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Subscribe to our Patreon to watch our Recruit Draft video with Eliot Clough, to see weekly breakdowns from the top national stories, and to support our content: http://patreon.com/TheANFPodcastThe 2026 Iowa Hawkeyes season preview. Kyle and Connor go unit by unit through the offense and defense, break down the All-22 that explains what this team is built to do, and land on a record prediction for the fall.

On offense: why the run game dictates eight-man boxes against almost everyone on the schedule, what Kade Pieper and Trevor Lauck give this offensive line,Leighton Jones and Jack Dotzler stepping in, the Kamari Moulton / L.J. PhillipsJr. backfield split, and the very specific job description for Hank Brown orJeremy Hecklinski at quarterback. Plus the 12 and 13 personnel problem DJVonnahme and Addison Ostrenga create, where Tony Diaz and Reece Vander Zee fit, Thomas Meyer as the inline piece, and a Wildcat QB idea for short yardage.

On defense: how speed at corner and safety lets Phil Parker play more press and free up the box, the Zach Lutmer / Tyler Brown safety pairing, Deshaun Lee's senior-corner leap, Kahmari Brown headlining the pass rush, the real inexperience question at defensive tackle, and why the linebacker room might be the deepest group on the roster.

Then the schedule: only two teams on it out-recruit Iowa, the first four games decide the tenor of the season, and where the losses actually land.

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Tyler Barnes, general manager of the Iowa Hawkeyes, joins the ANF Podcast for a rare, wide-ranging look inside the business of building a college football roster — talent evaluation, recruiting philosophy, the transfer portal, NFL-style cap modeling, and the retention conversations that now define the offseason.Tyler explains how a recruiting board goes from 350 names down to a signing class, why getting a kid on campus matters more than any star rating, and how Iowa keeps unearthing diamonds in the rough — the real stories behind Desmond King, Riley Moss (and his gray-shirt-that-almost-was), and Jamari Harris. He breaks down the biggest developmental leaps he's ever seen (including why he was wrong about Jack Campbell), what he looks for in the 4-3 tweener edge, the hardest positions to evaluate, and how he trained his own eye through Ken O'Keefe and Iowa's "scout school."We also get into the honest stuff: why Iowa refuses to be "obsessive psychopath" recruiters, the real value (and limits) of PFF, this year's FCS/Group-of-5 portal strategy, how Iowa built its rev-share model off a 10-year NFL cap study, the contract talks with the "second wave" of players who haven't earned it yet, and what he'd change about NIL and the recruiting calendar if he could. Plus: why Iowa guys so often become the best player at their position in the NFL.If you want to understand how the Hawkeyes are actually built, this is the one.

Subscribe to our Patreon to support our show: http://patreon.com/TheANFPodcastTim Lester, offensive coordinator for the Iowa Hawkeyes, returns to the ANF Podcast for round two — a follow-up conversation on everything we didn't get to the first time, recorded just days before fall camp opens.Tim explains his "hit the fastball" philosophy for practice reps, how QB draws and bubble screens function as pressure answers rather than base plays, and why the backside C-gap cut is so central to Iowa's zone run game. We get into the exactness required for the deep passing game — launch points, aiming points, and the 3.1 seconds a seven-step play-action drop actually takes — plus progression reads vs. coverage reads and why this offense is almost entirely progression-based.He also takes us inside the operation: what he communicates through the helmet before every snap, why he says the play name before the wristband number, using cadence as a weapon, how the six-install camp structure works, and where new plays actually get designed (hint: it's happening right now at the cabin). Plus the mannerisms game — how Iowa's staff hunts for tells, why Seth Wallace is the best in the country at it, and the story of catching Jordan Love tipping run/pass in Green Bay OTAs.Rounding it out: Vanderbilt's all-out pressure looks and the coffee-house blitz, the illegal punt that scrambled three straight play calls, whether Zach Lutmer could be a short-yardage quarterback, facing new defensive coordinators across the 2026 schedule, how he builds an opening script, and some fatherly advice for two new dads.

Seth Wallace, associate head coach and linebackers coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes, joins the ANF Podcast for a deep dive into Phil Parker's defense — the fundamentals, the philosophy, and the player development engine behind 28 years of elite defensive football in Iowa City.Seth explains why Iowa's "encyclopedia" of teach tape is a competitive advantage, how the staff hunts for pre-snap tells that turn PFF's 80/20 percentages into absolutes, and why playing through blocks — hips and shoulders square — is the foundation of everything. We get into the middle linebacker's pre-snap checklist, gap exchanges (including the famous Josey Jewell goal-line stops), why the defensive line does the "shitty work" that makes it all go, and how Iowa's quarter-quarter-half structure disguises five or six different calls from one picture.He also breaks down the perfectly timed Xavier blitz that sealed the Penn State win, the Rutgers wheel route that Minnesota tried to copy — and Zach Lutmer's pick-six that punished it — the Seth Benson audible from the 2023 Big Ten title game, why the LEO position demands veteran maturity, and the 4-2-5 vs. 4-3 personnel decisions coming in 2026. Plus: growing up a D3 coach's son, and the culture Kirk Ferentz built that makes this whole thing a unicorn in college football.If you want to understand how Iowa's defense actually works, this is the one.

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Tim Lester, offensive coordinator for the Iowa Hawkeyes, joins the ANF Podcast for a 90-minute deep dive into the Shanahan/West Coast offense he's installed in Iowa City. This is the conversation we've spent two years building toward — every unanswered question about why he runs what he runs, how he game-plans, and how he organizes his call sheet.Tim breaks down the philosophy of making a defense "cover every blade of grass," why condensed splits are the secret to Iowa's top-5 red zone offense, and how the scheme forces linebackers out of downhill fits. We get into self-scouting and tendency-breaking, the art of building drives on the fly, launch points and quarterback footwork, and why this offense demands an NFL-caliber arm.He shares the stories too: the 14-year-old D3 playoff connection between Tim and the hosts, dialing up "Cowboy" against Rutgers, the QB draw that broke Penn State, the two-point plays against Oregon he'd call again, the red zone pick in the bowl game that still stings, his year studying opposing play-callers in Green Bay, Mark's transformation from "Check-Down Charlie" to MVP of the East-West Shrine Game, and a wild XFL story involving a full bottle of Jack Daniels, JLo, and the end of the league.If you love the X's and O's of modern offensive football, this is the one.

Subscribe to our Patreon to support our show and get access to exclusive content and opportunities: http://patreon.com/TheANFPodcastBook your stay at Villa Puesta Del Sol in Ocotal, Costa Rica: https://www.villapuestadelsolocotal.com/In today's episode, Kyle and Connor break down Iowa's bowl game win against Vanderbilt, and then discuss the Hawkeye's outlook going into 2026.

Subscribe to our Patreon to support our show: http://patreon.com/TheANFPodcastBook your stay at Villa Puesta Del Sol in Ocotal, Costa Rica: https://www.villapuestadelsolocotal.com/In today's episode, Kyle and Connor preview the upcoming CFP semi-final game between the Oregon Ducks and the Indiana Hoosiers.

In today's episode, Kyle and Connor preview Iowa's upcoming bowl game against the Vanderbilt Commodores in the ReliaQuest Bowl.

Subscribe to our Patreon to support our show and get access to exclusive content and opportunities: http://patreon.com/TheANFPodcastBook your stay at Villa Puesta Del Sol in Ocotal, Costa Rica: https://www.villapuestadelsolocotal.com/

Subscribe to our Patreon to support our show: https://patreon.com/TheANFPodcastBook your stay at Villa Puesta Del Sol in Ocotal, Costa Rica: https://www.villapuestadelsolocotal.com/In today's episode, Kyle and Connor break down Iowa's loss to USC and then discuss the current state of the Iowa Hawkeyes' football program, and what they need to do to improve going into 2026.