Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Which Hawks measurables compare to a Super Bowl MVP | Where could Hockenson/Fant go in the draft | Possible departures from men's program

Episode Date: April 3, 2019

Today's episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast takes a speculative look at who could possibly be joining Maishe Dailey as a departure from the men's Iowa basketball program. Segment two and three is all about Iowa football. Which players were projected in the first three rounds of Matt Miller's most recent draft and what are a few pro comps for Iowa Hawkeyes entering the draft this year based on their combine and Pro Day measurables. One Hawk in particular matches up incredibly well with a recent Super Bowl MVP. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are listening to the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast, your daily podcast covering the Iowa Hawkeyes for the Locked On Sports Network, hosted by Andrew Wade, editor at DearOldGold.com. Welcome to another episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. It is a beautiful Wednesday, April 3rd, and we are here to talk to you about all things Iowa Hawkeyes. I am your host, Andrew Wade, editor over at DearOldGold.com, and if you haven't checked out our episodes from the last couple days, make sure to do that. Yesterday, we talked all about Iowa women's basketball.

You know, just kind of doing a recap of their game against Baylor. And talking about, you know, just what that team meant to this season. And kind of what it meant to the state of Iowa and to, you know, Iowa fans all over the place. So make sure to check out that episode if you did not get a chance to. We also have some really great content coming up for you in the coming days and weeks. We have an episode that we're going to be recording tomorrow and posting hopefully on Friday talking to you about how can you get to some of these Iowa games for a little bit cheaper, right? So it's going to be a little bit of a different type of podcast, but we do have a special guest coming on who, you know,

likes to use his miles and his points and all that fun stuff to get to Iowa games as cheap as possible. So we want to make sure we're sharing that content with you as football season is going to be coming up just in a few short months as hopefully the football team will be going to another bowl game in a sunny and beautiful place, you know, Florida, California, you name it, somewhere like that. So we want to be talking to you about that, giving you some information on that. We also have a fantastic interview coming up with a 2020 football recruit. Can't exactly give you the name yet, but we'll be sharing that next week. And we have some exciting news that we're going to hopefully be sharing with you later

this week or early next week about some basketball related items. So that being said, if you're tuning into the show for the very first time, make sure you do subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast at. And if you have a smart speaker at home, I want you to try this just one time. Just say, hey, Google, Siri, or Alexa, play podcast Locked on Hawkeyes. It is that easy to listen to the most recent episode of the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. I did it the other day. I was cooking dinner, decided to listen to the Locked on NFL Draft podcast with John

Ledger and Trevor Sikama. And all I said was, hey, Alexa, play podcast Locked on NFL Draft. And it popped up the most recent episode of the Locked on NFL Draft podcast. All right, we're going to jump right into it, though. Segment number one, we are going to be talking about the men's basketball team and possible departures from that team. We already saw that Macy Daly has decided to transfer. Are there other people who could be leaving the program?

This is not a rumor mill. This is not speculating that these guys are going to leave. Just a matter of here's some guys who possibly could. It would make possibly sense that they would leave in the coming months from the Iowa basketball program. And then on segment number two, we're actually going to be giving you a few recent mock draft updates. Giving you some heads up as to where a few Iowa football players are getting projected to right now. as to where a few Iowa football players are getting projected to right now. And then on segment number three, we're going to be doing some player comparisons based off of Iowa-Hawkeye Combine and Pro Day Times.

And I thought they were pretty interesting. Spoiler alert, one of the current Iowa football players who is going to be in the draft this year has a pretty good comparison to a former Super Bowl MVP. So, want to make sure you tune into segment number three as we talk about player comparisons. But let's jump right into it with segment number one. As I said, Macy Daly has decided to leave, and that was pretty much inevitable. As a junior, we saw his playing time decrease as the year went on.

He came in in defensive situations, but with a few other players coming in, we have Jack Nunge, Corden Pemsel, C.J. Frederick, Patrick McCaffrey, and Joe Toussaint. Those are a lot of guys who could be getting some key minutes next season. But we're only losing Nicholas Bayer, so it was inevitable that someone was probably going to leave, and it made sense that

Masha Daly is probably that guy who's going to leave. As a senior, you're not going to want to spend the time on the bench. You want to have an opportunity to start and play. So my assumption is that kind of makes sense for him. We talked about that with Ryan Neidert on a show last week about the Iowa basketball team, speculating that he might leave as well. But what does that mean?

Are there other players who could be gone? Are there other players who could be leaving the Iowa basketball program? And there's really three that I think have an opportunity to potentially leave. And let's start out with the big and easy one. That's Tyler Cook. And Tyler Cook, mostly because he is a possible NBA draft pick. Last year, he tested the NBA waters, got some, I would say some feedback noting that he needed to do a better job at having a mid range game and work on a few things like that. Personally, I don't think that he did as good of a job as incorporating that mid range game and work on a few things like that. Personally, I don't think that he did as good of a job as incorporating that mid-range game as NBA scouts would have liked to see, but his athleticism is obvious. It's off the charts in how athletic he is, how good he is at playing in the paint and

whatnot. So I think there's an opportunity there that scouts may still be okay with him, and maybe he realizes or maybe he thinks he kind of reached his peak at Iowa maybe he's not really ready to go back for another year and try to improve maybe he thinks that the NBA is the best chance for him to improve on his you know his game and whatnot maybe he thinks he's capped out of his potential under Fran McCaffrey personally I would love to see Tyler Cook come back. I think he adds a lot to the team. Obviously, he's a dynamic force, very athletic, and I think he has the opportunity to develop a

better inside-out game, allowing him to, and more so just how can he pass from the paint? Because when he gets the ball down low, oftentimes teams are closing in on him. He needs to do a better job of kicking it back out, and that'll really get that Iowa offense going. You see it with Luka Garza quite often. He's getting to be a better passer. I would like to see him have a Tyler Cook as well. And with just how athletic Tyler Cook is, I would like to see him play a little bit better defense in the paint as well. Oftentimes, if it's a smaller guy, they're a little bit quicker around him.

If it's a bigger guy, they can kind of bully him. So, would love to see him improve on that. But that is one option for a guy who may potentially be leaving. Another guy who could be looking at the NBA draft is Isaiah Moss, and you may be wondering why Isaiah Moss, and I think that's one of those interesting scenarios. If he were to be drafted or if he were to be entering the NBA draft and stick with it, I think it's all based on potential and the projection of him. He has a lot of traits. He is a prototypical potential and the projection of him. He has a lot of traits.

He is a prototypical 3 and D type of guy. He has the athleticism to match up on defense with some of the best players in the league, while also being that guy who can shoot 35 to 40% from three point. This past year, he shot 38.3% from three. What I personally would love to see more though from Isaiah Moss is that consistency offensively. And so I think that would be one reason why he would want to return to school. But a couple things to keep in mind. There's not a lot of shots on this Iowa basketball team.

There's so many good offensive players. Isaiah Moss is oftentimes the fourth or fifth option on that team. I believe he actually was fifth on the team in scoring. So he's a great scorer. He can take over games. I mean, he averaged, he scored over 15 on the team in scoring. So he's a great scorer. He can take over games. I mean, he averaged, he scored over 15 points eight times a season. But 13 times a season, he scored less than six. So it's really hit or miss with him.

Does an NBA team take a chance on him? Do they give him that feedback that he could be one of those kind of surprise 3 and D type of guys who can make an impact as a ninth or tenth man on a roster? Would that be enough for him to declare and not come back? Also keep in mind his age. He's going to be a redshirt senior going into this season. He's going to be 23 at the conclusion of next season for the Iowa Hawkeyes. That's getting pretty old for an NBA rookie.

So I think that would also be something that could be interesting for him. for an NBA rookie. So I think that would also be something that could be interesting for him. Another kind of off-the-wall projection is what if he decides he wants to be the man at some other university? What if he decides he could be a graduate transfer, he could go to another school, and be the number one option and maybe improve his stock? I think that's also an option for him as well. Again, I would love to see Isaiah Moss back in an Iowa Hawkeye uniform.

But I always wish all former players the best. And I think sometimes you have to do what's best for you. If he decides that that is what's best for him, then I fully support that. But I do hope he does return to the Iowa Hawkeyes in an Iowa Hawkeye uniform. The other guy that I think is probably the most interesting case, though, is Connor McCaffrey. And that's because there's not going to be a lot of minutes going around next year. He did play a decent amount of minutes. He was a very reliable person off the bench.

But his offensive game never really got going. He was never really much of a scorer this past season. And teams started to recognize that and sag off of him, forcing him to either shoot a three or really try to make a very good pass. He is obviously a very focused and fantastic passer. He does a really good job of moving the ball around in the Iowa offense, but if you can't score, it makes it a little bit easier for teams to play defense against you. But I think what really is probably the biggest argument for why he may not come back is the fact that the guy is juggling two D1 sports as a baseball player and as a basketball player.

And he's tearing it up on the diamond despite not really committing a ton of time to it or as much time as the other baseball players have. Just this past weekend, Connor McCaffrey went 3 of 10 from the plate with two walks and started in right field in all three games. This Iowa Hawkeye baseball team is good. Under Rick Heller, they've been great the last couple years. So it's no joke that he is actually starting and playing as a redshirt freshman for this team. That's a big freaking deal.

So I want you to keep that in mind. Those are three guys who could possibly be gone. I don't think all three of them are going to be gone. And I think there's a very good chance that all three of them return. But it is something we just want to talk about, something to bring up, speculate what could happen. There's just not enough minutes to go around with how many scores, how many talented players Iowa will have

next season. If all these guys return though, it gives them an opportunity to potentially play more of a press defense and that way they can sub in and out a second string as well that is very talented and can compete in the Big Ten. That'll do it for segment number one.

On segment number two, just a reminder that we are going to be talking about some of the most recent mock draft projections for the Iowa Hawkeyes. So stay tuned for that after a few messages from our sponsors. All right, we are back with segment number two. Just a reminder that on segment number three, we're going to be doing some player comparisons for the current Iowa football players who are entering the NFL draft this year based off their combine and pro day times.

Want to make sure we're giving you some pretty cool stuff to look at. Specifically, there is one player on the Iowa football team that is very comparable to a Super Bowl MVP. So make sure you tune into segment number three. You do not want to miss that. But let's jump right into a few things about the upcoming NFL draft and recent mock drafts. Matt Miller from Bleacher Report.

He also hosts Stick to Football, the podcast that runs Monday, Wednesday, Friday. A fantastic NFL draft podcast. I highly recommend checking it out. It's a great podcast to listen to in addition to the Locked On NFL Draft podcast on the Locked On Sports Network. And the Draft Dudes podcast on the Locked On Sports Network. Those are also great draft podcasts to listen to as well. But Matt Miller put a three-round mock draft. And what I like about Matt Miller's mock draft is it's sort of what he would do, but also what he's hearing from teams.

So to me, they're a little bit more reliable than what you see from just general analysts who are kind of projecting what they would do. And he had three Iowa Hawkeyes getting drafted in the first three rounds of the upcoming NFL draft, starting with TJ Hawkinson, who has definitely risen. In Matt Miller's last mock draft, he had Hawkinson going at 32 to the New England Patriots. Now he has Hawkinson going to the Titans at number 18. And I think that'd be a really good pickup for the Titans, having Marcus Mariota, a good opportunity for Hawkinson to get a lot of balls from Mariota, and for Mariota to have a very reliable pass catcher. We saw it with Nate Stanley. Hawkinson was his go-to guy. He could be that guy for Marcus Mariota. What I find interesting about this though is that's right in the middle of the range for Hawkinson. I've seen him mocked as high as 8. I've seen him mocked as low as 32.

And 18 is just really perfectly right in there. There's a lot of teams from that 8 to 32 range that have a need at tight end. And with tight end being kind of in vogue right now, there could be a lot of other clamorings for TJ Hawkinson. And we'll talk about that in just a few minutes, especially with the New England Patriots. But before we do that, I want to touch on Noah Fant, who goes second as far as Iowa football players do in this draft. He is actually projected to go 24 to the Raiders, playing under John Gruden and playing with Derek Carr. Another fantastic 24 to the Raiders, playing under John Gruden and playing with Derek Carr.

Another fantastic pickup for the Raiders. This would be a very athletic guy who could replace Jared Cook. It would also be a great opportunity for Derek Carr to get kind of a safety valve. He's not really much of a deep thrower. Noah Fant can be that guy, though, who can get those passes in the middle and maybe turn it into a 40-yard game with his athleticism and speed. I think he would really match John Gruden's offensive prowess. I think Gruden catches a lot of flack from all of his trades he made

and how bad the Raiders were, but this guy's an offensive mastermind. He will find a way to utilize Noah Fant in the most effective way possible, so I love that pickup from them there. And then finally, Imani Hooker going to the Chicago Bears. They just lost a few guys in their secondary. Adrian Amos, Bryce Callahan. Imani Hooker can be that replacement. And in the third round at

pick 87, that is fantastic value. Imani Hooker did a great job at the combine of showing he is as athletic as we thought he was. He kind of quieted those concerns because a lot of Iowa defensive backs in the past couple years have a lot of great game tape, but people get caught up on their measurables. They're not very fast. They're not very agile. They're not very quick.

Imani Hooker basically squashed all those concerns with his fantastic combine where he ran a 4-4-8-40-R-dash among other fantastic measurables that he posted. So I think at 87 to the Bears is really great for him. It would be a great fit for him. They have a need. He could go right in there. He's playing with James Daniels, another Iowa Hawkeye football player. So giving you some familiarity as well.

So I actually really love that pickup for the Bears to step right in and play in that defense. Also, when you have a defense that has Khalil Mack, that is absolutely huge for a young safety because you don't have as much time to be sitting back there and let the quarterback kind of try to pick your secondary apart. So I think that'd be very interesting. One guy who you might be wondering why was he missed in this, one guy who might be wondering, you know, why was he missed in this is Anthony Nelson. And that is, you know, a guy who obviously declared early for the draft. People are wondering kind of where he fits in the landscape of things here. And I think personally, it makes sense.

He's probably not going to be more than a fourth round draft pick just because there are still questions about his agility, despite doing a great job at the combine, had it, you know, turned in a great shuttle time, a great three cone drill, all those things. He really would be a fantastic addition to any team. But I think people are starting, are kind of curious andone drill, all those things. He really would be a fantastic addition to any team, but I think people are kind of curious and worried about where he would fit. There's some concerns about his strength, how well he gets off on the ball. So that'll be kind of interesting to see where he's at, but I really do think the fourth

round is probably a better projection for him than a third-round draft pick. Two other things I want to bring up, though, actually one other thing with two other guys, is the New England Patriots and what Rob Gronkowski's retirement means for them. Obviously, we know that the New England Patriots love to run their offense through the tight ends. When they had Rob Gronkowski and the late Aaron Hernandez, they did a really fantastic job of utilizing those two weapons to beat teams. They also love to pound the ball and run the ball very well with Sonny Michel. So, what does that mean for the Iowa Hawkeye tight ends? It means that there's a great chance New England is going to be gunning for one of those guys with one of their first round picks. Maybe they're not available at 32,

but New England has the ammo to potentially move up and grab them earlier. And they have that history with Brian Ferencz, who was a tight end coach with New England before coming over and being the offensive coordinator for Iowa. He has that familiarity. You know, the Hawks have ran that scheme. They've ran that two tight end scheme for a while now. It would make all too much sense that Noah Fant or TJ Hawkinson would be a New England Patriot at the conclusion of the 2019 NFL Draft. But that'll do it for our recent mock draft updates. Just a reminder that on segment number three,

we're going to be walking you through our player comparisons. Who makes sense from the Iowa Hawkeyes? Who do they relate to in the NFL today? And I think you're going to find some of those comparisons to be quite interesting, especially that Super Bowl MVP one. So stay tuned after a few messages from our sponsors for segment number three.

Alright, we are back with segment number three talking to you about player comparisons and who makes sense from the Iowa Hawkeye landscape and who do they actually match up with the best in terms of pro football players today. And I'm going to save the best one for last and that is who matches up with a Super Bowl MVP. So I'm going to start the best one for last, and that is who matches up with a Super Bowl MVP. So I'm going to start off though with TJ Hawkinson. This guy, obviously we know he's an absolute stud. He's a beast. At the Combine, he wasn't as good as Noah Fant was. Just, you know, makes sense. He

wasn't as athletic as Noah Fant. He's still a fantastic tight end, a great blocker. But I thought his measurables were really interesting because they are very comparable to 2015 Pro Bowler Tyler Eifert. And when I look at some of his things, we're going to go through that. His 40-yard dash time, TJ Hawkinson is 4.7 compared to Eifert's 4.68. His three-cone drill is just a tenth of a second slower than Eifert's. His broad jump is four inches longer than Eifert's. His vertical is two inches taller than Eifert's. His broad jump is four inches longer than Eifert's. His vertical is two inches taller than Eifert's. His shuttle time is.14

seconds faster. His 60-yard shuttle is actually just.03 seconds faster. And they are just very, very, very close at height where TJ Hawkinson is 6'4", and 6'4.75",

whereas Tyler Eifert is 6'5". Going on to another, one of his running mates, Noah Fant, the biggest comparison for Noah Fant was actually Evan Ingram, the 2017 first-rounder who now plays for the Giants, except for that I would say Noah Fant is bigger and more explosive. So when you look at those comparisons for times, Noah Fant ran just a slightly slower 40 yard dash time at 4.5, whereas Evan Ingram ran a 4.42. Their three cone drills were a tenth of a second off. Their broad jumps were two inches off. Their vertical, actually

Noah Fant was three and a half inches higher. Their shuttle time was 0.01 seconds off. The vertical, actually Noah Fant was 3.5 inches higher. Their shuttle time was.01 seconds off. And height-wise, Noah Fant's 1 inch taller and also 15 pounds heavier. And he benched one more bench rep on 225. And their arm length is exactly the same. I thought that was really interesting. That's really a great comparison.

Evan Ingram, coming into the NFL draft, coming into the NFL, was really known as a very strong pass catcher with a little bit less refinement in terms of blocking. Noah Fant gets a knock of being not a great pass blocker or run blocker, but he really is. He does try hard. He actually has a lot of the skill set needed to be a great blocker. He's not as bad as people make him out to be. I would say his blocking ability is just average.

It's not great. It's not bad, though. And it's definitely better than Evan Ingram's, who was drafted in the first round by the Giants. So I would love to see how that plays out for Noah Pham. Those comparables, he actually matches up very well, if not better, than Evan Ingram, especially considering his size.

Another very interesting one, Kyle Gronowig, the senior return man, only had a few catches as a graduate transfer to Iowa. He actually compares extremely well to four-time All-Pro Devin Hester, who ran a 40-yard dash at 4.41 seconds. Grunewig ran his at 4.43

seconds. Their 10-yard dash times is.02 seconds off. Three-cone drills,.02 seconds off. Shuttle drill, actually Grunewig's is about a tenth of a second faster. And height-wise, Grunewig is just slightly smaller, about an inch and a half smaller and six pounds lighter. But as a return man, that's a pretty solid comparable.

I haven't seen the agility on tape as much though with Grunewig, but it'll be interesting to see how that plays out for him. He definitely helped himself at the pro day, turning in such a remarkable measurables for himself. Another guy I wanted to touch on is Anthony Nelson. And he really compares well to all pro defensive end Chandler Jones, except for that Nelson is taller and bigger. So not exactly a bad thing. Their 40 yard dash dash times were.05 seconds apart. Their three-cone drills, actually Nelson's was pretty quick. It was 6.95 seconds, whereas Chandler Jones was 7.07 seconds.

Broad jumps were two inches off. Vertical jumps were almost spot on. Shuttle times, Nelson's was about.15 seconds faster, and he's two inches taller and five pounds heavier. He did bench four reps less, which, as we talked about a little bit earlier on the segment number two of the show, Anthony Nelson's biggest concern is probably his strength and whether or not he's going to be able to beat guys with his hands, be able to push guys back as much and use that leverage.

But it'll be interesting to see. Obviously, Chandler Jones is a fantastic person to be compared to being an all-pro defensive end on the Arizona Cardinals. So that's good things for Anthony Nelson. Could he be that player? Who knows at this point. It only remains to be seen once we enter the NFL draft. Before I jump into the very exciting one, the very last one, where the comparison to, I almost blew it there,

the comparison to a Super Bowl MVP, I do want to touch on Imani Hooker and Jake Gervais. The interesting thing I thought about them was they actually almost had identical times. All right, so I'm going to pull that up real quick, exactly the comparisons between the two. Their 40-yard dash times were the exact same. Jake Gervais actually jumped half an inch higher. His three-cone drill was.05 seconds faster.

He's just a little over an inch taller, actually just less than an inch taller, and they're the exact same weight. So pretty interesting that both Iowa safeties have the exact same measurables. Obviously, Monty Hooker's tape is a little bit better than Jake Gervais's, but Jake Gervais also had a pretty interesting path to become the starting safety for the Iowa Hawkeyes. But I have one final pro comparison for you. And this is the one I've been saving and teasing. I almost blew it

there for a second, but this is about Nick Easley. All right. Nick Easley's comparison, and you'll love this, is Julian Edelman. All right. I'm not making that up. It is Julian Edelman, which is absolutely fantastic. I love the comparison to Julian Edelman, a guy who I think makes a lot of sense. Coming into this draft, Nick Easley, we knew he was very quick, right? We knew that he is the kind of guy who is going to be able to be very mobile and agile in the NFL. Not a guy who's going to burn you necessarily with deep speed, but a guy who's going to be able to be a great slot receiver. And that's kind of what his projection is right now. When you look at the comparisons though,

it makes pretty good sense. His 40 yard dash time is just 0.02 seconds slower than Edelman's, but his 10 yard split was actually 0.06 seconds faster. His vertical was a half inch lower. His bra was just three inches shorter, but his three cone drill was was actually.07 seconds faster. And remind you, Easley's three-cone drill is one of the best in the entire draft class this year. His shuttle time at 3.87, which is actually slower than what we've heard he was kind of timing at Iowa,

is.05 seconds faster than Edelman's. And Easley is an inch taller and 8 pounds heavier. So he's already bigger. He has fantastic hands. I'm incredibly excited for his potential at the NFL level. I think he's still underlooked, but he could be fantastic at the NFL if he fits with the right team. Very Wes Welker, very Julian Edelman-esque.

Obviously, the Patriots make a ton of sense. We did hear that Easley was working out with the Buffalo Bills. Wes Welker, very Julian Edelman-esque. Obviously, the Patriots make a ton of sense. We did hear that Easley was working out with the Buffalo Bills. He could be a fantastic slot receiver for Josh Allen, similar to what he was for Nate Stanley, being able to kind of be that security blanket, that 7-8 yard guy, just like Wes Welker was. So I love that comparison. I want to save that for you for last. I thought, you know, obviously the best comparison for last.

But that'll do it for our Wednesday morning episode. I do appreciate you tuning in on this episode and joining us today. Make sure if you haven't already, subscribe to our podcast wherever you listen to this podcast at. Make sure to follow us on Twitter at Lockdown Iowa. You can also follow us on Facebook at Lockdown Hawkeyes, and

if you love my voice, if you love my opinions, you can follow me at Wade underscore Andrew, and then finally, I hope if you love this show that you're giving us a review wherever you are getting this podcast at. The reviews absolutely help us. We want to know what you love about the show. If there's something you don't like, please let us know that as well. We love the feedback from you that we can use to make the show even better. So with that being said, have a fantastic day, Hawkeye Nation, and we'll be back tomorrow. We'll see you next time.