Grant Rohach: Open, blunt, hopes for first career start

 By Rob Gray

 Correspondent

 AMES - A younger Grant Rohach wondered about the slick garment tucked away in a corner of his closet.

It was both a link to the past and a sign of the future - a Hollywood-cool throwback jacket emblazoned with the Detroit Lions' logo.

Rohach decided to ask his mom, Marcie, about it.

“She was like, ‘Oh, that's the second copy they made of Beverly Hills Cop Eddie Murphy's letterman jacket,''” said Rohach, Iowa State's No. 1 quarterback according to the depth chart entering today's 11 p.m. Big 12 game against TCU at Jack Trice Stadium. “I was like, ‘Wow.'”

That's the operative word now as Grant, a redshirt freshman, could end up making his first career start for the Cyclones (1-7, 0-5) against the Horned Frogs (3-6, 1-5).

He's relieved banged-up sophomore Sam Richardson in each of the past three games.

He's faced deficits of 20-0, 28-14, and 10-0 upon entering those games.

This time, he could start at 0-0 - but ISU coach Paul Rhoads said Richardson may still earn the first snaps and a game-day gut decision isn't outside the realm of possibility.

“Two guys that want to start, that want the job and probably pressing a little bit in the process of trying to earn it,” Rhoads said Wednesday. “Which, when you're 1-7 and you're in the middle of a five-game losing streak, that's not the only group that's going to press and try to improve.”

Rohach, accordingly, said the state of the scoreboard when he first appears in games is immaterial when it comes to his personal performance.

“No matter what situation they put me in I should be successful,” said Rohach, who's completed 51.5 percent of his passes for two touchdowns and three interceptions.

Self-assuredness comes naturally for the 6-1, 210-pound Rohach, who spent the first two years of his life in Montezuma, where his dad, Jerry, coached multiple sports.

The once-mysterious jacket was produced back then when Marcie, a 10-time track all-American for Central College of Pella, worked for DeLONG Sportswear.

It journeyed from Iowa to St. Louis, just as Grant did in his early years, then settled in that corner of the closet in sunny Southern California.

Snow and cold became novelty; unique, not harsh elements to enjoy around Christmas time on sleigh rides around his grandparents' St. Olaf farm.

“We would get a taste of it for those two weeks and it would be fun,” Rohach said. “But this last year having to live through an entire winter - especially how long the winter went, it was pretty rough. But it's something a lot of my California friends don't really see at all unless they go to the mountains and snowboard for a day or two. It's a big change.”

So is the jump from upstart backup to “absolutely” ready possible starter.

Rohach pulls no punches when he delves into self-evaluations.

“Coaches, when I come off the sideline, they tell me, ‘You just need to calm down. We know you can make these throws. We know you can make these plays,'” Rohach said. “And I know it, too. That's the most frustrating part, when I have those kind of angry reactions, you could say. Because I know I can make those throws.”

That's why Rohach made the extended return trip to Iowa.

To play and excel as a starting Big 12 quarterback.

The jacket stayed - a hidden reminder of how Iowa and California can collide, with positive effect.

“Nobody ever wears it, Rohach said.