have the advantage, in my opinion, with this schedule. We don't know the rest of Iowa's schedule, but we do know every other game is going to be on Saturday. Only Friday games are going to be Minnesota and Nebraska. That Minnesota game should be Friday night, so that'll be a lot of fun. I'm wondering when people

are going to start pre-gaming and tailgating for that because everyone's got to work on that Friday, I'm assuming. But the Nebraska game, people are talking about whether it's going to be a night game. My guess is it's going to be a mid-afternoon game, similar to what they've done in the past. It's going to start in the mid-afternoon, finish at night, just like we've seen with some of the other Iowa-Nebraska games. I'm really excited for that Iowa-Minnesota game, and I'm honestly really excited that Iowa gets Purdue during that Saturday primetime. I'm curious, though, for all of you Iowa fans out there, how are you going to be celebrating the return of the Big Ten and the return of Iowa Hawkeye football? I've seen some people say they're going to set up a tailgate in their backyard, and that's 100% what I'm going to be doing.

I'll be having literally four TVs connected underneath my gazebo. We're going to start off with mimosas and Bloody Marys and an egg bake. It's going to be a blast starting at 9 a.m. I have a buddy who's a huge Nebraska fan, so He wants to watch the Nebraska-Ohio State game. I want to watch Ohio State beat the crap out of Nebraska. And then we're going to continue throughout the day watching both the Big Ten games. I like the fact that there's going to be two games on each time frame. Watching both of those Big Ten games and then two of the other top games for that weekend.

And then we're going to transition into some fantastic tater tot bake type of stuff with ranch dressing and buffalo sauce and some cheese. That'll be pretty delicious. Also some wings and then obviously some nice refreshing beers as well. So let me know what your thoughts are. What are you going to be doing to celebrate the Iowa kickoff game against Purdue? And if you weren't tuning in for the last couple weeks, if you want to get a sense for

how I feel the Iowa versus Purdue game is, make sure to check out our previous couple weeks. If you want to get a sense for how I feel the Iowa vs. Purdue game is, make sure to check out our previous couple weeks. We went over each of the positions for Iowa, and we also did a game-by-game preview. We went through about eight minutes talking through some of the advantages, disadvantages for each game, including Iowa vs. Purdue. I believe that's going to be a shootout. But that being said, coming up next week, we're going to be focusing very, very heavily on Purdue.

So if you didn't listen to that and you don't want to go back, make sure to tune in going forward. The best way to do that is to subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast at so you can get those episodes downloaded directly to your smart device. Coming up though on segment number three, we're going to hop into the recruiting trail and talk about why Iowa not getting the recruit or the commitment from James Carney, a Nebraska Cornhusker commit, is not a big deal for that tight end position. So that will be coming up in just a few short seconds. Alright, we are back for our third and our final segment of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast.

Your daily podcast. Very important. Their very daily podcast, Monday through Friday, covering your Iowa Hawkeyes. And as I said before the break, why does it not matter that Iowa didn't get a tight end commit in the class of 2021? So first and foremost, Iowa only offers players that they feel fit into their program. At this point, the class of 2021 is pretty well developed. So unless someone comes along late, I don't actually expect Iowa to get a tight end in this class. There's a chance things could change, right? Someone could decommit. Someone kind of comes out of nowhere.

A walk-on person decides, you know, they decide to offer a scholarship to a guy who they're originally recruiting as a walk-on. Things could happen. But at this point, Iowa is left without a commitment in the class of 2021. A couple guys that Iowa was really heavily on went to Nebraska. We saw, obviously, James Carney, a guy who received his first major offer from Iowa, then got an offer from Nebraska. You pretty much knew he was going to Nebraska. Grew up a Nebraska fan.

Lives in the state. Hell, his high school uniforms look like Nebraska. His high school uniforms look like Nebraska's uniforms. Thomas Vadone, another guy out of Iowa, but obviously closer to Nebraska, grew up a Nebraska fan as well, also joining the Nebraska program. So kudos to them. Glad you were able to secure those tight end commits. They would have been great Iowa Hawkeyes as well, but they're not. So where does Iowa go from here? And I'm going to take a trip down memory lane to then help paint a picture for why this isn't as big of a deal. So Noah Fant and TJ Hawkinson had arguably the best year ever in college football for two tight ends. TJ Hawkinson won the Mackey Award. They were both all-conference. Noah Fant was an

athletic beast. They both went in the first round of the NFL draft. They left, though. What they left was not a lot at Iowa in terms of the tight end position. Going into the season last year, Iowa had Drew Cook, a former quarterback, turned tight end. Sean Beyer, who was consistently injured throughout his career and has been. And Nate Weeding, a former walk-on who was really good at blocking. Those were the three veteran guys coming at the tight end position. They also brought in three freshmen, Sam Laporta, Josiah Myman, and Logan Lee,

who they quickly converted to defensive end, and then a host of other walk-ons that were on the team as well. So they had five scholarship guys and only three of them who actually had originally came to Iowa to play tight end. So just keep that in mind as I get into where Iowa is going to be after this season. So the class of 2021 will be coming in next season. At that time, Iowa's only going to be losing Sean Byer from this year's team unless he decides to return given the fact that the NCAA is allowing basically a free year or two players. He could decide to return, but if he decides not to return, Iowa will return Sam Laporta, Josiah Myman, Elijah Yelverton, and Luke

Leitchie. That is four scholarship players, all of which highly touted and came here to play tight end. That is one more than what they had when Noah and TJ left. And I would argue that is three more than what they actually have from a tight end position. When you consider that Sean Byer was the only tight end, the only original tight end that was a scholarship player. So again, we're already at a better spot. And the fact that they're not bringing in a class of 2021 tight end, not a huge deal because at that point, none of those guys can actually go pro yet. Sam Laporta is only going to be a true junior.

Josiah Myman, a redshirt sophomore, Elijah Yelverton, Luke Leitchie, they'll be in their second year in the program. So we are guaranteed to at least be returning a starter at that point. Obviously, all things considered, someone could transfer, someone could leave, whatever. But at this point, Iowa is in a much better position because they will be returning four guys when that class 2021 is technically supposed to come in. Now you look into class of 2022. Iowa is hot on a few guys to you know, to get a, get them in that

tight end position. A few guys actually out of Bellevue West, which is where we got Keegan Johnson at. Um, I expect Iowa to bring in two to three tight end recruits in that class of 2022 and barring a Noah Fant, TJ Hawkinson type of year, we should be returning a decent chunk of our tight ends. So Sam Laporta, Josiah Myman, Elijah Elverton, Luke Lacey, they will all have, they will all have eligibility at that point. Right? So they've all have eligibility. There's a chance we obviously could lose one, two or three, you know, however many of them, but I do think that it's not ideal. Obviously Iowa would love to have gotten a tight end in this class, but it's not the worst case scenario. They just need

to focus on that position heavily going into next year for the class of 2022, and there's definitely a few prospects that fit that bill. They're going to look at that tight end room and think, we definitely have some opportunities to play. When you look at the tight end room right now, maybe that was one of the reasons why some people didn't want to come to Iowa, because there is a lot of talent in that tight end room. There's a lot of younger guys who are going to be there for quite some time. Maybe they did not want to wait until they're juniors or seniors to get playing time. So personally, I do not think it's a huge concern.

Would have been great to get James. Would have been great to get Thomas. But they didn't. I do think Iowa's offense is also evolving. We're seeing more 3 and 4 tight end sets. So maybe that's another direction they're heading. Obviously, tight end will always be a focal point in the Iowa offense. but keep in mind that Brian Ferenc is a pretty darn good offensive coach and knows how to utilize the playmakers around him in a way that gets the best players the ball

when they need it so that's my thoughts on the tight end position let me know what your thoughts are if you have any thoughts on that or disagree and again if you liked the show make sure to like review and subscribe and as, Hawkeye Nation, I appreciate you tuning in. Have a fantastic Wednesday. Go Hawks!