by Bill Seals
On which recruits the staff really had to work on to keep in the fray:
“We can go down the list. Charlie Kolar gets offered by Oklahoma State on Sunday night. Is that nerve-racking? His brother’s the quarterback there and it’s close to home. What you hoped is that Charlie really believed in what we are and who we are. Certainly, it’s a credit to him. Khaliel Rodgers is probably getting a million phone calls even today, because until he’s here (nothing is a done deal). We learned from that situation a year ago. I talked to Jacob Bolton’s dad last night and they were getting phone calls until midnight with coaches saying not to go to our school. Matt Eaton, Matt Leo and Ray Lima – it was the same thing on signing day. We were out seeing Kamilo last week and I don’t know if we even felt that this was a done deal until this morning. We didn’t know about Keontae (Jones) until late in this thing. That’s where you have to finish and do a really good job.”
On what the coaching staff saw in Eaton on tape:
“That was as big of a get offensively as anybody we’ve gotten. Matt’s film jumped off at us. Alex (Golesh) went down initially to see him and then Coach (Bryan) Gasser went down to see him. Both of their responses were ‘this guy is a complete difference maker’. Obviously is you know Coach Gasser, he doesn’t say nice things about anybody. Alex is a little bit nicer. When I knew that, watched film, and then you hear Matt’s background…he comes from an incredible family, he’s a kid that grew up in Guam and his dad was in the Navy and just retired a couple months ago. He has the passion to be elite and great. That’s what struck us right away.
“For us offensively, we weren’t complete at times last year. You got a guy like Allen (Lazard) on the outside and you can take a guy like him away. Deshaunte (Jones) kind of emerged and will continue to get better to take some relief off. And then you get a guy like Matt who is a one, too. He’s a number one-type receiver in your offense. Now all of a sudden, how are you going to spin your coverage? Matt can beat man. He has size and length on the outside and can run. He gives us another dynamic.”
“The best thing about Matt is in the four weeks he’s been here, I don’t know if there’s been a night or day that I haven’t seen him out there throwing the ball, catching the ball, or working out. He’s driven to be elite and that’s what you want. I’m really excited about the intangibles he brings to the table, who he is and what he is.”
On the importance he and his staff placed on scouting in-state prospects from the onset:
“I think recruiting the state of Iowa is where any talks of any recruiting start for us. It did a year ago and it did when we touched base here. That was represented early, even though we were way far behind in the 2016 class. We had to make our inroads week one that we got here into the 2017 class. We were able to bridge the gap, even though we felt like we were playing behind at times in the state of Iowa. I felt like we caught up.
“You talk about those six guys and there are some really good players. I can brag for days about each one. They have leadership and played in championships. Jake Hummel played linebacker and won championship after championship after championship. He gets it. Is Iowa State important to him? It is. His dad was one of the best wrestlers to ever come through here. Those guys infect your locker room. Those guys say we’re not losing. They get it.
“O’Rien Vance, some other people backed away early on and then all of a sudden everybody in the country came back in. He believed in Iowa State and said he’s going here to make a difference.
“Colin Newell grew up here. He came to Iowa State games as a kid. Now he’s getting ready to go wrestle for a heavyweight state championship. He has a lot of pride and was at almost every recruiting event we had.
“Devon (Moore) committed on day one or day two of our journey here at Iowa State and believed in us. John Nagel and Alex Kleinow are the other two. All of those guys get it and understand what we’re trying to do. They have great passion for this place.”
On adding former Oregon State kicker Garrett Owens to the mix at place-kicker:
“That’s a big spring and big summer deal for us. Getting a guy like Garrett that’s had success has been really big. You look at his freshman and sophomore years and there’s a lot of similarities to Cole (Netten’s) freshman and sophomore years. He had a lot of success early on. He has a big, strong, powerful leg. He went through a little bit of adversity his junior year and fought through it. He wanted a fresh start and that part for us is really big. He has a relationship with Joe Houston, who is our quality control coach on special teams. Joe did a tremendous job last year with Cole in a lot of ways.
“It doesn’t cement anything, but gives you a guy with videotape evidence that’s been there, done that and kicked in critical games. That’s really big and gives you some credibility. Then you’ve got a kid that’s said he is going to pay his own way to come to school there and earn this.”
On which recruits the staff really had to work on to keep in the fray:
“We can go down the list. Charlie Kolar gets offered by Oklahoma State on Sunday night. Is that nerve-racking? His brother’s the quarterback there and it’s close to home. What you hoped is that Charlie really believed in what we are and who we are. Certainly, it’s a credit to him. Khaliel Rodgers is probably getting a million phone calls even today, because until he’s here (nothing is a done deal). We learned from that situation a year ago. I talked to Jacob Bolton’s dad last night and they were getting phone calls until midnight with coaches saying not to go to our school. Matt Eaton, Matt Leo and Ray Lima – it was the same thing on signing day. We were out seeing Kamilo last week and I don’t know if we even felt that this was a done deal until this morning. We didn’t know about Keontae (Jones) until late in this thing. That’s where you have to finish and do a really good job.”
On what the coaching staff saw in Eaton on tape:
“That was as big of a get offensively as anybody we’ve gotten. Matt’s film jumped off at us. Alex (Golesh) went down initially to see him and then Coach (Bryan) Gasser went down to see him. Both of their responses were ‘this guy is a complete difference maker’. Obviously is you know Coach Gasser, he doesn’t say nice things about anybody. Alex is a little bit nicer. When I knew that, watched film, and then you hear Matt’s background…he comes from an incredible family, he’s a kid that grew up in Guam and his dad was in the Navy and just retired a couple months ago. He has the passion to be elite and great. That’s what struck us right away.
“For us offensively, we weren’t complete at times last year. You got a guy like Allen (Lazard) on the outside and you can take a guy like him away. Deshaunte (Jones) kind of emerged and will continue to get better to take some relief off. And then you get a guy like Matt who is a one, too. He’s a number one-type receiver in your offense. Now all of a sudden, how are you going to spin your coverage? Matt can beat man. He has size and length on the outside and can run. He gives us another dynamic.”
“The best thing about Matt is in the four weeks he’s been here, I don’t know if there’s been a night or day that I haven’t seen him out there throwing the ball, catching the ball, or working out. He’s driven to be elite and that’s what you want. I’m really excited about the intangibles he brings to the table, who he is and what he is.”
On the importance he and his staff placed on scouting in-state prospects from the onset:
“I think recruiting the state of Iowa is where any talks of any recruiting start for us. It did a year ago and it did when we touched base here. That was represented early, even though we were way far behind in the 2016 class. We had to make our inroads week one that we got here into the 2017 class. We were able to bridge the gap, even though we felt like we were playing behind at times in the state of Iowa. I felt like we caught up.
“You talk about those six guys and there are some really good players. I can brag for days about each one. They have leadership and played in championships. Jake Hummel played linebacker and won championship after championship after championship. He gets it. Is Iowa State important to him? It is. His dad was one of the best wrestlers to ever come through here. Those guys infect your locker room. Those guys say we’re not losing. They get it.
“O’Rien Vance, some other people backed away early on and then all of a sudden everybody in the country came back in. He believed in Iowa State and said he’s going here to make a difference.
“Colin Newell grew up here. He came to Iowa State games as a kid. Now he’s getting ready to go wrestle for a heavyweight state championship. He has a lot of pride and was at almost every recruiting event we had.
“Devon (Moore) committed on day one or day two of our journey here at Iowa State and believed in us. John Nagel and Alex Kleinow are the other two. All of those guys get it and understand what we’re trying to do. They have great passion for this place.”
On adding former Oregon State kicker Garrett Owens to the mix at place-kicker:
“That’s a big spring and big summer deal for us. Getting a guy like Garrett that’s had success has been really big. You look at his freshman and sophomore years and there’s a lot of similarities to Cole (Netten’s) freshman and sophomore years. He had a lot of success early on. He has a big, strong, powerful leg. He went through a little bit of adversity his junior year and fought through it. He wanted a fresh start and that part for us is really big. He has a relationship with Joe Houston, who is our quality control coach on special teams. Joe did a tremendous job last year with Cole in a lot of ways.
“It doesn’t cement anything, but gives you a guy with videotape evidence that’s been there, done that and kicked in critical games. That’s really big and gives you some credibility. Then you’ve got a kid that’s said he is going to pay his own way to come to school there and earn this.”
