Lazard ready for next step in 2015

AMES - For as many plays as he made as a freshman, it's the plays Allen Lazard couldn't make that stick with him.

A tipped ball resulting in an interception against North Dakota State and a dropped pass across the middle against Texas comes to Lazard's mind first. Plays he couldn't make held him back from saying he had a stellar first year at Iowa State.

'I have high expectations for myself,” Lazard said. 'I think I should win every battle and I should catch every ball. That's what I hold myself to. Until I do that, I won't be pleased.”

Although he did admit he played 'all right” in 2014, Lazard's numbers alone place him among the best for a true freshman wide receiver in ISU history. He was second in receptions and receiving yards for the Cyclones with 45 catches and 593 yards, with both categories making him second all-time for an ISU freshman.

'I think he can be as good as anybody as far as this league is concerned because of the knowledge he's gained and what it takes to play effectively at this level,” Iowa State Coach Paul Rhoads said. 'He has the physical tools.”

Lazard's remarks about his freshman season didn't come as a surprise to coaches, but they did give him more credit than the sophomore-to-be gave himself. The Urbandale native started the final 11 games a year ago, replacing the injured Quenton Bundrage and has shown wide receiver coach Tommy Mangino a lot so far this spring.

'We always say a year does a bunch, just a calendar year changes a kid from a true freshman year to a sophomore year,” Mangino said. 'He's approached it with he wants to get better and be the best. He wants to be a guy people look at and can't cover. I think he's done that.”

At 6-foot-5 and 218 pounds, Lazard will provide a big target for quarterback Sam Richardson along with fellow returnees at receiver, Bundrage and D'Vario Montgomery.

It's what Lazard has developed more in the off-season and spring that encourages those around him: confidence.

'He came in confident, but was smart enough to know that he had to earn things and learn things as he did that,” Rhoads said. 'By the end of last year, he was telling others to make sure where they lined up. He's fully in tuned to that so his knowledge is at a much higher level and that certainly makes his play better too.”

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