Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - What August camp is like for an Iowa Football Player

Episode Date: July 28, 2022

LeShun Daniels & Trent Condon return as Iowa Football gets ready for the start of August football camp.They talk about the open of practice as a freshman, a couple of players that always seemed to be in the middle of scuffles.Did guys sneak out of the hotel? Sneak girls into the rooms? Plenty of fun questions and a look at what happens as the Iowa Football team gets ready to start practice.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at Linkedin.com/lockedoncollege Terms and conditions apply.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's it like to be a football player going through August practice? Former Hawkeye LaShawn Daniels tells us fights in practice, sneaking girls in or sneaking out of the hotel. All today on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day. Back with you another edition of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Trent Condon, LaShawn Daniels, thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes

your first listen every day. We're free and available everywhere you get podcasts. As we get ready for the weekend, Big Ten Football Media Day is in the books. I'm officially on vacation right now, so we don't have any stories coming out of that that we're going to talk about. We will talk about that certainly, though, next week. LaShawn, good to talk to you as always. And we're going to go inside the football complex with you a little bit here today.

We're going to go back into the memories for you and maybe take you to a place that's not exactly your most fun talking point, August camp, and get ready for the football season. Boy, to a place that's not exactly your most fun talking point august camp and getting ready for the football season boy what a grind that has to be yeah um ball camp is definitely a different definitely a different breed right especially um you know coming in as a freshman it's a lot tougher than what you might, you know, really expect, right? I mean, it's a lot of long days, you know, long practices, grinding, you know, going against each other. And as tough as it is physically, it's just as hard, if not even tougher mentally. So, yeah, it's not the easiest time for sure, but it definitely

does get you ready for the upcoming football season. Let's go back to that first camp. You've been on campus for a couple months at that time. You get there June. You're going through weight lifting. You're figuring things out. You probably figure, I got this all good. I'm going to walk into camp.

Other running backs that were coming in this year, it was you and Akram coming in. You had a couple of Ohio guys that were there. You figure, all right, I'm going to walk into camp. The other running backs that were coming in this year, it was you and Akram coming in. You had a couple of Ohio guys that were there. You figure, all right, I'm going to walk in the door here. I'm going to show them what's up, and I'm going to take over that running back spot. And then you walk in. So what is, even that first day,

that first day of real football practice as a D1 football player, a Big Ten football player, what was that first experience like for you? Well, for starters starters it's exciting i mean it's the first time you get to throw on you know a practice jersey first time you get to put on the helmet right first time you really get to get out there with with all the coaches the entire team right and be a division football player right it's your first practice so it's really really exciting um but once you get past part, even before you even get on the practice field,

we're going through all these different meetings. We're trying to install a bunch of plays. So your brain, it feels like you're working overtime, to be honest. It feels like you're working overtime because for – I mean, I wouldn't even want't bet that Iowa's offense is more complicated than probably 99% of the offices in high school. So coming in to try to learn all these things, you want to learn these things as quickly as possible so you can actually

play fast. That's tough. That's a really tough part, like early on. But, I mean, for the most part, like those first couple practices, it's a lot of individual work, a lot of seven-on-sevens or one-on-one routes, right? Nothing too crazy because you don't have pads on

and a lot of guys are still going to be learning a bunch of the playbook. But, you know, once you fast forward about a week right and you start getting the pads on then it's a another another ball game do you have a welcome to college football moment a guy that maybe gave you a hit in practice let's see who was on that team your freshman year you had what big carl davis was up there in the middle you the guys at the linebacker spot. You had Bo Bauer, Cole Fisher, Josie Jewell was out there around the same age as you. But was there that moment right away where you got hit for the first time

and say, oh, boy, this is different than high school football? I would say, honestly, thinking about, thinking back to it, I mean, there probably was a moment in my freshman camp where like that did happen but I mean like the first time I remember

like first like big play I made in camp it was like we were in pads or whatever and it was like a run up the middle boom got it ran over a safety uh i want to say was nico law i mean uh nico like we were doing like a temple period um but yeah basically got uh inside zone play right like random like ran him over um during the play you know popped up obviously all hype like throwing the ball around like we're running around celebrating

and the coaches are yelling at me because we're running a tempo period, so I need to get up and be on the ball and run the next play. So that's just something that I'll – that's probably like the one thing that I remember, like from my freshman year, like fall camp. Like that was like the one play I was like – where I was like, man, this college stuff, this isn isn't too too hard this is like it's just football it's football at the end of the day um but then you know once i got to start getting like a few reps like with the first group

right and trying to uh you know read a hole and maneuver and try to pass block some of these some of the linebackers and um read holes when things are opening and closing so fast. Yeah, that was definitely a different pace that I definitely see a lot of work to adjust to. Good stuff there. LaShawn, when we come back, I want to talk a little bit about a typical day for these guys as they're going through camp, what it's like, the work that is being done, and maybe some other interesting parts of it.

Guys sneaking out, guys getting in trouble. We'll go inside what football camp is like for a football player. August camp right around the corner. It's a Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. BetOnline.net is the fastest and easiest way to check in on all your betting needs. Find all your favorite sports and events at the number one online source for odds, lines, and games. I love to bet. This is music to my ears. You can find reviews and news of every league, MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, esports, even golf.

BetOnline continues to be the top online resource for all your sports wagering information. From live in-game betting, scores, and podcasts, they have you covered. Head to BetOnline today or use your mobile device to learn more about the action happening today. BetOnline, where the game starts. So LaShawn, as we were talking about,

camp, you're going through the process, you're getting your feet underneath them. You've been working out. You've, you're going through the process. You're getting your feet underneath them. You've been working out. You've been building to get to this point. You're getting your opportunity. You want to show the coaches what you can do out there. But there's also just the day-to-day grind, and you hear so much about this. So take us in what it's like there.

What is it, two weeks that you guys are staying in a hotel? Is that right? Or at least it was when you were playing, two weeks that you're holed up in a hotel and it's practice, it's football, and that's it. Yeah. Yeah, that's pretty much it. Like, I just feel like trying to prepare. I can remember my first year,

I brought, like, an entire suitcase of stuff. Little did I know that I wasn't even going to have time to even, you know, go through that suitcase of stuff. I was basically just going to be wearing workout clothes practically 24-7. So, but basically, like, how it goes, to even you know go through that suitcase stuff i was basically wearing workout clothes practically 24 7 um so but basically like how it goes it's like you get up you know depends like if you need treatment or not but usually i'll get up like 6 a.m i probably got like a whole fall schedule uh camp somewhere around around my house if i look hard enough i can probably find it

but it's like get up at 6 a.m., you know, you head down, you know, you practice, 6.30 or whatever. Then you, then we usually took like,

we took like shuttles. We would take like Sprinter vans over from the, it was like the Marriott we stayed at and we'd take

Sprinter vans over to the complex. You know, you do whatever stuff you got to do. Whether you get taped or whatever. Do whatever additional treatment you got to do. And then we're in meetings, right?

For like the next few hours, right? So this would be like a single practice day. At least this is what it used to be. So we'd be in meetings for several hours, right? And then we would have like a quick lunch break, right? And then, you know, early in the afternoon, we would go out, we would have practice, you know, two and a half hours,

probably two and a half hours practice scripted. And then you come in, you take a shower, right? You go, we go eat and then we come back and then we go through more meetings. And then, you know, by that point in time, it's probably like 8, 9 o'clock, and then we're getting ready to head home. And then when we have two-a-days, when we used to have two-a-day practices, it would be very similar.

You get up, and instead of heading to meetings in the morning, you would just head straight off to practice. And then after practice, we eat. We go back to the hotel take like a quick nap we come back we go to meetings and then we repeat have like a later practice um and then uh that'd be it then it'd be like eight o'clock uh and then you head home so it's some version of that pretty much every single day um and then like like, we would lift, like, three days a week. So on some days, like, if we're just having a single-day practice, right,

when offense is in meetings, the defense would be going in the lift. And then when offense is going in meetings, we flip. Offense goes lift. Defense goes to meetings. And so on and so forth. So it's probably some type of version like that still um where you're going to be in meetings for pretty much most of the day a lot of the day is going to be spent focused on meetings whether it's special teams um offense defense group or

your individual position meetings uh because that's where a lot of the work is done in fall camp that's a big part of the reason why it's a lot of mental work, right, more than it is physical. Yeah, obviously, you're going to be grinding out there on the football field. It's going to be hot. But, I mean, that's part of the reason why you have your summer strength conditioning. You have your winter strength conditioning to make sure that you're prepared and you're ready to go to handle that.

But the mental part of the game is what really gets people a lot because obviously you're tired um all the time so it's harder to focus um you know in those meetings to make sure that hey i'm making sure that i'm actually looking at the things that need to be corrected so when i go out there again in the practice field that i don't make those same mistakes i can play faster right the coach is going to see that I'm actually improving versus

being out here trying to have a good time. So you're holed up for a couple weeks. You're in a hotel room. People get a little stir-crazy. We're also talking about 18- to 23-year-old guys sneaking in a girl, going out to the bar. Any stories of anybody sneaking out,

anybody getting caught? Any trade secrets you can share with us, LaShawn? I'm not snitching on nobody, but people, yeah, people used to be wild all the time. No matter how much the coaches and people there like to watch you, people are always doing stuff. people that are there to watch you. People are always doing stuff.

So you usually have curfew at, I think, like 10 or 11, something like that. I was around there with one of the coaches or a manager would come by and make sure that everyone was in their room. And that got a lot of business. But, yeah, sometimes people would get crazy. Sometimes people would, you know, try to sneak in a girl or, you know, try to sneak out and do whatever. Because, I mean, it's tough being in there two weeks and you're just looking at each other. You get sick of looking at everyone.

You get to a point where it's like, I just need to see someone else. I'm just tired of looking at everyone like you get to a point where it's like like i just need to see someone else i'm just tired of looking at football players so yeah people people would definitely go a little crazy sometimes a lot of times people didn't get caught but if you did get caught it was definitely not a good thing i don't even remember what the punishment was like if you got caught either being out past curfew or whatever right it was probably something like where you just had where you had to like push a board or something or they made you like roll or something after practice i don't know something some some you know typical like football punishment that's obviously no not at all and then obviously like getting caught like

that doesn't put you in any good favors with the coaches, right? So that's another thing, right? You want to make sure that you're doing things that, like, where the coaches are like, hey, can we trust this guy? Is he going to be doing the right thing even when, you know, people aren't focused on them all the time? So, but, I mean, hey, a lot of people are really good at not getting caught. So, yeah, I think I'm probably just going to leave it at that. I think it was very well said, LaShawn. I think we know exactly where you're going. Well, one other thing that I find interesting we'll talk about next,

and that is that chippiness that's going to come out. What's it like on the practice field, what they're going through? Some fights that break out. It seems like that's always part of the conversation. Doesn't matter what sport. You're sick of going up against the same guys. We'll do that when we continue on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Well, Sean, final thing as we wrap up here and get ready for next week

and the start of football camp for the University of Iowa and the players getting ready to get the pads back on, get out there and hear those helmets pop in and the plat pads pop in always a great time. But I know it, you know, at anybody that's played football at any level, if you played sports at any level, I think, you know, when you're practicing against the same group of guys,

you're going up against the same people, there's going to be chippiness. There's going to be fights that break out. And I've seen it at all levels of sport in all kinds of different sports. You just get sick of them. They're your teammates, sometimes your friend, but you just get sick of it. So any fights, anything that you can remember that jumps to memory as you're going through the grind and things that happened in practice back in your day? Yeah.

There used to be fights all the time. A lot of times the fights start from the O-line and D-line. 99% of the time it came from the D-line starting it. But yeah, I mean, the tempers are playing. I mean, you guys are competing against each other

every single day for several hours throughout the day, right? You just get sick of them, even if they do – even if they played the play completely right, nothing dirty, nothing like that, but you felt like they blocked you, maybe a little bit too long, or they went like a little extra too hard on the play, right? And then you get to pushing and shoving, and next thing you know,

it breaks out into a full fight, right? I mean, that used to happen all the time, especially between offensive and D-line quite a bit. And it would even happen a bunch with receivers and DBs. And I feel like those two groups, those

were really four groups is really where a bunch of the fights started. Probably the running backs, like we were a pretty chill group. We didn't really find ourselves in too many fights. But guys that, two guys that every single camp, or even in, like, a regular practice, like, during the spring or during the season, right?

These guys are always finding themselves in the center of it was Jaleel Johnson and Joby Jewell. Those two, like, anytime there was a fight, you could probably look somewhere and probably pinpoint, like, those are two of the biggest troublemakers that they probably started. So, but for the most part, yeah, I mean, there's fights and stuff happening,

but, I mean, they love each other pretty much, like, after practice. Like, once, you know, practice is over and dudes are in the locker room, for the most part, like, I would say, like, that stuff over and dudes are in the locker room, for the most part, I would say that stuff didn't really carry over. It was just like, they get it. We're sick of each other.

We get it. We know it wasn't anything malicious or anything like that, so they usually just put it aside and then you forget about it until the next practice. Josie and Jaleel, always in the middle of it. Remember those guys' play days? Probably not a real big surprise that they were in the middle of stuff

and mixing it up, but hey, great stuff there, LaShad. One other thing as you're going through these practices and getting ready for the season, the camaraderie, the team-building aspect of that, was there much of that, or is that something that happens in different times where you're sitting around talking, you're getting together and just doing different things away from football, just having those conversations and doing different things? Did you guys do much of that? Yeah.

A lot of times. So we would do like a lot of team building activities for sure. for sure um where you're like pick up like a person like you get paired up with someone and then you had to learn about them and you have to do like a like a presentation on them like about this person like their favorite things whatever um so that was something we did but i feel like a lot of team building honestly just came from you know just the guys just hanging out right outside of practice right here in the locker room um you know you got everyone around the guys just kind of choking around you know packing choke um you know just talking about a number of different things right or um eating meals with each other with putting like your phones away that was that was

one thing that i feel like that the coaches kind of helped on like a bunch just try to make sure that like hey you guys can be around each other and put your phones away, be in the moment, talk to each other. And I feel like that was something that we did pretty well, especially like that 2015 team that we had. So, like, that was a team that I felt like everyone was pretty close to each other. It really did matter who you were sitting with or who you were around. Like, you could always, you know, strike a good conversation. And, you know, you'd have a good time.

It really formed that bond to where it was like, hey, I can rely on this guy. Even if we aren't next to each other on a football field, I know I can rely on him to do the right thing, whether it's on a football field, in the weight room, in the classroom, in the film room. You knew that you were going to be around some people who were really in it to win it. So, yeah, I feel like a lot of that team building stuff does come in that fall camp time period, and it's really where, as a team,

you have an opportunity to get really close to each other because, you know, like we said earlier, right, we're seeing these guys every single day for, you know, essentially longer than 12 hours a day, right? So you really do get the opportunity to form those bonds, get close to each other. Well, it's right around the corner for Iowa football. And, LaShawn, next time we talk, it will be August,

and that means we will be, well, one month away from the kickoff of football season. In fact, end of August, we'll get Nebraska-Northwestern over in Ireland Week Zero, and football will be upon us. We're getting close. We're almost there. Yes, we're excited. I'm excited. I can't wait. Can't wait.

Best time of the year. No doubt about it. Hey, LaShawn, thanks as always for your time. A little bit of a respite for you. We'll still talk. It'll be, I guess, a week from Friday. It'll be August, and looking forward to our next conversation after I get a little sunning and funning, a respite for you. We'll still talk. It'll be, I guess, a week from Friday. It'll be August and looking forward to our next conversation after I get a little sunning and funning, a little vacation for me. And then we'll be back at it in the grind of football season. We'll be here.

Love it. Love it. Enjoy your vacation. Thank you. Appreciate it. Get to know what your team is up against across the Big Ten with Locked On Big Ten. Every day, host Nate Dickinson and the local experts on Locked On

take you across the Big Ten in 30 minutes. Make Locked On Big Ten your second listen. Locked On Big Ten. It'll be fun. We'll be back with you next week with the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Go Hawks.