Iowa State Cyclones College Football Pregame Quote, 09/30/2025

On competition among Iowa State’s OL

Yeah, I think, and I would tell you a little bit globally, just in our team right now. I think you’ve got that in some other places, linebacker. I think number one is hopefully selflessness.

I think we talk about that so much in our football program. Those are hard, let alone being the player, those are hard decisions to make too because I think we care about all of our guys in our football program.

I think any time you make a decision, not to know if you’re right or not, and we’re not always right, believe me, but I think you’re always trying to do what’s best for the team in that moment.

I think to me then for the human that it’s happening to, how do you respond to this? I think equally it’s our job then as the coaches to say, ‘Hey, here’s why this is happening. You can either accept it or we can work through this and figure out how to get you back to where you want to be.’ I think we’ve always tried to do a really good job of communicating through that.

I think you look at James’ (James Neal III) situation, you look at Jim’s situation, I think you look at Carson Willich’s situation and you see what’s happened there. I think Cael’s (Cael Brezina) kind of going through that right now a little bit. Will McLaughlin at times has gone through that because of injury and some other things.

Our kids, I think that’s the one thing I really love about this team, no matter what they’re personally going through, the ability to come back to the betterment of the team, be a great teammate, work through their own situation, and then come back better when they have the opportunity to respond to it. That’s certainly been a fabric of our football team.

On how Iowa State handles players losing opportunity amid the risk of a transfer portal decision to leave the team

Yeah, that’s right.

I think the biggest thing, the only way I know how to handle any of those situations is absolute honesty. Number one, I think we have to look ourselves in the mirror at night. Number two, I think the reminder for me, it’s interesting as my own children are getting older, how would you treat your own child going through this situation?

I think any time that you go through adversity, you would love to have complete transparency and honesty of what’s going on in the situation and then help that person work through the adversity, whether it’s here or they decide to go somewhere else.

Those are their options, but we have to do a great job of understanding that these are 18- to 22-year-olds. There are going to be good days. There are going to be tough days. There are going to be tough moments. I think we’re all defined and continued upon the way as when tough times come, how do we respond really is defining the character of a human in a football team for sure.

On TE Benjamin Brahmer, Brahmer’s throw vs. Arizona

Yeah, Ben’s a really special football player. I think what makes Ben really unique is he is a great football player. Ben probably could play wide receiver, running back, probably could play quarterback if he needed them to just because he’s one of those guys that he grew up with a father as a head football coach.

This guy played four sports, so he was always playing sports growing up. I think we knew when we got Ben you were getting somebody that, A, loved football, that, B, really had this unique athletic ability that could do so many different things for your football team. What doesn’t get talked about, probably Ben’s best blocking game in the game was Saturday.

I think it’s just a credit to him because he’s really improved as a tight end as well as all the unique things he can do for us offensively.

That play is unique in its own right. The main target is covered, so that’s option C. We didn’t even practice it that way. When he made the play, I just said on the headset, ‘Man, this guy’s a football guy. He’s got a great worldly knowledge of what’s going on and he’s got great vision.’ We’re grateful to have him.

We’re really proud of his growth for sure

On if offseason rules changes would help prevent injuries to players in the season

No, I think what happened this year is totally improved. I think some of the things that maybe happened in the past are unique. I think when you talk two ACL injuries, you’re talking, man, that’s football, and football is going to happen. No, I don’t think the rules will change.

I think the world wants everything to change, and you can take away toughness from football players and that would be a major mistake. But let’s hope they don’t change so we can still teach football and learn how to play the sport of football.

On how Carson Willich compliments LBs Caleb Bacon, Kooper Ebel

Boy, I think in the other name that you’ve got to know in there is John Klosterman because he doesn’t get enough credit on our football team.

John and Carson bring an edge to our football team, that is right. They love football. Their mental toughness and their ability to spark our football team and kind of bring a sense of toughness to our team is huge.

I think even gaining those guys back last weekend, that was huge for us and huge for our team. I do think it’s big for Koop to be sitting in the middle and know you’ve got guys on both edges of you that you have absolute faith and trust in. Koop played his best game of the season on Saturday, which I was really proud of, and I think he’s only going to keep playing good football.

I just think for us there are so many veterans in that linebacker room, and you talk about communication, you talk about the ability to get everybody aligned, it really starts at linebacker.

When that room is healthy, I feel like we have great communication on defense, and I think that’s what the veteran is to John, and having Carson in the football game with Bacon and Zach [Lovett] on the other side, I think those are huge things for us.

On injury to Williams, status for Rocco Becht Khijohn Cummings-Coleman

Both guys will be available. The situation on Tez is ACL.

On WR Chase Sowell and his journey

Yeah. And honestly, nobody’s talking about Chase’s mom, who was like an elite soccer player at the University of Florida. His dad will get mad, but I think Chase’s mom is probably, bar none, the best athlete in the family.

And so, I just think there is a great, first of all, humility from the family. I mean, I really enjoy Chase’s mom and dad. They were looking for what was right, not what was most, and I really appreciate that.

And, like I said, I think you’re always defined by adversity, and I think it was adverse the first three, four weeks. Chase is prideful and, it stinks to have to work through some injuries, which he had to do. And, we all want instant gratification and you didn’t get it.

And I think the thing that was really rewarding was, I think, the support that he got from home, the support that, he sunk into with our coaching staff to kind of work through maybe a slow, early start for him. And I think all those things come from a great foundation, and what he has at home is a great foundation, and we’re really grateful for that.

And, Chase’s brother is here as well, Hunter is on our team, and, to have both of them here, I mean, Hunter, I think, was the guy named scout team player of the week last week for that game.

So to see both of those young men and to have both of their spirits, their work ethic, I think it says a lot about mom and dad.

And you’re right, he’s got a great baseball background. You know, we had a softball tournament to start back here in May, and he was pretty impressive. He probably was MVP status. He’s catching great, hitting probably can still, maybe he can still work on that a little bit, but I thought his ability to play center field was pretty impressive.

On coaching vs. former assistant Tyson Veidt for a second time

Yeah, I think it’s never, you don’t love it just because you love the human and you love the people, and, both Tyson and Scott [Satterfield] are guys that their families, our families, we love those people and we believe in them.

And, the reality is we also know they’re not just great humans, they’re great football coaches. And I think any time you have so much respect for the person across from you, the competitive environment is always tough. But, that’s our sport, that’s kind of how it rolls.

And, at the end of the day, what they’re doing is such a credit to who they are as men and leaders, and it’s really exciting to watch what they’re doing. But that doesn’t have any impact really on what we’re doing. And what we have to do is really be the best version of us as we kind of prepare ourselves for Saturday, which would be a great football environment.

But, I think when you step away from it, the respect and appreciation and gratitude that you have for who those guys are and what those guys are about. Those guys had a huge impact on me as a football coach, certainly had an impact on our football program. And I would say they both have because Scott was as good of a mentor to me as a young football coach as maybe anybody in our profession. How do you live? How do you treat your family through this journey? Man, how do you raise your kids?

Tyson, I would say the same way. I mean, Tyson’s impact at Toledo to Tyson’s impact here, we would be nowhere close without what he has meant to myself and our football team.

So, respect and gratitude, and then obviously, it makes it tough when you’re competing against them. But, once the game’s over with, you go back to the respect and love that you have for them for sure.

On if Williams and Jeremiah Cooper will travel with the team

Yeah, I don’t know if we know that yet.

On who will replace the injured CBS

Quentin Taylor and Tre [Bell] have both played a ton of football.

And so I don’t even know if it’s filled in. I think they just continue to play more, And Tre started, played awesome last week. And, Quentin, like I said, played a ton of football. And, I think Beni Ngoyi is a guy that just keeps impressing across the board. So I think we feel like they’re certainly the players to be ready to go.

And, again, football happens, and you got to – the next guy’s got to be ready to go play.

On calling a time out at the end of the first quarter twice this season

Yeah, last Saturday, was I wanted them to punt out of our student section. And so, to be honest with you, I really felt like there was – there wasn’t a ton of wind. At Iowa, there was a ton of wind.

And I wanted them to punt into the wind, and I thought it was a huge factor in it. Probably right. Still don’t know if the decision was right or whatever happened in that play.

But, thought we would have got the ball in a really good field position, and I think it kind of proved right.

It’s always risky because I like to keep those timeouts usually, for a two-minute situation at the end of a half. But, I just felt like the weather, the environment, I thought it was the right opportunity to try to gain the most field position, and uniquely we did.

But, obviously that was the mindset around it, whether that’s a right call or not. That was my thinking.

On how weather affects his decisions on how to use timeouts

Yeah. I don’t know. I think sometimes you don’t even know until you get out there, and then at our place it changes by the minute. So, I do think you’re thinking about those things as the game’s going.

And, at least how we start the game we’re always talking about. Are we going into the wind? Are we kicking into the wind? What’s that look like? Because I think maybe whoever you put out there to start the game needs to know also what are the elements against them. So we’ll talk about that.

But I think those decisions are a little bit on the spur of the moment because I think you’re just trying to figure out what’s the edge and it’s unique that both of those have happened early in the season. And that was the thinking behind it, though.

On how often he thinks about he would want his own kids treated when communicating with his players

I think about it a lot. I mean, I think the reality is probably one of the great gifts for me is I’ve been in their seat. I’ve lived this journey.

And, good days and tough days. And I think back to my own journey, how would I want to be treated? And then, now you’ve got, shoot, I’ve got a daughter that’s going through recruiting right now on the other side of it. And it’s like I think it just always gives you a great perspective of, what are these parents and what are these players going through?

Again, I know we’ve tried to create pro sports, but these are 18- to 22-year-old kids who have moved away from home for the first time. They’re going through all of this journey, let alone I think the magnitude of the environment that surrounds them. And I think we have to do a great job of, like, what our role is. Yes, it’s to coach. Yes, it’s to put our team in a great position to be successful. But before any of that, it is we have to be great mentors to these young people and we have to help guide them through life’s journey. So, I think that’s my – I feel like that’s my responsibility.

It’s what I still love most about my job. And the reality of it, I feel like that’s priority number one in our football program.

On often being the first scholarship offer to high school recruits

I don’t know if it’s a priority. I feel like what I do feel is a priority is to recruit and not to look at everybody else’s recruiting and then decide who we’re recruiting.

That’s one. Number two, I think we like to recruit. You know, Hoodj (Derek Hoodjer) does an unbelievable job. Our staff off the field does an incredible job.

And I think the thing for me is there’s at least enough trust now being at one place ten years, knowing what our system is offensively and defensively. I think knowing who we are and what this place is, that we pretty much have a really good feel if a young person and his family fit what we’re about.

And I think that what’s allowed us to be is very confident when we offer somebody to say, we’re offering the right human, the right person. It’s a great fit. So, I think that’s allowed us, if it’s to be aggressive, it’s to be aggressive. If it’s to be early, be early. But I think, for the most part, it’s helped us be close to right.

And you’re never going to be 100% right in this, but you try to be as close as you possibly can. And, again, a lot of credit to Derek, a lot of credit to our recruiting staff to do a lot of the legwork early on so we can make those really important decisions, and try to make them with pretty good speed.