It was great chatting with Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell about how he’s adjusted to the Big 12 conference and his thoughts on the 2017 recruiting class (2:10). We also discussed his quarterback situation and how he wants to utilize Jacob Park and Joel Lanning (7:42), how Mike Warren can bounce back in 2017 (10:25), along with the return of Allen Lazard (12:55). Enjoy!
On his QB situation Campbell said, “I think right now, fair or unfair to say, I think we’d be cheating ourselves if both guys didn’t have the chance to be starters on our football team. Now is that at quarterback, is it giving a guy like Joel, who’s certainly skilled in a multitude of different ways the opportunity to grow and expand his role on our football team. I think we’d be short changing our football team if we didn’t think outside the box a little bit.
I think we go in with Jacob as a guy who has the ability to distance himself as the quarterback starter and then continue to find ways to allow Joel Lanning to be on the field and help our football team have success.”
On running back Mike Warren looking to bounce back from his sophomore season, Matt Campbell said, “Mike had a lot placed on his shoulders at a really young age. I think sometimes when you have success early in your career it can force you to step away from what you are and the consistency that you’re progressing. I think Mike learned some really valuable lessons towards the end of his red shirt freshman year into his red shirt sophomore year and through the year last year. I think a lot of credit has to go to Mike Warren because sometime we see 18-22 year olds and when things don’t go their way they decide to take the easy way out or do something different. Mike’s whole mindset has never been that. It’s ‘hey i know there are a lot of areas I need to continue to work on and grow.’ And Mike’s already had a great start to his offseason, almost a totally different football player from the guy we had a year ago, which is really exciting for all of us and really tells you a lot about the character of who Mike Warren is.”
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