Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Tyler Cook MVP through 9 games | Three Hawks are All-Americans | George Kittle is lighting NFL on fire

Episode Date: December 11, 2018

Special guest Quinn Douglas (@quinndouglas_fs) joins us to discuss the men's basketball team through nine games. Tyler Cook is performing like the MVP and Connor McCaffery has been the surprising star of the season. Will Jordan Bohannon pick it up? Segment two has us covering all the recent news in Hawkeye nation including Sam Brincks for Piesman, who was named an All-American, men's wrestling takes on Lehigh, and where did the men's team land in the week six AP Top-25. We wrap it up by covering how impressive George Kittle and Desmond King's performance has been this season.Locked on Hawkeyes (@lockedoniowa)Andrew Wade (@wade_andrew)Email ([e-mail]) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to another episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes. The Locked On Hawkeyes is a part of the Locked On Sports Network, and we are the latest addition to the Locked On Sports Network's growing lineup of college podcasts. I'm your host, Andrew Wade, editor over at dearoldgold.com, where you can find analysis pieces on all things black and yellow, and there is a lot of stuff going on in the Hawkeye world today. And we have a very special guest with us today, Quinn Douglas,

who I believe has written for Deararyl Gold and now writes for Saturday Blitz. Quinn, how are you doing, buddy? Doing fantastic, Andrew. Thanks for having me on. Absolutely, buddy. Where can the folks find you on Twitter? You're a great follow. You can follow me at QuinnDouglas underscore FS on Twitter.

That's my Twitter handle. Awesome, man. How did you get into writing i know um obviously you write for a saturday blitz and i know you put some stuff out potentially for dear old gold would love to hear a little bit more of your backstory on that uh i really got started uh what it really it's really in high school uh did the we had a journalism class in high school i covered a lot of sporting events i went to a small high school, only about 150 kids total, 9 through 12. So I was kind of involved. I kind of knew about everything. I knew about football, obviously playing football in high school, men's basketball, women's basketball, track and field. So I kind of did a little bit

of everything. I really started to explore it more when I got into college. My first sports writing job was at a website called the sportsquotient.com. I found it out through one of the heads of the journalism department here at the university of Iowa. We sent out emails routinely job opportunities and internships. And it's so happy to come up one day. I thought I would apply and use some of my material from high school. And I got the job and I was there for about a month and a half.

And then about towards the end of October, I was recruited to come write for fans cited as Saturday Blitz. And in late October, 2017, I joined Saturday Blitz as a contributor and I've been there ever since. That's awesome, man. That's fantastic.

Love to, it's, it's interesting how everyone kind of gets, you know, get started with writing and with kind of sports in general. I mean, heck I started literally about a year ago was you know wanted to get back into the you know the the passion of riding i did the same thing in high

school and throughout college and was able to to jump in pretty quickly so exciting stuff and man we have a good episode today to talk about with our with our listeners though on segment one we're going to be talking about iowa basketball and what the season has meant to us at this point giving kind of a recap and then talking through, you know, the MVPs, disappointments, that sort of thing. We're about a quarter of the way, maybe a third of the way through the season. So one to touch on that. And then in segment two, we're going to be discussing all the news and awards that have been handed out. And there has been a ton of stuff happening since our last episode.

And then finally on segment three, we're going to take a look at the Hawkeyes' performance in the NFL. There were some fantastic performances this past weekend, namely George Kittle. And just in general, man, the Iowa Hawkeyes are really showing out this year, as they do most years. But I think we're starting to see a little bit more of the position players make an impact. Obviously, we're usually seeing a lot of offensive linemen have fantastic years, but it's a little bit harder to notice them when they're in the trenches and they're not putting up the 10 touchdowns or 1,100 receiving yards that Kittle is. And then that's going to be our episode for today. So before we jump in, though, I want to make sure that our listeners are subscribing to this podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast at. And please leave us a review.

We'd love to hear from you on your thoughts, content, suggestions, feedback, et cetera. And you can follow the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast at LockedOnIowa, and you can follow myself at Wade underscore Andrew. So, Quinn, let's get started right now with segment number one. Looking at the Iowa basketball season, I would say it's a pretty great season so far you know they're seven and two they got off to a hot start they beat Oregon and UConn granted neither

of which are ranked now Oregon's kind of dropped out and you know hasn't looked as good as what preseason expectations are they lost to Wisconsin in the game I really think they should have won and they got blown out by Michigan State but they came back big on Thursday night and had an awesome win versus Iowa State. I loved the energy and intensity that that game brought. Obviously, it got a little chippy, but personally, I love seeing the emotion in it. Were you at that game? I was calling the game for KRI, so I was really having to be on my toes.

As a matter of fact, I was doing play-by-play for the first half for KRI. I believe it was the under-12 timeout is when the Cordell Pempsil-Michael Jacobson incident happened. I was looking down at the stats website that the university provides for all the basketball games. And I look up, and next thing I know, I see Jacobson and Pempsil shoving each other back and forth. I'm thinking, oh, my gosh. When did this happen? What was this? So it was – I definitely never seen vitriol like that

at that kind of a level for Iowa and Iowa State. It's always been a pretty respectful rivalry, but that was really a first for me seeing something along those lines. Yeah, man, it escalated quickly, and it – obviously at the end of the game, obviously we had additional issues, and it really seemed to center around Jacobson and to an extent, Connor McCaffrey. And I heard a lot of, I talked to a lot of Iowa State fans and, you know, their big sentiment was everyone's going to hate Connor McCaffrey for the next four years. Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely. I can agree with that.

Yeah, I mean, and part of me was like, I totally get it, but I'm glad he's on our team. At the same time, Jacobson was the same type of player on the other side i mean he was stirring up a lot of that but it's interesting because you know he's a transfer student granted he's from i believe walk here he played in the play high school play high school walkie yep yep perfect yeah so i mean he understands what that means and i will say though i like the intensity of it you're right i don't you don't typically see that kind of stuff in an Iowa State game. It's a competitive rivalry, but it's respectful. But I also think Steve Prom really didn't help that along.

He was kind of getting into it, and I thought Fran McCaffrey really handled it in the best way he possibly could. I personally thought. And Steve came out in the postgame press conference and apologized for his actions. He said that he didn't handle it the way he should have. And I was glad to see that. I'm glad he took the high road, took full responsibility for what happened.

Absolutely, yeah. And I did see that too. It was a fun game, man. And I think that was the difference between Iowa falling out of the rankings this week versus staying in the rankings. Because Iowa State's a really well-respected team. They have a few people that have been injured. They were dealing with some suspensions throughout the year

and then obviously they have the two transfers that have come in and kind of led the team so far so big win for the hawks one of the things i honestly the biggest thing i love to see from that game is cordon pencil who was supposed to be red shirting and then decided to try it out again and uh man his energy was like it was i man, his energy was – like, it was – I can't – enthusiastic. It was awesome. It was hard to watch. It was a game-changer. It was a game-changer.

And I think you were just as shocked as everybody in press row was when they – I believe it was Chai Lysico, the Des Moines register, was the one who broke it about – probably about an hour before tip-off. And I think everybody was just as surprised as you were. And at that point, we had just found out that Wieskamp was going to be able to go. So it was kind of everything was happening at once before the game. So it's kind of hitting you all at once.

So you're trying to scramble and figure out, okay, what's going to happen here, what's going to happen here. So it was definitely a crazy build-up to the game, which turned out to be a very exciting one absolutely i kind of equate you know i'm a big i like lebron james i'll openly admit that i'm not a big specific mbt nba team fan but it kind of reminded me like a matthew deladova in the sense like just energetic all over the court willing to be that guy doing the dirty work and i love that he stepped in right before you know connor mccaffrey and tyler cook did anything and kind of shoved you know uh you know nicholson yeah like

i thought that was yeah michael yeah michael jacobson and let him know this isn't gonna happen yeah i thought that was great like he knew what his role in that situation was so it was fantastic to see well man i want to talk about you know jumping into tyler cook if we talk about kind of where we're at this point in the season, personally, I would say Tyler Cook has been far and away the MVP of the team. I mean, he's playing like a freaking madman out there. He's, you know, attacking the rim. He's getting the free throw line,

even if he's not really capitalizing on his, the amount of free throws attempts he's taking. He has been dominant on the offensive side of the board and more engaged on the defensive side of the board. I think the Michigan State game was a little bit of an outlier for his season where he really struggled defensively and they attacked down low. But I think that has just as much to do with Luke Garza as it does Tyler Cook. But I wanted to get your thoughts.

Who is your MVP for this season? Well, I think you're right on that. I definitely think it's Tyler Cook. Although, personally, I think you could really make a case for Connor McCaffrey, even though he's not a starter. He has been a glue guy for the Hawkeyes coming off the bench. He's probably been the most consistent player game in and game out, just in terms of being steady, getting, getting his buckets, being able to run the offense at a very, very high level. So Tyler Cook is the obvious choice, but I think you could really make a case for Connor McCaffrey. But like you said, Tyler Cook's been setting the

world on fire and I have been gaming a game out. I'm just more and more impressed with his effort, his intensity and his hustle, along with the freak skill set that he has that he's shown on the offensive end. Absolutely. And I think, you know, touching on the Connor McCaffrey, I don't disagree at all. The guy's been fantastic. And I think, you know, touching on the Connor McCaffrey, I don't disagree at all. The guy's been fantastic. And when he's out there, the team is just so much more efficient offensively against Iowa state. When he wasn't on the court,

they really struggled a little bit to get things moving. And, and personally, I don't mean this to attack any players. I, you know, they're all college kids, but the ball kind of stops and dies when Jordan Bohannon is the one running the point guard position. The, the, the offense is operating at a more efficient level and McCaffrey's one, cause he's a true point guard,

has a true point guard mindset. I feel like when he's in the game. Yeah. Yeah. He did. Yeah. He definitely does. He does.

And I think Jordan does an okay job of being able to distribute the ball, but right now he's just, he's in a funk and it happens with great shooters like Jordan. Every once in a while, you're going to get the funk and I don't mind. And you know, you saw him take some shots against Iowa state in games before that, where it's like a funk, and it happens with great shooters like Jordan. Every once in a while, you're going to get in a funk. I don't mind. You saw him take some shots against Iowa State in games before that where it's like, well, I'm not sure. But all he's trying to do there is just make sure he can get his confidence back,

find his stroke, because as good as a shooter as Jordan Bohannon is, this is a slump that won't last for long for him. Absolutely, and it's kind of impressive that Iowa's gotten out to the start they've had with Jordan Bohannon struggling so much from you know from you know from the the three-point line and everywhere pretty much on the court in terms of shooting and honestly i would say if i had to pick my biggest disappointment it would be jordan bohannon i mean he was expected and not that he isn't being he's he is the leader of this team he is the guy who's going to move this team forward and he's the guy that ultimately if they want to win games in march they're going to need him to be hot and so to be

at seven and two with him struggling as much as he is i mean i'm pretty impressed so far and then also i would say luke guards has kind of been a relative disappointment i mean this guy is an inside out type player he can you know he's a former four-star recruit and he is struggling to shoot the ball. He doesn't seem like he's really putting his, not the, for lack of a better term, putting his back into it.

He's not willing to be aggressive down low and he's kind of getting pushed around, which is disappointing because of the size advantage he has held on pretty much every single team that the Hawkeyes have played for, for you, who would be your biggest disappointment? Well, if you asked me before we played Iowa state state i would have had to say isaiah moss because he really had had a slow start

to the year up until the iowa state game where he absolutely shot he went off in the first half which was unbelievable he kept i mean it didn't matter if the threes were contested or not he was taking it and he was making it and it was definitely if isaiah moss to make his shots consistently like he did against Iowa State Iowa would be a contender for the Big Ten championship in the regular season but unfortunately Moss doesn't really have that consistency but I would have to say you know you I think you're right on the Jordan Bohannon part I think he has been the biggest disappointment not that he hasn't been good per se he just hasn't lived up to what we thought he could be this year

and Luka Garza, I think is more of an example of this is his second year. You know, the sophomore blues is a real thing. Like it's, it's sometimes it's unexplainable, but in his case, I think it's the, the jump of competition happens so drastically. I mean, granted Syracuse and Oregon were good teams, but I don't think they had the talent in the post outside of Bull Bull for Oregon to really match up with Luka Garza. And once they got into Wisconsin and Michigan State, Garza got thrown right in there with some of the best posts in the country.

Ethan Happ, Nick Ward, just to name a few. He got really thrown into the fire really early on against two of the best post players in the big 10 conference absolutely i mean you make a you make a really good point even you know bull bull was very you know is is going to be very good he obviously has an nba future ahead of him but you know he's just a freshman as well so he's still figuring out the game and it's a little bit easier to manipulate someone like him than it's going to be to manipulate a a senior like ethan hap so i would i would have to agree with that.

And then finally jumping into kind of the biggest surprise of the season, I would honestly say it's Connor McCaffrey and Joe Weiskamp making such impressive contributions. Obviously, you know, Joe is, you know, Gatorade, all Iowa Gatorade player of the year. He, you know, he's a four-star recruit, one of the top recruits Fran's ever had. So you expect him to make a contribution, but he's really been impressive to me on both

sides of the floor, defensively and offensively, just getting involved in the game. And then obviously coming back with a sprained ankle and trying to play. I mean, he didn't have, he didn't set the world on fire against Iowa State, but it was still impressive nonetheless to come back on such short time. And then finally, McCaff you're what you said earlier is absolutely right the guy has been the glue guy for the offense and he's really been the guy who gets that offense going and i love seeing him on the floor he's a true floor general and you even saw it when they were playing iowa state with isaiah moss on fire there's one point connor

mcafree kind of drove backed off the defenders and just turned around and just handed the ball to isaiah moss to just drain another three-pointer. So that's really been impressive to me so far. I'd have to give a lot. I agree with both of those. I can see why people, especially you, would make those picks, would choose those players. But I'm going to throw out somebody I don't think is going to be talked about enough,

and that is Ryan Cranor. He's cooled off a little bit in the last four games against the Power 5 teams, but he had, especially in New York against Bull Bull, he dominated Bull Bull. This supposed freak sensation, which he is. I mean, it's no disrespect to Bull Bull, but Bull Bull got absolutely schooled by Ryan Cranor, a kid from Spirit Lake, Iowa, who came out of high school as a three-star recruit

and took a five-star freak in nature like Bull Bull and just absolutely schooled him and in Madison Square Garden nonetheless I think Ryan Kramer has been a very integral part it just doesn't show on the statue he's making the place he's doing he's doing what's supposed to he knows his job Fran McCaffrey has been really high about how much Ryan Kramer improved from last season That's why I think Ryan Cranor is definitely the most improved player and definitely the surprise player of the year for Iowa. Yeah, I mean, I think that's a very fair choice there. I mean, he's the second player off the bench on Connor McCaffrey,

and he's the first player to come in in the frontcourt. So he's been a huge contributor so far. He has a couple of double-digit scoring games. And, again, he's one of those guys who can be effective down low or at the three-point line and makes post players work harder, even when you have Cook off the floor or Garza off the floor. So I definitely don't disagree with that at all. Oh, man, real quick, before we jump into –

I think that kind of wraps it up for the basketball talk for today. Before we jump into segment two, though, have you ever heard of Sling TV? I think I've heard bits and pieces about it. I know I heard it a couple times on your podcast. Awesome. Well, you'll hear it again here because we have a fantastic offer for you and for the rest of our locked-on listeners. Because if you're like me, you hate to miss your favorite team play,

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And typically, you know, kickers don't really, you know, move my change or tickle my fancy a ton. But I looked at some of his videos and whatnot, and the kid's got a big leg. He's 6'3", 205 pounds, really strong leg, not super heavily recruited. But I think with Miguel Racino's's leaving obviously keith thunkin kicked two years ago and he's kind of the front winner front runner to win the kicking job this upcoming year but this is a guy i think you want we may want to watch out for i mean uh some he's kicked you know field goals as long as 60 yards so there's some talent there coming up uh from wisconsin yeah definitely i mean i always had a great history of kickers, especially since Kirk Ferentz took over. You look right when Ferentz really

went about Ferentz's second or third year is when Nick Gating came into the program, and he was a game changer on the special teams. One of the best field goal kickers, the best field goal kicker in Iowa history, I would say, and one of the best field goal kickers probably in the history of the Big Ten Conference. You have other clutch kickers such as Kyle Schlicker, who replaced Nate Kading. Rather, Daniel Murray, he hit the game-winning field goal against Penn State all those years ago to help propel Iowa

to their second big run under Kirk Ferentz. Other kickers, some others that kind of get forgotten are kickers like Mike Meyer, who was a very consistent kicker for some of those teams in the early part of the second decade of the 2000s. And Marshall Kane was also a very good kicker for the Hawkeyes. So Iowa's had a history of pretty good kickers coming in and out of the program, and hopefully he's the next in the long line of good kickers coming into Iowa City. Absolutely, man. I'm excited to see what he can do.

It'll be a fun battle to watch next season. And sticking with the theme of football, we have another transfer. And this is kind of the time for transfers. You know, at the end of the season, you start kind of looking at the depth chart. You start looking at the prospect of your playing time. And you have to make a decision that's going to impact your future. And unfortunately, we're losing another cornerback. Trey Kramer, redshirt freshman, is going to be leaving the program.

And it makes sense. I mean, Iowa had two true freshmen starting this past year in a few games we had riley moss and julius brentz and obviously you have hankins and ojamudia that are going to be start you know battling at them for playing time there doesn't leave a lot of playing time for some of the other reserve players who are you know still young guys but obviously they want to search for greener past years and it sounds like you know you even know kramer and it's going to be an even tougher departure for you. Yeah, I do, Trey.

I've been – we had a class together first semester of freshman year. I don't like to name drop or kind of drop that in there. But he was a good kid, and I always respected what he was about. Very bright young man. Just a really easy guy to get along with. He was a funny guy, had a great sense of humor, but when he got down to business, he was really, he's one of the harder workers I think I've ever seen in the classroom.

And he's a good kid. I really hope, I really wish the best for him. So it's definitely, you know, it's good. It's sad to see him go, but you got to do what's best for your future. And I commend Trey for doing that. Absolutely, man. I think that's what, you know, I a hundred percent agree with you when people leave, obviously obviously it sucks you don't want to see people leave but these are kids who are looking out for themselves and they need to look out for themselves because i mean most college football programs don't really truly care i think i was one of the

exceptions to that but even still you need to look out for yourself and know where you need to go to to get the playing time and ultimately get the exposure that you need. So, and jumping the line of exposure, there's no senior bowl invites so far for Iowa Hawkeyes. They've kind of announced most of the roster. Typically coaches sometimes wait to hand out some of those invites. I really thought a guy like Parker Hesse or Jake Gervais would potentially get an invite, but nothing's come so far. I thought that was a kind of an interesting development. I don't know if you follow the Reese's Senior Bowl at all, but I want to get your thoughts if there's anyone that you really thought would be making that trip for Iowa. Quinn, we lose you there?

All right, while we wait for Quinn to get his audio to jump in on and work in, we'll jump into the men's wrestling team. They did beat Lehigh 28-14. That's a big win for the number four ranked wrestling program. Lehigh is the number 15 team in the nation. They beat them 28-14. Big win considering the struggles Iowa had against a weaker iowa state opponent um the past week and then it sounds like you might be back there quim just jump in where you get a chance to

and then hello yeah you gotta do it there we go there we go perfect like i said like i said before we went on my mic's a little fidgety sometimes so no worries at all man i was what i was saying before uh but was going to say to answer your question I think Kirk Ferentz I could really see him sending Keegan Render to the Reese's Senior Bowl he's had a productive senior season I think he's definitely at least played his way to a free agent contract if he doesn't get drafted in the NFL he's a really smart offensive lineman and you really have to be a smart smart guy to play center especially on the offensive line as good as Iowa's so Keegan Render is another guy I think we might see get a late invitation to the Reese's senior bowl absolutely that's a very calm I believe he was

third team all big 10 or maybe even second team all big 10 so it'd be interesting to see if that that happens I know I'm kind of looking forward to seeing it any any Iowa Hawkeyes get invited or you know get those late invites just because I because I currently travel to New Orleans a lot, and it's a pretty easy drive for me. What I plan on doing is trying to make it over there for a couple days. Awesome, man. And then from the men's basketball perspective, the AP rankings came out today. The men's team fell four spots at 22, and that was expected.

They got blown out by Michigan State, but they won against Iowa State. For more reference, Wisconsin also fell after losing to Marquette. And then ISU is also getting some votes. So that was a good win for Iowa. I think we're going to find that Iowa State has a really solid team, as we kind of talked about earlier. And then on the women's side, they actually stayed the same at 16.

So they had three straight wins this past week. And then they kind of play UNI on Saturday, and they have a tough game against Drake later. But right now we're kind of staying at the status quo of 16. They definitely have had a – they've definitely had a great year. I mean, that win against Iowa State on Wednesday night was definitely a thrilling one. Tenaya Davis heading the step back three to win the game.

I mean, this is an Iowa women's basketball team that could this is probably i would venture as far to say this might be the best iowa women's basketball team since the team that c vivian stringer took to the final four back in the early 90s yeah i mean when and the thing is when you have a player like megan gustafson you can go anywhere i mean having that star player to lead your team makes you tough to defend because i mean she's going to be an All-American again this year and potentially be Player of the Year because of the performances she's putting up. I mean, it's just been so impressive watching her play this season.

It's truly not to put a lot of hyperbole in here, but it's truly magical watching her play. I've said time and time again, she might be the most exciting basketball player men's or women's to don the black and gold since Ronnie Lester was playing for the Hawkeyes back back in the late 70s and maybe some of you younger folks out there listening to this if you don't know who Ronnie Lester is Magic Johnson once said of Ronnie Lester he was the toughest player I ever had to guard in college and that was Magic Johnson saying that just gives

you an idea how good Rester was. He was on the last Iowa men's basketball team to make a Final Four in 1979-1988, but unfortunately got hurt in their Final Four loss to Louisville, the eventual national champions that year. Yeah, it was pretty high praise, I think, all around. And for those of you who don't maybe pay as much attention to the women's basketball team, you need to be watching because this team could do some damage in the NCAA tournament. Obviously, they had a tough game against Notre Dame, but just a lot of things weren't clicking in that game.

And they do have the talent to make that deep run. And that, I mean, Notre Dame is all, you got to remember too, Notre Dame is one of the top programs in women's college basketball in the country. They're in there year in and year out with teams like UConn, Mississippi State, South Carolina. That's not a bad loss to have on your resume whatsoever. Absolutely. Yeah, you make a very good point. And like I said, I think if you get hot in that game, you could still do some damage.

And obviously Notre Dame isn't invincible. We just saw them lose earlier this week to UConn, or not earlier this week, last week to week to UConn so it'll be interesting to see and we'll continue to track that as we go on one other kind of cool award I wanted to get to is the Paisman award which is given to basically and it's a it's a fantastic award but it's given to offensive or defensive linemen guys in the trenches that did the most unoffensive or defensive lineman type of thing. So basically, did they intercept a ball? Did they run for a touchdown? Did they catch a touchdown pass? And our very own defensive tackle, Sam Brinks, was nominated for the Piesman.

He was one of the five finalists for his touchdown catch on the fake field goal against Penn State. Obviously, if you did get a chance to check out Daryl Gold, you will notice that he did not win. Unfortunate, but he did lose to at least a pretty solid competitor. Kyle Phillips won from Tennessee. And if you got a chance to watch his tape, just go to the Peisman Award. It's on Twitter. You can look at all their Twitter videos of the different plays

that made the five finalist picks. Kyle Phillips got the ball and just started chucking Alabama defenders off of him as he rumbled for a touchdown. So Sam Brinks might have been more intentionally athletic, but Kyle Phillips is pretty darn good. And then wrapping it up, we have three All-Americans that were named today. Awesome to see

that was tied for the most All-Americans in the Big Ten from this year. We have TJ Hawkinson and Imani Hooker taking home second-team All-American honors, and Noah Fant bringing in the big 10 from this year, we have TJ Hawkinson and Imani hooker taking home second team, all American honors and Noah fan bringing in the third team, all American honors. So fantastic to see that from a Kirk Ferris program. Obviously we have a ton of talent on this team.

It's for me, it's, it's almost proving how talented I thought this team was and how much better they could have done. It's unfortunate that, you know, they're sitting eight and four, and I had such high expectations, but still nice to see at the end of the year, three All-Americans, you know, awesome to see that recognition given to the Hawks.

Oh, absolutely, and those are three guys I think that were most deserving on the team. Noah Fant, T.G. Hawkinson especially, formed to maybe have the best tight end duo college football scene in a long, long time, especially at one school, and I college football scene in a long, long time, especially at one school. And Imani Hooker is a guy, he got, you know, first team All-Big Ten, second team All-American, but sometimes you just really didn't hear a lot about him, especially how good Iowa's front four is and some of the other members of the secondary, you know, being in the shadow

of players like Josh Jackson and Desmond King from years previous. It seemed like you didn't hear a lot about Imani Hooker, and he was a really solid player. And from what I heard, Imani is, as far as I know, he's not going to the NFL. He's going to wait until after the bowl game to see where he stands. I have a pretty good gut feeling that he will be staying for another year at Iowa.

I think he'd really benefit from another year at Iowa, but I think what Salas has done at Iowa, he'll be one of the better defensive backs, especially with some of the talent we've had over the last few years, but one of the better defensive backs Iowa's had in the Kirk Ferentz era. I 100% wholeheartedly agree. Actually, we

talked about, if you don't get a chance, if you're listening to this now, make sure to check out our Friday episode because I talked a lot with Sarah Bettinger, one of the co-experts at NFL Mocs on the fan side of the network. We talked a lot about Imani Hooker and whether or not he might be going to the NFL, and that was kind of a sentiment we got as well. I mean, he's just not, for some reason, he's not getting the hype from draft scouts all over.

I mean, he's not even on the top 10 of safeties available in this class, which is ridiculous to me, but I think it'll benefit the iowa world program i think it'll benefit him to have another year um come out get some more game film he'll be going into the the preseason a little bit more hype and maybe some people will be watching some of his tape a little bit more and obviously if anthony nelson declares there will be an opportunity for some people to you know see what hooker does because it doesn't matter what part of the tape you're watching. Hooker's involved in almost every single play and he gets involved in every phase of the defense. I think he had a sack this year.

He played a lot of linebacker, had a couple interceptions. The guy is just impressive. Just a true jack of all trades. Typically the thing that goes along with that is jack of all trades and and you know typically the thing that goes along with that is jack of all trades master of none but he really did a great job of playing all three phases yeah he was definitely a spark he played that he played outside linebacker whenever i went up against spread teams when they kind of went to their nickel formation that they ran exclusively against teams like indiana or penn state or purdue And I thought he did a really good job in those roles. And that can show how versatile of a defender he can be.

And I think that would really open the eyes up to NFL scouts thinking, hey, we could stick this guy at safety, or if we really wanted to, we could bulk him up and have him play outside linebacker. Because nowadays in the NFL, to play outside linebacker, you've got to be pretty fast to be an outside linebacker in the NFL. So he's definitely someone that defensive coordinators, the NFL play outside linebacker. You got to be pretty fast to be an outside linebacker in the NFL. So he's definitely someone that that defensive coordinators in the NFL really could love having in terms of versatility. I yeah, I absolutely agree.

He'd be fantastic and it'll be it'll be fun to see what happens. But I honestly do hope I'd assume he's going to be coming back just because the limited amount of hype that's been given to him. But we could probably talk all day about the Hawkinson and fan hooker i mean i i've loved watching him play i'm i'm bummed i won't be able to see fan playing the the black and gold again but i'm super excited about his career prospects and i i do think with the amount of hype that's coming to hawkinson right now and the the disappointing to not not disappointing but limited wide receiver class there's a good chance we won't be seeing Hawkinson after the Outback Bowl anymore. But jumping into, so that's kind of going to conclude our segment two. We want to jump into segment three.

And coming up on segment three, we're going to be talking about Hawkeyes in the NFL. So Fant, Hooker, Hawkinson, we fully expect them to be on this list in the upcoming years. But we're going to talk about the guys who have made the jump to the NFL and are performing outstanding all right we are back with segment three where we're going to be talking about the hawkeyes in the nfl and the first person i want to talk about with you today quinn is george kittle and this guy is lighting the nfl on fire man and he's doing it for a 49ers team that has

had three different starting quarterbacks and is starting Nick Mullins, undrafted quarterback out of Southern Miss. This guy is, you know, Kittle is blowing it up right now. He is 10th in reception yards in the league out of all everyone and second behind Travis Kelsey and tight ends. And he's 22nd in receptions against Denver, man. He couldn't be covered. He couldn't be stopped. This guy just couldn't help but get open. And what I think is more impressive is his breakaway speed. I mean, they're getting him open on crossing routes, and he's taking 80 yards of the house. So, love seeing

him play. Want to get your thoughts on Kittle? Well, I think a lot of people who followed Iowa football closely aren't really that surprised at how good George Kittle is doing in the NFL. I mean, 210 yards, obviously, you can't say you expected that in a single game. I think, 210 yards, obviously, you can't say you expected that in a single game.

I think a lot of people that follow the program closely aren't surprised that George Kittle is playing to the level he's playing at right now. He was a very, very good, I mean, very athletic football player when he was at Iowa, and he just so happened to be playing in the shadow of his older cousin, Henry Krieger-Kobel, who in his own right was a very good tight end at college. And it kind of came – he also played at a time where Iowa's offense –

I mean, if he played in this offense with Brian Ferentz, he would have been – he could have very well been a 1,000-yard receiver back-to-back season. It's just kind of the system he played in under Greg Davis wasn't quite – while it did help the tight – while it did lean itself, lend itself to the tight ends a lot, it really didn't use as much as we'd seen in the past. But that's what Iowa's done over year after year after year is produce NFL caliber tight ends.

I mean, you go down the list. Dallas Clark, Tony Mowiaki, Scott Chandler, Alan Reisner, just to name a few. I mean, C.J. Fedorowicz is another. Iowa's produced top talent tight ends in the NFL ever since Kirk Ferentz got to Iowa City. You go back even before Kirk

was there, he had players like Marv Cook and another notable one is the current Attorney General of the United States, Matthew Whitaker, played tight end for Iowa in the 1991 Rose Bowl. So the list of tight ends that have been stars in Iowa just goes on and on, even past the Ferentz era

back into the days of Hayden Frye. It's truly impressive. I mean, I think, you know, you talk about like linebacker you and DBU. Do you think it's safe to call Iowa tight end you? I mean, I think it is. I think as of right now it is. I mean, you have, you produce, I mean, great talents like Dallas Clark, who should be an NFL Hall of Famer once his eligibility does come around.

And, you know, Marv Cook was a star of the NFL for years. C.J. Fedorowicz, before his issues with concussions, was a top tight end of the league. George Kittle is definitely making his case to be top tight end of the league. And you've got two guys coming out of Iowa right now, or at least one guy for sure coming out of Iowa. know a fan another possible one of TJ Hawkinson that could very well be top tier tight ends in the NFL so I think it's a pretty safe assumption to call Iowa tight end you I absolutely agree and I one thing I want to know for the fans is that we are

actually in the work to try to get CJ Fedorowicz on the show so there's a chance that CJ will be coming on the show hopefully in the next couple chance that CJ will be coming on the show, hopefully in the next couple of weeks. But we're working closely with him to try to get him on there potentially. And then also, maybe it's a good – maybe, Quinn, we can have you back on. We can just do a show about tight end university, man, and talk about the Hawks. And he's tight.

I think with the next couple of weeks, it's going to be a little slow. There's no football games. The basketball season is kind of hitting a lull until they get into the Big Ten slate of games. So maybe we can have you back on and we can discuss tight end university. I think that would be a fantastic episode. And then kind of jumping away from tight ends, one other player I want to touch on that has just been lighting the world on fire,

and you made a good point earlier. If anyone from Iowa football fans saw George Kittle, they knew he was going to be good. I would say they would say the exact same thing about Desmond King. And the fact that this guy fell to the fifth round, the NFL should be slapping themselves. This is pathetic that he didn't get drafted until the fifth round because of, to be honest, bullcrap concerns about his ability to twist his hips,

his speed. believe you're in like a 455 40 the guy can flat out play football and that's what all that's really all that should have mattered and this guy has been lighting the world on fire he is the number one ranked corner according to pro football focus he just got afc special teams of the week honors for week 13 when he returned a a punt for a touchdown i mean this this guy's incredible. I'm a huge Broncos fan, and I hate playing against him. He's so good. Well, I'll join you in that, Bo, because I'm a huge Raiders fan, and he's killed us so far this year.

And definitely, I mean, he is – I told a lot of my friends and a lot of the people that I know that are Iowa fans, I told them, don't worry about where he was drafted. Desmond King is going to be a star in the NFL. And this year he has been, you know, he's been a star. He has three interceptions on the year, including a pick six against the Seattle Seahawks. And he's also got two power turns per touchdown this year.

So he's by far and away been one of the, I mean, I think he may have been the biggest miss of the 2016 draft class. I mean, or the 2017 draft class, rather. Like you said, to think he fell all the way to the fifth round just because of how fast he ran without pads on is unbelievable to think about. I mean, you look at guys that, I mean, you don't have to be the fastest guy in the NFL to play cornerback. Do you have to ask his speed? Sure.

But a 4-5-40, that's not a bad 40 time, especially when you have the ball skills that Desmond King had, and they were always on full display when he was a hot guy, especially in 2015 when he had eight interceptions in his sophomore season. Yeah, I'm hoping

that the success that he's having, the success that Micah Hyatt is having, and what I would assume is going to be eventual success. Josh Jackson has struggled a little bit, had some good moments and whatnot, but I'm hoping that's helping NFL scouts realize what Iowa does in terms of defensive backs, what kind of defensive back talent they're producing,

and also to help them understand and maybe stop looking so closely at things that they typically would have thought were super important before and realize that if the guy can play, the guy can play. I mean, Josh Jackson fell to the second round because of concerns about his hips and

his, you know, his straight line speed. And the guy is going to be, he's going to be very strong player for the Packers. I'm obviously having struggles all over the team right now, but, and he even had some moments in preseason,

but I hope this will maybe even help a money hooker. If he comes back for another year to maybe elevate his draft stock, just based on the fact that if he doesn't test well, you know, some of these DBS coming out of Iowa, if they can play like they've been playing in Iowa, they can play in the NFL. Absolutely.

And that's what Phil Parker, that's the kind of these guys like Desmond King and Josh Jackson. Those are the kind of DBS Bill Parker wants to recruit to. They want to bring guys in. They may not have the fastest sporting time in the world, but they have unbelievable ball skills. They have, I mean, they're, they jump, they're able to jump out of the building.

Josh Jackson, for those of you out there that might not kind of remember when he came out of high school, he was a seven foot high jumper in the state of Mississippi. He was an unbelievable, or a Texas, rather, not Mississippi. But he was an unbelievable athlete coming out of high school, and that's the kind of guys that Kirk Ferentz and Phil Parker look for at a DB. You definitely have it there right now with guys like Michael Ogimudia, Riley Moss.

Riley Moss is the one example. He was a 13.85, 110 high hurdler in high school his senior year and if any of you know out there know anything about track and field that was one of the top five fastest times in the country those are the kind of guys iowa wants they want multi-sport athletes especially for dbs they want guys that can jump out of the gym and are able to play the football like nobody else they can find in the country and they've done a great job especially with guys like desmond king and j Jackson. Yeah, and it's one of the things I love about the Iowa football program,

man. It's the fact that they look for other qualities. They look for, and they have to. When you're a team like Iowa, you're competing against the Ohio States and the Alabamas, and you need to find your edge. I mean, it's not moneyball-type edges, but it's a different kind of edge. Finding those multi-sport athletes who have other skills that

can translate to playing football at the D1 level. And well, man, that will – so we have a – we're kind of at time at this point. Wanted to cover a couple other guys, but I think I can save that for another episode. Quinn, I really appreciate you coming on, man. Really enjoyed talking to you today. I think obviously we'll need to have you back on another time. We can talk about Titan University and jump into that stuff. Do you have any last

comments before I close out the show? I am going to do a shameless self-plug here. This upcoming Saturday, Iowa is playing UNI the Big Four Classic. I will be on the call for 89.7 KRIUI. For any listeners out here

in Eastern Iowa or I'll be online at Mixler.com slash KRIUI. Tip-off is at 630, or I'll be online at Mixler.com slash K-R-U-I. Tip-off is at 630, I believe, at Wells Fargo Arena. I will be on the call by then, just by myself, so I'm flying it solo. So we'll see how that goes, but it should be a fun one for the final Big Four Classic held in Wells Fargo Arena. Absolutely, man.

We'll be listening to you, and also our Locked On listeners can follow you at QuinnDouglas underscore FS on Twitter. And you can follow the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast at Locked On Iowa. And you can follow me, your host, Andrew Wade at Wade underscore Andrew. And that'll do it for our Tuesday episode. We'll be back again tomorrow. Have lots of great content coming to you the next couple of days. Like I said, a little bit of a slow period in Hawkeye athletics.

But we will not be missing a beat with the stuff we're bringing you. And with that being said, you can follow our podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast at. Please leave us a review. Let us know what you think of the show. And you can also reach us at lockedonhawkeyes at gmail.com.

That'll do it for today. Thank you so much for listening, Hawkeye Nation. Have a great night and we'll talk to you tomorrow.