Podcast appearances and mentions of amani jones

Ross chats with the Des Moines Register's Chad Leistikow and Mark Emmert about Andrew Francis leaving Iowa, how Tyler Cook should be viewed and why we'll only PROBABLY see Joe Wieskamp back. Then the Register's Matthew Bain joins to talk about Pat McCaffery's expectations vs Wieskamp's freshman year and he brings up a redshirt is possible. They finish talking about Spring Football and talk about the Amani Jones injury

Ross chats with the Des Moines Register's Chad Leistikow and Mark Emmert about Andrew Francis leaving Iowa, how Tyler Cook should be viewed and why we'll only PROBABLY see Joe Wieskamp back. Then the Register's Matthew Bain joins to talk about Pat McCaffery's expectations vs Wieskamp's freshman year and he brings up a redshirt is possible. They finish talking about Spring Football and talk about the Amani Jones injury

Ross is joined by The Des Moines Register's Chad Leistikow and Mark Emmert and they talk about Fran McCaffery possibly meeting with Arkansas and the Flight Tracker, Maishe Dailey leaving the program and a position change for Amani Jones

Impromptu #oniowapod. Scott and I were going to cover a meeting at Iowa today, but the early morning practice was more than enough Iowa City driving for me and here we are with a podcast. I didn’t think you’d mind. At the top, we ask how much 4-2-5, X-and-O football talk do you want? We could do that all damn day, but we also want to have listeners. That stuff isn’t for everybody. We’ll always do some, but let us know if your eyes are rolling back in your heads. Football had events since our last podcast. We talked about what we learned from linebackers coach Seth Wallace and defensive line coach Kelvin Bell. How the 4-2-5 defense, which was the first personnel group on the field during the open of Thursday’s practice, has become a thing for the Hawkeyes. Iowa’s defense has reached the point where breaking the mold is being embraced. We did get to see about 20 minutes of Thursday’s practice. There were no major revelations, but it’s always good to see and hear – yes, hear – football (it and hockey are the best sounding sports). We fielded a lot of Amani Jones questions. He definitely has moved from inside linebacker to defensive end (edge defender or just “edge”). He is 5-11. Iowa has two players with major impact potential already on the edge with A.J. Epenesa and Chauncey Golston. The best question here is how many snaps? A novelty amount or can Jones work his way into the rotation? It’s taken me some time to reach this conclusion, but is Iowa the favorite in the Big Ten West right now? Discuss that. We did. Thanks for listening to the #oniowapod. It’s one of my favorite parts of the week.

Ross is joined by The Des Moines Register's Chad Leistikow and Mark Emmert and they talk about Fran McCaffery possibly meeting with Arkansas and the Flight Tracker, Maishe Dailey leaving the program and a position change for Amani Jones

We took a lot of Amani Jones questions on today’s edition of the #oniowapod. We took quite a few questions about Iowa’s passing game. Well, week 1 is over and now it’s Iowa State. The elevation changes significantly this weekend, with the Cyclones bringing running back David Montgomery, quarterback Kyle Kempt and one of the Big 12’s best defenses from 2017. The earthquake machine isn’t just on now. It’s a world shaker this week in Kinnick. Join The Gazette’s Marc Morehouse and The Athletic’s Scott Dochterman as they answer your Twitter questions and deliver the Penkse Truck Rental's "Playing With Confidence." The Hawkeyes play host to the Cyclones at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday. The game kicks off at 4:05 p.m. and is on Fox.

Land of Ten's Scott Dochterman and I talked a little about a lot of things on the podcast today. First topic: The first round of the NFL draft starts Thursday. Neither Scott nor I will be on super-high alert that a Hawkeye will go in the first round, but you never know. Friday is second and third rounds. I expect at least two if not three Hawkeyes to go Friday. Does it feel like CB Desmond King has had the world's longest draft evaluation? Since the day he said he was returning to Iowa City for his senior year it's felt like he's been under heavy scrutiny. And he probably has, that's how this all works. I still think he's the first Hawkeye taken this weekend. Now, DT Jaleel Johnson or TE George Kittle? Johnson had a fantastic senior season and has the body and power that will get him an NFL paycheck for a long, long time. Case-by-case, depends on need, best athlete available and all of that, but Johnson should fit into the second or third round. I've not seen too many Hawkeyes rocket out of the Combine like Kittle did. If nothing else, his 4.51 40 and 11-foot broad jump forced NFL personnel people to do their homework on him. Yes, the first chapter probably was the mid-foot sprain he suffered this year and how that bit into his production, but then you go a little deeper and find cut-up after cut-up of Kittle's blocking prowess. And now he's in a great position, better than I would've predicted when the season ended. We went from the draft to the Hawkeyes' spring football. Quick points here: 1) We don't know where the alchemy is going to happen with the passing game. We acknowledge Iowa can still be successful here, but it's going to look unconventional (read really tight end-y) and, yeah, it also might not work. 2) Spring was set up for Nathan Stanley to take what had to have been a "leader in the clubhouse" status and build confidence and distance as the No. 1 over Tyler Wiegers. That didn't happen. At least going off everything Brian Ferentz, Ken O'Keefe and Kirk Ferentz told us, that didn't happen. We can only go off what they tell us, right? And then we saw the spring game. Touch, accuracy, it wasn't there for either QB. Then again, those plays and personnel groups looked a lot like last year's. Maybe there's another layer of going on here and we just haven't seen their best. 3) Jake Gervase is certainly another body at safety and he slings in on a web -- kind of like Spiderman -- just in the nick of time. The more bodies the merrier here. I see Gervase and Miles Taylor as starters with Amani Hooker, Noah Clayberg, Joe Argo and incoming freshmen Djimon Colbert, Camron Harrell and Geno Stone lending depth/competition. I think that's enough to find a good core of three. 3) Defensive tackle will be a hot spot. Lots of inexperience. It worries me senior Nathan Bazata was still out this spring. Everyone expects him back and, hey, he's a senior and coaches know what he can do. Still, his 2016 ended in injury, I'm sure he'd like to be up and running. 4) Man, Iowa has a lot of young linebackers. We opened, just a little, the Bo Bower vs. Amani Jones can o' worms. Why not? It's still April, right? 5) Iowa's offense will run through the O-line and Akrum Wadley, as it should. 6) We think two freshmen corners have to play. 7) Shoot, we forgot to talk about kicker and punter. We touched on the Jane Meyer trial in Des Moines. I've used this metaphor a lot lately, but let's say Iowa AD Gary Barta is a butcher going to work with a freshly whitened smock. He was on the stand for something like 11 hours. His smock at this point looks like it was used to clean the slaughterhouse floor. Everyone comes away from this unclean. I don't like that during athletes' exit interviews 27 cases of verbal abuse and 28 cases of mental abuse were mentioned and not investigated because they were anonymous. I'd like to think major college athletics can do better.