Big Ten Roundtable Podcast (Episode 3): On Michigan's Hot Start, Iowa's Troubles, Frost's Firing
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Welcome to Episode 3 of the Big Ten Roundtable Podcast hosted by Hoosiers Now publisher Tom Brew. This week, Brew welcomes Wolverine Digest's Brandon Brown and Inside the Hawkeyes' John Bohnenkamp.
The group breaks down Michigan's great start, Iowa's rocky offense and Nebraska head coach Scott Frost's firing. Watch till the end to preview Week 3's Big Ten matchups.
Below is a transcript summary of key points both Brown and Bohnenkamp addressed. Scroll to the bottom to watch the entire 49-minute podcast.
Brandon Brown, Wolverine Digest
— On Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy
"J.J. was lights out in his start versus Hawaii. I mean, it is Hawaii, and they're one of the worst teams in the entire country, but he made three or four throws that it wouldn't matter if it was Hawaii, Iowa, Ohio State, the (NFL's Baltimore) Ravens. He made a few throws that were as dynamic and perfect and on the money and with zip and timing and accuracy, everything you possibly could want in a really impressive throw."
— On other Wolverine standouts
"Roman Wilson, the junior wide receiver from Hawaii actually, so everybody was kind of expecting him to maybe show out a bit against his home state team, and he did. He's touched the ball four times this year and scored touchdowns on three of them
"Donovan Edwards, the sophomore running back is a little dinged up. I think a lot of people are excited to see what Blake Corum will do with an expanded role in Week 3 and maybe beyond. We're not really sure how long Donovan Edwards is going to be out."
Jaylen Harrell really getting his first heavy dose of action. He played a little bit last year, but he's doing an outstanding job off the edge. New defensive coordinator Jesse Minter is really mixing guys around well and doing some good things around them."
I think Mikey Sainristil — he's been a massive surprise. We're talking about a senior captain, and he's been a wide receiver for his first three to four years at Michigan. Now, he's playing cornerback. It kind of felt like maybe a token position change, like 'eh, we'll put Mikey over there and see if he can provide some depth.' He's been one of the best defensive backs on the team."
John Bohnenkamp, Inside the Hawkeyes
—On Iowa's rocky offense
"When you looked at this offense in the beginning of the season, there were a lot of young weapons there. You had Arland Bruce, Keagan Johnson at wide receiver. You had Gavin Williams at running back. You knew the offensive linemen were going to be young and was going to take a little work."
"I think what's happened is Keagan Johnson has been injured. Nico Ragaini, who was going to be a wide receiver starter has been injured. This offensive line hasn't mixed very well right now."
—On Iowa's strong defense
"It's just the depth. They're so good up front. They're so good in the back, and they've got guys that aren't playing a lot that are also really good. I think the biggest thing up front, you look at Lukas Van Ness on that defensive line has played well defensively, but the other day came up with two big special teams plays, you know had two blocked punts becoming the fifth player in program history to do that.
You look at the back end. I mean Terry Roberts was hurt a lot of last year and was kind of like the special teams guy. He's really stepped in at corner and has done some great things.
"The guy I knew was going to be really good was Cooper DeJean. He's a sophomore. He came in, he's a small-town Iowa football player. They can use him at four or five different spots right now."
Scott Frost's firing at Nebraska
Brown: "All the success he had at Central Florida, you just thought 'man, he's going to get it going in Nebraska, and he's probably going to be in a hurry. He's over there in the west. He's going to have an opportunity to do some things', and it did not go that way at all. It couldn't have been rockier, the bad losses, and the most recent one obviously.
They didn't even wait. His buyout dropped by 50 percent if they had waited another three weeks, but I guess they're thinking 'we can't afford three more weeks of this nonsense.'"
Bohnenkamp: "Yeah, there's high expectations there and maybe sometimes unrealistic expectations, but at the same time, he wasn't even meeting average expectations, and when you don't do that you're not going to last very long."
Watch the full Big Ten Roundtable podcast:
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