Mason Richman | WUW 584

Mason Richman is from Leawood, KS and joined the Hawkeyes in the recruiting class of 2020. He enrolled early in that spring, where he and his fellow enrollees were hit with the end of the world pandemic situation, which added a unique twist to the start of Mason's career.  Mason discusses his journey through the Iowa football program, highlighting the challenges and triumphs he faced during his time with the team. From gaining 60 pounds to adapting to coaching changes and overcoming adversity, Mason shares insights on his growth both on and off the field. The conversation delves into the impact of COVID-19 on his early career, his relationship with Coach Kirk Ferentz, the dynamics within the offensive line room, and the preparation for his upcoming Pro Day. Tune in for a candid, in-depth look at what it's like to be a young offensive lineman thrown into the fire and coming out stronger on the other side.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This guy saw the field early and often one of
the most experienced in the kf ERA, a crucial part
of the offensive line over the past four seasons, he
and his class, as you'll hear, have been through a
lot that culminated in this year's running attack with Caleb
Johnson and being one of the best in the Big
ten in the country. Mason Richmond joins the show had
a fantastic one on one with Mason. You guys will

(00:22):
love it as well. Let's have a day, Let's go

(00:51):
back again, another Washup walk Ons podcast. Another one of
the recent graduates from the University of Iowa football team,
offensive lineman Mason Richmond into show today and uh, this guy,
this guy's been through it over at the University of Iowa.
He's got the uh I think Mason. It says here
you've got the most starts as a KFARRA offensive lineman.
Do you know that?

Speaker 2 (01:12):
I was, Yeah, I was aware of that, and I
think November when it was starting to come up.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
So there's there's good and bad reasons for that.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
But what good point? Good point we'll get into. We'll
get into some of that because it's it's an interesting
part of your story. And not just your story, but
really your class and the guys around you. Thrown in
the fire a little bit, and oh yeah, went through
a lot of adversity, and uh, I don't know, maybe
in your words you can you can talk about it

(01:39):
a little bit, but maybe maybe thrown out there a
little too early. I don't know, Like, Uh, there were
obviously over the last couple of years, not so much
as past season. You guys, you guys crushed this last season,
but there were some growing pains. Had a new offensive
line coach come in. Basically right after you came in,
a lot of things happened. I'll stop talking. I'll let

(02:00):
you talk. But how does that how does that all
look in your brain now after the fact.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
Yeah, I mean I kind of clump it all together.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
I feel like, you know, obviously we had a coordinator
switch this season, which kind of changed a lot of things.
And I mean this past season was a couple of
years in itself. It felt like you know, the three
before that I was able to be a part of,
you know, actually in the lineup kind of all seemed
clumped together. At least twenty two and twenty three definitely,

(02:30):
you know, just there was a lot of struggles there,
and like you said, we were kind of throwing in
the fire.

Speaker 3 (02:34):
But I don't know if there's ever an easy time
or a best time for someone to go in. So
you know, for us, it was just.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
About like, I mean, there's nothing we can do about it,
like we we we're the best option we have right now.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
Like we got to help the team win. That was
the biggest thing.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
And when you like I remember, you know, my second year,
I was already a first row guy of the offensive
side of the room, and that was like wow to me,
like because you know, normally the it's like the five
starters and then kind of the backups in some of
the areas are in the second and third rows or
sometimes like up by the coaches. But you know, just

(03:08):
getting thrown into that and things of that age are
just really you know, put into perspective, I hope. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
So, and that's a fun little insight what Mason's talking
about there for anybody that doesn't know. And I didn't
really have this in the specialist room because there's only one, yeah,
but in the bigger rooms, especially like the line rooms,
there's multiple rows to the meeting room, and even more
so in the team meeting room on the offensive defensive
side of the ball, your veteran guys, usually the starters

(03:38):
are going to be upfront. Special teams meeting was really
maybe the pinnacle of this. You have a punk meeting
Woods and you know Wallace, they got like six deep
at every position and so you literally sit We had
it to where there were eleven got eleven seats in
the front row, and then the twos would be right
behind them, behind them, behind them, And when you're I
remember the first you know, I fortunately got to start

(04:01):
my second year after a senior graduated, and so I
remember that same moment you sit down in the you
get the depth chart, yeah, probably down on the on
the boltin board or whatever, and then you you go
into the meeting room and you sit down in the
seat and you're like it almost you feel a little
bit of power. It's like a fanos thing. You're like, oh, yeah,
this comes with the responsibility. Was it similar for you?

Speaker 3 (04:24):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (04:24):
I mean you know, when I first got there, I
remember I'm just as fun, especially for like older guys
like that's who I look up to the most all
the time.

Speaker 3 (04:31):
And that first year in twenty twenty, I don't remember
if we were. I don't think we were.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
Really spaced out. We might have to wear a mask
or something. The team, Oh yeah, share them off. But
like I sat as close as I could, like as
close as I could get without pissing off an older
guy and like Cosmo Rockest or something like that. But
like that that first year, I sat right behind like
the furthest left seat and right behind the first five

(04:57):
or whatever or so in that first so, you know,
obviously like that was what I got thrown into. I
guess I've just been kind of used to it, you know,
just being an older guy for a while now.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
So been there, You've been there a while now.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah, Yeah, definitely, like that was that was a long
five years, and you know there's a ton of maturity.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
Like I think I've grown up more.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
I was thinking about it, you know, before coming on,
I'm like, I don't know what to say about my
growth because I feel like my senior year of high
school I really grew a lot, and then I somehow
either grew more here or I just kind of continued that.
I'd say, just because like senior, you know, high school,
I was kind of a hot head. Definitely early on
and just had to learn my ways and then probably

(05:38):
was a hot head early on in Iowa and just
learned quicker, you know, how to handle it and stuff
like that.

Speaker 1 (05:42):
So well, we got a couple of things in common.
Then if you walk back into the facility right now
and asked him about me, uh, they'd probably tell you, Yeah,
he's a little bit of a that's why he's doing
podcasts now.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
No, I've heard the name before. It definitely coached coach
Woods and uh, coach Walls have dropped the name before.

Speaker 1 (05:58):
Definitely, Oh shit, here we go.

Speaker 2 (05:59):
And I think coach Brian did in a couple of
unit meetings.

Speaker 1 (06:03):
Oh great, I don't know what coach I don't know
what Brian? Yeah, uh, he was. Usually it was fun
because with the specialists, the relationship with the other, like
position coaches, is normally just like a complete like back
and forth. You're just giving each other ship one hundred
percent of the time, right, Like, the only one that

(06:24):
really matters is like coach Woods, he as long as
he has controlled the specialists and everything is going well,
then the specialists are just like they're quite literally the
the gestures of the team. They're just like like if
this is the castle and like the King and Queen,
like they're just the gesters that run around people give
them ship. If someone needs to blow off some steam,
they just shoot on the specialist. It is what it is.

(06:45):
So yeah, I can't imagine what those guys are saying.
I know that. Uh, I get a text from Woods
or Wallace every every once in a while that they're
listening to a certain episode. So maybe I'll get maybe
I'll get a text about this one. No.

Speaker 3 (06:57):
One thing.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
One thing I would add about that is, you know,
I got up here and other schools I guess hate
their specialists.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
Oh yeah, yeah, I didn't. I didn't know that.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
You know, I've only grown up, like we love these guys,
Like obviously the fans love the Punter every year with
Toy and and and Reese, and you know, the Kickers
have been historic and everything like that.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
Okay, well so it wasn't always that way, dude, Like really, so,
I mean, first of all, Tory was another level, right obviously,
and and now Reese a little bit of the same.
And I don't think we've gotten to see hopefully we
do Reese come out of a shell and and sort
of do more interviews. As he gets older, it'll we'll
get to but I don't know if we're going to
get that same Tory Taylor like charisma. Yeah, but but

(07:42):
then also like he's the best punter that's ever lived,
seemingly like once in a lifetime sort of talent and
and all encompassed person there never hated Tory obviously, we had,
you know, basically since right before your time, Keith Duncan
Drew has great like had it pretty good on the
special team side of things, and I would I would

(08:05):
like to say that like my even through my senior year,
there was some questions and that's that was twenty seventeen.
So for the past six years or so, like since
Miguel Rosinos and on, we've been pretty good. Like there's
hasn't been a lot of questions. There was a moment
in twenty fourteen, and hopefully that most players don't have

(08:27):
to go through this, but maybe maybe they do, and
maybe you have something similar. But in twenty fourteen, the
three starters got brought in and Coach White at the time,
you don't know him, but he looked at us and
he was like, the team doesn't trust you, guys, Like
like and they don't know, and no one necessarily has
like a great view of like your reputation off the

(08:50):
field either, like and at the at the time I
was young, we had another young like the punter was
young with it was bad, so like there was a
moment of like, you guys have to fucking figure it
out out or we're in trouble, and like you're not
going to have a job. And so it hasn't always
been that way, but yeah, when you get to the
front of the room, you can kind of feel the

(09:10):
eyes looking at you. Yeah, and it's not just the coaches,
it's the it's the other guys. They're like, Okay, well
you're you're in seat one. You're supposed to be the guy.
You're supposed to know how things are done. And you
had that for like you said, four year. I mean
you became a starter in my notes twenty.

Speaker 3 (09:26):
One, right, yeah, first game of twenty one, so I.

Speaker 1 (09:29):
Mean, and you played several games in your true freshman
year in twenty twenty.

Speaker 2 (09:34):
Uh yeah, I mean one one was Minnesota and we
took a kneel and they say, Paul sent us out
there just for that one, and so just burn that
red shirt.

Speaker 3 (09:45):
I guess real quick. But we were out there and
they can't.

Speaker 2 (09:47):
That made me not like Minnesota because they came off
the ball and hit us hard, and it's like kind
of a I'm sure you know, like unwritten like oh yeah,
if it's if it's a kneel down, like yes, you
have to give effort one hundred percent of the plays, like,
but let's not.

Speaker 3 (09:58):
You don't want to cause a fight. You don't want
to you know, the game's over.

Speaker 1 (10:01):
So we've got a little chest punch after not doing
anything for three hours.

Speaker 2 (10:05):
Yeah, and the worst part was I think it was
mid November, so that was a night game. I remember,
and we're freezing, like I got long sleeves on. We're freezing,
and then you know, the helmet stiff because you're taking
it off and everything's just ice cold, and then you
just get one one hit right to yourself on a
kneel down where you're like, you know, they're probably not
gonna come across the ball.

Speaker 1 (10:24):
I've always heard about that with linemen. So when it's cold,
it's bad, Like hitting somebody is bad, man. It's like
everything is dry and it's scrapes and like cold is
just not good. Is it that way every every rep
for alignment or do you settle in on a drive
and you're like, Okay, I'm sweating a little bit now

(10:44):
a move and it's not as bad, or is every
rep just who?

Speaker 2 (10:48):
I mean? For me, I think it's as soon as
I wake up, I wake up and brusht my es
and start start sweating. I mean ever since I've been
a kid, Like my mom will tell you I had sweat
in the cradle and everything like that. But you know,
whole games I learned the other day too. Again, I
guess a lot of guys wear actual like thermal things underneath,
like sleeveless thermal things, and I just wore the same

(11:11):
undershirt I would normally because I've you know, kind of
a super semi superstition thing. But sure, no, I'm a
big time sweater. So I mean, once I get going, like,
I'll be fine. I think it's just in between drys
that you're you know, you're talking about like you gotta
stay like at least warm lukewarm, you know, on the
sideline with the coats and the benches, and we had
dilemmas definitely on the sideline, you know. I think it

(11:32):
was probably this year, like they turn on the heated
benches a little too early in the year, so then
the guys are really put off and like really wanted
like no heat ever.

Speaker 3 (11:41):
And I'm like, guys, like I get, you know, the toughness.

Speaker 2 (11:44):
I'm all for it, but I need to stay warm
in between drys, like so I can go out there
and like not worried about pulling something.

Speaker 3 (11:51):
So like we got to have it on at some point.

Speaker 2 (11:52):
So I think I definitely Nebraska and uh uh there's
I think maybe Wisconsin we might have had them on.
So when we got them on for two games, but
you know, it was four against one of that argument
most of the time.

Speaker 1 (12:03):
I don't even know if we had the heated benches yet.
Maybe in my senior year really, so like when we
went on the road and their heated benches, we were like, oh, yeah, this.

Speaker 3 (12:11):
Is oh basically an advantage. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
Well, and you're and you're gonna have similar moments in
like seven to ten years, hopefully you're still playing in
the league at that point. But you're going to look
back at the Hawks, you know, in twenty thirty five,
and you're gonna be like, oh, we didn't have any
of what you got. I'm thirty now like feels old,
so I'm still old enough to back when like we
didn't even get And this sounds very greedy. I understand

(12:36):
the all for everyone listening the the niceties of being
a Division one football player, but like my first two years,
the meals were like even the scholarship guys just got
four dinners a week. That was it. Yeah, I mean
that you're a guy who gained sixty pounds. Yeah, that
would have been tough to do on the old Hillcrest

(12:57):
food or I guess for you guys Peterson, but.

Speaker 2 (12:59):
What was the uh what was the move if it
wasn't like, you know, the dinners they provided, were you
guys like going into like for the guys who had
to gain I mean this might not be a question
for you, but a guy who had to gain sixty
pounds like they had, like it had to be just.

Speaker 1 (13:12):
Yeah, grocery bills was just crazy.

Speaker 2 (13:14):
I mean they probably bought like half a cower or
full cow, like yeah, probably it sounds that sounds right.

Speaker 1 (13:20):
The problem is, too, is like for the freshmen there's
nowhere to put like you have a dorm fridge.

Speaker 3 (13:26):
Oh yeah, yeah, So the stipen and the stipends lower
and everything. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:30):
Oh yeah, yeah, I don't know what. Yeah, so all right, yeah, yeah,
we walked uphill both ways that kind of thing. Luckily
I didn't have to gain a lot of weight like
you did. But like sitting on that for a second,
like sixty pounds, right.

Speaker 2 (13:43):
Yeah, I think or more. I always say like two fifty.
When I first came in, I might have been like
fifty three. It might have been forty eight, you know,
give or take whatever. But I got up to I
was right around three twelve my last three years, like
all the time.

Speaker 3 (13:58):
So what are you right now?

Speaker 2 (14:00):
It's about sixty pounds right now, I'm just under three ten.
I think like three h nine maybe three ten. Just
that shape up a couple of pounds to try to
speed that forty up you trying to run a little faster. Yeah,
just you know, you can always you can always gain weight.
I know how to game weight. I can tell them that.

Speaker 3 (14:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
Uh. I wondered if that was intentional, just because there
are a lot of games that guys kind of play
in this unique spring that you're in right now, and uh,
for me, unfortunately, I had to put on thirty pounds.
Yeah during the because I played it like two fifteen
to twenty. I wasn't going to grow any taller. But
they need guys to be big in the league for

(14:37):
to like fill a gap basically not get run through.
So I put on thirty pounds worth of Fair Life
chocolate milk.

Speaker 2 (14:44):
I was about to say that had to be just
straight dairy products all the time.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
Half a gallon of chocolate milk every day. I mean,
I was on that lineman grind like I was, and
it worked. But I mean, how did you approach it?
What did it look like for you?

Speaker 2 (14:58):
So I probably wasn't the healthiest person when I do
all this stuff, like not not in the eating but
not no, not in the type of food. But like
I'm always on the guys about like making weight, because
if for me I could, I could gain weight just
like that. I know, I was saying I was a
sweater earlier, but like I could gain a you know,
three pounds in one meal.

Speaker 3 (15:18):
You know.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
I just I can eat enough, I think is the
biggest thing. Like some guys just can't. They can't flip
a switch in their head to to maybe eat that much.

Speaker 3 (15:25):
But so I was kind of stickler about that.

Speaker 2 (15:27):
But for me it was you know, I had COVID
that helped out a lot because I was literally just
at home, you know, air frying in my house and
like getting getting shredded, getting Like I remember, we went
and bought like a rusty weight weight set, you know,
because it was like, what are we going to do
for workout?

Speaker 3 (15:44):
We can't go to the gym.

Speaker 1 (15:45):
So yeah, did they bring didn't they bring like squat
stands to some of the guys' houses.

Speaker 3 (15:51):
I think they did, but.

Speaker 1 (15:53):
You were young, so you probably weren't.

Speaker 2 (15:55):
For the guys who lived around Iowa City, I think
they built something like at someone's out like I want
to say, either Doyle built a thing at his house
because I remember I think Linderbaum and yeah, you guys
in like Cedar Rapids or something like, they did something
and put some put some work together or something like that.
But no, I mean, so you have to scrap around
the weights, you know, figure it out, find them. I

(16:17):
heard Els was talking about that with you when he
was on here too, you know.

Speaker 3 (16:20):
With his buddy. So but yeah, and then you know.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
Food wise, you know, they'd send up some things like
to help us, like I think it was so for me.

Speaker 3 (16:31):
It was the forty two's, the Core Powers Core Powers. Yeah,
I almost forgot the name. I haven't had one. I
haven't seen one in a while.

Speaker 1 (16:38):
They'll never leave your brother and never My mom will
at them.

Speaker 2 (16:42):
She loves them. She had me order a bunch of
them just so she could have for her. Yeah legend, Yeah, yeah,
like that forty two grams of protein.

Speaker 1 (16:50):
Actually, this would probably be a great time to talk
about the IWEG Council down there. Dude, seriously, that's great,
like if if if dude, I mean I I don't
know how much you care or even know about nutrition,
but like people don't eat enough protein, Like they just don't.
They just don't.

Speaker 3 (17:05):
You got to. You gotta up it.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
And if you can get forty two grams of protein
and one of those drinks, you're doing pretty well. We'll
talk about the IOWAY Council a little bit. Six grams
of protein per egg. By the way, were you a
big a guy?

Speaker 3 (17:16):
I am right now, but right now they're tough to
find obviously.

Speaker 1 (17:19):
Oh dude, They're like gold bars.

Speaker 2 (17:21):
They are there. They might be worth more than bitcoin.
But I had my buddy up here. He got them
from a farm nearby, so I'm getting the hookup. You know,
you gotta you gotta, you gotta deal around. There's egg
dealers out there on the streets. Now, you gotta find them, bro.

Speaker 1 (17:34):
I mean, a farmer connection right now is more valuable
than anything.

Speaker 2 (17:38):
Oh yeah, it's that you might as well hire a
farmer over a finance guy to you know, manage your finances.

Speaker 3 (17:43):
Right there, they're probably worth more, but you know, other
than the core powers.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
I uh. I also did the Gatorade protein bars, A
lot of those, you know. I did one before one
as soon as I woke up, one when I went
to bed. I think, maybe one after the workout. But
later down the road I realize they have thirty grams
of sugar and twenty grams of protein to them, So
realistically I could have had a two eighty pound and
like been looking real good instead. I you know, I

(18:09):
don't know, sugar right after a workouts fine, but before
bet it wasn't the best choice.

Speaker 3 (18:13):
I think.

Speaker 1 (18:13):
Well, so there's a give and take, right Like what
they're asking you guys to do is and I don't
know how aggressive they were with your with your weakel right,
like I assume it was somewhat aggressive. I know that
I've talked to and had teammates that were that had
a lot more to do, Like yeah, like Ike Butcker,

(18:35):
I think he went from like two forty to three twenty.
I want to say Cole Croston, which was he was
a year older than me. I think he put on
like eighty or ninety pounds, like more than just fifty
or sixty. And when you're trying to do that, even
when it spread out over I don't know, a year

(18:55):
or two years, Like the problem is is you come
in and I mean this wasn't your problem specifically or
really anybody in your class, but generally you've got like
this two year window where you need to start finding
some finding some legitimate playing time or at least some
reps with the twos or you got to you gotta
bust through somehow. And if you're gonna bust through at

(19:18):
the Division one level, at the line on alignment position,
either defense or offense, you better weigh close to three
hundred pounds like that. That's just the way it is.
And so you kind of have to work fast on that.
And so they the weight goal bumps every week. I'm
sure you felt like it was just like I can
never catch up because once I once I make my

(19:38):
weight there it's three, it's three higher again.

Speaker 2 (19:41):
Like yeah, the like you know, I was talking about
COVID with you that that was a nice thing too,
is you know, like I said, I came in at
two fifty. I probably gained maybe ten maybe ten pounds
in that first eight week so that, you know, before
spring break. And then I came back in the summer
and I was too eighty eight maybe.

Speaker 3 (20:01):
Wow, that was that was the big period there that
like I.

Speaker 1 (20:04):
Was saying, you did some work, dude.

Speaker 3 (20:07):
Yeah, April May, I did some work. Definitely.

Speaker 2 (20:09):
That was probably the most fun I've had, like just
being an athlete because you didn't have the competition, you
didn't know what was going to happen. You're just I'm
just going to work out ready for whatever. And then
from there it was I think ten pounds a year
so the going into which isn't horrible. Yeah no, so
it's just ten pounds a year, you know, a pound
a month if you will, not hard, no, no, not hard.

(20:29):
So definitely gained that and that helps the weight room
numbers go up too and stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
So so you were there in spring of twenty Yeah,
so did you? Did you forego like your last semester
of high school?

Speaker 3 (20:40):
Then I did? Yeah, I was.

Speaker 2 (20:42):
It was me and two others, Yelverton and Gavin Williams,
you know who both both were with us, but they
were it was just us three who early graduates. But
I did meet friend of a friend, Zach club or
your brother.

Speaker 1 (20:57):
Yeah. I was just gonna say, you would have come
in like directly, was Zach then?

Speaker 3 (21:00):
That's right? It was. It was us four and then Phelps.

Speaker 2 (21:04):
We were all like, yeah, the young youngest of the
young that semester.

Speaker 1 (21:09):
And what a weird time to come in, man, I
mean yeah, do you ever think about that, Like how
just completely abnormal of a situation you guys had to
work through.

Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yeah, I mean it was. It was wild. Like I
remember first getting there. It was everything I expected and
then something, I mean, it just changed to a new
thing kind of wow.

Speaker 3 (21:29):
I was there. I didn't but I didn't know. I
was still growing with everything.

Speaker 2 (21:33):
So like they kept me, you know with the freshman
in the summer, which was annoying because then I had
to restart and do the you know I was.

Speaker 3 (21:39):
I was still a devout one.

Speaker 2 (21:40):
But the eccentric squats obviously, it's like, dude, I did these,
like I did these three four months ago, but those
and you know, obviously transitioned in the weight room and
stuff like that, but you know, a lot of it
stayed the same, I think, And at the end of
the day, like I didn't want to transfer anything like that,
and you know, I lost my position coach to like

(22:02):
after that year. So it was just a lot of
a lot of changes. But I think just the brand
and coach parents stayed the same, and that's the real
reason I chose it.

Speaker 1 (22:08):
So fuck, that's crazy. You're in the middle of COVID
and paul A Sek takes the job at Yeah. Yeah,
do you remember that day you get that text or
he brings you guys in and tell it like do
you what was that?

Speaker 3 (22:26):
Like, Yeah, it's.

Speaker 1 (22:28):
Kind of that because you've been there, like you said,
for a few months.

Speaker 3 (22:32):
Yeah, I mean, well that was just a few months.

Speaker 2 (22:36):
And then it was a couple months after the season
and he's you know, there was one rumor he's gonna
take a Montese statee job or something like that.

Speaker 3 (22:42):
He came in. It's like, guys, I'm not doing it.
I'm not leaving, and then you know he.

Speaker 2 (22:46):
Got the OC job, so it was he obviously was
like he was interested in something else. But you know,
I don't blame him. He was He's an offensive minded
guy and he coached quarterbacks. But coach be's the best.
He's he's very intense and you know a lot of
you know, there's a lot of connections up here that
I've heard about it, and I've only had good things
to say about him because you know, I owe him
everything for bringing me the university and he was the

(23:07):
main recruiter for me and everything.

Speaker 1 (23:09):
So yeah, I mean he's a legend. And now he's
a national champion, right, which is so sick year awesome, dude,
I mean unreal. He's a guy who I wish everyone
could meet. Yes, his energy is next level. We actually
got to have him on the show and he was fantastic.

Speaker 3 (23:27):
Did you I didn't know that.

Speaker 1 (23:28):
Yeah, that's a great episode for anybody listening that hasn't
listened to that one. I want to say it's somewhere
in the three hundred episodes. Just searched walk Ons and
coach Tim Paul a second, it'll come up Wow, dude,
what that that was a treaty. It was right after
he took that Wyoming job too, I think it was
that summer. But he recruits you, and that's so for

(23:51):
me and the other guys that are usually here on
this podcast, I didn't have a guy that recruited me,
you know, like I was a long snapper. I I
would have like not, I would have. I did pay
to get my foot in the door. I was a
walk on. I freaking I was gonna do anything to
play for the Iowahawk Guys, Guys like you have other

(24:12):
options And I'm not sure what your recruiting looked like
in high school and how many other offers you had,
but like there had to be some other options that
you considered, whereas like I didn't have that. So the
guy who recruits you, the relationship that you create with
the coaching staff through that process is really important. And
Polosek awesome dude, obviously great at recruiting all of that stuff.

(24:32):
And then he leaves like, yeah, was there any sort
of like damn, like he's the reason I came here,
or by that time you had kind of been you
bought into the system, you were kind of you were
there and you're like, okay, I'm a hawkey. Now I'm
good without him because it happens a lot. A guy
that recruits somebody leaves and then his the guy he recruits,
you know, they transfer out or something like that.

Speaker 3 (24:54):
Yeah, it was really interesting.

Speaker 2 (24:55):
And right up until that point, you know, I had
kind of gotten to know the guys and being an
older guy, even the way to shortened season with COVID,
Like I got to know the older guys.

Speaker 3 (25:06):
Of Lindy and Cody and Shooter and you know Van
those guys.

Speaker 2 (25:10):
Just getting around those guys in the building and everything,
understand how they work, and then also the practice and stuff,
and it was just so special to me. And I
remember I think coach Ferrits was getting getting a gauge,
you know how he does.

Speaker 3 (25:21):
Throughout the day, goes down the room, you know, walking around,
but I thinking, yeah, all right, good good, he'd go,
and you.

Speaker 2 (25:31):
Know ask I think just a bunch of the younger
guys really like, you know, are they doing all right?
Because he knew, you know, it's a popularity to transfer
if you're just some coach left. And I think a
couple of guys did. But you know, for the most part,
a lot of us stayed and I think it, you know,
helped us out a lot, you know, just understanding there's
a lot more to Iowa than just your position. Coach,
but that's that's a big part of it, obviously, and

(25:51):
a lot of guys nowadays transfer.

Speaker 3 (25:53):
For worse reasons.

Speaker 1 (25:54):
But yeah, for sure.

Speaker 3 (25:56):
It's but you know, they have a big impact on you.

Speaker 2 (25:59):
But there's more to that, And I think Coach Faris
is the biggest reason I stayed and chose Iowa in
the first place. So, like, like I I remember it,
I had a gut feeling like I should commit on
my official visit, like I just I needed to, and
I think two days later I did because I wanted
time to think it over, you know.

Speaker 1 (26:14):
But yeah, special guy, coach Farrence. Yeah, in your farewell
Instagram post, which was great, by the way, had a
lot of good stuff in it, but I think he
talked about the one thing you will miss for sure,
maybe the most of anything is coach. Yeah, what's your
relationship like with him? And over you know, you get

(26:34):
to develop that pretty good over four or five years,
especially a guy like you who gets thrown in. He's
he's an O line guy, So he probably spends a
little bit more time with with your guys' room or
around you guys at practice. Like you're walking away from
the University of Iowa right now. What kind of impact
I could tell you the impact because I know, but
what do you think kind of impact KF will have

(26:55):
on the rest of your life.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
I mean, I think he's a great thing to put
on the resume, Like I think my resumeas would just
be a picture of him and say I worked.

Speaker 3 (27:03):
For him for four years. So I know this guy.

Speaker 2 (27:05):
You can't you can't give me any worse, uh treatment,
not treatment, but like coaching. You know, he's he's obviously
like me and me and coach. I appreciate him more
than anyone in the world. He's just he's given me
all he had and you know we've only had positive relationship.
Like That's the thing I think for me is I
was never a guy he really had to worry about.
I know, some guys like have a certain relationship with
him because he's always grabbing him for academics or you

(27:27):
know that. For me, it was just football, only football,
and you know, even off the field, we were talking
about you know, conference realignment and you know, different things
like that, because he knows I had an interest in
some of that stuff. But he, you know, every day
at practice. I remember those those first two years, he
was really like he was on me all the time.
I think because I was a young guy getting thrown

(27:48):
in there and needed coaching really bad.

Speaker 1 (27:51):
And yeah, because they need because they needed you. A
couple of minutes ago, when you talking about the whole
transfer situation, I was about to say, dude, if you were,
if you were anybody else transfers out about three four
years ago, we are looking, I mean, we are literally
trying to pick people up off the street to play
a line for us because we had a you know,
we had Lindy leave early, worst leave early around that

(28:12):
time period, freaking, a couple of guys medically retire, a
couple other guys retired, a couple of guys transferred. All
of a sudden, that room was.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
Like, yeah, it shrunk quick in two years, and I
got really young, really fast. But he, you know, through
it all like he was always like had our backs,
had my back, I think, and you know that. But
towards those end of the you know, my fourth and
fifth year, I remember It's just it wasn't as much
of a like he wasn't always watching me, I'd say,

(28:41):
and I had, you know, I always he was the
number one guy, Like I got it. I got to
make sure coach isn't on me, like I got to
make sure coach knows I'm giving my all, like you know,
because he's always obviously watching the old lines down there
with us. You know, he could be standing one hundred
yards away, he still like peeking over and joy. Yeah,
we're working, and you know he's the best. But there

(29:03):
was one thing I was going to say, Oh, and
I think this year, I mean, I don't know if
it's why we had a good year, but I remember
during camp, like he doesn't normally come into our position
room and like very often because I think he knows,
you know, what it's like to be a position coach,
and especially coach the old line, which is twenty guys,
which basically makes it, you know, a whole team itself.

Speaker 1 (29:23):
He doesn't manage at all.

Speaker 3 (29:25):
No, no, not at all.

Speaker 2 (29:27):
And I remember he I think he just went to
Indy and said something about like you know, the line's
going to be good or some something along those lines,
and like he he came back in during like first
day of training camp, first meeting, like we have position
you know, team meeting, go right to the position room.
He comes in and says like I want you guys
to know, like I truly meant those words, like you guys.

Speaker 3 (29:46):
Have a chance to be good.

Speaker 2 (29:47):
And we had no he had no reason to say
any of these things, like we had not proven anything
for in twenty two and twenty three. Obviously there were
some questions. Yeah, twenty two was bad. Twenty three you know,
we had a little growth, even though you might not
have seen it. But like he came in and I
think that just reassured us a little bit, like yeah,
you know what, like why not you know, and he's

(30:08):
he always knows the right thing to say at the
right time.

Speaker 1 (30:10):
So so I get I get a little bit of
goosebumps listening to that, because because it's it's sick when
a coach. It's only sick when a coach says that,
and you know he means it. Yeah, because there's coaches
and I'm sure people listening if you played sports or
you Mason, have had those guys like or just regular

(30:30):
people in your life, they'll say shit, it doesn't carry
a lot of weight. Sure, you know, you and I
both know KF doesn't say something unless he actually means it.
There is no bullshit.

Speaker 3 (30:40):
Oh yeah. So when he says he and he doubled down,
like that's that's even more you know.

Speaker 1 (30:45):
Well, so from the media side of things, on the outside,
we're you know, we're kind of previewing the year last year.
We're like, all right, the line needs to be good
this year. Yeah, we got to have something. And he
comes out in the middle of camp and says something
to the media. He don't say shit to the media.

(31:07):
He's never gonna like give you something, right, And he
comes out and says, the line's gonna be good, like
the line's much improved, Like the line is good, something
along those lines. I remember talking about it on the
podcast and I was like, people take note of this
because this if he's saying this, he believes it, like
and he's seeing it true and he knows a thing
or two about football. And then you come out and

(31:29):
of course there's growing pains in the another crazy sort
of part to your career as you finish your last
year on a new offensive coordinator, all the changes around
in your career, but like, I mean, you guys crushed
in the running game. I mean, like arguably best in
the country. Had a lot of steps that you took
in the passing game, a lot a lot of great
stuff on a short kind of leash, a short playbook

(31:53):
of like what coach Lester could get in you know,
his first year in the program. And so he was right,
like it was right and it had to feel good.

Speaker 2 (32:02):
Yeah for you, that was that. It felt it felt great.
It I mean, we we had a meeting at the
end of the year. It was I mean it was
emotional just thinking because we're just talking about like how
how far we've come, and like because like twenty two,
like we could have all very well have been fired.
Like if it was an actually we would have all
like everybody like clean house, they might have they would

(32:25):
have sold the company, you know, in other words, like no, actually,
it's worse that they would have filed for bankruptcy because
no one would buy it.

Speaker 1 (32:31):
It was it was yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, it's
it's great to hear you talk about it like this
because because I can hear the maturity and the vulnerability
and like the security that you have now two three,
years later of like, yeah, we weren't we weren't good,
and now and we got and we got there.

Speaker 2 (32:50):
I mean there was times I remember we were like, yeah,
I think we played good against Wisconsin that year and
we went back and watched the tape we played terror
and it was like that's that was the idea of
good back then. So it's just the standard got raised,
you know, in twenty three, it got raised, and then
in twenty four it got raised again, like obviously especially

(33:12):
for us as a group. And that was the biggest thing,
is like we understood what it meant to play good
and you know, give it, like give to the team
what we need to provide a team with. You know,
it didn't have to be spectacular, but it had to
be good enough.

Speaker 1 (33:24):
The way you described that makes me think you guys
were in such a tough spot and everybody on the
outside is trying to figure it out. Why why why
can't these guys white?

Speaker 2 (33:32):
What?

Speaker 1 (33:32):
What's not cooking? Right?

Speaker 3 (33:34):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (33:35):
And like the amount of times and I probably talked
shit about you guys multiple times. I'm sure some people
could go clip it.

Speaker 3 (33:42):
I don't think I could meet someone who hasn't who I.

Speaker 1 (33:44):
Tried well, and I try. I try as a former player,
and you get sucked into it because when you talk
for hours and hours, eventually you're going to say something
that sounds dumb. But I try as a former guy,
knowing how hard you guys are in their busting balls. Right.
I know you're not in there trying to blow an assignment, right,
I know you're in the off season grinding through eighty

(34:05):
five for five on squad. I know what you're doing.
I know you guys are trying. Yeah, But for a
couple of years there, it was just too early. Yeah,
And sometimes that's okay if it's a guy or a
couple guys, but man, like, very good, it was all
five I wrote, I wrote it down here. I was like,
I was like, very quickly, literally my note says quickly

(34:28):
shapes up to be him Colby Jones, de Young Ellsbury,
Like we've known you. The offensive line names have been
the same for four years. And it's like, okay, well, yeah,
looking back, like year one's gonna be pretty bad. Yeahcause
you guys all had to go through it at the
same time. And it was like, it's funny how you
say you watched the Wisconsin game. You thought you played good,

(34:50):
you watch it back and you're like, oh, no, we
did not play good. Was it literally just a situation
of like there wasn't enough left in the room to
really show us what the standard was, So you guys
just literally had to grind out your own standard over time.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
Yeah, I think, you know, you mentioned earlier the injuries
and the guys retiring and transferring, like we lost the
room got really small, so like someone like a couple
of guys had to step up and like the most
experienced guys in twenty two after that twenty one season
where me and Colby, yeah, realistically, like snapcount wise, I'm
pretty sure, and Connor was going into a second year,

(35:26):
like the guy just took you know, one or one
point five Spanish.

Speaker 3 (35:31):
You know, he's not he's not ready.

Speaker 1 (35:34):
That guy was playing Linmar eighteen months ago.

Speaker 3 (35:36):
Yeah, yeah exactly.

Speaker 2 (35:38):
You know, and me, like I played left tackle and
you know, lost my mind in twenty one, like just
trying to keep up with some guys. But you know,
I think I think just mentally for us, it was
just like it was a lot of taxing and a
lot of a weight on our shoulders that didn't have
to be there, but like there was nothing we could
do about it, Like we had to step up. So

(36:00):
we tried our best in twenty one, you know, or
I mean in twenty two, excuse me, and you know,
came back in twenty three. I think we proved a
lot of things right, and then you know, finally started
clicking twenty four.

Speaker 3 (36:10):
We had enough experience.

Speaker 2 (36:11):
And confidence, you know, to without without being too compon.
I think we would have been too confident in twenty two,
you know with some situations, like just thinking because we
had the logo on the side of our head, we
were going to play.

Speaker 3 (36:23):
A certain way at o line. But yeah, you know,
we learned through that year.

Speaker 2 (36:27):
Through the hard times, like how important it is to
do certain things right, and you know, that was the
things we took into those big games.

Speaker 3 (36:35):
You know, from then on.

Speaker 1 (36:38):
When I was at Iowa, we Twitter wasn't allowed and
you couldn't tweet. You could have you could have it,
but you couldn't tweet. Yeah, So I would say the
social presence and just the fact that that's a term sucks.
But the social presence of the team was like, yeah,
guys weren't really online, like seeing as nowadays it's everywhere,

(37:02):
Like you got me talking about you on a Monday,
and it's like, Okay, this former long snapper is telling
me how to do my job. Like this sucks. But
I point that out because like how aware were you
guys early on in those twenty two and twenty three
seasons of like the criticism, Like did you hear any
of it? I know, KF says, hey, don't okay, don't

(37:24):
listen to the outside noise or it. Yeah, they don't
know shit about shit, But like you know, there are
people that know little. They're a little bit knowledgeable about football.
It's very it's very clear, like what positions are doing okay,
and what positions need work, and like the offensive line
needed work. How much did you ever see of that
or was it like did you guys try to just
keep it blinders on, let's just focus on ourselves.

Speaker 3 (37:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (37:47):
I think I remember when we went three and four
that part of that year, Like that was the first
time I think I've personally ever had like a losing record.

Speaker 3 (37:57):
And I'm sure a lot of guys same way. Sure,
you know you guys.

Speaker 2 (38:00):
At the University of i wud A, you know, a
high institution who were probably on good high school teams.
But like that was the time when we're like, you
know what, let's let's turn off all this stuff. I
remember like Petrice had comments after games and you know,
people would react a certain way.

Speaker 3 (38:16):
And then he came back against.

Speaker 2 (38:17):
Purdue and after I think we were neither five and
four or six and four at that point.

Speaker 3 (38:21):
I think we're probably six and four, and like he
just said, like, you guys gave up on us two
weeks ago. And that's when I understood.

Speaker 2 (38:27):
And coach Fernce, you know, brings that stuff up at
meetings like when when guys you know, do things like
that and kind of follow the things he's talking about, right,
the you know the examples he has like turn away
from the media, like it's just not good. And I've
known it too, Like every time I look at it,
there's there's good and bad. You got to take the
bad with the good, obviously, but you know we always say,
like if a media guy's patting you on your back,

(38:48):
he's looking for somewhere to stab you with.

Speaker 3 (38:50):
The knife, right, And that's that's what that's all.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
I took all the media stuff for like I'll be
your best friend for twenty minutes, but I ain't gonna get.

Speaker 3 (38:59):
A beer with a media guy or you know, talk
about anything else.

Speaker 2 (39:03):
Like it's there's a lot of things you got to
take it with, and you know, for us, it was
just about understanding what mattered and how those things didn't
impact how he played it was it was all on us.

Speaker 1 (39:13):
That's really tough. That's really tough for a twenty year
old kid. Like I'm thirty and I'm in the real
world now kind of not really. I do a podcast
and I'm a It's yeah, I'm not a real person
with a real job. But like even like criticism of
this podcast, which is something I put a lot of
time into, like it's now my thing, right, Yeah, I'll

(39:34):
see that as a fully grown adult and be like, God,
these motherfuckers don't know. You know, like you get that
chip on your shoulder, but it affects you mentally, and
like mental health is a huge thing, and there's a
lot of guys who, like you start reading too much,
you start to believe it, or that the fact the
fact that you reminded me of that Petrice when he
came out and said, you guys gave up on us.

(39:56):
Oh that fight that lit a fire under overheat. We
love that. That was so sick when he said that,
I'm a I'm a big peachers guy.

Speaker 3 (40:05):
Yeah, me too hard not to be.

Speaker 2 (40:08):
It's it's a lot of people put on him, but
he's he's got a great arm. I think he just
did a tough line and tough situation, you know, those
two years where he was kind of the only fifth
here on the whole offense.

Speaker 1 (40:18):
Yeah, I mean also just the fact, like I truly
don't know if anybody's ever taken more ship than him
talking about the online stuff.

Speaker 3 (40:25):
In America, Probably not.

Speaker 1 (40:27):
I'm seriously like, yeah, and uh and he was so good.
He stepped up to the media every week like it
was so respectable. Yeah, we got we got to have
him on last year around this time as he was
going into this last season over at Utah State, and.

Speaker 3 (40:42):
Yeah, and what a what a guy.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
And he gives he has a great KF impression too.

Speaker 3 (40:46):
Uh one, he's he's really good impression. He's he's awesome.

Speaker 1 (40:52):
It's good to hear that. As much as you guys
could you kept it in house because in the end,
like this podcast, the other podcast that the Twitter, like
the media guys, it's all bullshit like it it serves
no purpose for you guys on the inside when you're
in there, and uh, it could derail some things, like
it could really get to people's heads. So that's good

(41:12):
because there was plenty to look at, I'm sure. And yeah,
and it's not that you got like That's the other
thing I always come back to is like it's not
like you guys didn't know you had to get better,
Like you know, like I knew I.

Speaker 2 (41:26):
Was the hardest. You can say whatever you want on whatever.
I'm the hardest critic of myself. Right, there's nothing you
can say that's gonna make me too butt hurt, like
about my own self. Like it's I hate the way
I played just as much as the fans did more
more because you know, they only see the sacks and
the and the tackle for losses, not the blow you know,
the foreplay that could have been ten.

Speaker 3 (41:47):
Sure, that's that's sort of deal.

Speaker 1 (41:49):
Yeah, Yeah, you have to live with every play. They
just remember like the Yeah, they remember all the bad.
You know, you're the one who walks into the We've
tried to describe this feeling, but you walk into the
facility the next day after all loss or after a
bad personal performance. Yeah, I mean that's like, that's like
you just want to jump off a building.

Speaker 2 (42:07):
It's it's brutal, and I you know, I can tell
you the amount of times on at least two hands
that I felt that way. And even there's sometimes you
know what's worse, honestly is when you win and do it,
because yeah, that's when you got to learn, like, hey
you got to you still got stuff to work on. Dude,
Like there's there's not You're not You're not the complete

(42:28):
reason we won that game.

Speaker 3 (42:29):
So don't don't feel too good about yourself.

Speaker 1 (42:31):
Yeah, quick moment to recognize the Egg Council I mentioned
earlier sponsor the podcast this month, Mason was talking about
how he's eating eggs. He's eating eggs right now, lean guy, probably,
that's right, trying to stay lean. Great source of protein
six SCRAMs of protein per egg. And this is a
this is a great partnership because unlike other companies are
trying to sell you something, Iowa Egg Council similar to

(42:51):
the Pork Producers. We've worked with the pork producers before
as well. They literally just want you to eat more eggs. Iowa, Mason,
don't know if you know this just producing an egg
state in the.

Speaker 3 (43:01):
Country, I did not know that.

Speaker 1 (43:04):
You want to take a guess at how many eggs
I would produces each year.

Speaker 2 (43:07):
It's the largest in the country. It's with a b Okay,
I thank you.

Speaker 3 (43:12):
I was gonna see if I could get that first letter.
I'll go, uh one billion.

Speaker 1 (43:20):
It's not that high. It's fifteen billion eggs, okay, which
is still insane. That is so I guess I.

Speaker 3 (43:26):
Didn't account for I didn't count for bird flow. So
that's that's all me.

Speaker 1 (43:29):
Well, that'll take some of them out. But yeah, like
something like forty five million hens laying fifteen billion eggs
a year. If you guys, uh, I guess if you
guys want to bulk up and put on a ton
of muscle like Mason, you could just purely switch over
to eating eggs. But I imagine eggs. I mean, dude, when
Grays would come and it was grays right, or was

(43:49):
it somebody else that came to it was breakfast omelets
or burritos, oh stella, oh stella would sart Yeah, oh,
go get some eggs in there. A lot of eggs
served over at the complex, and plenty of different ways
and actually funny enough. As we move on, thanks the
Iway Council shout out to him for this month, next month,
and another month later this year on for three months

(44:11):
right now. You said one thing you didn't or would
not miss Mason would be the refuel sandwiches. Yeah, I
kind of like those.

Speaker 2 (44:21):
No, you you should be arrested if you think those
are If you think those things are good, I had.

Speaker 1 (44:26):
You're talking about the ones in the foil right that
you could like jail.

Speaker 3 (44:29):
They're in foil, just boiling in that pan every morning.

Speaker 2 (44:34):
Yeah, no, I mean listen, I could do it like
I went for with it for a while. I remember
I would come in and, like when I was the
younger guy in twenty and twenty one, I'd be like,
you guys think Sheriff is.

Speaker 1 (44:45):
Eating these every day?

Speaker 3 (44:46):
Hell yeah?

Speaker 2 (44:46):
It was like, how do you think he became an
All American because of these things? Like I bought in
with all of it, trying to sell it. Any guys,
I could like that I was doing it better. But
they're they're one of a kind, that's for sure.

Speaker 1 (44:58):
Oh, there's a lot of uh. I remember those were
like introduced like maybe my second or maybe our last year,
and it was like once, like it's like Monday or
Tuesday the special Teams meetings like six forty five, and yeah,
you're like it's after a lift for some guys and

(45:20):
you got to go grab one of those things before
you like drag your ass in your gray sweats over
to the meeting room and you put that in your mouth.
It's just like it's cardboard, this cardboard.

Speaker 3 (45:32):
Yeah, there's a lot of stuff.

Speaker 2 (45:34):
I mean, it's hard to cater you know, one sandwich
for two hours a day, man, and with eggs on it,
you know, obviously they're gonna get a little little, a
little dry.

Speaker 3 (45:44):
So but you know there were days when you had
to you have to the way.

Speaker 1 (45:50):
In for a guy like you, you absolutely had to
the guy. I don't think people understand eating is quite
literally like a part time job. Yeah, for the bigger guys.
One of the knew knew this.

Speaker 2 (46:01):
Year was they put out Pico with it. Really that
changed it. I'll tell you that, Like that made the
thing good. It made it a you know, uh refule
a sandwich. You know, it made it a lot and
better to have. So I had I did that and

(46:22):
they put Frank's redhott Intulua, So you could basically just
cover the thing and like take take out all the
the downfalls of it by spying it up a little bit.

Speaker 1 (46:30):
The the food stories out of a out of a
division and football program are always great. Kevin, who's usually
on the show, his older brother played as well. He
was a year ahead of us and one year in camp.
One year in camp he was an offensive lineman. Him
and another lineman had a contest just during the days
within the camp to see how many who could eat

(46:54):
more chicken breasts throughout camp, just throughout camp, and back
then camp was like twenty two two days, twenty three Yeah, yeah,
and I think one of them, dude, I think one up.
They ended up eating like sixty four chicken breasts in
twenty two days or something like that.

Speaker 2 (47:11):
It was something like almost three a day, almost three
a day, one and a half at lunch and dinner.

Speaker 3 (47:17):
Yeah. Yeah, Oh, I would get tired of the taste.
You have to it's like the Forest Gump.

Speaker 2 (47:22):
You'd have to make chicken and you know the amount
of ways that Bubba says, right, that's how many times
you'd have to change it just to make it bearable.

Speaker 1 (47:30):
Was there. I mean, it's generally the most common answer,
But was there a favorite cater meal for you?

Speaker 3 (47:38):
Oh, I'm going so I'm going back soon.

Speaker 2 (47:39):
So I'm excited to because ever since I've left, I'll
tell you, I'll be honest, I miss it. I missed
You're going to miss it forever, the good and the bad.
Like just to get a little a car approtein, even
if I don't have the whole thing. You know, I
liked Uh they started bringing in Fink but and I
won't count that.

Speaker 3 (47:58):
That was this year. They added that one the Bumps
restaurant that was that's a good place. But Stella.

Speaker 2 (48:06):
I like Stella the best because I think guys don't
like it because you know, they spray the canola oil
on and it's the same pan and so sometimes you know,
it gets lost and kind of the same taste dish,
and you know some of the chickens made the same
way or whatever. But you can make it whatever you want,
so you can't get mad at it if you're not
making it right. That was my thing is you can
make it whatever you want, and you can change it

(48:27):
every time, so like you could get nachos. You know,
they started putting a case of thea like a couple
of griddles out there, and you could cook up a
case of d on there.

Speaker 3 (48:36):
So yeah, that was always good.

Speaker 2 (48:37):
And it was brunch, so you could do you know,
I might just do chips and dip just because I
want it right now, you know. Not not an omelet so,
but definitely definitely stella.

Speaker 3 (48:47):
Those guys do it, right.

Speaker 1 (48:48):
I remember when when high V would come in, they'd
have like those big muffins at the end of the
Oh yeah, bro, I'm telling.

Speaker 3 (48:55):
You couldn't eat those. I could never even as alignment.
I think I could finish one of those.

Speaker 1 (48:59):
Those were massive, So I'm telling you right now, like
Fatty Tyler Kloever back in twenty sixteen seventeen, I would eat.
I would eat. I would eat two.

Speaker 2 (49:14):
At the Yeah, I thought you're gonna say three. If
you've had three, that was gonna be bad.

Speaker 1 (49:18):
I would take too home for lunch, like as the
dessert piece to lunch, dude, I would I would put
four muffins on my plate and then they'd sit in
my locker during practice. Really, oh my god. Same thing
with like the cookies that grays would bring.

Speaker 3 (49:32):
Uh, those are dangerous. I couldn't. I couldn't grab those.
I feel like Coach Ray was like right behind me
every time.

Speaker 2 (49:37):
I'd always like make a call out to the guys
if strength coaches like waiting with, I'm like, hey, watch out,
watch out, They're they're taking They got a no pet
out too.

Speaker 1 (49:46):
I got Yeah, I got over that early because I
just like they were already maxing out the amount of
shit they could get me, so like calling me, calling
me fat, or like you know, calling out my my
dessert choices. It was like just gonna add to it.

Speaker 3 (49:59):
It was matter.

Speaker 1 (50:02):
What was it like blocking for a guy like Caleb Johnson,
It was great.

Speaker 3 (50:05):
I get that question a lot.

Speaker 1 (50:07):
He uh.

Speaker 2 (50:07):
He made a lot of those holes open and took
took advantage of a lot of like tight windows.

Speaker 3 (50:12):
I think too.

Speaker 2 (50:13):
And you know, he's just a great I think he's
a great story because I don't think anyone saw it
coming like what he was gonna do. You know, I've
heard of the Josh Jackson like that was that was
Caleb this year?

Speaker 1 (50:25):
Like you know, wow, great comparison, dude, I didn't think
about that. That is very similar.

Speaker 3 (50:30):
Yes, yeah, like he he was one of the last
no not he wasn't the last pick.

Speaker 2 (50:34):
I picked him last year for Hawky Champions because I'm like,
this guy is huge, He's he's fast, like he'll get
us some points in the in the.

Speaker 3 (50:42):
The conditioning drill or the you know, strength drills. Yeah,
and he just he couldn't like buy into a lot
of team stuff. And I'm like, dude, like what are
you doing?

Speaker 2 (50:51):
And he must have been working out or like you know,
watching film because he he popped off this year and like, no,
I don't think anyone saw coming. Like obviously had the
first half suspension against Eli State, and we should have
done that. Like I tell people about his first year
and he would have had you know, ten thousand yards
rushing over three years.

Speaker 1 (51:10):
But yeah, he was he's first of all, he's built
like Superman.

Speaker 3 (51:14):
Oh my gosh, that guy.

Speaker 2 (51:15):
He doesn't even like I don't even think he needs
to eat us out and he'll just have a six
pack all the time.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
You know. Athetics, there's just a couple of those guys
on the team always every year and it's like, bro,
what are you on dude? Like your genetics are insane.
I remember, I think this was just before your time.
But uh, wide receiver named Brandon Smith. I think he's
still bouncing around Smith. Yeah, no, I played that twenty
twenty season, whether he was exact same, like, just oh

(51:42):
my god. And it is crazy because like the public
has gotten a little bit of that, that backstory of
how Caleb was not fully like on the teammate side
of things like bought in and then and then like
he had to have a little bit of a like
a come to moment. Yeah, I've gotta I've got to
do something to mesh with the team here. And boy

(52:06):
did he ever. I mean that was crazy. And then
the talent just kind of took it from there. God,
it was fun to watch you guys. Man, it was
this year.

Speaker 3 (52:16):
I mean when he.

Speaker 1 (52:17):
Would pop one off and then watching you guys celebrate
and just like, oh god, that those are the moments
that like kind of take a former guy back. He
was the celebrations. It was fun, man, Like it had
to be fun to celebrate in the end zone with him. Dude,
I mean, this is so cool. You You're a starter
for the record rushing touchdown season probably a very long time,

(52:41):
like that is going to be tough to be broken.

Speaker 2 (52:42):
Yeah, that's you know, I didn't even I haven't even
thought of that, Like that record is also our record.

Speaker 3 (52:48):
I feel, yeah, absolutely, he but he did. There's a
lot of times, you know, where I'm like, oh, that's blocked. Well,
it's gone.

Speaker 2 (52:57):
But the coolest ones where it's like, oh crap, you know,
I miss that guy and he still goes for ten,
Like those are the moments where it's like, oh, okay,
I don't know, it's not like I don't have to
block this guy very well, No, you.

Speaker 3 (53:08):
Still do, Bason and everyone else.

Speaker 2 (53:10):
Like, but there were games like when he you know,
he'd always have like two hundred yards obviously this year.

Speaker 3 (53:15):
Or something like that. Most games are you know, obviously more.

Speaker 2 (53:18):
And some and I remember there were games where it's
like he is running for two hundred, we're not really
blocking for two hundred, and we might be blocking for
like seventy five one hundred, because I've felt that before
and that's what I felt like, and he just you know,
with stiff arm a guy spin off one and run
a guy over, and it was just it's it's so
energizing to an offensive line like that makes you want

(53:40):
to keep going.

Speaker 1 (53:40):
I was going to say, do you ever do the
playover end and he got like twenty six and you like,
go pick him up. You're running back to the huddle,
and under your breath you're just like, thank you, fucking kicks,
thank you. Oh my god, fucking thank you.

Speaker 2 (53:52):
Oh I go over and if I miss the block,
I'm like, dude, thank you so much. Like you made
me look way way better on that point. Like or
if you know, if they get stopped, like you know,
there'll be times when they're they're running and maybe they
get five and they should have got ten, and it's like,
my guy, I'm into tackle home, like I owe you one.
I just tell him like it's not on you, don't worry.
I owe you one there, like I owe you one later.

(54:14):
And I'd get him back a lot of the time.

Speaker 1 (54:15):
So that's funny. So how's this? How's this? Spring? Ben?
We tried to lock you down like a month and
a half ago, and you're like, dude, I'm so busy
right now. And it was probably a bad time for
me to ask because all of you guys were just
getting settled into where you were training and draft prepping, prepping,
and this is like the biggest three month interview of
your life. And it gets a little bit crazy. You know,

(54:38):
we had lache On. He's out in Cali. Jay is
down in Texas. I think Nick was in Miami. Like
everybody's in this different spot. Where where did you end
up training? And tell me a little bit a bit
about the past couple of months.

Speaker 2 (54:49):
Yeah, so kind of like El's I went north to.
So I'm in Minneapolis right now. I think it will
make it cold, yeah, I mean keep me inside, make
me warm and happy and fat and happy. And I remember,
so I traveled up here on the thirty first, so
we played the thirtieth. Wow, that was a brute like

(55:10):
brutal decision, but I'm glad I did it because I
needed I needed that day to get up here, and
uh we did plotis that Wednesday or whatever? So I'm
up here at Minneapolis and it's it's great. I think
I like it up here like it's it's still mid
It's a big Midwest city obviously, and there's times to
do and a bunch of good food places, you know
for Minnesotan's.

Speaker 3 (55:30):
I think that's the correct pronunciation.

Speaker 2 (55:32):
But yeah, I got up here the thirty first, and
then today's the what the twenty eighth, So I'll leave
tomorrow in the first so it'll mark like two months
straight and it's flown by like almost faster than the
winter phase.

Speaker 1 (55:47):
You know.

Speaker 2 (55:47):
We headed Iowa with the eight weeks there like it's
that's that's how fast it's felt.

Speaker 1 (55:52):
Wait to say, who's your agent?

Speaker 3 (55:53):
Yeah, so I was gonna tell you that too. Yeah.
Hell yeah he was on here, wasn't he.

Speaker 1 (55:59):
Yeah, he's a He comes on here all the time.
He comes on twice twice a year.

Speaker 3 (56:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (56:04):
I love love having him as agent. Now this year,
you know, I got him for a year where we
beat Nebraska's that's the good thing.

Speaker 1 (56:11):
Yeah, true, true.

Speaker 2 (56:12):
We'll see how good of an agent he is for
me when when they beat us, probably better, he'll be
in a better mood.

Speaker 1 (56:17):
Yeah, dude, if Nebraska wins, you got to scam him
for a meal or two, like, hey, I guess we
should go out and celebrate like you're gonna have to
buy like you know, and he will because he'll be happy.

Speaker 3 (56:30):
Uh yeah.

Speaker 1 (56:31):
He he comes on here every year to preview the
Nebraska game and then oh okay, and then he comes
on like I think that I think we've had him
on like basically right after the draft to talk about,
you know, kind of his experience as an agent and
the craziness and this his guys that he has each
specific year. So this year we'll talk about you, which
is so so yeah, And he's just I mean, you know,

(56:52):
he does like radio stuff for Nebraska and he has
his own podcast. So like he's great.

Speaker 3 (56:56):
He is the Only thing you got to know is
he lives in Lincoln. That's that's the number one thing.

Speaker 2 (57:00):
So the guy, you know, he didn't he because he
left town obviously for Lowschoo the NFL and just went
back there. So living in Lincoln, like I've I've been
there before too, and just knowing that, I know he's
just you know, surrounded.

Speaker 3 (57:13):
By red all the time.

Speaker 1 (57:14):
He unfortunately, like he is such a great guy because
it is tough when when they're they're Huskers. That's a
tough one. Yeah, But he's he's a good dude. And
and I'm pretty sure he's i mean, probably why you
picked him, you could tell me. But like he's got
that player mentality, like he knows what you're going through.

(57:36):
He knows a lot of guys in the league. He's
a great agent to have, man, Like it's he's got
to be awesome.

Speaker 2 (57:42):
Yeah, I think having someone who played in the league
is the biggest thing because like they can answer the
questions without having to you know, BSU like some answer
and like he's just he's a guy's guy and he's
an O lineman. Like that's just perfect, perfect for me,
Like the guy who played in the league and who
is an OH lineman personality, Like you know how we
all are and that's that's just how that's how I

(58:03):
want to you know, just comfortability and a good relationship
and having a good conversation with him and not like
stressing about what you're gonna wear to this fancy place.
Let's go, No, let's go to a hole in the bar,
hole in the wall bar and get a here in
in a burger or something.

Speaker 1 (58:18):
You know. Yeah, he'll and he'll talk hunt. Are you hunter?
You big hunting gun he is?

Speaker 3 (58:22):
Or I'm not, I'm not, you're not not yet?

Speaker 2 (58:25):
Not yet?

Speaker 1 (58:25):
He would he would talk about hunting with you for
about six hours probably if.

Speaker 3 (58:28):
Oh yeah, we got him going for a whole lunch
one day. So he he loves it. And I think
he's getting his son to hunt too, So he's just
gonna be out there even more.

Speaker 1 (58:37):
So, Yeah, how you feeling it's coming up?

Speaker 3 (58:42):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (58:42):
It is, uh, pro day, it's you know, we're we're
doing stuff every day. It's we haven't had the d
load phase yet, so it's hard to know like what
my numbers are. And that's what's really upsetting me is
I'm like, I feel slow in this. But you know,
we're also we practice at the end of the week,
so it's like, you know, we get Friday and we
have our practice sessions and times and stuff like that.

Speaker 3 (59:03):
It's like, well, you've also had a full week of
you know, hard workouts, yeah, before this, So I'm.

Speaker 2 (59:10):
Excited, though I think, you know, I don't care if
I was snubbed to the combine or something like that.
Like my everyone was texting me about it. I'm like,
I don't it doesn't matter to me. Like, as long
as you give me a date, like then I need
to show up somewhere and work out.

Speaker 3 (59:23):
That's good with me.

Speaker 2 (59:23):
You know, I don't care where it is, you know
that that old mantra, like if it's in a parking lot, No, obviously,
I don't think I do it in the parking lot.
That'd be pretty you know, but the the idea of
you know, this stage, that stage, It's like it all
builds up to the Pro day for me, and I
like that.

Speaker 1 (59:39):
Like the Nick said the same thing. Nick Jackson was like,
hey man, I get it, but I'm going to have
this opportunity on Pro Day and I'm not going to flinch.

Speaker 3 (59:47):
Like that's all right.

Speaker 1 (59:48):
He was like it was such a sick quote. I
think I clipped it, like I don't know if we
put it out yesterday or yeah. He's like, give me,
give me one opportunity and let's play ball.

Speaker 3 (59:58):
Tell yeah, I was sick. That's that's all you need, Like,
that's that's the only shot you're gonna get.

Speaker 2 (01:00:04):
Like a lot of a lot of people will see
you once and turn their eye away or keep watching,
So you might as well make it one day too
instead of like you know, this All Star game and
uh this meeting and visit and combine and this and
then phone call. You know, you got one shot with
with everything here, so you got to always be ready
and always assume someone's watching.

Speaker 1 (01:00:23):
So yeah, feeling pretty good about the work you put
in and and how you're going to perform.

Speaker 3 (01:00:28):
Oh yeah, I think you know up here I've I've
gotten a lot stronger.

Speaker 2 (01:00:32):
I've moved my bench up like almost ten reps now,
and like that's that's insane for me and I didn't
even expect that. But like that on top of you know,
the speedwork is obviously great, it's different, and that's that
was the thing for me.

Speaker 3 (01:00:44):
It was just about you know, going somewhere. I felt different.
I felt too comfortable at Iowa. I felt like sure,
you know what I mean, Like you go there.

Speaker 2 (01:00:52):
And you know, like I know what they're gonna do
on Monday. I'm going back on Saturday. And I'm like,
I'm a text coach. I said, what time do we start?
And I'm all put in my head like I already
know they're gonna have the rock mats out and this
and that.

Speaker 1 (01:01:03):
Oh yeah, get the field.

Speaker 3 (01:01:04):
Yeah it's a little wall warm up. Yeah, and uh
did you guys?

Speaker 1 (01:01:11):
Random question? Do you guys still do kettlebell warm up? Oh?

Speaker 3 (01:01:14):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:01:15):
How about land how about land mine warm up?

Speaker 3 (01:01:18):
Land mine warm up?

Speaker 1 (01:01:19):
You don't do it, see like in the weight room. Nope,
it was out on the field.

Speaker 3 (01:01:24):
They probably those ones in the we had them, but
I don't think we never did.

Speaker 1 (01:01:28):
Yeah, they would put a bar bell in the in
the like portable land mines, and they would load it
with like like one like a one plate, a plate
and a half or two plates for the lines on
my Yeah, that's uh, that's old school stuff when we
were tougher than you.

Speaker 2 (01:01:42):
Oh debatable, Yeah it is. I'm certainly not tougher than you.
We have to handle things in a different way than
just the weight room.

Speaker 3 (01:01:49):
I'll tell you that. The social media presence and yeah,
that that puts a big man behind glass on everything
you do.

Speaker 2 (01:01:56):
But we we had everyone had a heart in their
own ways. You guys definitely had it harder in camp.
Coach coach parents never never forgets to put up that
those schedules. He'd compare ours to like twenty thirteen, or
was this year twenty four? So this year was twenty
twenty four, So he'd put ten years ago in fourteen
and then ten years ago and oh four were.

Speaker 3 (01:02:16):
Like dude, yeah, I'd just be like, am I in shape?

Speaker 1 (01:02:20):
Like?

Speaker 3 (01:02:20):
That was my first question. These guys are doing it
three a days almost.

Speaker 1 (01:02:25):
So that's it. Like when we were doing two a days.
The older guys than us were having the same conversation.
There's like I think Woods when he was at Iowa,
I think they did three days. Yeah, and we're like, okay,
well that's absurd, Like that is crazy. You guys don't
even do two a days now? And is there some
rule like you can't do two like back to back

(01:02:47):
full padded practices too.

Speaker 2 (01:02:49):
That was that's some new rule. I mean most of
the time we're going pads and shorts anyways. Now, yeah,
Like it's because it's the same either way, unless like
the full pads was if I think we've even live
with shorts on, so that's not the thing. You know,
it's anytime.

Speaker 1 (01:03:04):
Anytime it's shorts, they're still Yeah, it's the same.

Speaker 2 (01:03:07):
Shoot, the dbs and the white people are gonna wear
the pats anyway, so if they're wearing the same thing.

Speaker 1 (01:03:10):
No, they're gonna do half of their thigh And I
could never I could never get one of a size
one of those sized pants. I was trying my pass.
Yeah no, it's uh, you guys, I mean you guys,
it's it's the same thing. Ten years from now, people
will be like, oh, yeah, you guys, you guys did
it a lot harder than that.

Speaker 2 (01:03:30):
Oh yeah, I'm glad to be able to say that
one day, you know, when the guys are doing flag football.

Speaker 1 (01:03:35):
Oh it's yeah, because that's where it's going. But uh,
I'm not gonna take up too much more of your time.
But I appreciate you. I appreciate it coming on. We'll
keep it in an hour. I think fans will get
a kick out of, you know, hearing about the candid
struggles of I think they love the Elsbury episode two

(01:03:57):
because I mean, you guys were quite literally forged by
fire and came out on the other side and are
looking down the pipe at some successful careers at the
next level. If I had to bet, and I mean
myself as a former guy, and all the people listening
are just we're just happy you were a Hawkeye man.

Speaker 3 (01:04:15):
Appreciate that.

Speaker 1 (01:04:16):
Yeah, everybody, hope you enjoyed the episode with Mason. Thank
you guys for listening today. We'll be back again with
somebody I don't know, maybe not appreciate you. We'll see
you next time.

Speaker 3 (01:04:27):
Peace.

Speaker 1 (01:04:28):
Hey, thanks for listening to the show. If you want more,
you can check us out on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and
YouTube by searching Washed Up walk Ons. And if you're
interested in supporting the show, head over to patreon dot
com slash washed up walk Ons, where you can find
bonus podcasts, merchandise, and other cool perks. Best part, half
of your subscription benefits the kids at UI Children's Hospital.
We'll see you next time. Hawks buy a million.

Speaker 3 (01:05:00):
Spuns.

Speaker 2 (01:05:00):
Puns pun pun pun pun