Iowa State football notes: Zeb Noland fills in admirably at QB

AMES – Iowa State quarterback Kyle Kempt left in the second quarter during Saturday's game against Oklahoma State. Coach Matt Campbell said after the game that he injured his throwing shoulder against West Virginia and couldn't quite play through it.

In stepped redshirt freshman Zeb Noland, who missed all of his redshirt year with a torn ACL.

'You know what's funny about Zeb? When Kyle stepped in his role, I think I saw the greatest maturity out of Zeb Noland,' Campbell said. 'I think easily he could've been really upset that he wasn't going to be the guy. Instead, you saw that growth from being a young freshman to being a guy that said, 'Hey listen, my time's coming, and maybe I'm not ready yet, but I better get better.' You saw his growth in practice at an astronomical rate.'

Noland's biggest asset is his ability to throw the deep ball. In just over a half of football, Noland passed for 263 yards, averaging more than 15 yards per reception.

'I do (feel I made the most of my opportunity),' Noland said. 'I wanted to give the seniors everything I could because they deserved it. They took me under their wing when I first got here in January. I just felt like I owed it to them.'

Senior receiver Allen Lazard was impressed by the young quarterback from Georgia.

'Super proud of him for all the adversity that he's been through,' Lazard said. 'Injuring his knee when he first got here. For him to come in here and step up the way he did and give us a chance, it's something huge and something special.'

LANNING'S LEGEND GROWS

Linebacker Joel Lanning is one of the best stories in college football. We all know it by now.

But the redshirt senior stepped up when his team needed him most once again.

Lanning had five tackles, a sack, a rushing touchdown and a passing touchdown in the game.

'That dude's amazing,' safety Kamari Cotton-Moya said. 'I have so much respect for Joel. You're going to see Joel's name called in the draft and he could play a number of positions. You want to move him to tight end? He'll do it. Want to move him to fullback? He'll do it. Linebacker, outside linebacker, middle linebacker – whatever you want him to do, that guy will do it.

'I have so much respect for Joel. I know his body is banged up but it's week 11 coming on and he's still doing the same things since game one. It's amazing to see that dude grow especially only playing one year of defense at a Big 12 level.'

Campbell more than appreciated Lanning's efforts in the game.

'If you look at what happened here, on this team, it doesn't happen without the ability of that guy,' Campbell said. 'Nobody has probably played more snaps in college football than Joel Lanning.'

SPECIAL TEAMS WOES

Iowa State's normally-sound special teams made a number of blunders in Saturday's game.

Tymar Sutton touched the ball on a kickoff that eventually went out of bounds, forcing Iowa State start on the 9-yard line.

Iowa State punter Colin Downing also had a rough day at the office. He had two punts go 25 yards or less, including one that went 14 yards.

'We weren't very good and think a little bit of that had to do with maybe our guys trying to do too much,' Campbell said.

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