Tyler Barnes Press Conference
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00:00 Good afternoon, how's everybody doing?
00:01 Doing well floor is yours, Tyler.
00:04 Awesome, I'll hit a few points.
00:06 I don't want to echo too much
00:07 with coach said before
00:08 it open up for questions,
00:10 but just like every year,
00:12 you know it's always 2 1/2,
00:13 three years in the making
00:14 with our coaching staff in the road
00:15 digging up these guys,
00:16 recruiting these guys,
00:17 developing relationships,
00:18 going back to the cornerstone
00:21 of the core four as I saw
00:22 Scott tweet about earlier
00:24 with Cody Fox.
00:25 You know it's 2 1/2 years ago
00:26 that he committed to us,
00:27 which which seems kind of crazy
00:29 when you think about
00:30 but given that history
00:31 it's nothing too wild.
00:32 And then you know shortly
00:33 after Cam Buffington joined the crew
00:36 and then about six months post
00:37 we had, you know, Preston and
00:38 and Derek joined the crew
00:40 and it's kind of been rolling
00:41 from there all the way up through.
00:42 I know everybody thinks that
00:44 that restaking committed
00:45 just a few days ago.
00:46 We've known about recent
00:47 now for about four months,
00:48 but we'll let you guys think
00:49 it was a few days ago,
00:50 but just a couple things
00:52 I want to hit.
00:52 You know, obviously we signed
00:53 20 guys today will sign our 21st
00:56 here probably in a couple hours.
00:57 And we've also added 10
00:59 walk-ons onto our roster
01:00 and at that point we're
01:01 we're pretty much done.
01:03 As coach said,
01:04 we'll kind of keep an eye open
01:05 in the portal here
01:06 in the coming months.
01:07 You know, we're also waiting on decisions
01:09 from six different players
01:11 in our current roster.
01:12 So you know it's still
01:14 it's always fluid.
01:14 I think history tell you in the past
01:16 from from January through August.
01:18 You know we always lose
01:19 a handful of guys, so.
01:20 The roster management piece
01:22 has certainly become
01:23 a little bit different
01:24 in this day and age,
01:25 especially with the COVID guys,
01:27 which we've got one more year
01:28 of COVID guys next year and
01:30 and as much as I love
01:31 all these guys and I want them back,
01:32 I can't wait for the COVID
01:33 stuff to go away.
01:34 It makes my job
01:35 just a little bit easier.
01:36 It's fluid anyways.
01:38 It's extremely fluid
01:39 when you throw in that little
01:40 little factor, but
01:41 you know, just talking about our class.
01:43 One thing that I think
01:44 is really unique.
01:45 You know, I think it was
01:46 two years ago in June.
01:47 We had a horrendous June
01:49 official visit month.
01:50 I think it was well documented
01:51 by some people on here
01:52 and rightfully so.
01:53 One thing that I think
01:54 is pretty impressive.
01:55 You know, we brought in
01:56 22 official visitors this June
01:58 and 21 committed to us.
01:59 So we've really been done
02:01 since the end of June.
02:02 If you guys put out
02:03 their commitments
02:04 a little bit later in July,
02:05 but basically the Monday
02:06 following our big weekend,
02:07 we had secured commitments
02:09 from 20 of those guys
02:10 from that big weekend,
02:11 which which I think is,
02:12 you know, pretty impressive
02:13 and more impressive than that
02:15 is none of these guys have wavered
02:17 the entire time
02:17 since they've committed to us.
02:18 You know, we had some guys
02:19 that were picking up offers and
02:21 and I'm always the first to tell guys,
02:22 hey, if schools are offering you
02:23 a great celebrate,
02:24 put it on Twitter.
02:25 But I want to be very honest with them.
02:27 What's your conversation like?
02:28 Is there something
02:28 we need to worry about?
02:29 And at no point this entire fall
02:32 did we have any worries or concerns
02:33 with any of our guys.
02:34 And I think that shows a little bit
02:36 of just who we're trying to recruit.
02:37 The guys were going after,
02:38 you know, the families
02:39 were trying to be associated
02:40 with just for guys to be locked in,
02:41 you know, for that long,
02:42 because I think it's
02:43 pretty well documented
02:44 when we offer guys
02:45 and we get in and get in on some guys
02:47 a little bit earlier than other schools.
02:49 You know, it's it's kind of a target
02:51 for schools to come after
02:52 some of those guys, right?
02:53 They kind of let us do the evaluation
02:54 and they start recruiting the guys.
02:56 So I think that's something
02:57 we're celebrating for sure.
02:58 You know, it's proud
02:59 and proud of these guys in this class.
03:01 It's something you just don't
03:02 see a whole lot of.
03:03 This is probably realistically
03:06 the most uneventful signing day
03:07 I've had in my 15 years
03:09 in college football.
03:10 I slept extremely well last night.
03:12 I had the last few weeks.
03:13 There's nobody I've been worried
03:14 about or concerned about.
03:15 No hat games, any of that.
03:17 Like Coach said,
03:17 there's nothing wrong with that.
03:18 We just prefer not to deal with that
03:20 if we don't have to.
03:21 And really, at the end of the day,
03:23 you know, our goal
03:23 is still always going to be the same.
03:24 You know, we're going to try
03:25 and build a roster
03:26 through the high school,
03:26 high school ranks.
03:28 We're going to try and develop kids.
03:29 If we have some pressing
03:30 and glaring needs,
03:31 we're certainly going to look
03:32 in the portal for those
03:33 and try and address those.
03:34 But at the end of the day, it's,
03:35 you know, call us old school,
03:37 call us different,
03:37 whatever you want to call us.
03:38 It's something we believe in.
03:39 It's worked pretty well here.
03:41 We're going to continue to do it that way
03:42 and just keep working
03:43 through those high school ranks.
03:44 So with that, I'll open up
03:46 to any questions anybody may have
03:47 about specific guys
03:48 or anything from there.
03:49 OK, thanks, Tyler.
03:51 We'll start with Elliott
03:52 Clow, Rivals.com.
03:54 Hey, Tyler, appreciate the time today.
03:58 And first thing
04:00 I think everybody wants to know about
04:02 is the quarterback
04:03 in the twenty twenty four class,
04:05 James Reaser.
04:05 I know he was another early commit,
04:08 not quite the the core four,
04:10 but a guy that committed pretty early.
04:12 What did you like about him?
04:13 What stood out about his game?
04:14 Yeah, the fabulous fifth.
04:16 If we're going to keep naming guys
04:17 here in this class,
04:18 you know, James is interesting.
04:20 James obviously lives in Jacksonville,
04:22 but his parents are both in Wisconsin.
04:23 He's still got a bunch of family
04:24 in Wisconsin.
04:25 So while they are Floridians,
04:27 that their Midwesterners are hard.
04:28 And James was a guy that,
04:30 you know, he had been to some other
04:31 schools in the Big Ten
04:32 and kind of reached out to us
04:33 really prior to us recruiting him.
04:35 And it was that Midwest connection.
04:37 And once him and his dad
04:38 came on campus for the first time,
04:40 just getting around James
04:41 and finding out a little bit more about him,
04:42 obviously a phenomenal track athlete,
04:44 you know, 10, 6, 7, 10, 6, 7
04:46 last year in the 100.
04:47 Did that hurt as well?
04:49 You know, we fully expect him
04:50 and I think he'd echo it.
04:51 We expect him to go sub 10, 5 this spring.
04:54 And when you do that at six,
04:55 three and a half, 205 pounds,
04:56 that's pretty impressive.
04:58 You know, James is still role as a passer,
05:00 but you can't deny the athletic ability
05:02 that he has.
05:03 And that's something that intrigued us,
05:04 something maybe a little bit different
05:05 than we have in the room currently
05:07 that we've had in the room
05:07 in the past few years.
05:08 And James is another kid.
05:10 You know, once he came up here,
05:12 I think it was the third time
05:13 he was up here is when he committed to us.
05:15 You know, they were fully locked in
05:16 and he had plenty of other suitors
05:18 and he had picked up some offers,
05:19 but never wavered from day
05:21 one committing to us.
05:22 You know, they've been up here,
05:23 I think all told,
05:24 not five times in the recruiting process,
05:26 which that's not an easy trip
05:27 from Jacksonville.
05:28 But but a kid that you really like,
05:30 very focused, really mature kid.
05:32 But just the athletic traits
05:33 you see alone
05:34 and some of the stuff he does,
05:35 especially running,
05:36 is what makes you excited about him.
05:37 Next question, Tyler,
05:42 comes from Tom Caker, Hawkeye Report.
05:44 Hey Tom.
05:45 Tyler.
05:49 I wanted to ask you about
05:49 the defensive line
05:50 for guys, in particular
05:53 Anderson and Kennedy,
05:55 who are, you know,
05:55 sons of NFL players
05:57 and just doing the projections
05:59 with both those guys
06:00 because they're not fully formed yet.
06:02 Just what you guys saw
06:04 recruiting those guys.
06:05 Yeah, I mean, really all four guys
06:08 are completely different stories,
06:09 you know, and I'll start off
06:11 with just Drew Campbell.
06:11 Obviously, we knew a lot about Drew.
06:14 I remember when Drew was in seventh grade,
06:16 I think when Jack did his first camp here.
06:18 You know, there's a lot of mannerisms
06:20 that are exactly the same
06:21 about Drew and Jack,
06:22 but at the same time,
06:22 they're completely different people.
06:24 Personality wise,
06:25 they couldn't be more polar opposite.
06:27 You know, Jack's quiet and stoic.
06:29 Drew's got a little personality to him.
06:30 And excuse my French,
06:31 I think a little bit more shit
06:32 to him on the outside.
06:33 And Drew has got his camp here a bunch.
06:36 You know, we've seen him grow up.
06:37 You know, his dad obviously
06:38 was a college football player.
06:40 We know about Jack.
06:41 For us, it was a no brainer.
06:43 You know, we want to take Drew
06:44 as a football player.
06:44 The kid's tough.
06:45 He's relentless.
06:46 He's a hard charger.
06:47 That was a pretty easy one for us.
06:49 All of it.
06:50 He tried to make it kind of tough
06:51 for us in the recruiting process.
06:53 Probably didn't commit as early
06:54 as we thought he would
06:55 or would have liked him to.
06:56 But eventually he did it on his own terms
06:58 and we're excited about that.
06:59 Before I get to Joseph and Devin,
07:02 you know, Chima,
07:03 he's from Dallas.
07:05 That was a LeVar Woods find,
07:06 you know, really raw,
07:08 humongous human being.
07:09 I mean, he's going to be massive
07:11 once he gets here
07:12 and gets in our weight room.
07:13 Really works with Coach Braithwaite
07:14 and his staff.
07:15 Had a really big year
07:17 for us this year,
07:18 but that was one that LeVar
07:19 kind of dug up
07:20 and got KB down there in the spring
07:21 to see him.
07:22 And both those guys really liked him.
07:24 Great kid, really good family.
07:26 Extremely smart kid.
07:27 Very respectful.
07:29 You like when you're around him,
07:30 but when you turn on the football film
07:31 and when you see the kid,
07:32 you know, when he shook my hands,
07:33 I'm pretty sure he was touching my elbow.
07:35 He's just a massive human being.
07:36 And I think he's just going to grow
07:37 and get bigger.
07:38 Devin, you know, Devin was guy LeVar
07:40 has been a little bit more out in Phoenix
07:42 the last couple of years recruiting.
07:43 And Jimmy Kennedy, his dad,
07:45 who played for Penn State
07:46 first round draft pick,
07:47 had a really good career in the NFL
07:49 and a great career in college.
07:50 LeVar, you know, had kind of known
07:52 he'd known Jimmy for a while.
07:53 So that was one that popped up
07:55 and Devin's, you know,
07:57 he's a basketball player.
07:58 The second year football player
07:59 still really raw.
08:00 But what he did in his first year
08:02 on the football field
08:03 and we worry sometimes
08:04 when it's just you're just a basketball
08:05 player, you're playing football.
08:06 Are you going to look like a football player?
08:07 Are you going to play
08:08 like a basketball player?
08:09 Not saying basketball players
08:10 are soft by any means,
08:11 but they're very different sports.
08:12 And Devin didn't look
08:14 anything like that.
08:15 And when KB had a chance
08:17 to go down there and see him
08:17 and he came up here in camp this June, too.
08:19 He came up here and earned his offer
08:20 and we were down to him
08:22 and another guy that we felt good about.
08:24 We were going to offer one of them.
08:25 And Devin was the guy
08:26 and he opt on it pretty quick.
08:27 And his dad's dad's great.
08:29 I mean, he's been through this process.
08:31 He's played at a high level.
08:32 He knows how to help prepare Devin.
08:33 And it's been it's been really cool to see.
08:35 And Devin talked about another
08:37 really, really impressive kid.
08:38 I feel like I'm talking to a 40 year old
08:40 when I'm talking to Devin.
08:41 He does not seem like he's 18 at all,
08:44 but he's a guy that's going to fit
08:45 in really well into that D-line room.
08:47 And then Joseph, you know, Joseph,
08:49 he's a really soft spoken kid.
08:51 Dad obviously played in the NFL.
08:53 Two brothers have played
08:54 Division One football.
08:55 We talked about a freak athlete.
08:57 What caught my attention
08:59 is his track stuff,
09:00 you know, his long jump
09:02 and his triple jump numbers were
09:03 unbelievable for a kid that's six foot
09:05 five and 210 pounds.
09:07 They really don't make sense.
09:09 And then as I started to dig further
09:10 and watching the film,
09:11 I'm texting Abdulhaj who recruited
09:13 Joseph and KB.
09:14 And I was like, guys,
09:15 you need to check this kid out.
09:16 Like this kid's a little bit different
09:17 and still underdeveloped, you know,
09:19 and he's going to compete
09:20 and track this spring,
09:21 this winter and spring
09:22 and probably do really well.
09:23 But once he gets here
09:24 and just has a chance
09:25 to put on the weight,
09:26 his dad's a big human being,
09:27 a very scary, scary looking guy.
09:29 Wouldn't want to mess with Benny.
09:30 But he's also soft
09:32 spoken a little bit like Joseph.
09:33 So it's kind of funny seeing that
09:34 both his brothers are big south guys.
09:36 So we have no doubt
09:38 that once Joseph gets here
09:39 and gets in the weight room,
09:39 he's going to put on weight.
09:40 But I'm pretty sure he's going to keep
09:41 that athletic ability he has.
09:43 I mean, he just some of the stuff
09:44 he can do with that size.
09:45 It's really intriguing.
09:46 It's fun to see.
09:47 Tyler Taschman, Des Moines Register.
09:50 Hey, Tyler, I hope you're doing well.
09:53 Good name was just wondering.
09:56 Yeah, same to you.
09:58 I appreciate it.
09:58 We're just curious,
10:00 with with obviously
10:01 an offensive coordinator change coming,
10:03 what the line of communication
10:05 has been like
10:05 with the guys on the
10:07 offensive side of the ball.
10:09 And then also just the fact that,
10:10 you know, you were kind of
10:11 speaking to their character,
10:12 that they all remain committed,
10:13 even though there is some uncertainty.
10:16 Yeah, I mean, part of my job
10:18 and my role is anytime
10:20 there's a change or anything that pops up,
10:21 you know, I've got to play
10:22 damage control a little bit.
10:23 And as soon as that news came out,
10:25 you know, I got a coach
10:26 Turner, so, you know,
10:26 we need to touch base
10:27 specifically him with
10:28 every offensive commit.
10:29 We seem to explain to him the situation.
10:31 The biggest thing is, you know,
10:32 we were honest with him.
10:33 You know, we don't know
10:34 who it's going to be.
10:34 You know, Brian's
10:35 going to finish a year
10:36 and we're going to focus on the season.
10:37 That's our main goal
10:38 is the players in the building
10:39 and trying to win more football games.
10:41 But at the end of the day,
10:42 you got to trust and have faith
10:43 in Coach Ferenc in this program
10:44 and this culture
10:45 that we're going to replace it
10:46 with somebody that's going to fit
10:47 who we are and fits
10:49 the values of Coach Ferenc
10:50 and what he's looking for.
10:50 And honestly, I don't think
10:52 any of the conversations
10:53 are really tough conversations.
10:54 You know, we were being open and honest
10:56 before anything really
10:57 became public with the commits.
10:58 Wanted to let them know,
10:59 obviously, started with James
11:01 being at that quarterback position,
11:02 but just telling them they stick with us.
11:04 You know, we're going to have a plan
11:05 in place, but told them fully that,
11:06 you know, nothing's going to happen
11:07 until postseason.
11:08 And and really the whole way through.
11:10 I think a lot of these guys,
11:11 they understood, you know,
11:11 they're committing to University of Iowa.
11:13 They're committing to Coach Ferenc, too.
11:14 You know, that's a big part
11:15 of who they're committing to.
11:16 And, you know, just the tradition
11:18 that we have here
11:18 and the players in the building.
11:20 A lot of these guys
11:20 have been up here multiple times
11:21 and have been around the players.
11:22 So, you know, we lean on those guys as well.
11:24 But, you know, you try
11:25 and get in front of it,
11:26 you try and be honest and,
11:27 you know, don't sugarcoat anything
11:29 and certainly don't lie
11:30 to them about anything.
11:31 And you hope that they stick with you.
11:33 And thankfully, all those guys did.
11:34 John Steppe, The Gazette.
11:37 Hey, Tyler, thanks for doing this.
11:39 Wanted to ask you about
11:40 the scholarship kind of squeeze
11:42 that you have right now
11:44 with that 85 number.
11:45 Some places go really far above that.
11:48 Are you comfortable going above 85?
11:50 How far comfortable
11:51 are you going above?
11:52 What's kind of your philosophy on that?
11:54 John, wouldn't you love to know
11:56 the real numbers?
11:57 Of course, you know, it's again,
12:00 you can go back, you know,
12:01 we keep all these numbers
12:02 and I have a whole spreadsheet
12:03 based on the attrition we've had from
12:05 fall all the way through the next fall.
12:08 And history would tell you,
12:09 you know, we typically lose,
12:10 you know, four to five guys in the spring.
12:12 So we're probably going to operate
12:14 with those numbers again.
12:15 Just the COVID guys.
12:16 That's that's been a little bit of a
12:18 struggle in terms of maintaining
12:21 the numbers that we want to maintain.
12:22 I think it's much, much easier
12:24 when we don't have to worry about that.
12:25 But, you know, we'll take
12:27 a look at everything.
12:28 We'll take a look at everything
12:28 post bowl game.
12:29 And there's always two waves
12:31 in the portal this time of year.
12:32 There's the early wave
12:33 and then there's a wave
12:34 after the bowl game.
12:35 You know, we don't want to lose
12:36 anybody off our roster currently,
12:38 but I'd be shocked
12:39 if there's not one or two
12:40 that may pop in the portal post bowl game.
12:42 That's just the world we live in.
12:43 That's kind of how things work.
12:44 It's just it is what it is.
12:46 But, you know, I'm in constant
12:48 communication with Coach Ferenc
12:49 and our coordinators,
12:50 almost especially this time of year,
12:52 almost every single day,
12:53 especially we're waiting for decisions
12:55 from those six guys in our roster currently.
12:57 So I may panic a little bit
12:59 more than Coach Ferenc.
13:00 But, you know, when he says
13:01 it's going to work out,
13:02 I've got to trust him.
13:03 He's got way more experience
13:04 in this sport than I do.
13:06 But it is something
13:07 you're looking at.
13:08 And, you know, there's no
13:09 there's no hard answer.
13:10 There's no hard number.
13:11 So it's hard to say.
13:12 We're just we're going to continue
13:13 to monitor things and it'll be fluid
13:15 and we'll kind of see
13:16 where where the chips fall.
13:17 Adam Jacoby, Rivals.com.
13:20 Tyler, thank you so much
13:24 for your time today.
13:25 Really quick, just wanted to ask you
13:27 about that backfield duo
13:29 of Xavier Williams and Brevin Dahl,
13:32 just sort of what stuck out
13:33 about both of them
13:34 and how did that process
13:36 sort of shake out with them?
13:37 Yeah, you know, Brevin,
13:39 we've known a lot about Brevin
13:41 for a long time.
13:42 He's been on campus quite a bit.
13:43 His mom went to school here.
13:44 Hawkeye family,
13:45 obviously the track numbers,
13:47 he didn't get to compete
13:47 in track last year because of an injury.
13:49 But the year before,
13:50 you definitely take notice
13:51 of those track numbers.
13:52 And when he was up here
13:54 the very first time
13:54 when we looked at Brevin,
13:55 we were worried about his size.
13:57 Is he going to be big enough?
13:58 And his dad's a big, big guy.
13:59 Dad's a really tall guy.
14:00 And the more he got up here,
14:02 the more we started to see
14:03 him fill out a little bit.
14:04 And we felt a little bit better
14:05 about where his body was going.
14:07 And it got to the point.
14:08 And we've kind of done this
14:09 a little bit more
14:10 in the last few years.
14:11 In state, you know,
14:12 Iowa's our priority, right?
14:14 And if there are guys in state
14:15 that have those traits
14:15 we're looking for
14:16 and we're familiar with the guys
14:17 and we're comfortable with them
14:18 and the more they're up here,
14:19 the better we like them
14:20 and their families.
14:21 We're not going to wait.
14:22 We're not going to waste
14:23 any time anymore.
14:24 Like we're going to go on those guys.
14:25 And Brevin's a good example of that.
14:27 It just so happened to work out
14:29 that, you know, Brevin
14:30 was our second running back
14:31 commit, Xavier ended up
14:32 committing the day before him.
14:33 And we had had three offers out.
14:35 I think that was pretty
14:35 well documented.
14:36 The running back spot
14:37 with Xavier, you know,
14:38 he came on campus
14:39 early in the spring.
14:40 And, you know, none of us
14:42 had seen him except for Coach Bell.
14:43 He'd seen him one time in school.
14:45 But when he came on campus,
14:46 you know, thank LaShawn Daniels.
14:48 I mean, he's built like LaShawn.
14:49 His lowers, he looks like an NFL
14:51 running back in his lowers.
14:52 He is a very thick kid
14:53 and he's built well up top, too.
14:56 But he can tell he's going to fill out
14:57 up top and he's got some room to grow.
14:59 But our running our running game,
15:01 the way we run the football
15:02 inside outside zone,
15:03 I mean, he fits who we are.
15:04 You know, he may not
15:06 he may not be a so 1100 meter guy
15:08 like Brevin is.
15:09 But when you're running a third
15:10 and fourth, third and fourth quarter
15:12 with the guys, 235 pounds
15:14 that wears on linebackers and safeties.
15:15 And that's what we're hoping
15:17 Xavier can be.
15:17 Extremely impressive family,
15:19 really extremely impressive kid.
15:21 And he had called to commit.
15:23 And then, you know, so we let the two
15:25 other guys know that night.
15:26 Hey, we're taking two running backs.
15:28 We had one just commit to us.
15:29 You know, there's one spot left
15:30 and Brevin hopped on it
15:31 pretty, pretty quickly.
15:32 OK, we have five more hands raised.
15:35 We'll take those five and then finish up.
15:37 We'll start with Chad Leistico,
15:39 Des Moines Register.
15:40 Hey, Tyler, you can just send
15:43 those numbers to us,
15:44 the scholarship numbers if you want.
15:46 I'll send you my phone.
15:48 We'll see how high it gets.
15:49 I'll be able to leak some stuff for you.
15:51 So I know you can't talk about 25
15:55 specifically, but you did get a commit
15:57 in that class and a quarterback
15:58 real recently, at least publicly.
16:00 And he can move.
16:02 James Rezar seems like
16:03 he can move pretty well.
16:04 Marco Linus, same thing.
16:06 Is that is there anything to that?
16:08 Is there is that just happenstance?
16:09 Are you guys going in that
16:10 more in that direction?
16:12 Like a dual threat type thing?
16:13 Can you kind of explain
16:14 your philosophy quarterback right now?
16:16 It's not something we sit down and say
16:18 we're going to find a dual threat quarterback.
16:19 And honestly, some, you know,
16:21 there is a difference
16:22 between dual threat and a guy
16:23 that's that's athletic enough
16:24 has good enough feet to extend the plays
16:26 and provide some stuff in the run game.
16:28 If you need to, you know,
16:28 you can find a dual threat quarterback.
16:30 You can provide some stuff
16:31 in the run game if you need to.
16:32 So it's not something we sit down
16:33 and say we have to go find
16:34 a dual threat quarterback.
16:36 You know, there are a few guys on our board
16:38 that that we were getting ready to offer
16:40 in the 25 class that were different
16:43 than that athlete you're talking about.
16:45 So for us, I mean,
16:47 the first thing with quarterback,
16:48 first and foremost,
16:49 as much as you can get around them
16:50 and get them in the room
16:51 and see how they learn
16:52 and see how they retain things.
16:54 I mean, the quarterback,
16:55 it's the hardest position
16:56 to play on the field.
16:56 Sorry if I offend anybody.
16:58 I'm here to play a different position,
16:59 but it's true.
17:00 You're going through a lot of things
17:01 every single play, pre-snap, post-snap.
17:03 So the biggest thing is just
17:05 the mental side of things.
17:06 That's absolutely 100 percent
17:08 the biggest thing.
17:08 And then anything from there,
17:09 you know, there's certain traits
17:10 and characteristics we look for.
17:12 Ideally, you'd like a kid
17:13 who can extend the play
17:14 a little bit of the pocket breaks down
17:15 and can maybe provide
17:16 some stuff on his feet.
17:17 But that's not at all
17:19 the first thing we're looking for.
17:20 So it just kind of happened
17:22 to work out like that.
17:23 I think you're starting to see
17:25 more and more kids these days
17:26 are just better athletes, honestly,
17:28 even at the quarterback position.
17:30 So that's not going to
17:31 we're not going to recruit
17:32 only dual threat guys from here on out.
17:33 But if we can find a guy that is smart,
17:36 can, you know, can swing it,
17:37 can move around a little bit,
17:39 obviously, that's that's a
17:40 that's a net positive for everybody.
17:41 Elliott Clough, Rivals.com.
17:44 Hey, Tyler, Jaylen Watson,
17:49 a guy that had some offers
17:51 at wide receiver,
17:52 I think all of his offers
17:54 were wide receiver
17:55 other than at Iowa.
17:55 Did you like the fact
17:59 that he also played wide receiver?
18:00 Like, how did that work out?
18:02 Just seeing the wide receiver
18:03 tape flipping into DB?
18:04 Obviously, there's the Fred
18:05 Russell connection to just
18:08 how did that work out with with Jaylen?
18:10 Yeah, I think Phil would tell you
18:12 if all of his DBs played receiver,
18:14 that'd be good because, you know,
18:15 for our guys this year
18:16 is a little bit different, obviously.
18:17 But when they get their hands on the ball,
18:19 we want them to catch it.
18:19 You know, so hands are extremely important
18:21 in our secondary and what we
18:22 what we prefer with those guys.
18:25 You know, we had a connection with.
18:27 With Jaylen prior to him
18:30 moving to Toledo,
18:31 you know, he's at Belleville,
18:32 which we've had some guys from Belleville,
18:33 the coaches were talking about him,
18:34 and I think they actually saw him
18:36 as a better corner than a receiver.
18:37 And then he ended up transferring down
18:39 to Central Catholic on Toledo
18:40 and had a huge year.
18:41 You know, I think he was kind of unguardable.
18:43 Actually, I think it was a problem
18:44 for every team they faced.
18:45 But he came here in June
18:47 and he was super smooth.
18:48 And we told him we're going to recruit you
18:50 as you know, we had
18:51 we had another receiver,
18:53 similar body type, similar skill set
18:55 that we felt that was going to commit
18:56 to us pretty shortly.
18:57 Thereafter, he ended up doing that.
18:59 So we kind of told Jaylen,
19:00 we see you as a DB.
19:01 We think you have a corner skill set.
19:03 You know, we want to see what you can do
19:04 in a camp setting.
19:05 And he was he was awesome.
19:06 You know, for a kid that didn't play
19:08 a whole lot of DB,
19:08 that's what he was able to do
19:10 in that skill set.
19:10 Extremely smooth, extremely fluid.
19:12 Awesome attitude, great demeanor.
19:14 The ball skills, obviously, that's
19:16 that's a plus and something we look for.
19:17 And we told him, you know, at no point
19:19 once you commit it,
19:20 we're not going to flip you over.
19:21 You know, now things can change
19:23 when guys get on campus.
19:24 Who knows what will happen?
19:25 But I think Phil's pretty excited about him.
19:27 I mean, I know I'm excited about him.
19:28 He's a good player and just
19:29 just how he plays.
19:30 You know, when you watch him,
19:31 he's a dynamic kid
19:32 with the ball in his hands
19:33 that works in the return game.
19:34 Awesome.
19:35 But just his fluidity, his length
19:37 is something that, you know,
19:38 corners don't grow on trees
19:40 that move like that.
19:41 So we find guys like that.
19:42 We're going to take them all day long.
19:43 Scott Dockman, the athletic.
19:46 Tyler, I wanted to ask you
19:48 about Reese Van Der See.
19:50 You know, I don't play a lot of positions
19:52 out in western Iowa, northwest Iowa.
19:53 What did you think of?
19:55 What do you think of him
19:56 as a wide receiver?
19:57 And and is he going to be that ideal
19:59 X that you're looking for?
20:01 Yeah, you know, it's sort of Reese.
20:03 One is, you know, long, long line
20:05 of Hawkeye, Hawkeye
20:06 fans and graduates in his family.
20:08 Four sport athlete.
20:10 You know us.
20:11 We love three and four sport athletes.
20:13 Most of our Iowa guys
20:14 are all in that three or four
20:15 sport athlete category.
20:17 And he's great on the basketball court.
20:19 He's a really he's
20:20 really good pitcher in baseball.
20:21 He's a phenomenal track athlete.
20:23 This year, he played a lot of quarterback
20:25 for his team out of necessity.
20:27 But he's a big kid who's, you know,
20:28 again, he needs the weight room.
20:30 But, you know, when he gets here,
20:31 I think he's really going to fill out
20:33 and he's going to be a physical
20:34 presence on the outside.
20:35 You know, you can't teach link,
20:36 can't teach, you know,
20:37 the explosive and he has.
20:38 You see that in the basketball film.
20:40 He runs well, obviously
20:41 good track athlete.
20:42 If we if we could have four or five
20:44 of those in state every year,
20:46 that would be awesome.
20:47 Reese is probably a little bit
20:48 of an anomaly in state,
20:50 just given his size, stature
20:51 and his overall athletic profile.
20:53 But we're excited about Reese.
20:55 You know, he's a really good kid.
20:56 You know, we had to fend off
20:58 the other school in state.
20:58 I know they were extremely high on him.
21:00 It probably helped that he comes
21:02 from a Hawkeye family,
21:03 but comes from a really good family.
21:05 You know, he's the oldest
21:06 six in his family.
21:07 Their family is awesome
21:08 when they're around here.
21:09 All our little siblings.
21:10 But, you know, ideally,
21:12 yeah, we could find a nice guy
21:13 that's six, five, two hundred pounds
21:16 and is probably going to get bigger
21:17 and is a phenomenal four sport athlete.
21:18 Sign us up every single day for that.
21:20 Howard Tashman, Des Moines Register.
21:26 As far as the transfer portal
21:29 this offseason, I know
21:30 there's some things that still have
21:32 to get figured out with guys
21:33 staying and going for the NFL.
21:35 But are there any priorities
21:37 that you feel like are needs
21:39 that you could potentially look
21:41 in the transfer portal to get?
21:42 I mean, the priorities are the six guys
21:45 we're recruiting on our own roster
21:46 right now, and I'll be fully transparent.
21:49 This was last December.
21:51 It was a little bit wild
21:51 with the portal and the needs we had
21:53 and the guys we were trying to go after
21:54 because it's pretty rapid.
21:55 I have done nothing this December,
21:58 but recruit the six guys
21:59 on our roster to come back.
22:01 They're probably tired of hearing from me.
22:02 That's probably why they blocked
22:03 my phone number at this point.
22:04 I mean, those are the priorities.
22:06 And, you know, it's it's hard
22:08 to have a true priorities
22:10 until we know what some of these guys
22:11 are going to do, because if a couple of them
22:12 decide to go move on and go to the NFL,
22:15 then we may have to fill
22:16 a hole or two at their spots.
22:18 But in terms of outside
22:19 of our current roster
22:20 and the guys coming back,
22:21 there's nothing specific
22:22 we've talked about just yet.
22:25 We'll see how this shakes out numbers wise.
22:26 And I know that's a long winded
22:28 bad answer for you.
22:30 It's just it's so fluid
22:32 with the guys we're waiting
22:33 to hear from to come back that it's,
22:34 you know, we'll see kind of what happens.
22:35 It's a lot of it's dependent upon them.
22:37 And, you know, we could have sat down
22:39 and told them we need a decision by X date
22:41 so we can go to the portal.
22:42 But these are kids.
22:43 We all we want all these kids back.
22:45 There are four, 50, six year guys on our team.
22:48 We know who they are.
22:48 It's well worth investing the time
22:50 to recruit these guys back
22:51 before we even think
22:52 about going out to the portal.
22:54 Last question, Chelsea Brown, KCRG.
22:56 I think I might.
23:00 Can you hear me?
23:00 Yep.
23:01 Beautiful.
23:02 With your linebackers,
23:03 specifically just Preston and Derek.
23:06 I mean, there are two guys
23:07 that play at small schools.
23:08 They play both sides of the ball.
23:09 Had some success on the
23:11 offensive side of the ball,
23:12 but it's never uncommon for Iowa
23:14 to take some guys
23:15 on the offensive side of the ball,
23:16 put them over on the defensive side.
23:19 What is it that you look for in guys?
23:21 Specifically turning them
23:22 into linebackers?
23:24 That makes you think that
23:25 Preston and Derek
23:26 are going to be pretty good.
23:27 It's funny, and I wouldn't leave out
23:29 Cam Buffington because he does
23:30 the same thing in eight man.
23:31 You know, plays both ways.
23:32 I actually had to talk to the Monday
23:34 morning quarterback club.
23:35 I think after a bye week and.
23:37 I was getting hammered by a few
23:39 older gentleman there that
23:40 you know, Preston Reese.
23:41 He's he's now the all time yardage
23:43 leader in Iowa football history
23:45 offensively and why he couldn't
23:46 play quarterback or receiver
23:48 running back and I had to tell him
23:50 I had to tell him just trust
23:52 our evaluations.
23:53 This is kind of how we evaluate linebackers,
23:54 but that goes back to Seth
23:56 and I'm a strong believer in Seth
23:57 that we want all of our linebackers
23:59 better play multiple sports.
24:00 Ideally three.
24:01 You know we want to see
24:02 you do different things.
24:03 We love seeing linebackers
24:05 that are running backs in high school.
24:07 There's something to be said
24:08 for just your vision
24:09 and the ability and agility
24:11 that those guys have.
24:12 You know, Cam was a quarterback
24:15 when he was a running back.
24:16 Essentially, Derek had to play
24:17 some quarterback this year.
24:18 Phenomenal receiver.
24:19 Preston does anything the team
24:21 needs to happen for them at Monticello.
24:23 All three guys just
24:25 their overall profiles.
24:26 I mean they just they hit us perfectly.
24:28 You know we knew about Cam
24:29 a little bit before we did
24:30 about Derek and Preston.
24:31 You know Cam was a phenomenal
24:33 basketball player.
24:34 I think he was Duncan in 7th grade
24:36 and for an eight man football
24:38 you just don't see the
24:39 the freakiness that he has.
24:40 You know in this campus past summer
24:42 Cam was 63, 225 pounds
24:45 and ran 448 and 449.
24:47 That's to us that is freakish.
24:50 If he went did that at a rivals camp
24:51 or you under Armour camp,
24:53 you know he'd be a four and a half star.
24:55 The guys would be
24:56 frothing at the mouth over him,
24:57 but instead he lives in Winfield, Iowa
24:59 and he doesn't go to those camps.
25:00 I think he goes at
25:01 AU basketball tournaments
25:03 and he comes Iowa.
25:03 And that's probably an extent
25:04 of what he does when he's not hunting.
25:05 So that's I think that's a gym that
25:08 you know a lot of people
25:08 aren't talking about that.
25:09 I think you'll probably hear his name
25:11 a lot in the future here.
25:12 And then Derek, you know Derek
25:14 so long range he kid who's again
25:16 got freakish numbers.
25:17 High jump shot put.
25:18 I mean, it's those are two things
25:19 for a 210 pound kid that you know
25:22 you don't.
25:22 That's not a combination
25:23 you see very often or almost ever,
25:26 which is an intriguing to us.
25:28 And then Preston, you know, Preston's.
25:29 Probably him and camera
25:31 both pretty quiet.
25:32 I think he's probably quieter to three,
25:34 but Preston, he just does everything.
25:36 You know another again.
25:37 They're doing for sport
25:38 athlete in our class.
25:39 He's good at everything he does.
25:40 All three kids are tough as shit.
25:43 I mean, they've all camped here.
25:45 I think.
25:46 10 to 12 times combined
25:48 since they've been committed to us,
25:49 which you've got to be crazy
25:51 to come up here and can't.
25:51 Like you're already committed.
25:52 We're not going to drop you like
25:53 what do you come up here for?
25:54 He yelled out by Coach Wallace
25:56 for three and a half hours
25:57 and they love it and they thrive on it.
25:59 So you know all three of those guys
26:01 that get along well, you know,
26:02 Preston just spent the whole weekend
26:04 in Winfield this past weekend
26:05 with Cam hunting.
26:06 We were giving a little bit of crap
26:08 'cause apparently he got a smaller deer
26:10 than Cam did, like almost a baby deer.
26:12 But so we'll work on this hunting skills,
26:14 but just just a whole character
26:16 makeup of all three of those guys.
26:17 Awesome families, great people,
26:19 blue collar people that you know
26:21 when they need to roll up
26:22 their sleeves and go to work,
26:22 that's what they're going to do.
26:23 And I think that embodies
26:24 our linebacker room.
26:25 You know, and you can look through history
26:26 and I think that's
26:27 that's pretty much the same.
26:28 OK, Tyler, thanks for the time
26:31 and congratulations on the class.
26:32 Thanks everybody.
26:33 Appreciate it.