by Bill Seals
After recently picking up his first FBS offer, a Kansas City (Mo.) area defensive lineman is looking to start adding ones from the Power-5 ranks and was on campus on Saturday for Iowa State’s Junior Day.
Raymore-Peculiar junior Anthony Payne has been to Ames on a few occasions, but had yet to meet the new coaching staff. That was first and foremost amongst his highlights.
“Although I’ve been there three or four times, it was nice meeting the new coaching staff and putting a face to a name,” said the 6-foot-2, 255-pound Payne, who was offered earlier this month by Miami (Ohio) and has gotten serious looks from several programs around the Midwest.
“They were really impressed, coming from Toledo, that I had a MAC offer already from Miami (Ohio). They were also impressed with my numbers down at The Opening, finishing fifth out of 1,600 kids. The defensive coordinator and defensive line coach were impressed by me and my size, and the defensive line coach freaked out when he heard I had a 22 on my ACT already. I think they like me a lot and seem really interested.”
One of the standouts of I-State’s Friday Night Lights camp last summer, Payne looks to have remained on the radar of new head coach Matt Campbell and his staff as the Cyclones were at his high school during the recent evaluation period.
“They’re going to come down and see me again at school, but also want me to come up for a spring practice so I can visit with them more and they can get to know me better,” he said. “It seems like they want to offer me soon.”
ISU’s defensive coaches look to have a number of different roles in mind for Payne, if he were to end up being part of the 2017 class.
“They run more of a hybrid defensive end, so I figured they’d have me come in and be out of almost a two-point stance and also as a stand-up defensive end that roams around,” Payne said. “On third-down they put their best pass rushers out there to run certain moves, so they said that could be another place I could specialize at.”
After a day’s worth of tours and meetings, Payne’s visit wrapped up at Hilton Coliseum for the basketball game against TCU.
“It was wild there and really a nice environment throughout the game,” he said. “Someone said they’ve had sell-out crowds for the past several years.”
In addition to his interest from I-State, Payne said he’s also hearing from Notre Dame, Illinois, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, New Mexico, Northern Illinois and Northern Iowa. He’ll attend a Junior Day at Missouri this weekend.
After recently picking up his first FBS offer, a Kansas City (Mo.) area defensive lineman is looking to start adding ones from the Power-5 ranks and was on campus on Saturday for Iowa State’s Junior Day.
Raymore-Peculiar junior Anthony Payne has been to Ames on a few occasions, but had yet to meet the new coaching staff. That was first and foremost amongst his highlights.
“Although I’ve been there three or four times, it was nice meeting the new coaching staff and putting a face to a name,” said the 6-foot-2, 255-pound Payne, who was offered earlier this month by Miami (Ohio) and has gotten serious looks from several programs around the Midwest.
“They were really impressed, coming from Toledo, that I had a MAC offer already from Miami (Ohio). They were also impressed with my numbers down at The Opening, finishing fifth out of 1,600 kids. The defensive coordinator and defensive line coach were impressed by me and my size, and the defensive line coach freaked out when he heard I had a 22 on my ACT already. I think they like me a lot and seem really interested.”
One of the standouts of I-State’s Friday Night Lights camp last summer, Payne looks to have remained on the radar of new head coach Matt Campbell and his staff as the Cyclones were at his high school during the recent evaluation period.
“They’re going to come down and see me again at school, but also want me to come up for a spring practice so I can visit with them more and they can get to know me better,” he said. “It seems like they want to offer me soon.”
ISU’s defensive coaches look to have a number of different roles in mind for Payne, if he were to end up being part of the 2017 class.
“They run more of a hybrid defensive end, so I figured they’d have me come in and be out of almost a two-point stance and also as a stand-up defensive end that roams around,” Payne said. “On third-down they put their best pass rushers out there to run certain moves, so they said that could be another place I could specialize at.”
After a day’s worth of tours and meetings, Payne’s visit wrapped up at Hilton Coliseum for the basketball game against TCU.
“It was wild there and really a nice environment throughout the game,” he said. “Someone said they’ve had sell-out crowds for the past several years.”
In addition to his interest from I-State, Payne said he’s also hearing from Notre Dame, Illinois, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, New Mexico, Northern Illinois and Northern Iowa. He’ll attend a Junior Day at Missouri this weekend.
