by Bill Seals
After being offered by Iowa State, a Minnesota prep offensive tackle in the 2021 class returned to Ames during spring workouts earlier this month.
Edina sophomore Bastian Swinney says he and his grandfather got a better look at how the Cyclones are preparing for the upcoming season.
“At the start of the day, we went into a team meeting and I sat on the right side of the team room with the offense,” said Swinney. “Coach (Matt) Campbell got the boys hyped up for the day and gave them the lowdown of what was going to go on during the scrimmage that day. I went with the offensive line for their individual meeting and Coach (Jeff Myers) talked a lot about their inside zone and how they’ve got to stick to their blocking.
“After that, we got to try on the uniforms and I really looked good in the (Cardinal) and White. Then, we went down and watched some the scrimmage, they got my height and weight and I checked out the weight room. They said I have a great frame for an offensive lineman and my speed and power ratio is really good. They think I’d be a great fit down there.”
Swinney said he particularly enjoyed the time spent with an offensive line position group that returns all five starters.
“When I was with them one-on-one, all the guys are like a brotherhood,” said Swinney. “It’s amazing how they lift each other up to reach the next level. It was surprisingly similar to what we do at our high school. It was really awesome to see (Myers) pushes his guys to be the best that they can be.”
The Minnesota lineman also said he received some words of encouragement from Myers to keep working hard in the offseason.
“We talked about just how you need to be super-aggressive on the offensive line and not take any plays off,” Swinney said. “You’ve got to brush yourself aside and let other people get the spotlight. You put your nose to the grindstone. Iowa State football is full of a bunch of hard workers.”
The 6-foot-6, 260-pound Swinney, whose lone offer is from I-State, also has gotten interest from Power-5 programs such as Iowa, Kansas State and Minnesota.
As he reflects back upon the April 6th visit, Swinney said he has an even more favorable opinion of the program that was the first to extend him an offer.
“It showed me that they’re a hard-working group of people trying to turn around the program,” he said. “Coach Campbell has helped do that these past few years he’s been there. He’s done a whole 180 with this program and they’ve been able to hang with Oklahoma and Texas. That’s really impressive to me. These guys are working their butts off every day to get those wins during the season.”
Swinney said he plans to return to ISU in June for one of the Big Man Camps.
After being offered by Iowa State, a Minnesota prep offensive tackle in the 2021 class returned to Ames during spring workouts earlier this month.
Edina sophomore Bastian Swinney says he and his grandfather got a better look at how the Cyclones are preparing for the upcoming season.
“At the start of the day, we went into a team meeting and I sat on the right side of the team room with the offense,” said Swinney. “Coach (Matt) Campbell got the boys hyped up for the day and gave them the lowdown of what was going to go on during the scrimmage that day. I went with the offensive line for their individual meeting and Coach (Jeff Myers) talked a lot about their inside zone and how they’ve got to stick to their blocking.
“After that, we got to try on the uniforms and I really looked good in the (Cardinal) and White. Then, we went down and watched some the scrimmage, they got my height and weight and I checked out the weight room. They said I have a great frame for an offensive lineman and my speed and power ratio is really good. They think I’d be a great fit down there.”
Swinney said he particularly enjoyed the time spent with an offensive line position group that returns all five starters.
“When I was with them one-on-one, all the guys are like a brotherhood,” said Swinney. “It’s amazing how they lift each other up to reach the next level. It was surprisingly similar to what we do at our high school. It was really awesome to see (Myers) pushes his guys to be the best that they can be.”
The Minnesota lineman also said he received some words of encouragement from Myers to keep working hard in the offseason.
“We talked about just how you need to be super-aggressive on the offensive line and not take any plays off,” Swinney said. “You’ve got to brush yourself aside and let other people get the spotlight. You put your nose to the grindstone. Iowa State football is full of a bunch of hard workers.”
The 6-foot-6, 260-pound Swinney, whose lone offer is from I-State, also has gotten interest from Power-5 programs such as Iowa, Kansas State and Minnesota.
As he reflects back upon the April 6th visit, Swinney said he has an even more favorable opinion of the program that was the first to extend him an offer.
“It showed me that they’re a hard-working group of people trying to turn around the program,” he said. “Coach Campbell has helped do that these past few years he’s been there. He’s done a whole 180 with this program and they’ve been able to hang with Oklahoma and Texas. That’s really impressive to me. These guys are working their butts off every day to get those wins during the season.”
Swinney said he plans to return to ISU in June for one of the Big Man Camps.
