Just wanted to update all the readers on some old news, but want to be sure we're all on the same page:

• We signed a high school guard Antwon Oliver for the 2009 class.
• Lucca Staiger and Charles Boozer have decided to stay at ISU
• Cam Lee has transferred to D-II School University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota and we wish him well

The Basketball Scholarship Chart has been updated. See the link at the side of the page.  Hopefully the changes we talk about more is adding players instead of subtracting some. This summer has had a good trend and I hope it continues!

Ok, so I will be the first to admit that I am NOT a recruiting expert at all. Actually, I typically do not follow it that much because it's really heartbreaking.

These 17 and 18 year olds are trying to make tough decisions as they decide where to play ball and where to get an education. It's a big deal, and I'm sure it can be hard. It's because of the nature of high school kids, that it's just tough to know where they will end up. Until they sign that Letter of Intent (LOI), it's anyone's guess. Yes there are "soft" verbals, "strong" verbals, etc., but minds can change and we see and hear about it all the time.

With that said, with all of the downtime there has been in Cyclone Nation, it's tough not to at least take a PEAK at prospects for the 2010 class. Right???

So, as reported here a couple of weeks ago, we got a verbal commitment from QB Jared Barnett out of Garland, Texas.

So who are some of our top targets?

• Matt Hoch, DE out of Harlan, IA. Rivals has him as a 3 star, and ESPN has him in their top 150 watch prospects. Iowa and Missouri appear to be the front runners (BOO!), while ISU, K-State, and Stanford have all offered as well. It's really no secret that ISU needs some help on the line on both sides of the ball. It'd be nice to land one of the top instate recruits. I realize there's a lot of talent outside of Iowa, but landing a couple legit Iowa prospects is what a State University should do, in my opinion
• Kevin Johnson, WR out of Houston, TX. Rivals lists him as a 3 star, and ESPN has him graded a 78 overall. He's 6'2, 190, runs a 4.4 40, and has a 33 inch vertical. Baylor, Oklahoma State, Arizona, Kansas, and ISU appear to be the leading candidates. Apparently, he's also gotten offers from Arkansas, Illinois, Minnesota, Northwestern, Syracuse, Utah, Vanderbilt, Rice, and SMU. Obviously if you're getting that much attention, you're talented. You really can't have too many explosive skill position players, and this would be a huge get.
  
• Jacoby Walker, QB out of Houston, TX. Rivals has him as a 3 star, and ESPN grades him as a 74. He's a dual threat QB. I'm not exactly sure where we stand with him since we signed a QB in this class. I'd assume we'd be looking at other positions, but honestly I do not know.
• Nick Mizaur, RB/S out of Omaha, NE. ESPN has him graded as a 73, while Rivals has him unrated right now. He's 5'11, 194lbs. He runs a 4.5 40, and can bench 315lbs. Apparently he hasn't been offered by anyone yet, but he's interested in Nebraska, ISU, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, and Boston College. Perhaps there are more, but we will see. From reading his profile, he sounds like a physical, hard-hitting back, and could also be a big-hitting safety. 
• Eric Williams, ATH out of Tallahassee, FL. ESPN graded him a 73 and Rivals doesn't have him rated right now. He's 5'9 and 180lbs. He seems possibly fit best at WR or RB. He sounds like one of those guys you'd want to run screens to and give him a chance to make defenders miss. He's looking at USF, UCF, East Carolina, Middle Tennessee State.
  
• Brandon Speth, ATH out of League City, TX. ESPN has him as a 72 and Rivals has him unrrated. His bio has him listed as a LB. Being 5'9 and 177lbs, he seems a little bit small, but he runs a 4.46 40. He could be a good coverage LB as he may have the speed to go sideline to sideline. He's apparently considering ISU, Houston, SMU, Boise State, and Colorado State.  If he can tackle, then I don't care too much about his size. Our LBs got burned in a lot of ways, and we could use some speed in this area
• Michael Dennis, OT out of Carey, OH. He's 6'7, 260lbs, and can bench 330lbs. He's received offers from ISU, Indiana, Maryland, Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Miami-OH, Ohio, and Toledo. He seems to have the physical attributes, and you can never have too many Offensive Linemen.
• Chris Lucido, S out of Omaha, NE. He's 5'11 and 180lbs. Nebraska, Kansas, K-State, Iowa, and ISU all seem to be in the running at this point.

It's certainley an interesting mix of players. To me, it seems pretty standard, as we're looking to get a little bit of everything. Let's be honest here. We have some talent guys, but majority of the Big 12 has more than us. In my opinion, you keep just trying to get the best players you can regardless of position. It's on the coaching staff to get the best players they can, and also make the pieces fit.

We need players that can control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. You can never have too many explosive skilled position players

Here's a list of some of the Iowa prospects looking at ISU:

• Alex Recker, S from Johnston, IA. ESPN has him rated a 67. He's looking at ISU, North Dakota, and UNI. It sounds like the big thing he needs to work on is his size. It sounds like he's a good roamer.
• Cody Ahrendt, DB from Sioux City, IA. He's 6'0 and 192 lbs. He's apparently considering Iowa, ISU, and Nebraska.
• James Kohler, OT from Ames, IA. He's 6'7 and 240lbs. He's looking at ISU, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Kansas State.
  
• Austin Krick, DE from Clinton, IA. He's 6'1 and 210lbs. He's looking at ISU, UNI, and Drake
• Zach McCabe, QB from Sioux City, IA. He's 6'4 and 189lbs. He's looking at Iowa, USF, Northern Illinois, Indiana State, and, ISU.
• Brandon Scherff, OT from Denison, IA. He's 6'5 and 280lbs. He's looking at Iowa, Nebraska, ISU, and Missouri

With the local guys, there seems to be a wide range of schools. I do not know what the prospects are for these guys. With linemen, I'd figure they can be developed as their bodies continue to grow, so ratings don't matter as much. I'd like with some of the skill positions they would, as you can improve speed, but you can't teach speed. This coming fall, if any of these guys look to be strongly considering ISU, I may check them out in a game and do a write-up on here.

There are many other prospects listed as well, but perhaps we'll discuss at a later time. We probably won't  have the inside scoop on the recruiting trail, but if we hear something, we'll post it here, along with our 2 cents.

Lucca Staiger called Gregg McDermott Thursday and told him that he's coming back for his junior year. TThe Des Moines Register says Staiger will return in September, after playing for the German junior and national team. Whew! Another bit of good news for ISU's men's basketball team. What's going on?

I am excited to announce that CloneChronicles' feeds and and blog will be featured on the CBSSports.com teampages and other spots as well.

If you're coming over from CBSSports.com, welcome to CloneChronicles! We are currently in the process of building an ISU fan community! Right now it's a work in progress, as we are making some changes. I hope you can join us, and make this site one of your "must-stops" for anything Cyclone Related!

Thanks all for reading and your support!

Over the weekend, the Cyclones grabbed their first commitment for the 2010 season. Jared Barnett, a 6'1 186 lbs. QB from Garland TX, looks like he has the tools to play in our new system. He likes to play out of the Shotgun formation, has a quick release, and looks like he is quick enough to avoid pressure and get some yards here and there.

You can read more about Barnett here. He was considering offers from Kansas State and Houston as well.

I'm excited for the signing, and it's fun to start talking about the 2010 Class. Welcome to the Cyclone Family Barnett, and I look forward to watching him play in a couple of years!

There is a lot of talk about the responsibility of Blogs and Message-boards, particularly on a popular Cyclone Message Board, Cyclonefanatic .

I wanted to get some feedback from the Cyclone Community, to see what all of your thoughts are.

From what I gather there are two schools of thought which is causing some divide:

1. Do not bad mouth the program at all. Support the current coaches, players, etc. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. Making damaging statements hurt the program, and may hurt the coaches and players feelings. If you come across sensitive inside-info, keep it to yourself. Spreading it will cause more damage than good, and you'll be a part of the problem.
   
2. Say what you feel. If the coaches and players can't handle it, too bad. Our job is to write what we think, and that's what the readers expect. If you come across inside info that's damaging, that's the offending parties' problem not yours. If you don't talk about it, someone else will. You aren't part of the problem, you're just reporting it. If people don't like it, then just don't read. It's important to have opinions, as that's what the readers expect
   

A lot of this has come up, as players' feelings may be getting hurt on the message boards. Also, because of the Internet, damaging photos of coaches, players, members of the media, etc., are circulating. Jobs and Scholarships have been lost that wouldn't have happened several years ago.

What do you think the role of blogs and message boards are in the world we live in today? Are we causing news, or just reporting it? I'd love to hear your thoughts, so please share in the comments section below!

A week after Craig Brackins announced that he'll return to Iowa State for his junior season comes news that Lucca Staiger is mulling an offer to play pro basketball in Germany.

“I think he’s on the fence right now,” coach Greg McDermott told The Des Moines Register. “I talked to him (Saturday). We’ll talk (today), and we’ll talk on a daily basis until he comes to grips on his decision.”

Staiger, a sophomore shooting guard from Blaustein, Germany, has an offer to play on Germany's junior national and national basketball teams. Last season, Staiger was the Cyclones best outside threat, hitting 74 three-pointers. Staiger started 27 of 32 games and averaged 8.2 points per game.

The potential loss of Staiger would be a big blow to the Cyclones, who would have finally had a returning guard court in the McDermott era.

Staiger isn't the only one considering leaving Iowa State. Guard Charles Boozer is thinking about transferring. Boozer averaged 2.5 points per game. Also, walk-on Cameron Lee is leaving the program to play in a lower-division.

Boozer provided a spark off the bench last year, and Lee played intense defense in spurts. But the loss of Boozer and Lee wouldn't hurt as much as losing Staiger. Boozer apparently saw the writing ont he wall. Minutes would be scarce in a crowded backcourt with Diante Garrett, Domique Buckley, Chris Colvin, Scott Christopherson and Staiger, if he returns.

The Men's Basketball Team just signed Antown Oliver, a high school Senior, out of Racine Wisconsin. He's listed as 6'5 and 175 lbs and sounds like he could play the 2 or the 3.

He sounds a bit undersized and early indications are he might redshirt his Freshman Year, so I wouldn't put him as an immediate impact type of a player. He's a bit under the radar, and some of the recruiting sites had him going the JUCO route initially.

It will be interesting to see how it turns out. The BB recruiting and Scholarship Chart will be updated in the near future, but I believe he is filling the Scholarship opened up by Eikmeier's departure.

Iowa State named Kevin Jackson Head Wrestling Coach this afternoon.

Jackson during his Senior Year was a member of the last ISU National Championship Team in 1987.  He also went on to win a Gold Medal in the 1992 Olympics.

His previous coaching experience includes being an Assistant at Arizona State in 1997. Most recently he was the National Freestyle Coach for USA Wrestling from 2001-2008 and also head coach of the Sunkist youth development program.

To my knowledge no assistants have been named yet. While I love having an intense guy who's had success coaching at the International Level and wrestling at ISU, I do worry about his ability to be a head coach at the collegiate level. I hope he gets surrounded by some good assistants to help him with the learning curve.

You can read more about Jackson here

There will be a news conference tomorrow morning at 11am CST.

The Houston Texans signed offensive lineman Doug Dedrick to a free-agent contract Monday. The 6-foot-4, 301-pound Dedrick started every game as a Cyclone after transferring from Scottsdale (Arizona) Community College.