Iowa State’s Allen Lazard ‘focused on winning’ in final season

AMES - Three years have come and gone. Allen Lazard can see the end.

The memories that flood his mind when he thinks about those quick three seasons vary. There are some good ones and more bad ones than he cares to have.

All of them, though, have brought him to where he sits now.

In his fourth and final year with the Iowa State football team, the homegrown Lazard wants to do more than attain personal records. He wants to help prop up the Cyclones' program for years to come.

'I'm just focused on winning,” Lazard said. 'These past few years, all the tough times we've been through, all the wins we let slip out from underneath us, that's what fuels me and drives me. That's what pushes my teammates as well. It makes me want to push them even more.

'At the end of the day, my legacy will be defined by what I do this upcoming season or what I can get my team to be.”

Lazard's physical abilities were apparent long before he stepped onto campus at Iowa State. It was in Ames, though, that the 6-foot-5 and 222-pound Urbandale native blossomed into an elite talent that doesn't come through town often.

As a junior, Lazard was an all-Big 12 first-team pick and had 69 catches, 1,018 receiving yards and seven receiving touchdowns. He has caught a pass in a school-record 35 games and is one of four players in ISU history to surpass 1,000 receiving yards in a season.

'He did a lot of extra things this offseason, too,” said wide receivers coach Bryan Gasser. 'He got around some NFL guys on his own and got a chance to see how those guys work, did a lot of film study and got a chance to sit down and watch what he did last year and what our opponents that we're going to be playing this upcoming season do well.

'So he's challenged himself mentally as well as physically and athletically to be able to go out there and have the senior season that I think we all know he's capable of having.”

Head coach Matt Campbell, of course, is a fan.

'He's got the ability to make all the catches,” he said. 'He's got the ability to be that guy on third down, to make the first down, and he's also the guy that can make almost every explosive play on the field.

'You know, it was really important for us to get a guy like that back because, not only is he a great receiver, but he's a guy that is huge in that locker room and came to Iowa State not just to play the game of football, but came to leave a legacy.”

Lazard turned down a chance to leave a year early for the NFL to help elevate the program and add wins to his resume. But the bonus exists in the form of school records.

Former Iowa State standout Todd Blythe holds virtually all of the Cyclones' receiving records - including touchdown receptions (31), receptions (176) and career receiving yards (3,096). But maybe not for long.

Lazard is second in receptions (170), third in receiving yards (2,419) and second in touchdown catches (16). While the senior chases team glory, he knows how special it would be to take some records from a guy he grew up watching.

'He's really supportive,” Lazard said of Blythe. 'Most guys probably want their records to stay, but he wants me to go break them.”

'I'm a big fan of his now,” Blythe said in April. 'He can do some things I couldn't do. He's a special player and great kid, first and foremost. If he was an idiot I wouldn't want him to break my records, but he's a good kid so he can have them.

'I know some of them are going to fall pretty quickly here next season.”

Iowa State doesn't have an outside receiver listed on its two-deep that is shorter than 6-foot-1. None of its tight ends are smaller than 6-foot-3, and two are 6-foot-6 and 6-foot-7. Lazard is the face of a transformation for the ISU wideouts that boasts enough size to be serious threats in an offense-first Big 12 Conference.

'Sometimes I'm in awe of how big my receiving corps is,” said quarterback Jacob Park. 'I don't know if anyone in the nation has as many guys as tall as we do.

'It's fun to watch them come out here and play and they all use each other's energy and they pick up stuff from each other, so all of us are on the same page.”

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