by Bill Seals
An in-state commit for the Cyclones’ 2020 class is hitting the camp circuit hard this summer, but instead of auditioning for extra attention from head coach Matt Campbell’s staff he’s trying to learn what will be a new position for college.
Central Decatur rising senior Cole Pedersen will be tasked with moving to linebacker at Iowa State, which will be a change of course from where he’s been needed at the high school level. So, the 6-foot-4, 195-pound Pedersen participated in last week’s Saturday Night Lights camp and will be headed north again tomorrow for the same event.
“It was just really to improve everything and what I did last year,” said Pedersen, who became ISU’s second commitment for the 2020 class when he committed last July. “Since I still don’t play linebacker at my school, I was just doing drills and making sure I can get better.
“They threw new drills at me this year and that was fun to learn them. A bunch of foot work is key, that’s everything (linebackers coach Tyson Veidt) taught. It’s all fundamentals, which is perfect. I’m coming back for (tomorrow night’s) Saturday Night Lights camp and then after that I’ll just be working on what Veidt has shown us in these camps.”
The way the camp was structured allow teacher and pupil a lot of time together last weekend.
“He already split up all the linebackers into two different groups, so we already pretty close to one-on-one,” Pedersen said. “He was telling everybody what to do and we were doing drills one at a time. He’d tell us if we did something wrong afterwards. I talked to him after the camp and he said I was doing everything good, told me what I did wrong and what I need to fix.
“My pass coverage is coming pretty good and my footwork was really well this time. I’m hoping to improve that, because you can never stop improving that. He sent us videos to make sure we’re doing stuff right. Everything we’ve collected here at these camps and what he’s sent to us…that’s what I’m going to improve in.”
Aside from the camp experience, Pedersen said he spent some valuable time with 2020 commits Tyler Miller, Aidan Bouman and Brady Peterson, as well as defensive end target Blaise Gunnerson, during a lunch outing.
“We got up here around 2:30 and I talked to Veidt for close to an hour,” Pedersen said. “Then, me and a bunch of other recruits went to Mr. Burrito. It was really good. We ate and then came back here to get ready for camp.”
An in-state commit for the Cyclones’ 2020 class is hitting the camp circuit hard this summer, but instead of auditioning for extra attention from head coach Matt Campbell’s staff he’s trying to learn what will be a new position for college.
Central Decatur rising senior Cole Pedersen will be tasked with moving to linebacker at Iowa State, which will be a change of course from where he’s been needed at the high school level. So, the 6-foot-4, 195-pound Pedersen participated in last week’s Saturday Night Lights camp and will be headed north again tomorrow for the same event.
“It was just really to improve everything and what I did last year,” said Pedersen, who became ISU’s second commitment for the 2020 class when he committed last July. “Since I still don’t play linebacker at my school, I was just doing drills and making sure I can get better.
“They threw new drills at me this year and that was fun to learn them. A bunch of foot work is key, that’s everything (linebackers coach Tyson Veidt) taught. It’s all fundamentals, which is perfect. I’m coming back for (tomorrow night’s) Saturday Night Lights camp and then after that I’ll just be working on what Veidt has shown us in these camps.”
The way the camp was structured allow teacher and pupil a lot of time together last weekend.
“He already split up all the linebackers into two different groups, so we already pretty close to one-on-one,” Pedersen said. “He was telling everybody what to do and we were doing drills one at a time. He’d tell us if we did something wrong afterwards. I talked to him after the camp and he said I was doing everything good, told me what I did wrong and what I need to fix.
“My pass coverage is coming pretty good and my footwork was really well this time. I’m hoping to improve that, because you can never stop improving that. He sent us videos to make sure we’re doing stuff right. Everything we’ve collected here at these camps and what he’s sent to us…that’s what I’m going to improve in.”
Aside from the camp experience, Pedersen said he spent some valuable time with 2020 commits Tyler Miller, Aidan Bouman and Brady Peterson, as well as defensive end target Blaise Gunnerson, during a lunch outing.
“We got up here around 2:30 and I talked to Veidt for close to an hour,” Pedersen said. “Then, me and a bunch of other recruits went to Mr. Burrito. It was really good. We ate and then came back here to get ready for camp.”
