On if the 2023 game at Ohio was a turning point for QB Rocco Becht

Yeah, well, I still think quarterback is about experience. And it’s about the good days and the bad days and learning and growing from them. And I think the thing that I’m really proud of what I’ve watched with Rocco, and again, it’s to his mentality.

There’s just such great curiosity from him on how does he become his best. And I don’t think he ever feels like he’s satisfied. I think he’s a guy that’s relentlessly trying to, as a leader, as a young man into a man, and really as a quarterback, every day I watch him working in this process to become great. And I really do appreciate that.‌

And I do, I would say probably that Ohio game is a turning point. I think there were some times in that first fall camp where he shook off maybe a little bit of a rusty start and just had the mental toughness to keep working through it. And obviously, there were some good competition along the way. And he’s had the ability to just kind of go to work and not worry about competition, not worry about the outside noise, but worry about himself.

And I think he’s a great reflector of our program, of not really worrying about anything outside of our walls. How do we just constantly pound away at the process it takes for us to become our best? And I think as he’s grown in that, we’ve grown with him. And that part’s been a great joy for all of us.

On the productivity of Iowa State’s TEs

Yeah, yeah, I just think their skill set is so multiple in what they can do.

And we’ve always said, I think the elite tight ends, if you look in the National Football League, boy, they just aren’t great receivers. They’re great blockers, they’re great pass blockers. They’ve got the ability to do all the things well.

And that’s why a tight end, in my opinion, is one of the hardest positions in football to play. Because you have to acquire so many great fundamentals and skills to be able to be an elite player in that position. And you’re right, I think you saw the evolution of that with Charlie and Chase, because in Dylan, I think they were very similar in that mold, where they could, man, they were pass catchers, they could pass pro, they could run block.

And I think this group has that same mentality where, man, they’re really good ball catchers, but equally, they’re really good blockers. They’re on the ball blockers, they’re perimeter blockers, they’re pass blockers, they can do a lot of different things for us. So I think that’s been really big for us.

I go back to even our days at Toledo, when we had guys that could do that, and it just gave us so much multiplicity in what we could do offensively.