Matt Campbell starting to see ‘evolution’ of Iowa State receiver Allen Lazard

AMES - Allen Lazard is going to take some time off over the next few weeks to put his third season of college football in perspective.

The Iowa State wide receiver became the fourth player in ISU history to surpass 1,000 receiving yards in a season (1,018). He had six 100-yard games, had the longest play from scrimmage this season (67 yards) and had seven touchdowns.

All of the individual accomplishments came throughout a 3-9 campaign, which ended with Iowa State's 49-19 loss to No. 18 West Virginia. But in Coach Matt Campbell's view, there's a lot left for Lazard to chase.

'I think you're just starting to see the evolution of what Allen can become in my opinion,” Campbell said. 'I'm really excited for the future of Allen Lazard, because I think great things are ahead for Allen.

'I look for a great offseason of health and letting him kind of get himself where he needs to get to and I think he can be one of the best wide receivers in all of college football.”

Lazard had back-to-back 100-yard receiving games in the first two weeks, but his rise really coincided with the increased playing time for quarterback Jacob Park. Since Park assumed primary signal-calling duties against Kansas State, Lazard tallied 35 catches for 570 yards and three touchdowns.

'To this team and to this year he was really priceless,” Park said. 'You couldn't put a price on his head because he did things for us and made some catches for us that kept us in a lot of games and won a lot of games for us. I'm excited to have him back too.”

Now that he is three years removed from high school, Lazard would be eligible to enter the 2017 NFL Draft, although he hasn't tipped his hand either way as to what his immediate future holds.

In recent weeks, the subject of Lazard's professional future was broached and he facetiously responded he would flip a coin on whether to return to Ames or leave for the pros. It's a safe assumption Lazard will return next fall for his senior season, but for now he's playing coy.

'I've still got to find a coin first,” Lazard said with a grin. 'So we'll see.”

FRESHMEN TRIO RACK UP NUMBERS

Iowa State defined roles for freshmen running backs David Montgomery and Kene Nwangwu and wide receiver Deshaunte Jones early in their first seasons.

In turn, the trio has begun putting up some sizable numbers, including the season finale against West Virginia.

'They don't seem like freshmen to me,” said quarterback Jacob Park. 'They make mistakes, yeah, but so do some of the seniors we have. I'm really excited to have them back.”

Montgomery had 21 carries for 141 yards with four catches for 45 yards. Jones had five catches for 83 yards while Nwangwu had the only ISU touchdown with his 97-yard kickoff return. In total they accounted for 293 of 561 yards for the Cyclones.

'They'll be household names by the time they're done here,” said wide receiver Allen Lazard.

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