Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / Weekend Recap, Iowa Open Practice, Cards over Cubs, Eliot Clough talks Hawkeyes & Mitch Holthus on the Chiefs

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Weekend Recap, Iowa Open Practice, Cards over Cubs, Eliot Clough talks Hawkeyes & Mitch Holthus on the Chiefs · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

• 0:09
  Good afternoon and welcome in Miller and Condon on the air
• 0:13
  with you as we kick off another week.
• 0:16
  Football season is here, preseason week number one in the
• 0:20
  books, Iowa Kids Day and a whole lot more.
• 0:23
  Glad to have you board with us here this afternoon as we take
• 0:26
  you up until 2:00 and off today. He'll be back with us tomorrow
• 0:30
  though as he is wrapping a few things up.
• 0:32
  He'll be back with us though in tow at noon tomorrow for the
• 0:35
  next couple of hours. We got plenty in the world of
• 0:38
  sports to get into. Kicking off the guest list here
• 0:41
  today we'll be talking with Elliot Cluff.
• 0:42
  He was in Iowa City for both the Iowa Media Day on Friday and
• 0:46
  then the Open kids practice on Saturday.
• 0:48
  We'll get Elliot's thoughts on what he saw over in Iowa City
• 0:51
  and potentially some changes in the conversation as we take a
• 0:56
  look at what's going to happen with this Iowa football team.
• 0:59
  We'll get into that here momentarily.
• 1:01
  Then at 12:45, our daily conversation with Mitch Holtis,
• 1:04
  the voice of the Kansas City Chiefs.
• 1:06
  Mitch will join us at about 12:45.
• 1:09
  We'll get a look at everything happening after they get their
• 1:11
  first pre season game in a deep dive into the matchup.
• 1:15
  And how about this for an Open performance for Patrick Mahomes?
• 1:18
  He's perfect one for one with the touchdown A1 yarder as
• 1:23
  Arizona fumble the opening kickoff of the game.
• 1:25
  We'll talk with Mitch about what he saw in Arizona and this
• 1:29
  interesting pre season camp that's going to be happening
• 1:32
  here. Couple more games to go, another
• 1:34
  one on the road. They'll be back home this week
• 1:36
  with Chicago coming to town. Mitch Holt.
• 1:38
  This will join us at 12:45. Our number 2 begins as it
• 1:41
  normally does during the summer months with Matt Snyder from
• 1:44
  CBSSports.com. We will take a look at Major
• 1:47
  League Baseball. The Cardinals take two out of
• 1:49
  three from the Cubs over the weekend.
• 1:52
  Cards get it done last night, Sunday night Baseball and still
• 1:57
  just hovering, hanging around are the Cardinals.
• 1:59
  They won't completely go away now the opportunity to make the
• 2:03
  playoffs still not looking very good.
• 2:05
  And in fact, when you take a look at it percentage wise, so I
• 2:08
  look at baseball perspectives, that's the there's a ton of
• 2:11
  different places that you can look to find updated playoff
• 2:14
  odds and it depends on their algorithm.
• 2:16
  The Cardinals 6.3% chance of making the playoffs, still not
• 2:21
  very good at 6.3% chance. And Cubs fans and we'll talk a
• 2:25
  lot of Cubs, Cardinals coming up to kick off the second hour.
• 2:28
  Let's not freak out too much. Even as frustrating as things
• 2:32
  are, as Milwaukee seemingly just will never lose the lead now up
• 2:36
  to six games for Milwaukee as we wait till next week in the five
• 2:39
  game. Or will he want to hang around
• 2:41
  and leave? At least give yourself an
• 2:42
  opportunity. Still, with all that being said,
• 2:45
  the Cubs not only have a 99.7% chance of making the playoffs,
• 2:51
  they still have a 36% chance, according to Baseball
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  Perspectives, of winning this division.
• 2:55
  Hope is not lost, even as frustrating as things have been
• 2:59
  and without Matt Shaw, who would have thought without Matt Shaw,
• 3:02
  that would be a sentence that we'd be saying in 2025.
• 3:06
  Yet here we are. Where would this team be?
• 3:08
  That's the question mark as he had another dinger last night
• 3:11
  for the Cubs. They fall 32 to the Red Birds.
• 3:15
  That's coming up in the 1:00 hour.
• 3:16
  Matt Snyder and a whole lot more in Major League Baseball.
• 3:20
  Then we'll wrap up the guest list today.
• 3:21
  Scott Doctorman will join me from the Athletic.
• 3:24
  A whole lot in college football, including the AP Top 25 has been
• 3:30
  released here this morning. So let's go right there and take
• 3:34
  a look at that top 25 and what we see here.
• 3:38
  And starting at the top where the Texas Longhorns are the
• 3:42
  number one team in the country after back-to-back years for
• 3:45
  Texas, making the College Football Playoff and advancing
• 3:48
  to the semifinals, including a year ago.
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  That win against Arizona State, getting there and plenty of
• 3:53
  opportunities in the semifinal loss to Ohio State.
• 3:57
  Texas team returns a ton, invested heavily.
• 4:00
  But the biggest thing is Arch Manning.
• 4:03
  And though it's absolutely asinine that Arch Manning is the
• 4:07
  betting favorite in the Heisman markets, when you look at things
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  and you look at this guy, you definitely have to understand
• 4:16
  and believe that yes, it's not about a talent thing.
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  But now taking the reins, Steve Spurrier said, well, if he was
• 4:23
  so good, why couldn't he beat out a seventh round draft pick
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  And Quinn yours? Which it's not exactly fair.
• 4:29
  Look, that Spurrier run in his mouth and that's what he does
• 4:31
  best. However, pre season #1 yet you
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  look at the other candidates and it's such a weird year because
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  as we talked about here throughout the course of the
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  summer, the Big 12 is absolutely loaded at the quarterback
• 4:46
  position. You go up and down the rosters
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  and you talk about going realistically 12 deep of at
• 4:52
  minimum good quarterbacks all the way up to elite level.
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  That's what the Big 12 has this year.
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  Yet on the national landscape, there's a ton of question marks.
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  There are question marks about what this is going to look like,
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  what this is going to be and who are going to be these guys from
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  March Banning I name. We know the number two team in
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  the country in Penn State and Drew Aller, but a guy that
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  hasn't been able to get it done in the biggest games of his
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  career. Ohio State, they're starting new
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  and they still have not said that.
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  Julian Sands going to be the guy with the Buckeyes as Lincoln
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  Klein Holtz, the South Dakota product.
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  He is still fighting for that job.
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  I know the guy at 4, Kate Clubnick.
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  That's probably why Clemson is #4 Georgia going with Stockton
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  after what we saw from him a little bit last season.
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  Is it CJ car for Notre Dame? Oregon's going new with Dante
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  Moore this season. Alabama, what they're going to
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  look like in year #2 of that new regime and on and on.
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  Garrett Nussbayer, name that we know he's paid up already.
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  Miami went to the portal and they brought in a guy that
• 5:53
  Georgia didn't want anymore. What I'm saying is on the
• 5:56
  national side of things, the question marks outside of the
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  Big 12 are a lot more significant.
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  And if you believe like most people do, that quarterback is
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  the most important position. He gets to the point you are
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  right now and he kind of look around and say, are we actually
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  in a year where it is wide open, where it's not a handful of
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  teams can win a national championship where it's not just
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  the standards, Ohio State, Georgia, Texas because of the
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  talent OR does this list get deeper?
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  I can we look at teams from the Big 12?
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  Can we look at those surprise teams from a year ago, Illinois,
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  South Carolina, Indiana, Can they take another step forward
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  this year? Is it going to be one of the
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  teams that we certainly know historically is going to be
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  there that comes back out of nowhere, A-Team like in
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  Oklahoma, a Texas A&M? I think we're going to have an
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  entertaining season now. Until it changes though, until
• 6:51
  we see something different to win the whole thing, I still do
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  believe that that number is a whole lot smaller.
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  That has changed, it's evolved and it's different than what it
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  was in the path. AP Top 25 is out and on the
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  local front, there is Iowa State checking in at #22 That means,
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  yes, officially we will have a top 25 matchup coming up a week
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  from Saturday, 12 days away. That sounds good for college
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  football. Iowa State, K State, Kansas
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  State checks in at #17 the Cyclones at #22 Iowa State also
• 7:27
  over the weekend released the uniforms that they'll be wearing
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  and thank goodness it will be the script Cyclones across the
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  helmet, red, white, red, the combo, red helmets, white
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  jerseys, red pants, sharp look. Get it done against K State off
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  and running. And we will preview that one
• 7:46
  obviously here in the next 12 days.
• 7:49
  So I mentioned Kids Day over the weekend over in Iowa City and
• 7:53
  want to start there with a couple of observations, a couple
• 7:56
  of thoughts and overall, just a couple of, I believe, important
• 7:59
  parts to what we saw over the weekend in Iowa City.
• 8:03
  Again, we got Elliot Clough coming in and we'll get his
• 8:05
  observations as well coming up. But want to start first with the
• 8:08
  quarterback position. What we saw from Mark Gronowski,
• 8:10
  who I thought right away was tremendous, you saw kind of
• 8:15
  everything that we were sold, right?
• 8:17
  Guy that gets it, taking shots down the field.
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  But there still were mistakes. And this probably comes back on
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  me a little bit too, where look, you do what Ken and I do.
• 8:30
  You're talking about teams every single day.
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  After a while, you start to a lot of times talk yourself into
• 8:37
  things. Back in January, neither Ken and
• 8:40
  I thought this team was going to be very good.
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  We both thought that the Hawkeyes were going to struggle.
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  All the losses that they had, especially defensively, losses
• 8:48
  along that offensive line. Who's going to be the
• 8:51
  quarterback? It looks like they were going to
• 8:52
  go. Young was going to be Hank
• 8:53
  Brown. Jeremy had Kolinsky, of course,
• 8:55
  came in later on. What was that going to look
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  like? And Bart Gornowski changed the
• 9:00
  equation for both of us. It wasn't perfect on Saturday.
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  And that's something that I probably need to remind myself.
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  This is not going to be pretty all the time.
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  It's not going to be perfect. And maybe it's just because
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  we've been so desperate to see competent quarterback play for
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  the half decade now at Iowa. It's been hideous.
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  Look, Caker on Friday tried to sell us about 2020 Petrus.
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  Remember his first career start against Purdue in that 2020
• 9:28
  season? That was the best start he had
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  in his career. He threw for over 250 yards in
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  that game, 263, if memory serves, against the
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  Boilermakers. Since then, the final three
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  years, he wasn't able to do that again until he went out to Utah
• 9:40
  State. He was OK.
• 9:43
  That team got a lot better, but it's been bad quarterback play
• 9:47
  and even if you want to give him that, you're fine.
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  OK, Four straight years of just hideous quarterbacking.
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  Kate McNamara, we have sold a bill of goods.
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  This is the veteran that they need.
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  He's going to be able to do things at the injury two years
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  ago in the open practice and last year was just awful.
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  Was the numbers 6 to 24 something hideous like that 20
• 10:08
  yards passing last season? And Gronowski was much better
• 10:11
  than that. But it wasn't perfect.
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  Fumbled snaps, interception, a pick six that Cohen enteringer
• 10:18
  brought back with, which was also great to see Desmond King,
• 10:24
  who was there in like an intern role, kind of helping out him
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  and Jalil Johnson and chased him down as he was run to that back
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  for a touchdown as he gets the screen and he read it.
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  So it wasn't perfect. Gronowski will raise what the
• 10:40
  floor is of this passing game, but I don't think we can say
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  it's an automatic that it's going to be at some kind of top
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  shelf level. It'll be good, going to be
• 10:50
  great. I can't get there from what we
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  saw. What I did see, though, is a
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  wide receiver group that continues.
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  Yes, Iowa has wide receivers and it's another silly conversation.
• 11:04
  Well, does Iowa have both a quarterback and wide receivers?
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  I think they do. Jacob Gill is not going to wow
• 11:10
  you. Jacob Gill is not going to be a
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  guy that's going to, you know, have a couple of 80 yard
• 11:14
  touchdowns this year. He's not going to be a guy that
• 11:18
  he's making clean breaks on guys and breaking ankles.
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  He is just solid, dependable, reliable, just a good solid guy
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  and I would needed that, certainly needed that a season
• 11:28
  ago. He's going to do all the little
• 11:29
  things. He's going to block his ass off.
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  He's going to do that part of it too.
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  He is going to be your professional, your solid guy.
• 11:37
  We know the upside of Reese Van der Zee and we've seen glimpses
• 11:40
  of it and it feels like we've seen a more and more during this
• 11:42
  camp, not just highlights, than what we saw on Saturday from
• 11:46
  Reese van der Zee. The upside is absolutely
• 11:48
  tremendous. Remember, this is still a guy
• 11:50
  that is learning the position, learning the nuances, the small
• 11:54
  little things. And with a player like that,
• 11:57
  you're learning that this is a dude, that his upside is elite.
• 12:02
  But then after that, it was, what, 6 guys?
• 12:04
  We're trying to figure out who's going to be the one that steps
• 12:07
  forward. And I have continually come back
• 12:10
  to Seth Anderson. Now, maybe it was my love of
• 12:13
  Flipper Anderson as a kid because, I mean, his name was
• 12:16
  Flipper for the Rams. The monster performance that he
• 12:18
  had in that game where he had the NFL record for receiving
• 12:21
  yards in the game. Maybe that's why he kept coming
• 12:23
  back to Seth Anderson. But I go back to a couple of
• 12:26
  times last year, the few times that he was healthy, he got
• 12:29
  behind the defense. McNamara just couldn't find him.
• 12:31
  It's a different conversation. He's fast, he's route running.
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  He has everything you need. He just needed to stay healthy.
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  He was healthy in the spring. Now we're sitting here on August
• 12:44
  11th and knock on wood, he's still healthy.
• 12:48
  If Seth Anderson is that senior story, if Seth Anderson is that
• 12:53
  guy this year, you're talking about 3 really good wide
• 12:58
  receivers. Now I think we also have to go
• 13:00
  hand in hand with that. I don't want to say the tight
• 13:02
  end position is dead, and because I know historically Tim
• 13:05
  Lester, there's some things he can point to in his past, both
• 13:08
  as a head coach of Western Michigan and as an offensive
• 13:11
  coordinator that he used the tight end position.
• 13:14
  We saw last year, Luke Lachey, though it diminished because of
• 13:16
  injury. Luke Lachey last year couldn't
• 13:19
  get to 30 catches. Is that kind of the target we're
• 13:22
  looking at? Addison Estranga, Zach Ortworth,
• 13:26
  that neither of these guys are going to be at the level that
• 13:27
  this is going to be more an offense in the passing game
• 13:30
  that's going to be based at the wide receiver position.
• 13:32
  That's what I believe and I think that's what we're going to
• 13:35
  see, that the tight end is just not at the same level as it was
• 13:38
  in the past. But you know what?
• 13:40
  If you take a step forward and the passing game looks much
• 13:43
  improved than what we saw previously, you will take that
• 13:46
  every day of the week. Finally, offensively, one more
• 13:50
  observation for you from Saturday and that is Trevor
• 13:54
  Lauch. Again, Hype train gets a little
• 13:57
  crazy at times. You look good.
• 14:00
  We're not talking to lead. This wasn't Robert Gallery, but
• 14:04
  he looked pretty darn good out there.
• 14:06
  Couple of misses going to happen for a young guy.
• 14:09
  And also remember, not only was he playing left tackle almost
• 14:11
  exclusively, and it does sound like going back to Friday and
• 14:15
  and the Iowa media day that they're still rotating.
• 14:18
  Dotesler still rotating with the ones at left tackle at a little
• 14:22
  bit of Bryce George. But because of the injury to Bo
• 14:25
  Stevens, the guy that has 21 career starts in his career and
• 14:29
  it's going to be an important piece because he's out, that
• 14:32
  means shifting around. I think Bryce George, then
• 14:34
  they're finding out what he can do inside.
• 14:36
  He looked like a guy that is still trying to learn and
• 14:38
  transition from playing T2D2 football during his career to a
• 14:43
  guy now going up to the Big 10. Bryce George looked a little bit
• 14:46
  lost. Lap didn't and he was doing that
• 14:49
  with a bunch of different guys at left guard.
• 14:51
  He was doing that with kind of that rotating piece, not as
• 14:54
  security blanket, if you will. Not a guy that is a veteran next
• 14:57
  to him that as long as injury subside, you're going to have
• 15:01
  this season at left guard. I think Trevor Lauk changed my
• 15:04
  perception. So before I went out to Vegas, I
• 15:07
  thought Trevor Lauk was going to be the guy.
• 15:10
  Then I go to Vegas and I asked Kirk about Bryce George
• 15:13
  specifically and he gives me an answer.
• 15:15
  Well, we brought him in here for a reason.
• 15:16
  We believe he can play. So I kind of changed my two
• 15:18
  there. Now back the other way and I
• 15:20
  think that it is going to be Trevor Lauch is going to be your
• 15:22
  starter at left tackle. You go back to him.
• 15:26
  You know, we've talked to the different guys here that follow
• 15:29
  the recruiting side. He was in the same class as
• 15:32
  Kaden Proctor and Trevor Lau coming in from Indianapolis.
• 15:36
  This was a guy though, that had big time offers.
• 15:41
  So this is a guy that had Notre Dame and Penn State and and
• 15:47
  things like that, that all of a sudden this was a guy that had
• 15:52
  big time opportunity to go almost everywhere he wanted in
• 15:55
  the country and he wanted to be a Hawkeye.
• 15:57
  But because he was in the same class as Kaden Proctor, I think
• 16:03
  it was just diminished. People didn't understand exactly
• 16:06
  what they got here. We'll see if he can play out
• 16:08
  defensively. That defensive line is deep,
• 16:11
  it's talented. They're not even at 100%.
• 16:14
  There's a couple of guys and then you look at the youth,
• 16:17
  Yosei Epines, obviously a true freshman, he was out there late
• 16:20
  with the twos playing a bunch. You see guys like Joseph
• 16:24
  Anderson, who a year ago wasn't big enough to play and now this
• 16:27
  season getting there up to two, 35240.
• 16:30
  You can see the physical maturation that he's made.
• 16:33
  Devin Kennedy is that with Jimmy Kennedy, longtime NFL player,
• 16:37
  the depth that they're creating there at the defensive line are
• 16:41
  going to need it. Can they get to the quarterback
• 16:43
  this year? Because this defensive line
• 16:46
  ultimately has to be elite. If I was going to get back to
• 16:50
  not good defense, they were good defense last year, an elite
• 16:53
  level defense. That defensive line has to be
• 16:56
  the reason Carson Shire looks like a dude.
• 16:59
  We've heard about this guy now for what, five years?
• 17:03
  And he was never healthy. And then he was sitting behind
• 17:06
  Nick Jackson sideline to sideline.
• 17:09
  He reminds you of a guy, I hate to say it, but I'm going to say
• 17:12
  it. I'll give you the comp.
• 17:15
  He gives you a little bit of Chad Greenway vibes.
• 17:17
  I know that that is high and he's not going to be Chad
• 17:21
  Greenway. He's not going to be a first
• 17:22
  round NFL pick. Like this is a guy that's
• 17:24
  battled injuries his whole career.
• 17:25
  He's not going to be that. However, they're just a little
• 17:28
  twinge. How about how about we just do
• 17:31
  that junior, We'll take it down a step, go down a level with it.
• 17:35
  But I really like what you saw from Shire middle linebacker.
• 17:37
  I told you guys last week, I continue to hear the Montgomery
• 17:40
  is right there with Harold for that middle linebacker spot and
• 17:43
  the young guys are coming. And then the defensive
• 17:45
  backfield. In fact, Speaking of the
• 17:46
  defensive backfield, that's where we're going to start our
• 17:48
  conversation next. Elliot Clough was over in Iowa
• 17:51
  City as well. We'll get his thoughts on Kids
• 17:53
  Day, the practice that we saw and we're going to get his
• 17:57
  opportunity also Friday with media day.
• 17:59
  Some takeaways from Elliot Clough.
• 18:01
  He's going to join us and I followed up with Mitch Holtis
• 18:03
  who is going to join us a little bit later on.
• 18:06
  One final thing, got to give a shout out.
• 18:08
  My friends over at Waukee I met over the weekend, Michael and
• 18:10
  Kelly, thanks to you listening and thanks to all of you guys
• 18:12
  out there for listening in as well.
• 18:14
  More Hawkeye talk, a look at Kids Day open practice as we
• 18:18
  will be joined next by Elliot Clough.
• 18:21
  It's Miller and Con to take you up until 2O clock on a Monday on
• 18:24
  the Iowa Sports Radio Network. Back with you on a Monday
• 18:37
  edition. It's Miller and Condon on the
• 18:39
  Iowa Sports Radio Network. We'll take you up until 2:00
• 18:42
  today. Let's talk some Hawkeyes and
• 18:46
  what we saw over the weekend in Iowa City.
• 18:48
  It was Friday, Iowa Football Media day, Saturday, the Open
• 18:53
  Kids Day practice, And then today we'll get basically our
• 18:57
  last glimpse at anything as it'll be Big 10 Network day as
• 19:01
  they've been to practice earlier today and we'll get some reports
• 19:03
  from that. And of course, the show coming
• 19:05
  up later this evening. Here to talk at all, it's
• 19:08
  Elliott Clough from 24/7 Sports hawkeyeinsider.com.
• 19:12
  Elliott, as always, appreciate the time.
• 19:14
  How are you? I'm good Tran, how are you
• 19:16
  doing? Doing well, so kind of hard to
• 19:20
  navigate because we have so much and we just get this onslaught
• 19:22
  of information and then we have to wait for basically three
• 19:25
  weeks before we actually see this football team in there.
• 19:28
  Let's put it this way, your top take away, and I know there's a
• 19:32
  lot, but if you had to point and you were told your your editor
• 19:35
  over there at Hawkeye Insider said you got to write on one
• 19:38
  topic. What was the most important
• 19:40
  thing you saw on Saturday at Kids Day?
• 19:44
  I would probably have to say it's about the explosive plays
• 19:48
  and the fact that Iowa can actually pass the ball down
• 19:50
  field now with with Clark Gronowski under center,
• 19:54
  obviously still working things out, still getting some some,
• 19:58
  you know, chemistry things down, still missing some throws.
• 20:03
  Had some some errant snaps from, from Logan Jones over over those
• 20:07
  few hours that we were able to watch the team.
• 20:09
  But to me, you know, I, I don't want to.
• 20:12
  I don't want to crown Mark Granowski before he does
• 20:14
  anything in Iowa because I think way too many people did that
• 20:17
  with Kate and obviously we saw what happened.
• 20:20
  But but Mark was good and I think it's cause for optimism
• 20:25
  right now with Iowa. They can actually pass the ball
• 20:28
  and complete some of those big plays.
• 20:30
  Man things. Things are different for the
• 20:33
  Hawkeyes, especially based on what we've seen the last half
• 20:36
  decade. Mark Granowski, really good
• 20:38
  early on, made some mistakes. There was a fumble snap, there
• 20:41
  was a shotgun snap that he gobbled and of course the pick
• 20:43
  six UPS, downs, highs, lows. Your take away from Gronowski
• 20:48
  and what you saw. Yeah, I, I would say it's
• 20:52
  probably the, the main thing that I would take away is, is
• 20:55
  the, the, the big plays and the completion to re Sanders and
• 20:59
  Seth Anderson. But ultimately I, I do think
• 21:03
  what it comes down to is, is that first thing I said is, is
• 21:06
  chemistry. I mean, that's, that's the main
• 21:08
  thing that they're still working on.
• 21:09
  They've only really been doing full on foot fall for about a
• 21:13
  week now. So I think expecting that
• 21:15
  chemistry to be fully done and taken care of it, it's kind of
• 21:19
  unrealistic. But at the same time, I think
• 21:22
  it's, I think it's cautious, cautious optimism right now
• 21:24
  given what he was able to do. So it's a, it's a mix of I don't
• 21:29
  know yet, especially considering the context of, like I said, the
• 21:31
  the offense for the last few years.
• 21:33
  But at the same time, like I said, there is reason for
• 21:36
  cautious optimism with especially with those abilities,
• 21:39
  with the ability to hit some of those downfield passes just
• 21:43
  because, you know, we've seen it in bits and pieces over the last
• 21:45
  few years. It'll happen from time to time,
• 21:47
  but but Mark trusts his guys and and he's going to give them an
• 21:52
  if that includes AA30 yard pass, a 40 yard pass, then that's
• 21:56
  huge. And and that's really, really
• 21:58
  something that this last year's team lacked in in the passing
• 22:02
  game. Like, yeah, Caleb Johnson was
• 22:04
  explosive plays, but he was like the only source of explosive
• 22:07
  plays for last season's offense. So if they can complete some of
• 22:10
  those down long downfield throws, that's going to help
• 22:13
  them out and make them a lot more efficient.
• 22:15
  We know Reese Vanders, the big play potential that he has.
• 22:18
  Jacob Gill solid, dependable, He's going to be good.
• 22:20
  Seth Anderson looked the part and we always say if healthy
• 22:23
  with him, where does Sam Phillips, the transfer from
• 22:26
  Chattanooga, where does he fit into this equation when you're
• 22:29
  talking about some of those more veteran wide receivers?
• 22:32
  Yeah, You know, we didn't really see a ton of him on on Saturday
• 22:35
  either. There was an end around and he
• 22:37
  might have caught like a pass or two, but other than that, he
• 22:40
  wasn't super involved. I do still expect him to be one
• 22:43
  of those top four guys in the receiving corps on the field
• 22:48
  that amount on on Saturday, right.
• 22:50
  So I think he he factors in in some of those end around jet
• 22:54
  sweep sort of situations, but he's also kind of that
• 22:56
  possession receiver like Jacob Gill.
• 22:58
  That's that's what it strikes me as.
• 23:01
  Then again, you know, I mean we haven't really seen a ton of
• 23:04
  him. So I think that's still kind of
• 23:06
  TBD. But right now I I would expect
• 23:08
  him to be in that sort of top guys that that play quite a bit
• 23:13
  this year and play in a variety of of roles in in the Iowa.
• 23:18
  Trevor Lau got most of the reps at one now I know him and Dosler
• 23:21
  have been rotating a little bit of Price George in there.
• 23:23
  Also the Ferris State transfer. I know a lot of people are
• 23:27
  pointing to the pick six that it was his fault.
• 23:30
  Like the screen game was terrible all Saturday long.
• 23:33
  So I I don't think anything there he's going to have those
• 23:36
  moments. But I thought overall I was
• 23:37
  impressed by Trevor Lauca. What did you think of the left
• 23:39
  tackle? You know, yeah, that is
• 23:43
  something that you have to point to because it was a like an 80
• 23:46
  yard pick 6 or what would have been an 80 yard pick 6.
• 23:49
  So you can't just ignore it. At the same time, something that
• 23:52
  I was talking to a few people this morning and the way I
• 23:56
  thought about it is like, to me, Mark doesn't make that throw in
• 23:59
  a game, right? It was an open practice.
• 24:03
  I think it was a scenario where Mark probably saw what was going
• 24:05
  on, but it was like, you know, screw it, try to make the throw
• 24:09
  instead of throwing it away. To me, Mark is a lot smarter
• 24:11
  than that play and in a game he would have thrown that ball away
• 24:15
  2 with with Trevor Lau. I think he's got the edge right
• 24:19
  now. Of course, there's a lot, like I
• 24:21
  said, a lot more football to be played.
• 24:23
  Like you said, three weeks left. So there's still a lot to figure
• 24:26
  out there. I thought Jack Dosler was good
• 24:28
  with Sue. To me, I, I don't, I don't
• 24:30
  necessarily think Bryce George is, is going to be that left
• 24:34
  tackle, starting left tackle anytime soon.
• 24:36
  He did get the two reps that left guard behind.
• 24:39
  Leyton Jones told me he's been getting those reps during media
• 24:41
  day. So to me it is kind of a two man
• 24:44
  race right now. We might hear otherwise and it's
• 24:46
  George, you know, ascends big time and ends up taking that
• 24:50
  left tackle spot. Like I'll eat my word, that's
• 24:52
  fine. But to me it's loud job.
• 24:55
  I think he was good for the most part.
• 24:57
  When you're matching up against Maxwell Welland and some of
• 24:59
  those other guys that are on the edge, that's just going to be
• 25:02
  tough for literally any left tackle and college football.
• 25:05
  So I do think Trevor performed pretty well and I do think it's
• 25:10
  his job to to lose right now. I wouldn't say he's, you know,
• 25:14
  completely locked it up. But if Jack Dozler starts to
• 25:17
  elevate or Bryce George really takes a big jump forward, they
• 25:21
  they definitely could compete. But to me, if I had to guess
• 25:23
  right now, I think it's Trevor Lock lock job.
• 25:26
  So from LAUK over to the guys he was going up against, you
• 25:29
  mentioned some of those guys on that defensive front, boy, they
• 25:32
  are deep. They got to be able to get to
• 25:34
  the quarterback. Because I said this earlier,
• 25:36
  Elliot, I want to get your perspective on this.
• 25:38
  If I was going to get back to in a light level defense overall,
• 25:42
  because of the questions that we have, certainly depth wise at
• 25:44
  linebacker, the questions at cornerback and with TJ Hall
• 25:47
  being that I think this defensive line has to be at an
• 25:50
  elite level and it has to be not just Llewellyn and Herket, but
• 25:54
  also a Brian Allen or Yosei up Anessa or Joseph Anderson.
• 25:58
  They got to get guys that can get to the quarterback in the
• 26:00
  middle's got to be stout to this defensive line.
• 26:02
  It feels like they have the pieces.
• 26:04
  You think they can put it all together and be elite this year?
• 26:08
  Yeah, I think that that's one of the main questions right now
• 26:11
  with the defense. Obviously, you mentioned the
• 26:13
  linebackers secondary. To me, I would say the number
• 26:16
  one question right now, especially off of Kids Day, is,
• 26:20
  is TJ Hall going to be an elite corner?
• 26:22
  Because I was so used to having that.
• 26:24
  They had it for, you know, a decent chunk of last year and
• 26:27
  Jermari Harris. But after that, we saw what
• 26:30
  happened against the likes of, you know, Missouri.
• 26:32
  It's one of those teams that could pass the ball with Brady
• 26:34
  Cook under center. So to me, if they don't have
• 26:37
  that, then it's you know, it's it's so much pressure is going
• 26:40
  to be on that defensive line to create pressure to create
• 26:43
  disruption, whether or not they're going to be elite.
• 26:47
  Man, I'd love to tell you yes. And have all the Iowa fans
• 26:50
  loving me in my mentions on Twitter, But that's another it's
• 26:54
  another DVD right now. We just there's so little we
• 26:57
  still really truly know about this team.
• 27:01
  I think they have the capability to get up there and be among one
• 27:04
  of the best defensive lines in the country.
• 27:06
  I think they have the capability to be.
• 27:08
  I think it was, forgive me, somebody's going to come on air
• 27:12
  and make me sound stupid. I think it was 2021 from
• 27:15
  remembering, right, maybe 22. All three of their leaders in
• 27:19
  sack, it was Lucas, Van Ness, Beyoncé, Craig and yeah, I think
• 27:22
  it was 22. And Joe Evans, they each had 6
• 27:25
  1/2. And I think the team as a whole
• 27:27
  had 35 stacks. Like they have an opportunity to
• 27:30
  be that kind of defensive line because like, you went down the
• 27:33
  line, right? You've got Ethan Herchis, you
• 27:35
  who led the team in sacks with 6 1/2 last year.
• 27:37
  I think it was 6, I remember incorrectly, that is Max Llewell
• 27:40
  and Brian Allen, Bryce Hawthorne, Aaron Graves.
• 27:43
  Like you can just name guys going up and down the line and
• 27:47
  if there is an opportunity to really stack up stacks, we might
• 27:50
  not see a star emerge, right? They might might just be good
• 27:53
  across the board. I definitely think that's a
• 27:55
  possibility with this group. I hate to be hyperbolic.
• 28:00
  He reminded me a little bit of Chad Greenway, and I threw that
• 28:02
  out. Then I feel stupid even saying
• 28:04
  it out loud because it's Carson Shire.
• 28:06
  And as we've talked about for the last five years, he's never
• 28:08
  healthy. But boy, sideline to sideline,
• 28:10
  physicality, the speed, the power combination, you can see
• 28:14
  why. Elliot, we've been hearing about
• 28:15
  this guy for five years. I think so, to tell you the
• 28:19
  truth, when leaving Saturday, I kind of left thinking, man,
• 28:22
  about the linebackers as a whole.
• 28:24
  I had to go back and watch. I think so much of us are so
• 28:27
  focused on the offense and their ability to produce.
• 28:30
  We completely disregard the defense.
• 28:32
  Like I'm guilty of that 100% unless, you know, there's a big
• 28:35
  play like Cohen enteringer me. But going back and watching, I
• 28:38
  don't know if I'd say Chad Greenway, but I, I did, I did
• 28:45
  continually like he was just around the ball, right, like
• 28:48
  almost every snap. And they're going to need that.
• 28:51
  Like if there is any lock in that starting trio of
• 28:54
  linebackers, to me it's Carson Shire at this point in time.
• 28:57
  You mentioned his ability to stay healthy.
• 28:59
  That is so incredibly key with him.
• 29:01
  But if he can stay healthy, stay on the field, we might be seeing
• 29:06
  another Nick Jackson type where he plays his well.
• 29:09
  Nick obviously played two years, but plays his one year and
• 29:13
  really, really, really plays super well, wins big 10 honors
• 29:16
  and maybe ends up on an NFL roster like that's that's the
• 29:19
  potential we're looking at with the Carson Shire.
• 29:22
  And to me, I, I think the number one take away is, is something I
• 29:24
  already said is that he was just around the ball at all times,
• 29:27
  especially in the run game. He had that pick 6, I think not
• 29:31
  this spring, but the spring prior.
• 29:32
  It might have been kids day actually, but he's been, he's
• 29:36
  been good. He's been good.
• 29:37
  And I, I think if there is any, you know, real hope in that
• 29:41
  linebacker group, it's substantiated with Carson Shire
• 29:45
  right now. Couple more with Elliott Clough
• 29:47
  as we're talking Hawkeyes and what we saw over in Iowa City on
• 29:50
  Saturday at Kids Day. Defensive backfield.
• 29:52
  I, I mentioned I was going to start with you here, then I
• 29:55
  didn't. So let's get into it.
• 29:57
  TJ Hall we talked about it a little bit.
• 29:59
  TJ Hall out. I guess maybe the surprise for
• 30:01
  me is also with Watson deal with an injury, soft tissue injury is
• 30:06
  Alex Mota was up there, Godfried running with the ones.
• 30:10
  And I anticipated that we were going to see a little bit more
• 30:14
  of the transfer from South Dakota, that we're going to see
• 30:16
  more Barrows out there. That wasn't the case.
• 30:18
  Give me your take away over at the specifically cornerback.
• 30:21
  I, you know, I keep telling people who bring up takeaways to
• 30:24
  me that I didn't notice that I need to go back and watch the
• 30:27
  film. But with Shaheed Barrows, that
• 30:30
  is one thing I noticed too. And I might go back and double
• 30:33
  check again just based on what we got, what Sean and I got.
• 30:36
  But the only play that I distinctly remember from Shaheed
• 30:40
  is him getting beat on that Reese Vandersby touchdown early
• 30:42
  on in the day. That's the only one that sticks
• 30:44
  out to me. I don't know if maybe he twisted
• 30:47
  an ankle and just without I like, I'm just not sure.
• 30:51
  We weren't told anything. I'm going to need to double
• 30:53
  check on that. But yeah, didn't really see a
• 30:55
  whole lot of him. Jalen Watson played a little bit
• 30:57
  more than I thought he would. He wasn't, you know, super
• 31:01
  present on the defensive side of the field, but he did get some
• 31:04
  snaps and he did play full speed on a few reps.
• 31:07
  But yeah, Deshawn Lee didn't necessarily stick out to me
• 31:10
  either. The the note of for me was that
• 31:14
  Rashad Godfrey played quite a bit and Desmond King actually
• 31:17
  spent some time with him prior to the game and was was working
• 31:20
  on stuff. So that was interesting.
• 31:21
  But man, we talked about question Marks and corner really
• 31:26
  is a huge one for me right now, especially if TJ Hall, like let
• 31:31
  TJ Hall sit against Albany. If he plays, let him play the
• 31:34
  first half and get, you know, get his feet under him, get used
• 31:38
  to being back on the field. But but let him sit for the
• 31:41
  second-half and let him get back for for Iowa State because there
• 31:45
  just is not based on what we saw this this last Saturday, there
• 31:49
  just is not that elite #1 corner that Iowa is so used to having.
• 31:54
  And I would feel a lot more comfortable right now.
• 31:57
  I don't know if you remember this Trent, they had that corner
• 32:01
  from Miami OH that they were looking at trying to bring on
• 32:03
  campus and he had scheduled a visit and then he commits to
• 32:06
  Auburn before he even steps on campus to Iowa.
• 32:08
  I'm assuming Auburn dropped it back to go and get that guy,
• 32:11
  which I don't blame you. He had a ton of pics ton of PB
• 32:14
  us at Miami of Ohio and if Iowa had that guy, if they were able
• 32:18
  to get that guy out of the portal, I would feel a lot more
• 32:21
  comfortable than I than I currently do with with with the
• 32:24
  cornerback room. So if TJ Hall comes out and is a
• 32:28
  lockdown corner in those first few weeks, I'll feel a lot
• 32:32
  better. But for right now, you know,
• 32:34
  it's one side of the ball is going to get criticized one way
• 32:37
  or another, right? Like if Mark Granowski couldn't
• 32:40
  complete a pass on Saturday, everybody would be like, oh, the
• 32:42
  defense is great, but offense is still terrible.
• 32:45
  But Mark completed some of those deep passes.
• 32:47
  So now the defensive backs are awful.
• 32:48
  Like there's just no winning really out of these things.
• 32:52
  And and for for the corners, they were unfortunately the
• 32:55
  losers out of this thing. And not that you know, there is
• 32:59
  a winner or a loser out of a out of a ball practice like that.
• 33:02
  But to me, the the corners are it's just, it's just if there is
• 33:06
  one word, there are two words to keep referencing here.
• 33:09
  It's question mark and and that's what the corners are
• 33:11
  right now for me. No doubt about it.
• 33:13
  Elliot Clough joining us 24/7 Sports.
• 33:15
  Hey Elliot, out of time for today.
• 33:17
  Appreciate it as always. We'll talk to you again soon.
• 33:20
  Sounds good. Thanks, Trent.
• 33:21
  Elliot Clough, 24/7 sports joining us as we take a look at
• 33:25
  open practice and kids day from over the weekend.
• 33:28
  Let's go to Kansas City next off the road trip to Arizona.
• 33:31
  Mitch Holt is the voice of the Chiefs.
• 33:32
  He joins us. We take you up until 2:00.
• 33:34
  It's Miller and Condon on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
• 33:39
  Shrink on him. Back with you on a Monday
• 33:41
  edition. It's Miller and Condon on the
• 33:43
  Iowa Sports Radio Network. Ken off today.
• 33:45
  He'll be back with us, though tomorrow talking with Mitch
• 33:49
  Holtis. But it'll just be Mitch and I
• 33:51
  for today. Mitch Holtis fresh off a trip to
• 33:54
  Arizona, getting ready to get back on a bird here in a couple
• 33:56
  of days and head out to Seattle. Not Mitch.
• 33:59
  You don't get frequent flyer miles right when you're flying
• 34:01
  with the team. No, it's give and take.
• 34:05
  You get treated like a quasi king and I like the players but
• 34:09
  close and then charter flights the way to go.
• 34:11
  But yeah, you don't get any flyer miles.
• 34:14
  Now where's Ken? Is he at the State Fair to dark?
• 34:16
  We lose our Kanak at the State Fair.
• 34:18
  That would be the upset of the century.
• 34:20
  Ken is not a big fair Gore, so I do not believe that that's where
• 34:24
  he is. A little three day weekend for
• 34:26
  KED though and he'll be back tomorrow.
• 34:28
  But no, I am. I will put a Trent Condon
• 34:31
  guarantee on this. He is not currently at the fair.
• 34:34
  OK, I just thought he might be skipping school to go to the
• 34:36
  fair, wasn't sure. There's plenty of people that do
• 34:39
  this. Friends, they were in the
• 34:40
  parade. So I know, man, it's State Fair
• 34:42
  week. Let's go.
• 34:43
  It definitely is and it's big time.
• 34:45
  My my kids are in fact out there right now heading out there at
• 34:48
  this point, but you know, we're calls.
• 34:50
  So we are here and excited to be talking with you.
• 34:53
  So we talked about this touch out a little bit last week and
• 34:56
  it's the wide receiver group and there's still questions there
• 34:59
  what it's going to look like. You know, I asked you about some
• 35:01
  of those guys deeper down the list that maybe should be
• 35:03
  keeping an eye on Saturday night and, well, I'll tell you, a
• 35:06
  couple of those guys popped on at the wide receiver spot.
• 35:09
  No question. You know, sometimes you have
• 35:11
  you're talking about cut downs and having a problem and you
• 35:14
  don't have enough guys and then there's you got too many guys.
• 35:18
  The wide receiver, there's 14 Trent in this camp to probably
• 35:21
  keep 6, but there are 8 right now that are just going crazy
• 35:27
  And some guys, Jason Brownlee is an undrafted free agent rookie
• 35:32
  out of Southern Mississippi, came from East Mississippi
• 35:34
  junior college and he's tearing it up.
• 35:37
  And so what's he going to do in the game?
• 35:39
  Well, he made the great touchdown catch on the fade from
• 35:42
  Pat Mahomes. The others Taekwon Thornton, but
• 35:45
  I and he's kid with Baylor started at North New England.
• 35:48
  They drafted him high and then it's like he went to oblivion
• 35:52
  and now he's back. And then the others, the rookie
• 35:54
  jail and Royals. I mean, there's literally 8 guys
• 35:58
  for six slots now. We know the Rice suspensions out
• 36:01
  there looming. But I asked Coach Reed about
• 36:03
  this. And Trent, you know, this Coach
• 36:04
  Reed is not hyperbolic. He's not going to go out of his
• 36:07
  way to make like outrageous statements.
• 36:09
  Like, you know, Mitch is the best guy ever.
• 36:11
  He just doesn't do that. But I, when I asked about wide
• 36:14
  receiver, he said this and it really got my attention.
• 36:17
  Yeah. This is really the best group
• 36:19
  we've had collectively since I've been here, Brett.
• 36:23
  Brett's done a nice job of bringing these guys in and you
• 36:26
  look at them and they're all making plays out here and and
• 36:29
  doing some good things. That's 13 years of data and when
• 36:36
  he says the best group he's had, you get excited, but then you're
• 36:40
  thinking, what's how's this going to like work out?
• 36:43
  And so it's something to say probably the most burning hot
• 36:46
  question there is because Josh Simmons is playing great at left
• 36:50
  tackle. He was awesome the other night,
• 36:51
  made a terrific play today. So we've gone from like, oh, got
• 36:55
  it. You're have left tackle.
• 36:56
  What's going to happen there to Oh my gosh, who's going?
• 36:59
  Who going to be the wide receivers to start the season in
• 37:02
  Brazil against the Chargers? Going hand in hand with the wide
• 37:06
  receiver group, you know, last year they go, you know he's 15
• 37:09
  and one. Mahomes is at the quarterback
• 37:11
  spot. When he started games, they won
• 37:13
  so many close games. It felt like they were maybe
• 37:15
  playing a little bit closer to the vest.
• 37:17
  Do you anticipate that's going to be overall kind of the game
• 37:20
  plan this year or it's going to go back to more of that
• 37:23
  freewheeling 2021-2022 type of season?
• 37:26
  If you had to kind of crystal ball overall, what more type of
• 37:30
  season Mahomes is going to have? No, but it's a pertinent
• 37:34
  question. And maybe one of the biggest
• 37:36
  questions of this camp is this is like, gosh, let me get Max
• 37:40
  Scherzer or some guy who's pitched in the league who can
• 37:43
  still throw upper 90s on a fastball.
• 37:46
  That's Mahomes. But he has learned in the last
• 37:48
  two years how to throw the cutter to get you out at 83.
• 37:52
  So when you have all of that in your repertoire, and he does,
• 37:56
  the Chiefs last year led the NFL in touchdown drives a 6.77 plays
• 38:01
  that was #1 in the league. So it goes back to the first
• 38:04
  thing I first report we had with Pat back on the 27th of July
• 38:09
  28th where he said, I've got to stay strategic, but we're going
• 38:13
  to take shots. And so that's my answer to you,
• 38:15
  Trent, is the fact that you got a fastball pitcher that's going
• 38:18
  to throw a cutter, you don't know what's coming.
• 38:20
  And Pat has shown that he can remain patient, but at the right
• 38:24
  place and time, he's going to shoot it down there because he's
• 38:27
  got dudes that who can run and dudes that can catch it.
• 38:30
  And he was perfect. How about that short field to
• 38:32
  open up the game after the fumble from the Cardinals?
• 38:35
  You don't see that one very often.
• 38:36
  And what 2 fumble kickoffs to begin the game?
• 38:39
  Well, and I was going to, I was going to do a whole show on this
• 38:43
  and that's the new kickoff. Well, second year of the dynamic
• 38:46
  kickoff rule, but they changed it.
• 38:47
  So now you're going to get way more kickoff returns.
• 38:49
  The Chiefs have worked. It worked it worked it worked it
• 38:53
  both on returns and on kickoffs. It will decide games this year.
• 38:57
  Some team may make the playoffs because they're really good at
• 39:00
  the dynamic kickoff. It's not like you see an any
• 39:03
  other level of football, but the kickers have got to become
• 39:05
  really good. But put that thing, I just
• 39:08
  watched him all spring and summer work on this.
• 39:10
  He puts it right on the line and the returner Dorch for Arizona
• 39:13
  thinks it's going to go to bounds.
• 39:15
  Well, wait a minute, may not. It's like the real slow roller
• 39:17
  up the third baseline is going to go foul fair.
• 39:20
  And then he goes, Oh my gosh, I better pick this up because the
• 39:22
  guys are within 7 yards of me. That's why they're so close,
• 39:26
  right? Once it hits the landing zone,
• 39:27
  the coverage guys can take off. It was a perfect kick.
• 39:31
  And so it's got to be a perfect kick.
• 39:33
  I think it's got to be well blocked.
• 39:34
  So what do the Chiefs do? A perfect kick and then they RIP
• 39:37
  the ball out and get the ball short field.
• 39:39
  But on the return, Nico Romigio gets a 50 yard return to
• 39:43
  midfield. They continue to work on it.
• 39:45
  They think it could give them an edge.
• 39:47
  While other people are trying to figure it out or grouse or
• 39:49
  complain about it, they're going no, no, we're going to use this
• 39:51
  to try to win games. So the dynamic kickoff thing is
• 39:54
  A is a bigger deal than fans realize.
• 39:56
  Mitch out of time for today. Papa John's of Iowa sponsors our
• 40:00
  conversation with Mitch Holtis State Fair.
• 40:02
  Good pizza. Even better.
• 40:04
  We'll talk more about Papa John's tomorrow.
• 40:06
  Mitch. You got it bro thank you.
• 40:08
  Thank you. That's Mitch Holtis, the voice
• 40:10
  of the Kansas City Chiefs. Another road trip before their
• 40:13
  only home game of the preseason against the Bears.
• 40:16
  Coming up in a couple weeks. One hour down, one to go.
• 40:19
  We're talking baseball Cubs, Cardinals series with Matt
• 40:22
  Snyder next.