Jantz beats back nerves, comes through in clutch

AMES -- Everything about Steele Jantz says California.

From the spiky haircut to the necklance of wooden beads and the sculpted chin beard, Jantz is California cool. He's from Agoura Hills, about 30 minutes north of Los Angeles. He played at San Francisco City College last year.

Now, Jantz is the fresh face in the Iowa State-Iowa rivalry. The 6-foot-3, 224-pound quarterback will lead the Cyclones (1-0) against Iowa (1-0) Saturday at Jack Trice Field.

"People think of the typical stereotype of Iowa back home," Jantz said Monday. "I know all about this game. I'm excited."

Jantz fought off some early nerves and led two fourth-quarter touchdown drives to lead the Cyclones past Northern Iowa, 20-19, last week. Night game, biggest crowd for an ISU opener (54,672), yes, Jantz was a little nervous.

"I tried not to pay attention to the nerves, but there were some nerves," Steele said. "Luckily, as the game went along, it started to slow down a little bit."

The passing numbers were ugly. Jantz completed 18 of 40 passes for 187 yards, one TD and three interceptions (77.52 pass efficiency).

"He made some uncharacteristic mistakes that he hasn't made," ISU coach Paul Rhoads said. "He rolled outside and threw back against his body in the middle of the field for a bad interception. My wife Vickie knows not to do that.

"He hadn't done that in all training camp. First-game jitters, trying to make big play when something wasn't there, those are the things he has to make sure he doesn't do in the future."

On the other hand, or foot in this case, Jantz showed one of the reasons why Rhoads zeroed in on him as a starter even before the announcement that Jerome Tiller would be academically ineligible for this season.

He led the Cyclones with 80 rushing yards and ran for two scores, including the game-winner with 40 seconds left.

"I thought he was really a shining star as far as the offense is concerned," Rhoads said. "He made big, clutch plays at the end of both halves and certainly when the game was on the line and certainly when he was tired from a physical standpoint."

Despite three turnovers in UNI territory, Jantz plunged in from the 1 on the final play of the first half. In the fourth quarter, Jantz made the play of the game. Facing a fourth-and-10 from UNI's 26, Jantz was flushed from the pocket and hit wide receiver Josh Lenz for a score on the dead run along the UNI sideline.

Jantz wasn't so easy on himself.

"Poor, but we got the win," he said when asked to assess his performance. "There's no such thing as an ugly win. I grade myself on my performance, but when it comes down to it, I'd rather do bad and win than do great and lose."

A win is a win, and Rhoads deemed Jantz's mistakes fixable.

"Coachable things that every position coach works on," Rhoads said. "Can't do this, gotta do this. Don't read that. Throw this. Overall performance, I was pleased with Steele Jantz's first game."

A lot of Monday's talk surrounded ISU's offensive line. Jantz was sacked once and pressured numerous times. The Cyclones' O-line will look dramatically different this week.

Left tackle Kelechi Osemele, a three-year starter, has struggled with an ankle injury most of camp. He left the UNI game early and didn't return. Rhoads said Monday that he will play. Guard Hayworth Hicks also returns after sitting out last week.