Little glamour at end for Iowa State’s Brock Purdy, historic senior class

ORLANDO, Fla. — Brock Purdy’s final play of his senior year was not the prettiest.

It was fourth-and-2 with 42 seconds remaining. The quarterback needed to lead his team another 64 yards to keep the Cyclones’ bowl-win hopes alive.

The play appeared promising. After a pump fake, Purdy found space to run right down the middle of the field. He crossed the first-down line with ease. He veered left to try to get more space.

Then it went wrong. A Clemson defender poked the ball loose. Purdy jumped on the fumble, but it went far enough back to move him behind the first-down line. His “college career and everything” was quickly over.

“It ended like that,” Purdy said. “To go out like that sucks, not going to lie.”

But that play was certainly not emblematic of Purdy’s career at Iowa State — or that of his fellow seniors.

“A result does not dictate what Brock Purdy has done for Iowa State football,” Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell said. “There's no greater competitor that I've been around that wanted a result to be different than it was.”

Looking past Purdy’s last play, he accomplished a lot of firsts in his time in Ames.

In 2020, he was Iowa State’s first all-Big 12 first-team quarterback since the Big 12 was the Big Eight. The same applies for leading the Big 12 in passing yardage in 2019.

Including a redshirt year, Purdy’s fellow seniors have been to five straight bowls. Before that, the Cyclones’ longest bowl streak was three games — Insight, Independence and Humanitarian.

“Every time that we and everybody expected us to fall, our seniors stood and they led,” Campbell said. “Every time that it would have been easy for them to build a wall and kind of isolate themselves and say, 'You know what, it's about me,' they built a bridge, and they said, 'Man, how do I reach back and help guide the future of this program?'”

Other key seniors include linebackers Mike Rose and Jake Hummel, tight ends Charlie Kolar and Chase Allen and safety Greg Eisworth II.

Campbell said the lessons learned from this class “changed and helped guide my own life and what my purpose is.”

“Quite honestly, it’s inspired the future of our football program,” Campbell said.

Now the class’ time is over. Stadium employees were washing off the “Iowa State” block lettering from the south end zone of Camping World Stadium. There’s no next game to prepare for while watching film.

“It’s a weird feeling,” Hummel said. “It’s almost surreal.”

Hummel expressed confidence in the Cyclones’ underclassmen.

“They’re really smart kids,” Hummel said. “They work really hard, and they have what it takes to take this program even a step further than we took it.”

The fumble and subsequent loss aside, Hummel is well aware of what his class achieved as he watches those “smart kids” be the new leaders.

“Obviously not the result we wanted, but I’m happy with what we accomplished this season, this year, the last five years,” Hummel said. “I can hang my hat on that.”

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