Fight for Iowa – Sedrick Shaw & George Barnett

0:00on the Hawkeye Sports Network from near field. This is the fight for Iowa podcast. Here's the voice of the Hawkeye's Gary Dolphin. Opening weekend for Iowa football brings another edition of Fry Fest, a football farmers market, you could say. Hawke fans from all over in Vade Iowa City to browse through a multitude of booths, concession stands and presentations by coaches, former players and broadcasters on what they see with the upcoming year. Usually there's a concert or two on the agenda, all spread throughout the Iowa River Landing and Coralville's Hyatt and City Convention Center. It's a great time to be a Hawkeye. Friday night at Carver Hawkeye Arena, the Athletics Hall of Fame induction ceremony will welcome seven letter winners across seven different sports as the 37th class takes its rightful position in the black and gold theater of honor. One of those by virtue of numbers alone would be the greatest running back in the history of Iowa football or at

1:00least this side of Nile, Kenik and Tavian banks. Sedric Shaw holds the school rushing record of 4156 yards and is the only Hawke to run for a thousand plus in three consecutive seasons. Shaw, who bounded up and down Kenik Stadium's turf from 1993 through 96, pacing Iowa to 28 victories in a couple bowl wins, still holds career records for rushing touchdowns, rushing attempts and 100 yard games with 19. Shaw crossed the 200 yard threshold twice, including a 42 carry 256 yard effort at Michigan State. Yet the soft spoken Texan was differential when he received the phone call from Coach Kirk Ferrance. It was an unexpected phone call, pleasant phone call. It's a nice honor to receive. Indeed and deservedly so all the rushing numbers you put up at Iowa in your career.

2:01I mean, from yards to touchdowns, touchdowns to attempts, you were an absolute warrior and I followed your career closely at that time and what what what question I've always wanted to ask is what's the mentality have to be about being a running back who puts up glorious numbers like that? You know you're going to get hit at some point in the play every time. I know it starts with great offensive lines and you had a number of those, but tell me about the mentality of a running back in general. I don't know if it's the running, the running back mentality or just some mentality period, you just, you go out and you play and you focus. It's like anything, whether it's the sports or what you're doing, your professional career, you just go out and you focus at the task of playing with your team and you just little by little day by day and you really try not to think too far ahead. What was it about coach tri

3:02Sederick that grabbed command, grabbed control of the offensive room? At the time he came around and everything that he was doing with his coaching staff, they were actually rather new and innovative with a lot of things that they were doing. I think that's where a lot of the offensive genius came in and the things to do. Then of course, in the process of creating those offensive schemes, getting the players needed to be able to execute whether it's lineman, receivers, quarterbacks, full backs running backs, tight ends, whatever. This is getting everybody in and then, once you get them in, get them to all buy into the system and just to go out and do their job. They ended they out. Let's go to the offensive lines. What do you remember about the great offensive lines you played behind, Sederick? Hard working guys, very hard working guys,

4:02took a lot of pride in their job. Very mentally, not just physically tough, but they were mentally tough guys. And they always wanted to go out and just do their best. And they did their best. And like the decade of the 80s, the Hawks had some outstanding quarterbacks in the 90s. When I once when I arrived on campus, there was Paul Burmister and Matt I. Burmier was special. He could be. Yeah, so you had Paul Burmister, Matt, I. My classmate who ended up starting for a while, Ryan Driscoll. And then unfortunately, getting the break in his collarbone and then Matt Sherman stepped in. And Sherman became the starter pretty much from that point on. Sederick, when you when you got the scholarship offer to come to Iowa, what sold you on moving to the Midwest for your collegiate career?

5:05I'm sure it was the cold weather. Nah, the dad to call whether was almost a deal breaker. You know, actually, the biggest selling point wasn't a selling point for me. It was actually the visit and just the guys themselves on the team. I think that was probably more so more so than anything what it was for me. It was just the guys that had the opportunity to meet and we kind of started bonding. You know, with as a 18 year old kid on a recruiting trip visit, they didn't have to take to me. So I think that played a lot into it along with the coaching staff, you know, that's the coach Jackson who ended up taking a position at the NFL was heavily involved in my recruiting process. Him, coach John O'Hare, unfortunately, who passed away on the annual crews that they were going on. He was really big in my recruiting process. And you know, so those guys played a great part in it

6:07as well as, you know, I did talk with quite a bit with coach Fryb. However, coach O'Hare, John O'Hare and Carl Jackson, those were two of the biggest guys that played a big role in my recruitment and coming an hour. They were very heavily involved, especially coach O'Hare. I would think playing for this rabid fan base gave you a little extra juice on game day. You know, great fans. Some of the best I've ever seen. Very genuine, very loyal and loving. You know, they're always very supportive and always, you know, just very happy to see the teams and always just excited. And we're all looking forward to seeing you appropriately enough on Fry Fest weekend for the Hall of Fame induction. I guess life goes for a circle, huh? It's your ass. Yeah, you know, it's a great guy. He's really missed. He great sense to him a lot of great stories. One more question before I let you go.

7:07Your thoughts on Kirk Ferenc, what he's meant to not only Hayden's staff, his old line coach when he was here. But now is what is 28th year coming up as the head coach here at Iowa. Winning his coach now in Big Ten history. It's remarkable. He's done well. He's put together a great resume. He's done well at the university and producing a lot of great players and a lot of teams that I've done extremely well. And have been very consistent throughout the year. So, you know, it's a beautiful thing to watch and see. And hopefully they just continue to keep building on top of it. Sedrick Shaw played three years in the National Football League with New England and Cleveland. And looks forward to his return to Iowa City, where he'll enter the Hawkeye Hall of Fame with basketball's Amy Herrig Tanny, gymnast Kim Baker, El Abiyad, Diane Demiro Simmons representing Field Hockey, volleyball's Janet Moilin-Ritter, wrestling great Matt McDonough, and Klaus Berkstrom from Tennis.

8:10Congratulations to all. More fight for Iowa is coming up after a word from our sponsors. Hey, Hawk fans. This is Zach Clemer with Iowa Football. You know the goat when you see one. And media comm is the goat of internet. Name the number one internet provider in the corridor. Plus, now you can experience speeds up to an amazing five gigs. Pretty sweet, huh? So whether you're streaming the game, game with friends, or connecting with the whole crew, trust the goat to keep you connected. Media comm, the goat of internet. Go Hawks. Hi, this is Gary Dolphin. View rooftop, atop the Hilton Yard Nin and downtown Iowa City, is home again to Hawkeye Talk with Kirk Ferenc. Enjoy tantalizing dishes, creative cocktails, and expensive views each Wednesday night from 630 until 8. All while the coach and I break down the past week and look ahead to the upcoming game. Visit HawkeyeSports.com for a full list of show dates. Very Dolphin. I look forward to seeing you every Wednesday night.

9:11This fall at View rooftop at the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Iowa City. The Hawkeye's host Northern Illinois and their season football opener on Gold Out Saturday with kickoff scheduled for 315. And with temperatures expected again, crowd 90 degrees, depth is prime, particularly in the offensive line. Losing all Americans in all conference performers like Logan Jones, Jennings Dunker, and Bo Stevens, the Joe Moore award winner looks to reload. Position coach George Barnett, who's tutored the likes of Titer Linda Baum, Conor Colby and Mason Richmond, knows that to create rushing lanes, keep the quarterback on his feet, and time for the receivers to run their routes, it takes five guys who fit individually and collectively. You know, in 21-22 we probably didn't have the guys in waiting when older kids left. And the last two years we've lost five kids to the draft and you turn around and there's someone waiting to get that's been in the system and been in the program and learn from

10:14learn from coach. And it makes it makes the transition much smoother for sure. Well, let's start with Logan and work our way out. Who's looking good at center? I know you've tried a number of people. Yeah, right now, getting the lion's share of reps, Kale Winter, K-Pieper and Mike Meslinsky. Those three are getting the lion's share. And then Josh Trinowski is probably the next in that next tier, but he's really improving quite a bit. And those guys are all going to play, so if you have to move them off a shoulder pad or two, why not? What about guard? Guard, Laten Jones has a pretty firm handle on the left guard spot right now who he played a bunch last year. He's looking really steady, really good. At the right guard spot, now you're looking at Mike Meslinsky, K-Pieper, Lucas Algaire, those three. So it's between the center and right guard spot or part of the two hot spots right now that trying to find your top five performers, maybe top six, and then piece them, place them

11:14in the right spot. But those are the two. And the cool thing about it is, if you, to answer, when I answer your questions there, it's the same group of guys battling for those two spots. So it's not like a total moving parts puzzle. It's been pretty clean getting everyone good reps. Trevor Locke's a fixture at one tackle. How about right tackle? Jack Doatsler. Yeah, Jack is done a really good job. Yeah, no question. And if you look at those were the two left tackles last year that were going to replace Mason Richmond. And both played a bunch, obviously Trevor ended up winning the job. But Jack played, he was our next tackle in all year long, really steady, consistent senior, been in the program for five years, knows what to expect and has a tremendous work ethic. And so those two, a tackle are really nice to have. George, what do you like about all those names collectively as a group? What do you sense? What do you see? Yeah, every year, that's a great question. Because every year, you're always trying to find the identity of what you think that group can have. You know, last year, it was brute force age.

12:19This year is a little bit more the competitiveness of this group is really high. I hate to use the word scrappy because they're not small, but they're scrappy. They love the action. And they've been like that since they were young and they just have an energy about them. We got a few kind of like last year that they're the kid at the daycare that doesn't play well with others sometimes. Yeah, you know, when mom and dad come pick them up there in the corner because they ate their eraser and did bad things with the scissors, you know. Look out with the dunce cap on. That's right. Thanks, coach, your time. Good to see you. Thanks, Gary. George Barnett's wall of blockers is led by foundational pieces, guard, cade, peeper and left tackle Trevor Locke. Peeper is a preseason first team all america by three voting services. Locke is on the all big 10 preseason first team and like peeper, a predicted high NFL draft pick when that time comes. That's the fight for Iowa podcast. I'm Gary Dauphin. I'll be back next week with another chapter until then enjoy the football season and go Hawks.

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