Iowa State QB Hunter Dekkers stepping out of the shadows

Editor’s note: Second in a nine-part series looking at each Iowa State football position ahead of the 2022 season.

AMES — Every bite at the training table. Every rep in the weight room.

Every waking moment this summer for Iowa State starting quarterback heir apparent Hunter Dekkers unfolded with one goal in mind: Being his best, in mind, body and spirit.

“I feel like this is the best offseason we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Dekkers said on media day. “It’s definitely been the hardest, but it’s also been the best. You can’t really complain about that.”

Not when the former four-star recruit from West Sioux of Hawarden is on the brink of realizing a dream once the Sept. 3 season opener against Southeast Missouri State arrives.

Not when he’ll trot through the Jack Trice Stadium tunnel, take the field, and begin taking pregame snaps with the No. 1 offensive unit.

Not when the leaned-up 6-foot-3, 206-pound redshirt sophomore will be throwing his first pass — or breaking off a designed run — as a starter rather than Brock Purdy’s understudy.

“I think he has the ability to be the total package,” Cyclones quarterbacks coach Joel Gordon said of Dekkers. “He has the ability to throw the football in the pocket, on the move, extend plays. He can run. He’s been a good runner since he’s been here.

“He’s proven that in the little bit of time that he’s had (playing), but I think it’s gonna be exciting for everybody outside the program to really see him on the field for a full game, and to see what it looks like. He’s gonna be fun to watch, got a lot to learn, but man, I’m excited about him.”

So is everyone in ISU’s new-look offense, which will feature a new starting tailback and some fresh faces at tight end, receiver and along the offensive line.

“It’s going to look a lot different, but we’re excited,” said ISU offensive tackle Jake Remsburg, who was recently injured but could possibly be back for the season opener. “We have a lot of talent.”

It all starts with Dekkers, who didn’t sacrifice strength or agility while dropping more than 20 pounds in the offseason. He plans to add some so-called good weight back incrementally, but said transforming his approach to diet and nutrition already has yielded salutary results.

“It’s definitely a good thing,” said Dekkers, who rushed for two touchdowns and threw for two more in mostly relief duty behind Purdy the past two seasons. “It’s gonna help me be quicker, be faster, all those things like that. But I definitely have got to put a little bit of weight back on. I’ve got some big dudes on that field.”

None bigger than he is, though, as it pertains to the Cyclones’ 2022 fortunes. ISU head coach Matt Campbell often said as Purdy goes, so goes his team. Purdy became the Cyclones’ all-time winningest quarterback and owns virtually all of the program’s passing records, but Dekkers isn’t expected to be his mirror image.

“I would just say we’re two completely different quarterbacks,” Dekkers said. “He does certain things well and I do different things well.”

Finding out what that means, precisely, is what makes ISU’s prospects this season both exciting and fraught with uncertainty.

“Hunter is very talented,” Campbell said. “He’s certainly got elite arm strength. He’s got great athletic ability, but quarterback is way more than that. It’s the whole picture and it’s the whole puzzle.”

And Dekkers is spending every moment carefully putting those pieces together — in mind, body and spirit.

“There are a lot of tools there that have everybody in our program, our players and coaches, very confident in Hunter,” Campbell said.

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