by Bill Seals
One of Iowa State’s highest remaining targets on the board in the Class of 2018 is an Arizona offensive lineman that’s taken multiple unofficial visits to Ames.
Glendale Deer Valley senior big man Joey Ramos hosted offensive coordinator and line coach Tom Manning, as well as assistant Alex Golesh on Wednesday night. The experience was the latest positive in a long line of them for the Cyclones in their pursuit of the three-star prospect with a 5.7 Rivals rating.
“It was awesome,” said Ramos. “I have nothing to complain about. We sat down and had a good talk. We talked about some possible ideas.
“It was in my backyard. We have a little patio and it has a pool table, dart board and big table we can eat at. We ended up busting out a cake for Coach Campbell and FaceTime’d him for a surprise birthday present. We enjoyed some cake and played a couple rounds of pool. We kicked back, relaxed and kept talking.”
The 6-foot-4, 275-pound Ramos has had the Cyclones atop his list for several months and he said the in-home visit from the coaches did nothing but boost the program’s status.
“The cool thing about them is that in their actions they’ve answered all the questions I would have,” Ramos said. “I usually don’t have questions for them, because they answer them when they’re showing me stuff.
“Instead of building a coach-to-player, we’re building a person-to-person and I’m getting to know them well. If I do commit there, I’ll be spending four to five years with them. I’d much rather get to know them on a personal level, so I don’t just see them as coaches. I see them as Tom Manning (and Alex Golesh). They’d still be my coaches, but I’d be able to talk to them if I needed anything.”
With coaching changes already impacting two schools – Arizona State and UCLA – that were in the top-six he released in August, Ramos said he was encouraged to hear the news out of Ames this week regarding head coach Matt Campbell’s new contract.
“It was awesome to see,” he said. “I got to know him really well, really quickly. He told me he wanted to build a legacy and was going to stay there no matter what. I knew he was going to end up getting that contract and I was excited to see him do that, because now he has that chance to continue to build that Big 12 championship team that he says he’s going to build. I can see that happening. He also said, ‘don’t pay me, pay my assistants too’. That’s good to see his words are being heard from the AD.”
The player and head coach will get to speak first-hand about the new pact next week when Campbell makes an in-home visit to Ramos and his family. A few days after that, Ramos will take his official visit to I-State along with several other committed prospects in the 2018 class.
Ramos assessed the state of his list of favorites, which hasn’t been updated via his Twitter page since the month of August.
“Iowa State has always been at the top of my list,” he said. “The coaches have always left a great impression on me from when we started the recruiting process. They’ve always been at the top, along with ASU.
"Since Coach (Todd) Graham got fired, ASU is still up there but I don’t who they’re hiring yet. (Arizona) has kind of hopped in it. I haven’t really heard much from UCLA, Washington or Oregon. It’s basically kind of Iowa State, ASU and U. of A.”
Following up on the ISU visit, Ramos said he has yet to schedule any other officials.
“I haven’t locked anything in yet,” he said. “I’m going to try to get down to (Arizona) before the dead period. We’ll probably see about that.”
One of Iowa State’s highest remaining targets on the board in the Class of 2018 is an Arizona offensive lineman that’s taken multiple unofficial visits to Ames.
Glendale Deer Valley senior big man Joey Ramos hosted offensive coordinator and line coach Tom Manning, as well as assistant Alex Golesh on Wednesday night. The experience was the latest positive in a long line of them for the Cyclones in their pursuit of the three-star prospect with a 5.7 Rivals rating.
“It was awesome,” said Ramos. “I have nothing to complain about. We sat down and had a good talk. We talked about some possible ideas.
“It was in my backyard. We have a little patio and it has a pool table, dart board and big table we can eat at. We ended up busting out a cake for Coach Campbell and FaceTime’d him for a surprise birthday present. We enjoyed some cake and played a couple rounds of pool. We kicked back, relaxed and kept talking.”
The 6-foot-4, 275-pound Ramos has had the Cyclones atop his list for several months and he said the in-home visit from the coaches did nothing but boost the program’s status.
“The cool thing about them is that in their actions they’ve answered all the questions I would have,” Ramos said. “I usually don’t have questions for them, because they answer them when they’re showing me stuff.
“Instead of building a coach-to-player, we’re building a person-to-person and I’m getting to know them well. If I do commit there, I’ll be spending four to five years with them. I’d much rather get to know them on a personal level, so I don’t just see them as coaches. I see them as Tom Manning (and Alex Golesh). They’d still be my coaches, but I’d be able to talk to them if I needed anything.”
With coaching changes already impacting two schools – Arizona State and UCLA – that were in the top-six he released in August, Ramos said he was encouraged to hear the news out of Ames this week regarding head coach Matt Campbell’s new contract.
“It was awesome to see,” he said. “I got to know him really well, really quickly. He told me he wanted to build a legacy and was going to stay there no matter what. I knew he was going to end up getting that contract and I was excited to see him do that, because now he has that chance to continue to build that Big 12 championship team that he says he’s going to build. I can see that happening. He also said, ‘don’t pay me, pay my assistants too’. That’s good to see his words are being heard from the AD.”
The player and head coach will get to speak first-hand about the new pact next week when Campbell makes an in-home visit to Ramos and his family. A few days after that, Ramos will take his official visit to I-State along with several other committed prospects in the 2018 class.
Ramos assessed the state of his list of favorites, which hasn’t been updated via his Twitter page since the month of August.
“Iowa State has always been at the top of my list,” he said. “The coaches have always left a great impression on me from when we started the recruiting process. They’ve always been at the top, along with ASU.
"Since Coach (Todd) Graham got fired, ASU is still up there but I don’t who they’re hiring yet. (Arizona) has kind of hopped in it. I haven’t really heard much from UCLA, Washington or Oregon. It’s basically kind of Iowa State, ASU and U. of A.”
Following up on the ISU visit, Ramos said he has yet to schedule any other officials.
“I haven’t locked anything in yet,” he said. “I’m going to try to get down to (Arizona) before the dead period. We’ll probably see about that.”
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