Iowa State Cyclones College Football Pregame Quote, 10/29/2024

On walk-on LB Rylan Barnes

I would hope it epitomizes what our program has been about over the nine years that we have been here. I feel like the thing that we have talked about a lot in our football program is that you are going to get your opportunity, you’re going to get your moment. That’s usually what college football is about. The reality becomes, do you take advantage of your moment? Sometimes you may only get one. Do you take your shot? Some are fortunate to get multitude of different moments.

I think what has been really fun about Rylan, like Kyle Kempt in 17, you get this opportunity, you get this shot and you have to maximize it. I think there is so many of the young men that we have coached here over the nine year career that have gotten their moment or an opportunity. Or a special teams.

It’s like Jake Hummel and how his trajectory grew here in our football program. I think Gerry Vaughn is so similar, he got that opportunity. Beau’s freshman year. How Beau came onto the scene. We’ve been really fortunate to have great young men, great character.

Picking up rocks, he’s been the rock a little bit. We were uneasy for a little while. When he stepped in and became the rock. The way he’s played has been playing really, really good football for us. He’s strong, he’s physical, he’s powerful at the point of attack. He’s a really good dropper in terms of playing pass coverage. He’s a guy that has continued to get better.

Like I said, when our story is over some day here, I hope this is a story that resonates with what this era was about, reaching your full potential, becoming the best version of yourself. I feel like Rylan is living that moment right now.

On comparing Rocco Becht to Brock Purdy

Number one, I would say the quarterback position is so tough to play. I don’t care what level it is. But I think as you grow into Power Four football, people are writing about it and everybody has comment about the sport to the professional level.

I think that position is so much more mental than it is even physical. I think one of the things you did identify early with Rocco is who he was as a human being. And who he was as a young man.

If you said, ‘What were Brock’s great traits?’ I think I remember talking about this a lot with Brock and his parents, Brock was never trying to be anybody but himself. He didn’t come in here and try to be like his hero Dan Marino. He wasn’t like, “Ah, I want to be like Dan Marino.’ He was always just trying to be the best version of Brock.

I think what’s been really fun about Rocco is that he’s been that same guy everyday he’s been in our football program. He’s never come in and said, ‘I want to be like Brock Purdy or playing X, Y, Z. Or, man, I want to be like my dad. I just want to be the best that I can possibly be.’

I think when you do that, you have that kind of character, humility what happens is people are drawn to you. I think that’s the one thing Brock had the unique ability to do and certainly what Rocco is doing right now.

On Becht being able to recalibrate after a bad moment

Yeah, I think it’s huge. You’ve gotten two years of it. You saw last year, at Ohio, his coming out party. He’s puking his guts out at halftime and can’t even go in and get correction. He can hardly walk to the field in the third quarter.

He literally plays so well that he gives us a chance on a day we didn’t play great football to win the football. You’ve seen him in his moments, and I think we talk here, and we’ve really researched this, life and sport is like the law of progression. It never goes perfectly up. You’re going to have blips along the way.

The great ones, the great people, the great teams, the great players, they’re blip is a small blip. And then, bam they have the ability to get themselves back on the trajectory of great.

I think that’s one of the things that has been fun to watch about Rocco. Knowing who he is as a human, knowing what he stands for, a mistake doesn’t knock him off kilter. A mistake may in the moment, but he’s got this unique ability to get himself back on track. It’s a unique credit to who he is, his family, how he’s grown up. We didn’t do that, he’s done that. It’s been really fun to watch.

On the team having its moment in November

Whether you’re 5-2, 4-3, 7-0 it kind of goes out of the window. You’re defined by how you play in November. You want to be in a position here to be in the mix and be where you want to be.

I think the fun thing for us is that if you look at our nine years, seven of them, we have been right here. We have been right in this moment, right in this wheelhouse. The reality of it is, the years where you feel like you reach your full potential you were actually able to be your best in the month of November. And you were able to truly separate yourself as a great football team.

I think that’s the great challenge for this team. I think one of the nice things is that we have enough guys that have been through those good times and bad times that we’ve got scars and wisdom of what has allowed us to play good in November a couple of times and what has not allowed us to play how we need to.

How do we take a step back last week? Reflect on that. Make sure we’re aligned correctly. How do we do a great job of setting ourselves for what is a critical time in any football team’s journey. It’s who are you when you finish this thing in November and what do you become?

I think those things are exciting for us, but what a great challenge.

On what past experience can apply to this year

Yeah, I still think a lot of it still goes back to, believe me I would put myself in this category, is leadership. I know I’ve said this, the great John Maxwell quote, everything does fall and rise with leadership. That is so critical.

When our leadership has been right, we have risen to become our best. That doesn’t mean we are perfect, but we’ve become our best. Maybe when our leadership wasn’t where it needed to be, again, it has to start with me and globally or coaches and senior leaders, when we’ve been at our best I feel like we’ve been able to achieve. And when we haven’t been our best I feel like we got to what we had the ability to become.

On how Iowa State turned returning production into success this season

Yeah, I would just say the word humility would come into play. I think any time you get experience ego can set in and say experience is all you need. Or you have enough humility to ask what you did well and what did I not do well? How do I make sure what I didn’t well, how do I fill in those gaps?

That was really our mantra coming back in January a year ago. A lot of guys got an opportunity to play. A lot of guys were young. Whether should have played or shouldn’t have played or ready to play or not, you had to play. You garnered this great experience. But lets have enough humility to say, ‘What did you do well with that experience? And what did you not?’

It’s no different for us coaches. ‘What did we do well with the players that came back and played? What did we not do well? How do we make sure we fill in those gaps?’ As I’ve watched this team this fall, I think one of the things I’m proud of this coaching staff so far is we had enough humility to look at that each game week we’ve played.

Being able to self access. If you don’t, I don’t know how you grow. I think that’s been the biggest thing for us. So, I think, the humility and curiosity to grow have really helped this grow.

On the humility of players to sacrifice other opportunities to stay at Iowa State

I do think our sport is still about team. And we live in a world that is not about team anymore, which s really unfortunate. And a society and collegian athletics used to be about team.

I think the people who can cultivate team, it’s not about you, it’s about us and we. I think great things can really happen. Our sport demands it. Our sport is different than any other sport, and it’s not belittling to any other sport, this is still the greatest team sport in the history of sport.

Because you have 11 people on offense, 11 people on defense, 11 people on special teams, you have to play great team to be able to win games. It’s not just talent. So, I think what it emphasizes here is that team still has mattered and we haven’t lost our way in that.

I still think young people want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. And parents want young people to be a part of that. I think we’ve been able to forge that together here. Not to say that we have been perfect or that we have been miraculous in any shape or form because there’s great people doing that across college football and college athletics.

But I do think that emphasis is what we’ve always sold here. We haven’t waivered from that. I think you guys know me enough. It’s not like we’re out there able to sell much more than that to be quite honest. And the hope that we can develop you be your best if you come be a part of our team.

Those two things really matter and that mattered here for us. We’re really grateful the young men that have choose to stay here ‚Äì and I think you guys know that story enough ‚Äì there’s a multitude of guys that had the ability, certainly, financially to enhance themselves but maybe the lessons learned will set themselves us for the rest of their lives to be the best human they can possibly be.

We’re grateful and we don’t take their loyalty to us for granted for sure.

On how Behren Morton being questionable changes Iowa State’s prep for Texas Tech

I think one of the things that I’ve been so impressed with Texas Tech over the years and honestly since coach has been there, they have gone through some quarterbacks. I mean if you look at 22 and 23 they have had injuries and had to persevere through it and they have.

Even on Saturday. I have been so impressed with the young man who has been their quarterback and he goes out at halftime and is 9-9 right down the field. And this young freshman comes in. I think it just says how well dedicated they are to teaching their system.

They have a unique system in what they do offensively. I think they’ve done a great job recruiting there. And I think their confidence, no matter who is playing quarterback, they can go in and run their system and be flawless at it.

I give coach a lot of credit. They do a great job on offense and they make you, they challenge you in a multitude of different ways. But no matter who has been the quarterback over the years, boys, they have been able to flawlessly execute what they ask those guys to do.

On what he has seen from the OL

I would just say that group has grown each week. I think that group has been challenged at times. We have had a lot of injuries in that group this season, to the mid point of the season. I think guys have stepped in there and bee able to answer their opportunities to get into the game for the best interest of the team and play good football. I think the one nice thing about a bye week is one area that you can set yourself is fundamentally.

There is no greater position that has fundamental excellence than what you ask an offensive line to be able to do. For us to have an ability to reset ourselves fundamentally in what we need to do to be our best, you talk about your punch, your first two steps, your footwork, your ability to communicate through the game. I think all those things were really beneficial for that group.

And, again, hopefully give us an opportunity grow forward because I think we said this at the beginning of the year, that group’s growth will be a huge, huge piece of how this football team plays. Especially in those championship moments.

On the injury report

I think, obviously, a week off was such a pivotal time for our football team. I think when you look at us, we’ll probably be as close to as strong as we have been since the start of the Arkansas State game. Which is huge to at least get to that point, I thought, was really big for our team.

Ben’s situation probably was the biggest win of Saturday night that we had. It didn’t look great on Saturday. But we were able to x-rays, MRIs and all those things, we’re going to get Ben back. I think even to the point where potentially this week. We’ll see if that’s the case. He was out at practice today, was able to do some things, which I thought was really beneficial. But I think if it’s not this week, it’ll be week to week from there. I’m really excited about where he’s at and he’s such a critical piece to our football team.

You talk about some of those guys. Bacon, I think, is trending in a positive way. I think there is hope that as we get to December, there is is potential that a guy like Caleb can get himself back on the football field.

I think Carson Willich is in the same boat. I think more probably in a December timeline. January timeline.

I think the guy of that group that is closest to returning is probably Will McLaughlin. I think Will is a guy that hopefully some time in this block where that we get a chance to get Will back on the football field. I think it would be huge for Will and obviously a huge lift for our football team as well.

On what he looks for in recruiting QBs

Everybody has asked me that question and when I talk about the position, the first thing if you have to define our program. You have to define the character of what this program has stood for.

And to me those value system, people have heard me talk recruiting in here, it’s character, got to love football and obviously you have to understand the value of an education. You have to be ablet to lead in all three of those areas.

When you are the quarterback, you have to live it. You have to embody it. Every aspect of it. Because that’s what I believe in. You have to come here and we have to find a young man that believes in those same value systems. If not, I think it’s really hard for the head coach and quarterback to be aligned on the same page.

In a program like this, I’ve always talked about alignment here. When we have been aligned from administration to football program to players in the program, when there has been great alignment we’ve been really special.

I think part of that is the quarterback aligns a lot with the players. He just does. He catches the ball, he’s got the ball in his hands, he’s got to make great decisions. I would say from a personal standpoint, that is first.

I would say the second piece of it is when you’re looking for talent, you’re looking for guys that can get the job done. I still think leadership is critical. I think number one, would I follow this player? Would I want to be around this player in the locker room? Number two, can he use his feet? I think today in football, you have to have some mobility to extend plays and give yourself and ability to be successful and then are you an accurate passer?

I think those are still critical football tangible pieces of the recruiting process. But I think those two things are critical.

On combining humility with experience

I think the reality of college football today, and I just had a great conversation about this, I think if you think about what is going on in our kid’s lives right now, take the football piece out.

You have transfer portal coming. Every college football program in America, that’s going to explode in a month. So, how much of the locker room is thinking about that? Which you can say what you want, every locker room has guys thinking about that.

Two, the season is long. January to wherever we are right now, almost November, that’s long. So mentally it’s exhausting.

Number three, you have good players that are like ‘Should I stay or should I go? Should I go to the NFL? I have my own goals and aspirations.’

So I think the reality of that endurance to stay the course, all this is easy to sit up her eand talk about it, but if you really look at it what you guys are writing on social media, what everybody is writing about these guys on social media. ‘I have a good game, I have a bad game. What happens?’

Can you stay the course? Not many can. I mean, how many kids actually could? I mean could we have done that at 18-22? Probably would have been really tough. So, I think what we are asking these kids is really hard and really challenging.

I think that’s why you have to break it down. We talk a lot about what are our kids thinking. First of all, where are they at? If they just sit here and we ram it down their throat about football, you’re missing the boat. These kids have real lives. Our coaches have real lives.

They have a lot of stuff going on. I think the reality of it is first and foremost there is a lot going on. There is a lot challenging these young people right now. And challenging our coaches and everybody else. I think having the ability to take a step back and treat the person first before we attack the team and before we attack this week’s game.

If we don’t think about it in those steps, then I think we misstepped. Believe me, as the leader, I’ve misstepped plenty of times because you’re so excited about the result. But the reality of it is if those other things aren’t aligned, you have no shot.

We’re fortunate we have great leadership in terms of our coaches and even these young people as young men, we have great senior leaders that understand these are great young men and we can’t leave anybody behind. Because if we had left Rylan behind, we’d be in a tough spot.

So, that’s all foreign. That’s anti what we’re supposed to do in our world right now. We’re supposed to worry about the result and worry about all these other things. To me, that’s why I’ve always felt it’s bigger than winning and losing. It’s how you do, what’s your process and, man, can we master ourselves along the way?

We try to work really hard at that. And we’re still not perfect. Never will be. But we’re trying to chase it to be our best. I think it’s a great point though.

On chance to go 8-0 for the first time in school history

I don’t know if it would mean much. Again to me my biggest chase is how we finish the season. What kind of team do we become through November? We’ve done a lot of firsts here that haven’t been done. And that’s all awesome.

But the reality of it is you’re defined by how you finish. And what you do to finish this thing out. Winning is something you want to do and that will be a huge piece of our success. But I think I got back to how we do it, the type of team we are on Saturday and how we play the game.

I know I said it last week, whether we won or lost the football game last wee against Central Florida, I was really proud of how our kids battled and played. We could have played better at times to make sure it isn’t as close of a game as it was at the end of the game.

But the reality is that’s the journey we are on. Those are all great things along the way. And I apprecate those at some point. But the reality of it is we have a big month of November, we have big games coming. Our kids have done a great job of putting ourselves in a great position to play important games in November. We’re going to have to demand to get ourselves better. That’s the great challenge in front of our team right