Iowa State lays foundation for future in Matt Campbell's first year

AMES — The last two weeks of the Iowa State football season was an example of what the future could hold, but also a reminder of the past.

A 56-point win followed a 30-point loss — the latter of which was to No. 18 West Virginia 49-19 in the season finale — gave a glimpse into the state of the Cyclones (3-9, 2-7). The cupboard is far from bare, but Iowa State isn't there quite yet.

Year one under Coach Matt Campbell, in large part, was about laying a foundation.

'I think it's a great reminder for us how critical detail is and the reality of there's some great individual performances, but this has to be a great team for us to understand and to get where we want to go,' Campbell said. 'Our goal is to win a championship here and I'll continue to say and we're going to go back to work starting Monday to get that figured out.'

Sixth-year senior center Brian Bobek, who spent time at Ohio State and Minnesota before starting every game this season for the Cyclones, really started to see a shift across the board after the first few weeks.

'I've never been part of a team that's changed so much, so fast,' Bobek said. 'These guys, the younger guys are figuring out how to win and again, we just need to execute better. I really believe this program is going in the right direction.'

After the first three games of the season — losses to Northern Iowa and at Iowa and TCU, Iowa State fielded competitive teams in seven of the final nine games. Three wins and four losses by 10 points or less filled the middle portion of the season with some guys warranting high expectations for next season.

Freshmen David Montgomery, Kene Nwangwu and Deshaunte Jones all took on prominent roles as the season progressed. Montgomery led the team in rushing with 563 yards, and helped Iowa State have three players — along with Mike Warren and Joel Lanning — all surpass 500 rushing yards for the first time in school history.

Jones ended his season second on the team in receptions (37), receiving yards (536) and touchdowns (6). Nwangwu found a role primarily within special teams and averaged 26.35 yards per return with a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against the Mountaineers.

'I see this team, it's on the right track definitely,' said outgoing senior Cole Netten, who ends his career as the all-time leading scorer in school history with 300 points. 'Going forward, this team is capable of a lot of good things. Close games, if you just finish those out you're looking at a completely different season.

'This team we're going to have next year has the capability of being a contender for top of the Big 12.'

The dual-quarterback system with Lanning and sophomore Jacob Park helped Iowa State at times, although the job likely belongs to Park in 2017. Park ended his first year with a 59.11 percent completion rate and 1,791 yards with 12 touchdowns, but particularly emerged in the final five games.

Wide receiver Allen Lazard is expected to be back for his final season after completing the fourth 1,000-yard receiving season in school history. Four of his six 100-yard receiving games happened in the final five weeks and his 69 catches was a career-high in a season.

'I think there's a lot of things to learn, especially from these seniors that have stuck it out whether it was five years or the JUCO guys,' Lazard said. 'We'll go into next season knowing what to expect and I think that will be very beneficial to us.'

Iowa State gets eight of its top 11 tacklers back next season with linebacker Willie Harvey, who had 78 tackles, leading the way. The Cyclones have to replace Netten, but get punter Colin Downing back for his senior season.

When Campbell got to Ames last November, he had to play catch up on the recruiting trail, and his players had to play catch up in their adaptation to scheme and terminology. Now with a full calendar year under Campbell's guidance, his message to the team was simple: they aren't playing catch up anymore.

'I think we've laid some really good foundations here to do things the right way and what the expectations are, but now we have to go to work and we've got to get those things done,' Campbell said. 'Great challenges lay ahead for ourselves and this football program.'

l Comments: montzdylan@gmail.com