Iowa State choice an easy one for Arnaud

As it turned out, one of the most difficult decisions of Austen Arnaud's life really wasn't that hard.

The quarterback had plenty of options while starring at Ames High School. But at the end of the day, Arnaud wanted to play major college football within his home state's borders.

Iowa or Iowa State?

“I always thought I wanted to play at Iowa State,” Arnaud said. “As Iowa started recruiting me I saw some of the things they had and the success they'd had - it's hard to stay away from.

“But when it came down to it, I'm a Cyclone at heart.”

Arnaud was a sophomore when then-ISU coach Dan McCarney was the first college coach to offer him a scholarship.

Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, who was coming off a second Big Ten Conference championship and third-straight Top Ten finish, did the same two weeks later.

“They were pretty serious about how they offered me,” Arnaud said. “At the time it was only Jake Christensen there and they hadn't recruited anybody else.”

Arnaud said he would have been one of the two quarterbacks the Hawkeyes planned on signing for the class of 2006.

One ended up being Arvell Nelson, who no longer is with the program. The other was Ricky Stanzi, who'll start for Iowa on Saturday at Jack Trice Stadium in the teams' 57th Cy-Hawk meeting.

Ferentz was disappointed missing out on the 6-4, 224-pound Arnaud, whose dad, John, was a three-year starter in the defensive backfield at ISU from 1980-82, but understood the choice that was made.

“I don't know if the legacy part factored in. I would assume it would,” Ferentz said. “He appeared to like both schools, and he just made that selection. It made sense to us. We knew there was that possibility.”

Some young athletes are eager to play away from home and experience a new area of the country.

Arnaud, who was born July 5, 1988, at Mary Greeley Medical Center near the intersection of Duff Ave. and 13th Street, didn't feel that need.

“I felt so comfortable here. Home is home,” he said. “Everyone knows you and what you are doing, but I wouldn't rather be anywhere else than I am right now.”

Arnaud had a big sophomore season in '08, throwing for 2,792 yards and rushing for 401 more. His 247 completions are the most in school history.

He was 16 of 28 for 227 yards and two touchdowns in last Thursday's season-opening win over North Dakota State.  He's one of the Cyclones' captains and is the one who'll need to lead the program back to winning ways.

Arnaud's turned out just as Ferentz thought he would.

“Yeah, yeah. He's an excellent football player,” Ferentz said. “Great young person, tremendous personality. He looked like a quarterback, acted like a quarterback, and he's doing the same now from where we're sitting.”

-- Eric Petersen, for The Gazette