David Eickholt | WUW 513

David joins the show for his 3rd or 4th time. He is an inside with 247 Sports and a beat writer for the Iowa Hawkeyes. He just got home from Cleveland and from covering the end of this historic 2 year run by the Iowa Women's Basketball team, and thats where we start. We debrief the run the women had, talk about his thoughts covering Caitlin the past 4 years, the Wright Thompson article that was written about her, and more. Then we discuss what the Iowa Women could do moving forward relative to the transfer portal, the recruiting classes of the next 2 years, and beyond. We also talk football as David dives into the 5th and final week of Spring Football for the Hawks. He gives us the scoop on the early reports on new OC Tim Lester, his thoughts on where the offense could ascend to and what that means record wise for the Hawks, and a few players to look out for this fall.

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
If you follow IOWA Sports, thenyou know this guy. It's David Iiclet.
It's been on the show a coupleof times. He's back after a
WorldWind of a spring start of theyear following this women's basketball program. We
talk a lot about that in thebeginning of this podcast. Kaitlyn Clark,
the IOWA program moving forward, LucyOlsen potential transfer. Then we shift to
football, Tim Lester springball. Lotsgoing on in this episode. Glad you're

(00:22):
here, Let's have a day.Let's go back again for another washup walk

(00:53):
On the episode tonight, we bringa multi time guest beat reporter for the
Iowahaw Guys two for seven Sports,David Eicholt, back onto the show,
maybe even more more of a controversialfigure since since UH. But we were
just talking about before the UH westarted rolling with social media. David's out
there calling people out in the women'sbasketball fan base world. I've seen a

(01:17):
couple of tweets about narcissism with people. You're out there, David, You're
back. We're god to have youhere. You look like man, I'd
like you. Gotta hop on withthe walk Ons. Got to talk to
these guys. How you been.How how's basketball seas are you recovering it?
That's basically where I'm at right now. I think once spring football ends,
I'm going to go into hibernation forlike two weeks and just not exist

(01:40):
and do nothing other than like binge, watch house, and sleep. I
think that's my entire agenda. Butthings are good. Man. It's been
uh it's been crazy and the controversial. I I appreciate that, but uh,
you know, it's interesting because Idid not think those tweets were going
to get as much attention as theydid. Boy oh boy, I was
wrong that We definitely dumped off alittle bit. Well. And what Grant

(02:05):
and I were talking about before youlike as you hopped in before we started
recording, was one of our clipsthat just went viral. I think it's
a like a quarter million views onInstagram Grant and it might be at like,
I don't know, fifty or so, one hundred or so on Twitter.
And it was just us talking abouthow many five Stars they have,

(02:25):
and in the larger discussion of thepodcast, we were trying to like admire
their team and how talented they were, Like it was all positive. We
didn't crap on South Carolina even alittle bit in that podcast. We were
just like, dang, it waslike it was great to go up against
them. We were trying to takedown the big dog, David versus Goliath.

(02:46):
We did our best. They're sotalented that freshman's going off and you
know, a thirty second clip caughtthe algorithm of the South Carolina fan base,
and I think the first one wasit's just like the first person just
responded, washed up is about right? What it was like, what do

(03:07):
you mean? And then I startedgoing through more and more and they're like,
well, this guy doesn't even dohis research. It's actually nine out
of fourteen, we only have twelveplayers on our roster. One was a
transfer. It didn't even matter.Why doesn't Blueter just recruit five stars?
And I'm like, these people,there's something I'm touching a nerve in thirty

(03:28):
seconds of a clip of someone whoyou don't even know why. And then
you mentioned that, you know,these women fan bases in women's basketball fan
bases in general seem to be atleast and maybe it's just because they got
the spotlight in the last couple months, but they seem to be a little
touchy, a little bit protective.Maybe protective is a good word, I

(03:51):
think. So. I think there'sa couple of different levels to this.
Number one, it's very I thinkCaitlyn summed it up really well is when
it comes to women's basketball game,it's yeah, welcome to the party.
You're a little bit late. ButCaitlin's like, you know what, I'm
glad that you're paying attention to women'ssports, not just Kaitlin Clark, but
LSU like Cam and Brink, whatStanford did and all those other people.

(04:12):
And then there's a certain segment ofwomen's basketball fans that absolutely shit on all
the new fans for not knowing thehistory of the game. I mean,
do you really want to grow thegame? I mean, I mean that's
what comes down to, Like youcan't expect everybody that just started paying attention
women's basketball to know the game.So I think there's a there's just a
certain I want to say god complex, but a certain like I'm above you

(04:34):
because I know more about this thanyou, and it's almost minimizing any new
people that want to come in andsupport women's basketball. And I think it
trickles down to I mean, lookat the way Kaitlin Clark's been treated by
several WNBA legends and notable people inwomen's basketball, I've never seen anything like
it. The NBA is more aboutrivalries, but I think it's very rare

(04:58):
that you see somebody just absolutely dismantlesomebody before they get to the league.
It's really just and all Kaylan doesis ball. She doesn't say anything like
she just goes out there and dropsthirty five and twelve, like what are
we doing? So it's interesting,But I also think the blue bloods,
who have dominated the sport for solong, they're offended when they're not being

(05:23):
talked about as much as they usedto anymore because there are so many other
storylines and for Iowa fans and foryou know, blue bloods, the blue
bloods are mad because all the nationalmedia and everybody's talking about Kayln Clark.
That's exactly how it felt for everyother fan base when they watched women's college
basketball, because it was only aboutYukon, it was only about Tennessee,

(05:43):
it was only about Baylor where KimMolky was. Now the script's flipped a
little bit, but now the mediahas a huge opportunity next year to focus
on juju walkins, to focus onpagebackers, and to really kind of expand
the storyline outside of Kaitlyn Clark.A lot there. There're a lot there.
I can feel it. David.You've been carrying the weight of this.

(06:03):
You You respond, You respond andinteract with people at the rate that
I sometimes desire to. But Idon't get like You're obviously you throughout the
games are tweeting about Caitlin breaking anotherrecord, or you're you're you know,
because you tweet out like things thathappen, you also tweet out, you

(06:27):
know, when the games were goingon, You're you're giving you know,
sort of not play by play,but like general big things that are having
So you're your timeline was just filledwith more original tweets from you that are
sparking and are based on discussion directlyaround the game. And uh so you
then get a lot more interaction withdirect responses, comments, quote tweets from

(06:50):
these other people who now have opinionsabout what you're saying. And it's funny.
It's it's funny when you're not theone involved in the conversations, cause
then I just watch you like youthen quote tweet back you respond. Some
other people do this too, Likein the end, I just never It's
almost never productive, like even gettinginto the conversation, you know, like

(07:15):
have you ever quote tweeted someone backwho's who like miss interpreted you or like
completely took what you said wrong orlike assume something and and actually felt like
bet, I'm not coming after you. I'm just saying everybody in general on
Twitter, it never feels good,even if you like correct somebody and you're
like, no, that's not whatI meant. It's just like it's such
like you wish Twitter was just nota thing how they want to interpret it.

(07:38):
It's just like a text message.And that's the hard part about social
media, and that's why you needto be very careful about what you tweet.
I mean, I'll even go backto if you talk about the toxic
discourse of women's basketball, I'll goback to the column I wrote two years
ago about Caitlyn Clark and why sheshould have been the undisputed National Player of
the Year over Earleah Boston. Andyou see how the discourse has been with
LSU Iowa South Carolina to Iowa inregards to issues that are off the basketball

(08:03):
court. I got attacked by TaylorRooks. I got attacked by a lot
of people publicly, and I justdidn't respond because the second I respond,
that's exactly what they want to do. I know. So it's it's kind
of pick your poison. But you'reexactly right. I mean, it's all
an echo chamber. People are getinginterpreted how they want to interpret it,
and it's really hard to get anactual formed opinion about someone and how they

(08:24):
feel about a certain topic when you'reon social media. Man, it's it's
unbelievable to me too, Like thepeople who go okay, So you go
back to what you were saying aboutthe new fans of college women's basketball,
and I think a good word forit was like gatekeeping, like people who

(08:48):
have happened to basically Yukon fans orSouth Carolina fans who have been good in
the last decade or before, orfans that are in the older generation that
had fandom of a team when theywere good call it Tennessee or somebody like
that who's not relevant as much rightnow. Or I'll even see it from

(09:09):
the Iowa fans who are like whothen get called out because they say something
about Caitlin. Somebody says Caitlin sucksor doesn't deserve this, or so and
so is better. Iowa fan responds. Other fans says, you're on.
You only started watching when Kaitlyn cameinto college, and they're like, well,
actually, I've been going die withwomen's basketball games for the last seventeen

(09:31):
years of my life, and it'slike, what are we doing? What
are we doing? Growing? Ihate to say it, but that's the
thing. It's helping, and it'sas mindless as it is, at least
as being talked about to a differentlevel. Now, yeah, I mean
that if there's one end statement aboutthe whole thing is if people didn't care,

(09:52):
then there wouldn't be any discussion thereeven if it's even if it's pointless
discussion, there wouldn't be any ofit if if people weren't bought into their
players or their teams. So it'sgood. So it's good. I just
it gets so political. If youare a fan of Kaitlyn Clark, you're
racist because you know she's getting allthe awards and all the attention because she's

(10:18):
white. Like, it's just like, what are we what are we doing?
Come on, it's it's so toxic, and that's why I tried to
stay away from that side of theconversation. It just gets to a point
where all let Lebron sum it up, all at a lot of the other
NBA players who have long supported women'sbasketball. If you don't respect Kaitlyn Clark's
game, you're just a flat outhater. The numbers speak for itself.

(10:39):
If you have eyes and you canobject, we'll be look at a basketball
game. Kaitlyn Clark is, withoutdoubt, the best player in women's college
basketball. I don't think it's particularlyclose. There is no player in women's
basketball history that could take this Iowateam and blast year's Iowa team to the
national title game. And that's notdismantling a lot of the other great players

(11:01):
have been on these teams, likeKate Martin's one of the best leaders I've
ever covered of what she's meant tothe team. Monica Sanano third all time
league scorer in Iowa history, likeIowa's had players in place. SIDNEYA.
Foulter is gonna be a star nextyear. Hannah Stolki is going to be
really really good as well. We'llsee what happens if IOWA ends up landing
Lucy Olsen, the Villanova transfer who'llbe visiting on Tuesday. Third league score

(11:24):
in the nation last year. ButCaitlyn is without a doubt, the most
polished and most accomplished offensive player.And I'll even say men's and women's college
basketball history, there's just nobody that'schanged the game like her. So if
people don't respect her at this point, it's just you say, okay,
like you know that wrong. Likeall the numbers and all the statistical data
and everything like that are all inKaitlyn's favor. And on top of that,

(11:48):
look at the viewership numbers that Caitlynand Iowa's help with tract. I
mean, it's her public profile isjust absolutely skyrocket. I think before her
March Madness run last year, Tyler, she was at one hundred and fifty
thousand followers on Instagram. She's atone point nine to five million. Now
she's she's almost at two. Yeah, I bet she'll be up too after
she gets crafted tomorrow. She's soshe's skyrocketed even just in the last like

(12:13):
four weeks, because the last timeI checked, I thought she was like
just over a million. She wasat one point one. I did the
research today. I think she wasup for one point one four weeks ago.
That's nuts. So was that abouthalf of your followers then, David?
Yeah, right, yeah, Davidjust said everybody go for crazy.
Though. When she first got toIowa, I remember her Instagram she had
like maybe nine thousand followers. Shehad like three hundred and fifty followers on

(12:37):
Twitter when she committed to Iowa.And just to kind of see how it's
evolved as absolutely mind boggling online.Did you guys see the SNL clip man?
Yeah, dude, that is that? That is crazy, Like she's
just she's just closing down sn Olike what oh yeah, absolutely, that's

(13:05):
hilarious. And people very upset thoughthat she was using the que cards like
that. Everybody reads off of them. What do you think news anchors do
every single night? Yeah, they'reupset. She wasn't seth or or presidents
when they give like long speeches.Yeah, uh, can you speak to

(13:26):
Maybe you can't, but I'm surethat to some extent you can. Her
growth and development as someone who hadto handle all of the off the court
stuff from freshman year to now,like what what did you see? Because
you got to be closer to theteam, interviews with them, follow them
around to to games the last twofinal fours, and such. She had

(13:50):
a lot of I think everybody thatfollowed Iowa in the beginning of her career
kind of knew that she was different, maybe even more so. And then,
like Megan Gustafson, like immediately asa freshman, we knew Caitlyn was
like, oh, she's probably gonnabe the best women's basketball player we've had
in a long time. And that'ssaying a lot because we just had Megan

(14:11):
come through and we knew that endof her freshman year. Definitely in her
sophomore year, but last year goinggetting the two seed, running to the
table to the national championship, beatingSouth Carolina, that's when things started to
get absolutely nuts. And I rememberit. You know, it took me,

(14:33):
gosh, probably three and a halfweeks to read that Write Thompson article
on her, but I'm a slowreader, and that was just so long,
but it was great and it saidin there. I think he asked
Caitlin about it her life over thelast year, and she even said,
like, yeah, it's been it'sbeen crazy, Like it's been wild.

(14:54):
She has had to deal with alot, and I'm just curious. I
don't know if we'll ever get heron this show, but the maturity development
of a twenty one, twenty twoyear old kid to deal with the stardom,
unexpected stardom that she's got, Like, how did she how did she

(15:16):
evolve handling all that over the lastfew years. You know, I think
you need to put it in contexttoo. And by the way, I
couldnot endorse that right Thompson article more. I thought that was arguably the best
piece of sports journalism I've ever read. It was great. He's absolutely phenomenal.
Put in additional context, Remember herfreshman year, she was playing in

(15:37):
front of cardboard cutouts. She wasdoing online class, so it's not even
like she was eased into it.Her first year was basically like World War
Z. Like she was just existingin her own little bubble. She was
hyping up cardboard cutouts. When shehit the game winner against Iowa State,
like she hyped up her dog cardboardcutout, like you know, Monica kind

(15:58):
of told on her about that andhyped them up, like went over she
like hugged a cardboard cut out ofher dog, and then you read the
right tops a article and Caitlyn youcould tell very early like she is a
player that wears her heart on hersleeve, and she's probably as passionate as
any player I've ever covered. Asfar as the craft that they have to
you know, whether it be football, with to be basketball, I think

(16:22):
it speaks volumes to numerous things.One her family, her upbringing, and
the support system that she has,Like you could tell they have instilled the
right values in her and her justto be able to handle everything. I
cannot remember really one time where sheis really messed up pr wise or saying
anything in public. A lot ofthe hates just from comments to other people

(16:44):
make to defend Caitlyn or to attackKaitlyn, and that's where the kind of
bashing comes into play. Yeah,Caitlyn, you know, complains the refs,
probably a little bit too much.I think after she got out of
Carver for the last time, Ithink she really stopped doing it for the
most part. I think can yougive Lisa Bluter a lot of credit the
culture that she's put in place tobe able to handle all that to always

(17:06):
uplift Caitlyn. And how about theteam aspect, do you know how easy
it would be for the team tobe so pissed off at her and be
so jealous of her and to beso envious, and they're the ones that
continue to boost her up to defendher. Kate Martin was a big industry,
you know, really instrumental in takingcare of her and watching Caitlyn mature.

(17:26):
I think we've really seen since thatSouth Carolina run where you just knew
that her life was never going tobe the same, because if you remember
going back to that South Carolina gamelast year, there was several segments on
XM radio and on women's basketball talkshows about how they should cancel the rest
of the women's tournament because nobody's goingto beat South Carolina and then to watch

(17:49):
Caitlin do that and to put upforty one and eight in that game,
and that's when she really took off. So I think it's you need to
give blocker at the Lisa Bluter,give Kaitlyn a lot of for staying true
to her morals and to really handleall the stuff that she's had to handle,
because not to go down this roadtoo much, but you think back
to that interview after she won herfirst wind Award last year, she was

(18:11):
asked one question about her game,and everything else was about Angel Rees.
Everything else is about LSU. Everythingelse got into the racial aspect of it,
and that totally blindsided her, rightThompson wrote that in the article too,
And for her to handle that andhave the emotional maturity and to really
not let anything slip when she isprobably carrying the weight of the world on

(18:33):
her shoulders, it's been really remarkableto watch, especially since how she hasn't
been burnt out, I mean,Tyler. She's gonna get drafted tomorrow night.
She gets thirteen days in between trainingcamp starts, and when she gets
drafted, then she's gonna play aforty game regular season with in front,
probably sellout crowds with four times thecost of tickets than they were last year.

(18:56):
Thirty six the games are on nationalTV. Like, She's going to
go through a two year span ofwhere she basically runs the world, a
good portion of the sports world,and for her to be able to stay
true to that, if she continuesto kind of develop as a leader and
kind of continue on the right path, it probably is gonna be one of

(19:17):
the more remarkable things I've ever watchedas you as you go through, like
as you talk all that out,and I asked the question with this in
mind. But it just makes itmore clear when I listen to someone else,
like kind of lay it out stepby step by step chronologically. Here's
how it got bigger and bigger andbigger. There's just so many places there

(19:37):
in the equation where like a lotof people would crack like they would abs
like if do you understand if Iwould have been good at something, if
I would have been that good atsomething the best, and like I'm a
pretty good like I was. Iwas like a run. I was right
in the middle. I called meright down the middle kind of dude,

(20:00):
Like good dude. I would havetalked so much shit all the time.
Oh yeah, my interviews would havebeen like so obnoxious, Like it just
would have like this fault, likeif this happens to the wrong person,
and it does sometimes and then becausethey don't handle you know, some stuff
off of the court or the fieldor wherever they play sports, then it

(20:22):
kind of affects what happens on thecourt. It's just so impressive, like
the amount of pressure and like youjust think, like when everybody that's listening
to this lays their head down onthe pillow at the end of the night,
like you went through a pretty casualday, you know, like you
can go to the grocery store,you walk to your car, in and
out of work or wherever you're going, like no one knows, Like there's

(20:47):
no you don't have to be onlike you might have. You might have
an important meeting at at nine amon a Tuesday, and that's where you
really have to be on for thirtyminutes because you're given you're part of the
report or the presentation. She itfeels like her life is she has to
be on twenty four to seven,And I honestly thought I was. I
was worried about that going into thetournament because I watched the Big Ten championship

(21:14):
game in Minneapolis live. I wasthere. It was awesome, great game,
and her and the other players kindof looked tired to me a little
bit. Yeah, And I waslike, damn, like this is but
they had played good games, right, They had just beatn Ohio State in
the home in the home game likepretty handily. They obviously ran the table

(21:37):
one. But I'm like, Idon't know if they can do this for
the entire tournament. Like, Idon't know if this pressure that keeps building
in the storyline, that keeps buildingcan really keep going, and it just
did. It's unbelievable, and Ithink you going back, I hate that
it's a thing and that other peoplewon't respect it. Who are those who
are fans of I don't know Yukonor whoever, but I think that's the

(22:00):
stat I think it was. Itmight have been MJD. I don't know
why they were talking about it ontheir show, but like I think Maurice
Jones Drew and a few other analystson a sportstock show in the morning,
we're talking about how the reason it'sso impressive, more like the reason by
far and away she should be consideredthe goat if you're going to have that
discussion, is because she did itat Iowa. I saw. I think

(22:22):
I saw it. I think Isaw. I think that was oh okay,
yeah, yeah, yeah it was, But I think it was.
I think it was speak Yeah itsounds right, And I think I saw
you rebuttaled the same kind of ideato somebody that was like, so you're
telling me if Caitlin and Paige SwitchSwitch lives for the last four years and

(22:45):
Caitlin and obviously a magical scenario thatyou can't like, you wouldn't for sure
know that this happens. But Caitlynthen goes on to do everything that she
did at Iowa at Yukon, andshe was that great and she led them
to three two or three or fournational championships. But because she has other
five stars around her that and thatis a reason that they won championships,

(23:08):
she ends up scoring less points.She doesn't become the all time scoring record.
Later, she's not as high onassists. She wins maybe a few
less awards, but because now she'sstill the best player on that team.
Now she's the goat. Like itdoesn't make any sense to me, and
I do and I forever and Iagain, I've never gotten into the conversation

(23:30):
because I don't want to go backand forth. I think in professional sports,
I think the championship, the ringis a valid resume piece because when
you're in professional sports, you arenot under the same limitations or not you

(23:51):
so much, well you as well, but your teammates or your potential teammates
are not under the limitations to like, you know, if she goes to
WNBA and she wants to build achampionship roster and she is truly the goat
well one, she has ten yearsto do it, or however many years

(24:11):
it takes. There is no fouryear limitation that's like, oh you're up,
time's up. But also there's contractsand negotiations and things like that where
you're able to and I guess it'sstarting to become a little bit like this
in college college as well now butwith the transfer portal, but other great
players are gonna want to come tobe with you and like, you know,

(24:37):
like create the story, like whenLebron goes from Cleveland to Miami that
first time and it's like, hey, we're gonna make the Big Three.
It's me, Bosh and Wade.Like she has that ability to kind of
like sway some teammates at Iowa especiallyand even at Iowa where like, again,
Gustasen just did what she did.We made an Elite eight. We
were a top twenty program, maybea top fifteen program over the last few

(25:00):
years before she comes in, buteven then I would say about top fifteen.
Yeah, but even then, it'slike you look and this goes back
to our clip, like you lookat the and again it's not a knock
on Kate or anybody else on thatroster. It's just because I think arguably

(25:21):
Blueter got more out of what shehad on the roster than anybody in the
country. It's just like when youtake non top fifty teammates and you're the
kind of the point of the spear, the tip of the spear, and
you go do two national championship appearancesin a row, what are we talking
about? Like, that's nuts,and that's I think you bring up good

(25:45):
points. And again I tweeted thisout and I got a lot of crap
for it, and I still standby it. When did rings become such
a big deal in college sports?When you're debating who the goat is?
That's what I'm saying. And asyou mentioned, I mean, you have
a lot more flexibility if you wantto play out your being you're contract,
But then you can go leave andgo join the by our team. Yeah,
I mean you can do with thetransferred portal. But it's just it's

(26:06):
not normalized yet to that point.And there was no chance that Kaitlyn was
gonna buy one given the story ofeverything, and I think it's just quite
frankly, it's ridiculous that this iseven a debate, Like, with all
due respect to Brianna Stewart, withall due respect all the Yukon people,
a couple of things. One,there's more parody now than there ever has
been. Women's basketball. It stillhas a ways to go, still has

(26:27):
a ways to go. It's gonnagrow a lot in the next couple of
years with how much hype it's gottenthough. Yeah, absolutely, I mean
Juju Walkins is up next. She'sgonna you know, I think she could
challenge Kaitlyn's scoring record, Like sheis that good and she started off on
pace right m h. But shealso takes a lot more shots than Kaitlyn
ever did. And remember Caitlin's freshmanyear was shorter due to COVID. What

(26:51):
do you and I heard Caitlyn takesforty shots. Again, Yeah, I
to tell Kim Olke. But thething is, when do we become so
fixated on NASH championships. And again, I'm not watering it down. It's
obviously the biggest goal in sports,but Caitlin bringing that team to back to
back final fours to back to backnational championships like that South Carolina team last

(27:11):
year, Tyler. If they goundefeated, they're probably ranked the top five,
top four team that's ever blazed up. Yeah, And the only reason
they're not is because one thing.Again, with all due respect to Kate
Martin everybody else, Monica's now now, Caitlin took him down. She dropped
forty one. And she gets almostno credit because the fourth league score in

(27:33):
the national title game goals like thison camera and falls her around. She
gets no credit because of control attempt. I know, it's just wild,
it's in. You know, thiswill this will upset a lot of people.
But I've said it a couple oftimes. I give Angel Reese a
lot credit for being a marketing geniusand the way that she's been able to
amass this big popularity, for sure, But why are we acting like she's

(27:55):
a generational talent like the same category. No, she's not even gonna go
top five in the draft tomorrow.She's gonna be the fourth post player to
get out. She's good, She'sgoing to be good, But she's not
Caitlin Clark. She's not even Rikiat Rikia Jackson from Tennessee. She's not
Cameron Brink, she's not Leah Edwards. Like these are all better players than

(28:17):
Angel Reeves. But again, thestoryline's great. She's helped push basketball forward,
and she's a great marketer, andshe's getgearer Jersey retired, she brought
a national title, Like, she'sstill a hell of a player. Yeah.
I think maybe part of that whenyou're talking about the marketing side of
things, because the popularity women's basketballis in such an interesting position because it's

(28:38):
not a sport, it's now beenthrust into the mainstream. Your average sport
fan who likes college football in collegebasketball now is like they're towing their towing
the water with like, oh I'ma I'm a women's basketball fan now too.
Right, we talked about the newfans, and I think maybe the
general population fan bases we're getting alittle bit confused with popularity, marketability,

(29:06):
screen time, how much some ofthese players are in the limelight, and
their direct correlation to like if we'regoing to rank them talent wise just blank,
you know, without faceless faceless basketballplayers, because most other sports probably
correlate a little bit more, andthere's there's some outliers. But like the

(29:30):
best players are the most viewed onTV, they have the most followers,
they have the most women's basketball isn'tnecessarily that way. It's there's still a
correlation. It's not as strong,I would argue, and I don't know
how you would ever do that study. But yeah, like flags flage is,
I don't know where she ranks thisyear. I mean she's she's got

(29:53):
this entire other side of her who'sa rapper. She's got like a million
followers on Instagram. Yeah, shewas a part of a large part of
the national championship team two years agoand than this year's team. I think
she's probably the best player on thisyear's team, But she gets a lot
more love or a lot more attentionor probably a lot more brand deals than

(30:15):
players that are just as good asher or in the same area, because
yeah, she's got this entrepreneurial sideto her, and that's where women's basketball
is, and Caitlin clearly has thatas well. I mean, Katelyn she's
got again SNL, she's got everybig deal on Earth. I don't know
how much money she's made at thispoint, but I mean, Jesus Christ

(30:37):
it's unbelievable. I'll look at somevaluations because I one hundred percent guarantee you
they're wrong. I mean, ifKaitlyn doesn't have ten million dollars in the
bank right now, I'd be stunned. Yeah, that's what I would have
put it at too. And youknow again, I want to go back
to Angel really quick, like she'sa great player. Like I'm not trying
to water down her talent wise,I think Caitlyn is just that much better.

(30:59):
And I feel like it's gotten tothe point where if somebody brings up
Caitlyn, they automatically throw an AngelReese. But why they throw an Angel
Reese? It's because the marketability.But this is an interesting question. This
is something that has to change too. Is Caitlin Clark and Angel Rees like
the collective the two of them?Are they bigger than the w NBA right
now? I would make a legitcase that they are. Yeah, they're

(31:21):
more well known I think at thispoint. But what does that mean that
college who is college basketball in generalis bigger than the w NBA right now?
Yeah, if you take the twobiggest stars from a bigger sport,
then I don't think you can makean argument against that at all. Now,
I know it's tough. It's toughtoo because like as as the individual

(31:41):
player is Caitlin, I mean,there's reasons to stay, but there's nothing
left to do unless you I mean, at Iowa, you could read the
writing on the wall. The rosteris not going to be in a spot
even if Caitlyn stayed. Losing Kate, losing Gabby, the roster is probably
not gon to be in a spotnext year where they were in a position

(32:02):
to make a third run at anational championship game. Never put it past
them, but it's just so toughto do. And I think the Sweet
sixteen, like second weekend team,Yeah, for sure they can be,
honestly, because I think Lisa's goingto redo their entire offense. They're gonna
change up the system. There's they'resleep. There's I already saw like an
early top twenty five and the Hawksweren't in it, and I'm like,

(32:22):
they're sleep and they're they're sleeping already. If they get Lucy, they'll they'll
throw them in probably the twenty twentythree range. So Lucy's from Villanova luci
Ols. Since she's five nine,she was the third leading scorer this year.
I watched a highlight of her againstMarquette earlier today, so it was
like I saw another tweet about herscheduling a visit next week or something.

(32:44):
But then I also saw some Maddieshir Chick from Kentucky, also a guard
five to ten that's pretty good.Started at Oregon, then transferred to Kentucky
for the last couple of years,and now she's got like a sixth year
COVID grad year to spend and andthat she's potentially in in the mix as

(33:04):
well. Are they competing competing forthe same transfer portal spot there or would
would we take them both? How? How much can Bluter throw out there?
How many scholarships do we have?How many how many spots are we
looking for? What do you thinkthere? I mean, Iowa right now
only has one scholarship unless people leave, and I still I don't think anybody's
gonna leave. But I'm also notgoing to rule it off the table.

(33:27):
I think we'll really have some clarityon that within the next week. But
right now I was prioritizing Lucy Olsen. I just with all due respect to
Maddie's share there's a reason why Lucy'sschedule visit is Tuesday and Maddie's is Thursday.
I think Iowa ideally would like totry to find a way to wrap
that up before Matty gets on campus. But at the same time, there's
a lot of people after Lucy,Like there's almost every school in the country

(33:50):
at this point. I was gonnasay, it's probably everybody Maryland, Yukon.
LSU's trying to prioritize her a littlebit of LSU's kind of after everybody
right now. And if i'm II just say three little words Haley Van
lit Yeah, and watch what Kimdid to her. I mean it's and
then Molti basically admitted it too.That was the craziest part. I don't
know if you saw the quote,but she just goes like, yeah,

(34:13):
she wanted to get back to hernatural position and go somewhere where she's more
comfortable in their system. Like shejust completely like admitted a ruining Haley vand
Liz. I'm sad about that becauseHailey on Louisville was a dog and it
was an awesome storyline, like sheplayed a good little like villain sort of
other superstar last year when we playedthem in I think the Elite eight was

(34:37):
when we played Louisville and that wasso fun to watch those two go back
and forth. And then Haley wasjust like clearly handcuffed this year and it
was it sucked because she was sosick to watch and then she just didn't
look like herself at all. Yeah, and I mean I equate it when
she went over to LC it wasthe Monstars. I mean when she joint
committed, I was like, ifIOWA plays LSU against Gibbie, you know,

(35:00):
Michael Jordan, Kaylen Clark versus theMonstars, I mean from Space Jam.
But yeah, so Iowa's one scholarshipavailable right now where they are prioritizing
Lucy Olsen. She's gonna be oncampus on Tuesday when it comes to Olson.
Right now, I think she staysout east or stays in the Midwest,
based on what one source told me. But USC is trying to make
a run at her too, andif she goes to USC that the Trojans

(35:21):
are gonna be a national title teamnext year with the talent they're bringing in.
Plus Juju Nil's a factor, butnot the most important factor in the
world. Lucy wants to win,but she also knows how to follow in
the footsteps of a legend. Imean, if you remember a couple of
years ago, Maddie segrist led theand Lucy took over for Maddie. So

(35:42):
she's able to kind of step intothose roles. And so I think if
you talk about a there's no perfectreplacement for Kayln Clark because you just it's
impossible to replace the production. ButIowa Ann's Lucy, and they have Lucy
at the one, Taylor McKay buttthe two, Sidney Falter the three,
Hannah Stolky at the four, andAva Heyden who's a six foot five freshman
from Oregon coming in starting at thepost. I mean, right now,

(36:06):
Tyler, I'll tell you Iowa wasgonna be a top five team of the
Big Ten next year. I'm notpicking him to win the conference, but
they are going to be They're notgoing anywhere. They're going to still be
good next year. Yeah, Idon't see why. Well, and here's
the thing too, I think there'sa there's a pretty bit and again,
like we said, the parody willprobably keep sort of expanding itself through the

(36:30):
top twenty five but if you lookat like the men's top twenty five versus
the women's top twenty five, itis a little bit more clearly segmented over
on the women's side, like itis top heavy. Oh yeah, you
know, you call it. Idon't know. This year it was probably
Iowa South Carolina. It was maybeseven or eight teams that were clearly better

(36:52):
than the next eight and then thenext eight, whereas like anybody in the
top twenty five could like any nightjust kill anyone in college basketball except for
you con at the end of theyear. Yeah, and it was like,
so you know, not that I'mnot saying it's not hard to make

(37:13):
it back to the sweet sixteen,but you think about sixteen teams like it,
you should definitely win the first ballgame in the tournament, Like I
think that they should one hundred percentbe able to win the first ball game
in the tournament and then you know, be in a battle being a good
spot, have a good shot atmaking the Sweet sixteen if they can just

(37:34):
do if they just land a transferlike this and then put those four out
on the court. We mentioned thatHeiden Girl because we're like we were kind
of just talking about how like wejust we just need size. We need
more than six to two. Hannah'sdoing everything she can and that honest,
oh my god, that is nother natural position. She still performed very
very well. Yeah, and therewere so many mismatches and she just kept

(37:57):
battling. I know there was somefrustration with third the end of the year
with certain things, but the endof the day, like Iowa did the
most with what they had. Theyjust need more size. The moving Hannah,
the four, I think is gonnado huge things for the team next
year. But but God bless herfor going in night in, night out
trying to compete with a six footfive six' six. If we can
get a six foot five and thatgirl in her freshman year can can play

(38:20):
physically man, even if even ifher skills aren't refined, and I don't
know anything about her as an actualbasketball player, but if we could just
have the hands in the height inside, like, we'll take it. And
you know, McCabe needs to comealong a lot in a lot of ways.
But she's obviously a sniper in thatsense. I feel comfortable with her

(38:43):
handling the ball. Obviously a fulter. I think a fulter. I'm full
on the Sydney bandwagon. I thinkshe's a star next year. I think
she's gonna be one of the mostfun to watch. And she does everything
well like that yeah thing, likeshe's aggressive, she's it took me so
long to realize she's five foot elevenbecause of how consistent she was rebounding the

(39:07):
basketball, battling under it. Likeit's it's amazing what she does and for
how strong she is. But youknow, at the end also too,
you know, you think about this, Iowa just needs to do well enough
next year, and this sounds soshortsighted. They need to do well enough
to stay nationally relevant. Yeah,you guys, I'll tell you man,
that twenty twenty five class the potential. You can mark it down right now.

(39:29):
If what I think is going tohappen happens, Iowa women will have
a top five national class into twentytwenty five. Combine that with a number
nine class in twenty twenty four,Iowa was not going to go anywhere.
Yeah, I really really think thatthey have a chance to return to a
Final four within the next four orfive years. And that twenty five class

(39:50):
is the one that's headlined by AddisonDeal right, Yeah, and she's she's
different, man, She's the realdeal. Yeah, you could say about
ray Gun already made that shirt.Yeah, I don't know what the nil
process that looks like. I mean, I she can't get paid anything,
obviously, but like the branding behindit and everything. I'm gonna have to

(40:10):
I believe her cousin goes to Garnelltoo. We're gonna have to sway her
to do a T shirt deal withus. Yeah, quickly. So we've
talked a lot of women's basketball.It's it's been women's basketball the last however
many weeks. We'll get to footballhere in a second. I do want
to quickly touch on, uh thematt in Greenway? Do we have any

(40:34):
chance? Like I see people sayinglike it's gonna be tough to get Greenway
to Iowa City, And I don'tknow what they know or if they're just
saying that, like are we arewe just gonna miss out on a on
a what would they call it?She's a superstar. She she's like you
talk about a flat out dog bucketgetter. Dude. All she does is

(41:00):
do you have any idea on her? Or like you would think both parents
going to Iowa, we'd have it. We'd have a pretty good shot.
But I see other people like thatit's gonna be tough to get Madden.
It's it's gonna be tough. ButI also think Iowa's positioned themselves well.
I mean, if you'd ask methree months ago, I would say Iowa
was on the outside looking in,which sounds crazy because I remember when she

(41:21):
got offered by Minnesota in eighth grade, they interviewed her and she was like,
yeah, I'm really excited about theMinnesota offer, but I really want
to go to Iowa, like shewas quoted in the article saleh And to
go from that to now again,I think Iowa was done everything they can.
They've obviously put the full court presson her, but this is a

(41:42):
I think, not want to say, a megastar, but like she's she's
just different, man, She's justso crafty, can do everything well.
Three level score. Yukon wants arebad. You know. I don't know
if South Carolina's offered yet, butTennessee really wind her bad. She was
very interesting Tennessee. But the coachingchange there, we'll see Duke's gonna want

(42:02):
her, you know, West thisis going to be a national level recruit,
and she's been to Iowa plenty oftimes obviously, but I will say
after I believe she attended the homefinale against Ohio State, did Iowa moves
significantly up her list after that?I don't know what more a high school
kid could want. I really don't. Yeah, that's kind of where I

(42:23):
was thinking too, But yeah,she's twenty twenty six. I think you
look at her, you look atJohnston, Iowa's Jenica Lewis, who's a
fringe five star as well. Iowawas in the thick of things with them.
I think a big thing that watchedher play in person, I did
it, got the low down.I did some recruiting on her this year
at the Iowa State Turnoye. Ididn't, but she's good. I watched

(42:44):
her play, good pass, greatpasser. I think the big thing there.
And maybe this is more so myspeculation than anything I'm hearing, so
take it for what's worth. I'mvery curious if Madden and Jenica could work
well in the backcourt together, andif they're thinking about that themselves, But
if they found a way to makeit work at Lisa and then found a
way to make it work. Imean, that's a national championship level backcourt.

(43:07):
Like those two have that upside there. They're great, great high school
players. Well, it all soundsexciting. I don't and I know that
you don't have full control of this, but like, it would be such
a missed opportunity for the brand andfor the program to not ascend to a

(43:27):
perennial national contender with the amount ofmomentum that they've that they've gotten. Have
you don't, You don't get verymany off. We deal with this in
football all the time, and Ithink it's what people are always asking,
like, how do we take thatnext step and become like in the Big
ten A what you're probably now goingto ask for of Iowa is like a

(43:51):
second tier team. You've got Michigan, You've got Ohio State, maybe throw
Oregon in there. How do webecome just as good every year as Washington,
Penn State, Wisconsin, and Iowa. How do we be that fourth
team whereas you know, over thelast few years, maybe over the last
decade, you're like, well wekind of teeter on that sometimes where there

(44:12):
sometimes we're not. And we've hadthis discussion on here. It's like it's
really hard to elevate an entire program, the floor of an entire program,
especially over like a couple of years. You're talking about like decades that it
takes to do that. And Iowabasketball women's basketball is in a spot right
now that you just don't get,don't You don't get that much room for

(44:36):
elevation. I feel like as aprogram, ever, you know you don't,
so it just feels like it's atime to capitalize. And I don't
think Blueeder needs me to tell herthat. I'm pretty sure she's aware.
You're exactly right, though. Imean, I think you summed it up
very well, and that's why it'sso important for Iowa to stay relevant next

(44:57):
year and they get the class intwenty twenty. I'm not you know,
I'm gonna say the Kaylyn Clark effect, but Iowa is not laying Kaitlin Clark
without Meghan Gustavson. Yeah, whatMeghan Gustoson did. I think she's not
talked about enough. And I understandwhy, just because we first hand watched
Caitlin. But Megan Gustavson winning NationalPlayer of the Year, being the first

(45:19):
Big Ten player I think in however, many years to do that. Ging
Iowa the Elite eight that year.I think that really kind of kicked down
the door for Caitlyn not to goback to the SNL skit and the terminology
of it. But that's what reallyhas helped Caitlyn shine as well and you
know players in the future. Imean, Iowa does not layd ass and
deal without Kaitlyn Clark. Yeah,that's that's just the reality of it.

(45:40):
So I also think it's easier totake that level up with with basketball than
football, just because there's so muchmore at times that football takes and a
lot more pieces that have to work, yeah, than basketball. Basketball you
can flip a roster in a year. Yeah, look watch what Cali Perry's
gonna do with Arkansas. You canflip a roster. But elevating to you're

(46:02):
elevating your national how you're perceived nationallyamongst everybody else is still to like,
you know, I'm trying to thinkof an example. Missouri football this year
was a top ten team. They'renot going to be thought of as like
a contender for the national championship unlessthey do that for the next five or

(46:25):
ten years. Then people are reallygoing to start to think like, oh,
Missouri is just every year. They'reright there. But but you're right,
I think it's easier in basketball.Eleven guys on football, on offense
and defense, so many pieces.Yeah, yeah, it's tough. It's
tough in football. But anyway,let's talk about football real quick to in

(46:47):
the backside of the show. IsTim Lester our lord and savior? And
is he bringing? What does hebringing? I'm seeing all good things from
people who are posting Hawkeye football.The account themselves has posted like a five
minute video of him and the quarterbacksand him miked up at practice the other
day. Players are starting to comeout with quotes about how he's a problem

(47:10):
solver and he's got all this tellme about Lester in the first impressions of
him. Yeah, first of all, before I start complimenting what I've heard
about him, I want to bevery clear. I'm believe it when I
see it. Mode with the IOWA, I think everybody is. But man,
I tell you, Lester has madea really, really good impression and

(47:31):
I was impressed he going back tohis opening press conference when he talked about
being aggressive and being adaptable, becauseI think you look at the way Iowa's
offense is run. The past coupleof years, it was not aggressive,
and it was incredibly predictable. Everybodyknew what Iowa is going to run.
My sister, who does not watchfootball at all, could tell you exactly
what Iowa is going to do.Want to play. Okay, that's just

(47:51):
the reality of it. But whenI hear the defensive players talk about there's
a lot of motion on the offense, they're trying to trick the defense's eye.
Is the offense getting excited that there'staking deep shots down the field.
They're lining up half the time inthe gun, half the time under center.
There's a few couple of RPO packages. I mean, you can't help

(48:14):
but get excited. And now Ithink there's gonna be a steep learning curve.
I think there's gonna be a lotof frustration. I don't think it's
gonna look good on Saturday. ButI would also advise people this there's a
brand new time. I love that. I don't think it's gonna look good.
I don't think it's gonna go well. Maybe maybe I'll come back and
apologize. But one Kate McNamar isnot playing, and he's gonna be the

(48:34):
starting quarterback this year. So Ithink people need to have that in the
back of their head too. You'reinstalling an all new playbook. You're trying
to get an offense and guys thatwere recruited not to run a lot of
motion, having so many different partsthat have to work together to make the
play work right even before the ballsnapped, avoid pre snap penalties, et
cetera. But man, it's hardfor me not to get at least a

(48:58):
little bit optimistic because again, Lucashhe's back fully healthy. I'm all in
on Nucles. I think he's beenAll American this year and hell yeah,
Mackie Award, let's go. Ilove what Iowa has in the running back
room. I think they still needto land into their wide receiver if they
get the scholarship situation figured out.But Caleb Brown loves the offense. He
talked about how Lester is a problemsolved, where he talked about how Iowa
has quote a lot of answers onoffense. Again, I'm gonna believe it

(49:22):
till I see it mode. Butif it comes to life with what they're
describing, I mean, I thinkand this sounds like not a big jump
at all. But I mean,you guys obviously watch every game, you
analyze everything else. If Iowa getsto a top eighty five offense and top
ninety offense in year one, thatis absolutely outstanding growth in year one under
a new offensive coordinator, and whenyou're trying to completely overhaul the system,

(49:45):
jump forty spots. Yeah, philosophically, I still think they're gonna be the
same philosophically, but I think there'sgonna be a lot of different moving pieces
that at least stay true to Kirk'svision when he got hired, Lester got
hired. That's what I was told, is Leicester one the reading to run
what he wants to do, buthe also understands the way Kap runs his
program, and there's a certain levelof respect that was there. And I'll

(50:07):
go to Deacon hill quote that hesaid, the biggest thing that stood out
to me when he was asked aboutthe offense is Kirk's been involved with the
offensive line. The offense has beenthe Lester Show, and I think everybody's
ears I like both of those thingsbecause obviously we've struggled on the line a
little bit on the last few yearsas well, and that's not There's a

(50:29):
lot of we've been over the variousreasons for that, but I think I
think the big thing there also isis everybody, everybody just sits back and
assumes that this that Kirk's got,he's you know, he's pulling the strings.
He's the puppet master up there.He's like, Nope, we're not
running that play. He's shooting downplays like live on the field when when
Brian was trying to call him orsomething. I think the results put everybody

(50:52):
just in an absolute tail spin thelast few years offensively, so people were
just like making up answers their theirbrain is creating like wild, irrational scenarios
of to try to answer why wewere so bad. If we have a
top eighty five offense and we bringback the defense that we bring back,

(51:12):
and we play the schedule that wedo, which isn't easy, but it's
not the hardest schedule in the BigTen, tell me we're not competing for
an uh, we're not in therunning for a Big Ten championship. Bit
like there's a chance. I thinkthere's a chance there still. I think
I would be more so competing fora playoff spot than a Big ten Championship.
Well that too, Yeah, becausewe've talked about that as well.

(51:35):
Where now with the SEC and theBig Ten, like they are, three
teams are going to get in.I think they're yeah, at least three
will I think there could be fourjust given the quality of the teams this
year. But I mean, ifthat's the thing, But you also need
to remember a couple of things.One year, a place in the Grayce
punter it's ever Grace College football andTory Taylor. I saw, I saw

(51:58):
I don't know how to say hislast name, Dakin or Dakin. I
saw him hit a bomb and aclipped the other day. I'm not even
worried about it. I worried.I want to see who they replace at
gunner. What's bier Gene? Yeah, and obviously Terry Roberts held that down
before. I want to see howthe return game does. I trust LeVar

(52:20):
again. I think it's well known. I think LeVar is one of the
best in the business at his craft. I want to see how Iowa holds
down the other corner spot with Coopergone. Yeah, I think if there's
a good corner in the portal available, I think you pursue it. Considering
the talent that you have on thatdefense. But if IOWA has a top
eighty five offense and a top tenspecial teams unit and a top five defense

(52:44):
at top three, I think itwill be a top three defense Iowa wins
at least ten games next year.Hell yeah, David, that's all I
need to hear. Sign it off. Let's go, Yeah, I got
I got your clip for you.I got you. I'm serious, though,
Like they've proven that, they provethat they could do it with the
worst offense in college football literally statistically. And we lost Logan uh Lee,

(53:08):
and we lost Yeah, and welost Evans. But like, I don't
think anybody's worried about the defensive sideof the ball. I don't think anybody
else trying to take a big stepforward. You have Nick Jackson, who's
in his Jordan Bohannan year at thispoint. He's the animal house guy.
Going on his seventh year. Hehas a shot being the NCAA's all time

(53:31):
league tackler as well. Then youhave Jay Higgins, who, my god,
he leaves the best line We havethe best linebackers in the country.
As a core, I agree,no doubt and Sebastian cashtro who is a
dog. He'll be. Yeah,I think he could be with the best
all round defender. And if ifhe improves his that lassism in his speed

(53:53):
a little bit like it's just verifiedforty speed in a couple of measurables.
That's the guy who goes top tworounds in the NFL draft. That man,
that man knows how to play football. He's a football player, is
what we call it. Uh,yeah, it's that's exciting. How do
you have any energy left to coverthe lot? What are we in?
This is the fourth week of spring. Well, this is the last week.

(54:15):
This is gonna be the last week. Yeah, between men's basketball,
women's basketball football. The portal opensTuesday. I basically drive up to Starbucks
every day and they have my orderray for me. They literally don't even
let me order. They just letme pull around the front and it's the
Hey it's David. Yeah no,they don't even do that. They recognize
my car at this point. Jesus, there's all right, there'll be this.

(54:37):
I'm all right cool. Seen aminute and it's the Dan Campbell,
the twenty ounces pike place two shotsof espresso after a thirty three ounce water
in the morning. Okay, that'sgood. That's good. I like the
water before because I care about yourhealth, you know, Thank you man,
I appreciate that. I know.Yeah, that's crazy. So that

(55:01):
you like, if football is goingto wrap up and then do you get
to do you get to like chillfor a little bit? Off season starts
the portal second portal open opening.Obviously, we'll see what happens with BA
basketball, but trust me, Iwill. I'll be taking a few vacations
over the summer. No, nodoubt, it's been It's been a year

(55:22):
all several women's basketball too, ontop of everything else. Yeah, the
three of us who are visible onthe YouTube version of this comment your favorite
thing about David below. By theway, hit us with that engagement.
We love the engagement on YouTube oryour least favorite thing about David. That
would be fun. That's easier,easily. Yeah, that'll really drive some
engagement. Kevin wasn't at this Carolinefans and all the Yukon fans and all

(55:45):
the Iowa state yeahs, that whatyou're engagement. The three of us had
to. We sat down for anice little dinner ish at the Athletic Club
after our event in at Backpocket lastlast fall. Uh, so you got
to know at a little bit.And at the end of each podcast,
I let him come up from thebasement and ask two questions and then he

(56:06):
goes back down and he grinds awayat social media clips for us. So
this is the part where I'm goingto do that. Kevin is in the
car and he can ask some questionsas well, but Grant take the lead.
Uh well, just cares from springball, Like what are the rumblings on
like certain players we should be gettingexcited about, like obviously like oh okay,
Like yeah, you can be excitedabout like kid coming up to you

(56:28):
and being healthy, but like who'sWho's someone Maybe we're not thinking about that
we could get excited about for thefall. Yeah. I think there's a
couple of people. One. Ithink Jennings Dunker. If he stays healthy,
I think he could be really bigat offensive tackle. I just think
he has such a he's massive bythe way. I thought he looked stronger
when I saw him this past weekand he goes I lost twenty five pounds,

(56:49):
but he just looks bigger. Dude. He's the fourteen protein shakes a
day. Guy. Yeah, Ithink he's down to ten now, wow,
week, I know he's got toget back on it. I think
he cut I think he cut abunch of carbs out of his diet when
he was talking to us. Anotherguy, I'm gonna throw him in there
as well. I'm gonna go widereceiver Jeriot Booie. I think there's a

(57:10):
lot of Obviously we saw him withthe play from Deacon that hit social media,
even though you could really only seethe guys butt that was covering the
camera. But Booie's a good routerunner, very physical blocker on the outside.
So I think those are at leasta couple guys to keep an eye
on, at least for the offensiveside of the ball. Defense. It's
kind of hard to pinpoint at thispoint. I mean, everybody's coming back,

(57:35):
right I'm in. I'll probably sayJamari Harris. And the reason why
I say Harris is because Harris missedthe first couple of games last year with
the gambling stuff. He missed allof the previous season before that, but
he was just so overshowered by CooperDejen by Jay Higgins, by castro By,
Nick Jackson. I think Jamari hasa real chance to be a really

(57:59):
really good player with this year.It will not surprise me if he's all
Big ten caliber because if he doesn'tget hurt. If you remember his bull
game performance and leading up to thatBowl Game performance, he looked like he
was poised to just have a massive, massive breakout year. I think it
happened here. Cool. And then, Uh, my last one? Can
we just get the favorite Dua Alipasong at least right now? Yes?

(58:22):
But which? Like? Which oneare we listening to? Like the most
lately illusion that just came out onFriday. I think that's my number one
most played song right now. That'sa good Uh. I don't want to
be good. There's nothing bad inher discography. Could we name the song
about your lust for her delusion?Uh? You could? You could?

(58:46):
Or or break my heart? That'sprobably another album too, Okay, But
I think she's dating somebody right now. I think his name is Calum whatever.
But that's just a placeholder. That'sa folder. It's a placeholder.
Sounds good. Turn signal cav yougot anything? I don't want to cut
you off if you have anything specific? Sure, Man David you've been just

(59:07):
few practices over the course of thespringboll, I imagine, tell me about
the energy around practice when you're there. I think, especially with the offense,
I think that it's just it's adifferent sense of excitement. I think
that's the big thing. And thething that stood out to me about Lester
is he doesn't waste any words,like there's nothing he says that's without a
meaning. There's always direction behind it. And the way I think he he

(59:30):
has a very good sense of understandingthe balance between accountability and patience for still
trying to learn the system, likewe saw him get after a couple of
guys from making a mistake. Butit's not just he's not just focusing on
the quarterbacks. I watched him gofrom the offensive line to coach in the
wide receivers to the tight ends,like he's very actively I think getting to

(59:51):
know the personnel and again I thinkfor the wide receivers, I think the
wide receivers, there's just a renewedsense of I belong, you know,
with all due respect to the guythat were playing the system. You know,
over the past couple of seasons,for a variety of reasons, I
don't think it's fall squarely on Brian. I don't think it falls squarely on
Kirk. I think there's a lotof different aspects that fall into it.
But I think the wide receivers justfeel like they're not perimeter blockers anymore,

(01:00:15):
like they are an active part ofthe offense. I mean, we asked
Caleb Brown what his goal this weekwas and he said, I don't want
a thousand receiving yards, not allpurpose receiving. And I don't think Iowa's
had one since Marvin McNutt when hewas the Big ten wide receiver the year
back in twenty eleven. Iowa hasnot had an all Big ten wide receiver

(01:00:35):
since Marvin McNutt. So I thinkthat that's probably a couple of things that
have stood out to me. Thedefense, I just think is business as
usual, like they know they belong. I think I think if you don't
get motivated to play for Phil Parkerevery single second of the day, he
will rip out your throat from theinside. But I just think there's a
lot of excitement. And it's alsohard for me to like take too much

(01:00:58):
away from springball, because if you'renot excited for spring ball, after not
being on the football field for acouple of months. You probably don't belong
in Iowa's program regardless, But Ithink for the offense, it does seem
like there's a different aura with everythinggoing on. It's good. I like
it. Well, that's good.That's good to hear. I can't speak
for experience though that it's not alwaysthe most exciting thing to walk out to

(01:01:22):
a hot ass spring practice where hegot one hundred and eighty four minutes schedule,
But it's good to have a goodface on it, put good energy
in it. Just to phrase it, It's gonna suck for a little bit,
but we have fun off too much. Good to hear man. Oh
yeah, it's Kirk's for time ofyear though, I believe too right,
it's it's fall camp and it's springball. Yeah, he'd probably tell you that

(01:01:42):
yesterday would have been a bad dayto have spring practice. Eighty degrees,
dude, that's not what you're lookingfor in spring. That is not what
you're looking at. Fall camp's gruelingfor you, guys. Yeah, but
at least it's been hot during thesummer. It like heat is different when
you've when you're used to like fiftyfive degrees each day, and then it

(01:02:04):
just decides, Hey, we're gonnathrow eighty at you. So yesterday was
asked camp is definitely hot, butyou're at least like you know it's gonna
be hot. It's David Aicel.I had other questions. The first question
we're gonna get to the next timeyou come on. We'll do this in
the summer, maybe maybe maybe ina month two months from now. Is

(01:02:25):
the the genesis and evolution of yourbeef with the other beat writers, amongst
the Iowa ecosystem, which I alwaysthink is great. Anyway, thanks David
for coming on. Appreciate everybody listeningtonight or today or whenever you listen to
this. We'll be back. Ithink we're gonna try and get Jeremiah Searles

(01:02:49):
on. We're gonna try and uh, I was gonna say peg him.
We're not gonna peg him. We'regonna nail him down for a day sometime
this week to record and hopefully he'llbe the next episode. Until then,
talk to you next time. Peace. Hey, thanks for listening to the
show. If you want more,you can check us out on Twitter,
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(01:03:13):
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