Cyler Sanderson and Tyler Clark were both granted releases from their scholarships.  Sanderson plans to join his brothers Cael and Cody at Penn State next season. Here's a link to the Des Moines Register story. 

Sanderson, the fourth member of his family to wrestle at Iowa State, will join older brothers Cael and Cody at Penn State. Cael Sanderson is Penn State's head coach and Cody will be an assistant. Cyler Sanderson, an all-American in 2008, will be a senior this winter.

I don't think that Cyler's decision will surprise anybody too much.

Kevin Jackson had this to say about Tyler Clarks deision:

Jackson said the loss of Clark, a two-time qualifier at 125 pounds, is disappointing.

"In our initial conversation I had with him, I didn't get a strong feeling that he felt comfortable with the change," Jackson said. "I think he would have had a tough time making our lineup next year with Andrew Long and Anthony Valles. I think (Clark) saw that as well. I hope the best for Tyler."

Also Jackson said recruits Boaz Beard of Goddard, Kansas and Trent Weatherman of Ballard of Huxley will honor their LOI's to wrestle for ISU next winter.

Dirk Chatelain, writer for the Omaha World-Herald, wrote a piece on Paul Rhoads called "Rhoads brings passion to Cyclones".  In sum, it's about how Paul Rhoads loves being at ISU, and how he's emotionally connecting with the players and fans.

My favorite quote from the article, however is the following:

"Rhoads who mingled with ISU fans Thursday at the Qwest Center Omaha part of the Cyclones Tailgate Tour, is popular in Cyclone circles because he hasn't lost a football game."

 

"But, more important, Rhoads acts and speaks as if he cares about ISU, a sentiment missing from former Coach Gene Chizik, who left ISU for Auburn after two seasons."

Chatelain, hit the nail on the head. So many Cyclone fans are just in LOVE with Rhoads. I've seen many talk about getting 6-8 wins, going to a bowl game, and just having enternally optomistic views of the program now that Rhoads is here.

All of the rhetoric is nice and works in the off season, especially when you're trying to sell tickets, but we're going to need to see the differences on the field this season. It's not about a win total, but how we play this year, at least to me. If we aren't playing the game how we should be, all of this passion and enthusiasm will grow tired. Rhoads is setting himself up for some huge expectations, and I hope the program is able to mee the challenge.

Rhoads brings passion, and I won't deny that. I just hope he brings us some more wins next year.

You can read the whole article here.

ISU Men's Basketball coach Greg McDermott is now on Twitter. His username is @isucoachmac .

Initially I was a bit skeptical it was actually him, but he's confirmed it in a different interview. At the moment he'll be doing the updating, but I'm curious as to whether a GA or Manager will be doing it during the busy times of year.

Nonetheless, we'll be monitoring coach Mac's status. You can be assured that if he's writing anything entertaining, you'll know about it here. We might even do a regular segment on his updates, but that's to be determined...

Rock Island Forward Jordan Dykstra has decommitted from Iowa State. This apparently was a mutual decision. He was supposed to join the class of 2010.

From the sounds of it, it didn't appear that Dykstra had been coming along in his development how McDermott had hoped.

This is the risk coaches run into when offering someone when they're a freshmen. There's a long way to go developmentally, and you don't know exactly what may happen the during the 4 years they play in high school.

I don't have any word on who we're looking at to fill the spot for the 2010 class, but as we learn more, we'll report here. The scholarship chart has been updated yet again.

Brandon Horton is an All-American Wrestler out of Lake Havasu, AZ. His Senior Year he went 53-0 and won a state championship at the 130lb weight class.

Horton joins the Cyclones on Academic Scholarship this will and will redshirt his Freshman Year. He plans on majoring in Engineering.

This kid seems like a good get. He has a solid high school resume, and is a good student.  I look forward to seeing him with the Cyclones and hope he enjoys his time here at ISU!

You can read more about Brandon here

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?