by Bill Seals
Earlier this spring, Iowa State became the first Power-5 offer for a placekicker regarded by some as the No. 1 prospect at his position in the Class of 2017. Now the Cyclones are up against a trio of Pac-12 programs for his services.
Las Vegas (Nev.) Bishop Gorman standout junior Brandon Ruiz said he had been in touch with the current Cyclone staff last year when the group was at Toledo, and that interest carried over to this year.
“Their special teams quality control coach is Joe Houston and he worked with a kicking guru (Chris Sailer) that ranks people,” said Ruiz, who also has offers from Arizona, Arizona State and Oregon State, as well as other FBS programs.
“I’ve been to Chris Sailer camps the last three years and Joe always worked there. Joe was at Toledo last year and he and the coaching staff went over to Iowa State, so I started talking to Iowa State at the end of April.”
With its foot in the door thanks to Houston’s pre-existing relationship with Ruiz, other Cyclone coaches have taken over from there. That includes head coach Matt Campbell, who has made Ruiz a priority to replace Cole Netten down the road.
“I’ve been kicking with Joe for a while, so he’s known me a long time and he brought them up to date on how good I am,” Ruiz said. “The thing I like about Iowa State is I would be starting as a freshman, which is what I want to do.
“I’ve Facetime’d with Matt Campbell a little bit. He told me how big of an impact I would be. He said the culture of the team is there and how they’re expecting to turn things around.”
After ISU became his first offer back in April, Ruiz has had ample time to do his research on the program.
“It was a huge offer,” he said. “I have a few Pac-12 schools, but getting one out of the Big 12 division is huge. That’s big-time football. I looked around on YouTube and watched some of their spring practices from this year. I like the indoor facility, which will be good to kick in when it gets cold up there.”
It appears that any kind of visit from the 5-foot-10, 165-pound Ruiz will have to wait.
“We were thinking of doing an official visit, where I would go during my bye week, but since that’s at the very end of the season it wasn’t working out well,” he said. “I’m not sure when I’ll be able to make it up there.”
Earlier this spring, Iowa State became the first Power-5 offer for a placekicker regarded by some as the No. 1 prospect at his position in the Class of 2017. Now the Cyclones are up against a trio of Pac-12 programs for his services.
Las Vegas (Nev.) Bishop Gorman standout junior Brandon Ruiz said he had been in touch with the current Cyclone staff last year when the group was at Toledo, and that interest carried over to this year.
“Their special teams quality control coach is Joe Houston and he worked with a kicking guru (Chris Sailer) that ranks people,” said Ruiz, who also has offers from Arizona, Arizona State and Oregon State, as well as other FBS programs.
“I’ve been to Chris Sailer camps the last three years and Joe always worked there. Joe was at Toledo last year and he and the coaching staff went over to Iowa State, so I started talking to Iowa State at the end of April.”
With its foot in the door thanks to Houston’s pre-existing relationship with Ruiz, other Cyclone coaches have taken over from there. That includes head coach Matt Campbell, who has made Ruiz a priority to replace Cole Netten down the road.
“I’ve been kicking with Joe for a while, so he’s known me a long time and he brought them up to date on how good I am,” Ruiz said. “The thing I like about Iowa State is I would be starting as a freshman, which is what I want to do.
“I’ve Facetime’d with Matt Campbell a little bit. He told me how big of an impact I would be. He said the culture of the team is there and how they’re expecting to turn things around.”
After ISU became his first offer back in April, Ruiz has had ample time to do his research on the program.
“It was a huge offer,” he said. “I have a few Pac-12 schools, but getting one out of the Big 12 division is huge. That’s big-time football. I looked around on YouTube and watched some of their spring practices from this year. I like the indoor facility, which will be good to kick in when it gets cold up there.”
It appears that any kind of visit from the 5-foot-10, 165-pound Ruiz will have to wait.
“We were thinking of doing an official visit, where I would go during my bye week, but since that’s at the very end of the season it wasn’t working out well,” he said. “I’m not sure when I’ll be able to make it up there.”
