Iowa State 2012 Recruiting

2012 Iowa State Cyclones ... Head Coach: Paul Rhodes

Iowa State Cyclones

2011 Record: 6-7

Sep. 3 Northern Iowa W 20-19
Sep. 10 Iowa W 44-41 OT
Sep. 17 at Connecticut W 24-20
Sep. 24 OPEN DATE
Oct. 1 Texas L 37-14
Oct. 8 at Baylor L 49-26
Oct. 15 at Missouri L 52-17
Oct. 22 Texas A&M L 33-17
Oct. 29 at Texas Tech W 41-7
Nov. 5 Kansas W 13-10 
Nov. 19 Okla St W 37-31 2OT
Nov, 26 at Oklahoma L 26-6
Dec. 3 at Kansas State L 30-23
Pinstripe Bowl
Dec. 30 Rutgers 27-13

2010 CFN Prediction: 4-8
2010 Record: 5-7

Sept. 2 No Illinois W 27-10
Sept. 11 at Iowa L 35-7
Sept. 18 Kan. St L 27-20 (in KC)
Sept. 25 Northern Iowa W 27-0
Oct. 2 Texas Tech W 52-38
Oct. 9 Utah L 68-27
Oct. 16 at Oklahoma L 52-0
Oct. 23 at Texas W 28-21
Oct. 30 Kansas W 28-16
Nov. 6 Nebraska L 31-30 OT
Nov. 13 at Colorado L 34-13
Nov. 20 Missouri L 14-0
Nov. 27 OPEN DATE
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The Entire 2012 Recruiting Class

Top 5 Iowa State Recruits To Care About
Player writeups by Scout.com

1. QB Brant Rohach
6-2, 185, Scout.com 74th ranked, three-star quarterback. Rohach has good size for a quarterback, has a strong arm on downfield throws but throws the short and intermediate routes well as well. Has had several good games against quality competition. Needs to continue to work on his progressions. Usually puts the ball so that only his receiver can get to it. Good mobility and footwork.

2. OG Duaron Williams
6-4, 296, Scout.com 52nd ranked, three-star guard. Williams says he can bench 375-pounds, squat 475 and has a 25-inch vertical jump.

3. S Charles Rogers
6-1, 182, Scout.com 89th ranked, three-star safety.

4. OG Daniel Burton
6-4, 275, Scout.com 97th ranked, three-star guard.

5. DE Pierre Aka
6-4, 253, Scout.com 117th ranked, three-star defensive end.

The 2012 Class Was Heavy On... Receivers. Iowa State will never get the four and five-star prospects the other Big 12 teams bring in, so it’s all about strength in numbers. The Cyclones will sign several receivers to try to improve an always-mediocre passing game, while the defense will concentrate mostly on the line. The last few classes have been working on the skill players, and soon it all has to start paying off. It might take one more year, though.

Team Concerns For 2012: The defensive line loses three starters and gets really young, really fast. Top corner Leonard Johnson will be sorely missed, but most of the key parts are back. The offense has to replace an NFL talent in tackle Kelechi Osemele and right guard Hayward Hicks, and the receiving corps needs help with Darius Reynolds and Darius Darks gone.

Looking Ahead To The 2012 Season: The Cyclones came up with one of the most important wins of 2011, beating Oklahoma State, and went to a bowl game. There’s a ceiling on what the program can do, but the hope is to do a bit more with a veteran team returning led by QB Jared Barnett. He’ll be without receivers Darius Reynolds and Darius Darks, but he’ll get Josh Lenz back. LT Kelechi Osemele is impossible to replace, but three starters are back up front. The defense that wasn’t too bad at times gets back tackling machines A.J. Klein and Jake Knott to form one of the nation’s best linebacking duos, and they’ll have plenty of work to do with three starters gone from the line. CB Leonard Johnson and SS Ter’Ran Benton are done.

The 2011 Class Was Heavy On … Skill players. Apparently, head coach Paul Rhoads is looking to branch out and looking for more options to play around with. Three quarterbacks were brought in with an eye both to 2011, with JUCO transfer Steele Jantz, and to the future with Jaquarius Daniels and Sam Richardson getting time to groom. JUCO transfer tight end Ernst Brun will be a part of the offense right away, while the hope will be for at least one new receiver, probably Quenton Bundrage or Tad Ecby, to be ready. Running backs DeVondrick Nealy and Rob Standard fit the Cyclone mold.

2010 CFN Recruiting Ranking: 71. That Class Was Heavy On ... Defensive backs. After going after wide receivers last year, second-year head coach Paul Rhoads made sure the defensive shelves were stocked bringing in six key prospects including JUCO transfer Anthony Young, who might be penciled in at one corner spot, and JUCO safety Durrell Evans. For the offense, Shontrelle Johnson leads a good-looking group of running backs and JUCO transfers Chris Young and Albert Gary will be counted on in the receiving corps.

2009 CFN Recruiting Ranking: 73. That Class Was Heavy On ... receivers. New head coach Paul Rhoads might be a defensive coach by nature, but he and his staff went after offense with the passing game getting the most help. Running backs James White and Beau Blankenship will be a major part of the attack soon, but the goal is to get the new receivers into the mix as soon as possible. Five wide receivers and tight end Willie Scott were added, with Donnie Jennert the best prospect with 6-6 size and good speed, while JUCO transfer Josh Bellamy has field-stretching wheels.

New Era Pinstripe Bowl
Rutgers 27 … Iowa State 13
- CFN Thoughts on the Game

Rutgers: Rutgers held on to the ball for 34:35 … Chas Dodd completed 10-of-17 passes for 176 yards and a score, while Gary Nova completed 3-of-7 passes for 20 yards. … Jawan Jamison ran 27 times for 131 yards and two scores. … Mohamed Sanu caught six passes for 62 yards. … P Justin Doerner averaged 49.7 yards per kick putting two inside the 20. … Before suffering a leg injury, Khaseem Greene made 13 tackles with half a sack and three tackles for loss with a forced fumble and a broken up pass. … Logan Ryan made seven tackles with a pick, two broken up passes, 2.5 tackles for loss, and half a sack. … A.J. Klein made 16 tackles with a broken up pass.

Iowa State: The Cyclones didn’t come up with a sack. … Steele Jantz completed 15-of-31 passes for 197 yards and two picks, and Jared Barnett completed 2-of-7 passes for 23 yards. … James White ran nine times for 42 yards. … Aaron Horne caught five passes for 46 yards.

(AP) NEW YORK -- Rutgers coach Greg Schiano was handed the big glass trophy his Scarlet Knights earned by beating Iowa State in the Pinstripe Bowl and had just one thing to say.

"Eric! Eric!" Schiano shouted into the microphone as he stood at midfield at Yankee Stadium and pointed toward the press box. "This one's for you."

Eric LeGrand, bound to a wheelchair more than a year after being paralyzed making a tackle during a game, is still very much a part of Rutgers football.

The former defensive end was shown on the huge video scoreboard while Schiano spoke, busting out a wide grin. He then went to the locker room and celebrated a 27-13 victory with his former teammates.

"That's our brother before and after the injury, and that's how we're going to treat him forever," Rutgers linebacker Khaseem Greene said. "Just having his presence around, it's amazing. He makes the locker room glow."

On the field, it was a couple of redshirt freshmen who lit it up for the Scarlet Knights. Brandon Coleman hauled in an 86-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter after Iowa State had trimmed the lead to 20-13, and Jawan Jamison ran for 131 yards and two scores on 27 carries.

"That's what we love to do. That's who we want to be," Schiano said of a running game that struggled much of the season, but seems to be in good hands going forward.

The Scarlet Knights (9-4) ran their bowl winning streak to five and improved to 2-0 this season at Yankee Stadium, where they beat Army last month. Rutgers, which played in one bowl game before 2005, is 5-1 in the postseason under Schiano.

The Cyclones (6-7) finished the season on a three-game losing streak, their last win coming on Nov. 18 in Ames, Iowa, when they pulled off the biggest upset of the season against Oklahoma State.

That night Jared Barnett threw for 376 yards. In this game, Steele Jantz, who started the first six games, relieved Barnett in the second quarter and helped pull the Cyclones within 20-13 in the fourth on Jeff Woody's 20-yard touchdown run with 10:00 left.

"We were not executing in a manner that I felt was going to lead us to a win, and from what we've seen in December's practices, made the switch," Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads said about the quarterbacks.

After an exchange of punts left Rutgers deep in its own end, Chas Dodd went deep to Coleman. The 6-foot-6 Coleman went over 5-7 cornerback Jeremy Reeves, then outran the corner to the end zone to make it 27-13 with 5:47 left.

It was Coleman's only catch, but it turned out to be the play of the game.

"I didn't go out there trying to make a play. I just went out there trying to do my job," Coleman said. "The number was called but I was still calm, cool and collected."

Rutgers grabbed a 7-6 lead early in the second quarter when Jamison powered through a tackler and scored on fourth-and-goal from the 1. On the next possession, Iowa State couldn't handle one of Rutgers' many blitzes, and Greene and Wayne Warren swarmed and stripped Barnett. Scott Vallone scooped up the fumble and returned it 12 yards to the Iowa State 4. The Cyclones managed to hold Rutgers to San San Te's 21-yard field goal.

Jantz replaced Barnett on the next Iowa State series.

The Cyclones' defense didn't hold up as well on Rutgers' next possession. The Scarlet Knights marched 66 yards, 49 on the ground, and Jamison juked his way into the end zone from 12 yards out to make 17-6.

Justin Francis finished Rutgers' strong second half by blocking Zach Guyer's 44-yard field goal attempt with 57 seconds left.

Iowa State jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first quarter, with Guyer kicking field goals of 40 and 46 yards on the Cyclones' first two possessions. Inaccurate throws by Barnett were key to stalling each drive.

The redshirt freshman was 2 for 7 before giving way to Jantz, who was 15 for 31 for 197 yards and ran for 36 yards.

"Most of it falls on the offense not executing and not what they did," Jantz said. "Not to take away anything from them because they have a great defense, but then again it ultimately comes back to me because I run the offense."

The Scarlet Knights missed the postseason last year for the first time since 2004, but rebounded this season to challenge for the Big East title behind a defense that came in ranked 14th in the nation.

Greene led the charge Friday with 13 tackles, three for losses, before being carted off in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury. The junior was on crutches after the game and said he thinks he'll be OK in the long run.

LeGrand insists he'll be OK in the long run, too, and that he will walk again. His positive vibes have been an inspiration to the Scarlet Knights.

When they received a bowl bid to a site about 45 miles away from their campus in Piscataway, N.J., it made it even easier for LeGrand to be part of the team again. He stayed with his mother in the team hotel and attended all the bowl activities around the Big Apple.

"To have him in the locker room right now with all his buddies, that's special," Schiano said. "That's his senior class."

After Schiano made his short postgame speech, the fans in Yankee Stadium chanted "Eric! Eric!"

Nov. 26 at Oklahoma 26 … Iowa State 6  

Nov. 18 at Iowa State 37 … Oklahoma State 31 2OT
CFN Analysis: How did Iowa State pull off the shocker? Oklahoma State didn’t play up to its normal energy level and effectiveness, but give the Cyclones credit for tackling. The stats aren’t pretty, but there yards after the catch were kept to a bare minimum with linebackers A.J. Klein and Jake Knott combining for 27 tackles. The back seven kept everything in front of them. … Leonard Johnson did a great job on Justin Blackmon. The final stats are misleading. … Call this the national coming out party for Jared Barnett after throwing for 376 yards and three scores and running for 84 yards on 14 carries. Seneca Wallace never came up with a win this big. … With road games at Oklahoma State and Kansas State to follow, this win was everything for a bowl game. After the loss to Nebraska last year, winning a game like this is that much sweeter for the Paul Rhoads era.  

Nov. 5 at Iowa State 13 … Kansas 10
CFN Analysis: Alright, so Iowa State wasn’t exactly explosive like it was last week against Texas Tech, but the defense came up with its second straight great performance and now a bowl game is within range. It’ll take a win over Oklahoma State, at Oklahoma, or at Kansas State to do it, but if nothing else, the last two weeks have saved a season that was quickly spiraling out of control. The problem, though, was an inability to turn drives into points putting just 13 on the board despite rumbling for 426 yards. Freshman quarterback Jared Barnett looked like a rookie throwing the ball, but his 125 yards on 22 carries, and the grinding runs from Jeff Woody, helped control the game and put it away late. To have any shot at a win over the next three weeks, the Cyclones can’t be -2 in turnover margin.  

Oct. 29 Iowa State 41 … at Texas Tech 7
CFN Analysis: Okay … Iowa State might have caught Texas Tech still celebrating the win over Oklahoma, but give credit for coming up with the best performance of the season just when the team needed it the most. If the Cyclones don’t gag away the free space against Kansas next week, then they’ll be in range for a bowl game. It’ll take a mega-upset over Oklahoma State, Oklahoma or Kansas State to do it, but considering how poor the team looked over a four-game losing streak, anything now seems possible. The running game kept the Tech offense off the field – holding on to it for over 40 minutes - with James White and Duran Hollis each running for more than 100 yards and Jared Barnett throwing well enough to get by and running for 92 yards.  

Oct. 22 Texas A&M 33 … at Iowa State 17
CFN Analysis: If Iowa State had ANY offensive pop, it would’ve had a shot to beat the Aggies. The Cyclone attack got 180 yards on the miserable A&M secondary, but Jared Barnett completed 16-of-36 passes and struggled with his consistency in place of Steele Jantz, who missed on all four of his throws with a pick. The running game didn’t get moving with James White held to 60 yards and Barnett doing what he could taking off for 66 yards. Jeremy Reeves made ten stops and A.J. Klein was A.J. Klein making ten stops, but the run defense isn’t making enough plays at the point of attack allowing 222 yards per game. Against Texas Tech, the biggest key will be to finally win the turnover margin, ranking 114th in the nation after not taking the ball away enough.  

Oct. 15 at Missouri 52 ... Iowa State 17
CFN Analysis: The Cyclone defense couldn’t stop the big play. Missouri was able to do almost anything it wanted and came up with too many big plays against an ISU D that was bad against the pass and worse against the run. The offense couldn’t take control of the game, and after getting down early, Steele Jantz had to throw too much; ISU needs the ground game to keep the defense off the field, and it wasn’t able to do it. Kyle Van Der Kamp came up with a great game kicking the ball averaging close to 41 yards per try and giving the Tigers a long field several times. The hot start is now gone with three straight losses, and life doesn’t get any easier with Texas A&M up next. 

Oct. 8 at Baylor 49 … Iowa State 26
CFN Analysis: Iowa State’s run defense hasn’t been bad, but the line didn’t have a chance against the Baylor ground game. The secondary did a nice job of keeping the big plays to a minimum, but the D couldn’t get off the field as Baylor cranked out long drive after long drive. Finally, the Cyclones didn’t get blown away in turnover margin, forcing two fumbles while giving away two turnovers, but the game changed on a fumble, returned by BU’s Tevin Elliott for a score. Instead of going in for a score that would’ve put them down seven, they were down 21 and the game was over. Steele Jantz kept pressing, and Darius Reynolds was brilliant with seven catches for 178 yards and two scores, but to beat the better Big 12 teams, the offense has to be flawless. All turnovers have to stop.

Oct. 1 Texas 37 ... at Iowa State 14
CFN Analysis: Iowa State didn’t have a chance. The talent wasn’t there to keep up with all of UTs athletes, and with three turnovers and no takeaways, there were too many mistakes to have any shot at pulling off the upset. Steele Jantz threw 51 times, but only went for 251 yards and couldn’t come up with enough big plays until late. The Cyclones were out of their league talent-wise against Texas, but the secondary has been just good enough to have a shot against Baylor next week. Jantz has to control of the ball and has to keep the chains moving to keep Robert Griffin can stay on the sidelines, and the turnovers have to stop. ISU is third-to-last in the nation in turnover margin, and it has to quickly become +2 instead of -2 or else it’ll be a long Big 12 season. 

Sept. 16 Iowa State 24 … Connecticut 20
CFN Analysis: This was a terrific coaching performance by the Iowa State staff to overcome some big early problems with the passing game to pull off the win. The defense kept the Cyclones in the game, Steele Jantz settled down after throwing three picks and getting banged up and helped off the field, and Darius Reynolds was magnificent with four catches for 128 yards and two scores. There wasn’t too much of a ground game with just 101 yards, but in this game, it was enough to help balance out the attack and occasionally settle things down. With Texas and the Big 12 slate coming up next, the turnovers have to stop. The Cyclones were already 114th in the nation in turnover margin coming into the game, and then they gave it away three times to go along with 11 penalties for 91 yards.  

Sept. 10 at Iowa State 44 ... Iowa 41 OT
CFN Analysis: Iowa State, you have your new superstar. Steele Jantz pulled the team out of the fire in the final moments to beat Northern Iowa, and then he turned things up several notches to pull off a thrilling win over Iowa with 279 passing yards, four touchdowns, and 42 rushing yards on 16 carries. He was great in the clutch just to get the game into overtime, and he kept the offense moving with third down play after third down play. The 11 penalties were way too many, but most of the mistakes were overcome by key stops, holding Iowa to three field goals to keep the game close early, and forcing a field goal in the third overtime. Now the Cyclones have to build on this and come up with a big performance at Connecticut before starting out Big 12 play against Texas. Outside of the Kansas game, there isn’t a gimme in the bunch the rest of the way.    

Sept. 3 at Iowa State 20 … Northern Iowa 19
CFN Analysis: Northern Iowa isn’t bad, but Iowa State will need to show far more and it’ll have to be far, far tighter to have any shot of staying with Iowa. Steele Jantz might have come up with the heroic late touchdown run, and he led the way with 80 yards and two scores on 20 carries, but he only completed 18-of-40 passes for 187 yards and a touchdown with three picks. Throw in the lost fumble and the eight penalties, and the Cyclones gave UNI way too many chances to stay in the game. The Cyclone run defense was too much of a problem for a team with such a great linebacking corps, and even though Jake Knott came up with 14 tackles with 2.5 tackles for loss, there weren’t enough stops at the line. Punter Kirby Van Der Kamp had a huge day averaging 51.2 yards per kick with three put inside the 20. 

The 2011 Class Is Heavy On … Skill players. Apparently, head coach Paul Rhoads is looking to branch out and looking for more options to play around with. Three quarterbacks were brought in with an eye both to 2011, with JUCO transfer Steele Jantz, and to the future with Jaquarius Daniels and Sam Richardson getting time to groom. JUCO transfer tight end Ernst Brun will be a part of the offense right away, while the hope will be for at least one new receiver, probably Quenton Bundrage or Tad Ecby, to be ready. Running backs DeVondrick Nealy and Rob Standard fit the Cyclone mold.

Five Iowa State Recruits You Should Care About
Player writeups by Scout.com

1. QB Jaquarius Daniels
6-3, 210, Scout.com’s 61st ranked quarterback. Much of the time his delivery may seem long, but he also had to throw off his back foot a lot leading to a lot of inaccurate passes. But when he has been able to stand up and deliver the ball he looks like a different player. His release is much crisper and the ball leaves his hand with good pop. He has the tools that colleges look to work with. He is big, strong and is a dual-threat who can pull the ball down and run.

2. TE Ernst Brun
6-4, 225, four-star recruit. An undersized tight end for the power running game, or a big receiving tight end in a spread option, Brun plays a traditional tight end as well as wingback, and receiver for his Mt. San Antonio team. He is a very good blocker despite his size and has good strength. He has soft hands and isn't afraid to go over the middle. Adequate speed for his size, but wouldn't be considered a big, fast tight end. Fundamentally sound.

3. RB DeVondrick Nealy
5-10, 175, Scout.com’s 69th ranked running back. Nealy finished his junior season with 211 carries for 1,903 yards and 21 touchdowns. He also had 300 yard receiving and three touchdowns. Defensively he totaled 38 tackles. He was named Second Team All State for the 1B Classification. He says he can bench 280-pounds, squat 350 and has a 30-inch vertical jump.

4. S Jared Brackens
6-1, 195, Scout.com’s 101st ranked safety.

5. RB Rob Standard
5-10, 180, Scout.com’s 102nd ranked running back.

2011 Entire Recruiting Class
Jared Brackens DB 6-1 206 Fr. Mesquite, Texas/North
Ernst Brun, Jr. TE 6-3 222 Jr. Stone Mountain, Ga./Stone Mountain/Mt. San Antonio CC
Quenton Bundrage WR 6-1 175 Fr. Palmetto, Fla./Manatee
Darian Cotton DB 5-10 175 Fr. Mount Pleasant, Iowa/Mount Pleasant
Brock Dagel OL 6-7 255 Fr. Cherokee, Iowa/Cherokee-Washington
JaQuarius Daniels QB 6-4 218 Fr. Austin, Texas/Reagan
Tad Ecby WR 6-1 180 Fr. Houston, Texas/St. Pius X
Aaron Horne WR 5-9 172 Jr. Oakland, Calif./Castlemont/San Francisco CC
David Irving DE 6-7 250 Fr. San Jacinto, Calif./San Jacinto
Steele Jantz QB 6-4 212 Jr. Agoura Hills, Calif./Nevada Union/San Francisco CC
Nick Kron DE 6-1 240 Fr. West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley
Jamison Lalk OL 6-5 225 Fr. Council Bluffs, Iowa/Abraham Lincoln
Teddy Lampkin WR 5-8 160 Fr. Omaha, Neb./Central
Devin Lemke TE 6-4 213 Fr. Alden, Iowa/Iowa Falls-Alden
Jevohn Miller LB 6-1 225 Fr. Brooklyn, Iowa/BGM
DeVondrick Nealy RB 5-10 170 Fr. Monticello, Fla./Jefferson County
Oni Omoile OL 6-3 262 Fr. Coppell, Texas/Coppell
Sam Richardson QB 6-2 195 Fr. Winter Park, Fla./Winter Park
Sam Richardson DB 5-7 168 Fr. League City, Texas/Clear Springs
Donald Smith LB 6-1 216 Fr. Tampa, Fla./Spoto
Rob Standard RB 5-10 180 Fr. St. Louis, Mo./Chaminade
Sam Tautolo OL 6-4 305 Jr. Moreno Valley, Calif./Valley View/Saddleback CC