Jimmy Rogers and Iowa State made a calculated call in targeting Arkansas State transfer quarterback Jaylen Raynor, and the former Sun Belt standout is already making strong impressions beyond the football program itself.
Jamie Pollard, the athletic director at Iowa State, took to X on Thursday to share an unexpected visit by the three-star transfer to his office.
Raynor and Oklahoma State transfer Zane Flores are the two quarterbacks Rogers brought to Ames through the portal this offseason, and on Wednesday, ESPN tapped Raynor as the Cyclones’ projected starter for Week 1.
Campbell pulled true freshman Alex Manske and former Cyclones 2026 commit Kase Evans with him to Pennsylvania.
I’m aware Raynor isn’t the first college football player to go out of his way to introduce himself. Still, in today’s climate of freshmen with agents and some quarterbacks arriving at their seventh school in 2026, this move tells Iowa State that Raynor doesn’t take this Power 4 opportunity lightly.
It wouldn’t take much thumbing around his iPhone for Raynor to figure out just how much progress Matt Campbell made at Iowa State since 2016, and Rogers clearly sold him on continuing that mission after a whopping 55 players turned their backs on the team after Campbell jumped to Penn State.
Raynor, an ESPN three-star recruit in the Class of 2023, received seven offers – including Air Force, Army and Navy – upon graduating from East Forsyth High School in Kernersville, North Carolina. Still, Raynor opted for Butch Jones and Arkansas State: an outfit that won nine total games in the three seasons preceding his arrival as a freshman in 2023.
Leading Arkansas to 6-7 in his first year, Raynor became the first true-freshman quarterback to win the Sun Belt’s Freshman Quarterback of the Year award since 2007; He’d throw for 3,361 total yards and two winning seasons with the Red Wolves, and opt for the portal for his final year of eligibility.
The silver lining to the transfer portal, which allows dudes to prove their worth long after the high school recruiting train has left the station. Season-altering quarterback talent exists at the Greater 5 level, just ask former Kansas and North Texas alum Jason Bean.
All of this to say, I don’t know whether Raynor wins the job over Flores for Iowa State’s home opener against Southeast Missouri on Saturday, Sept. 5. But you gotta smile at this move if you’re a Cyclones fan after everything you’ve been through this offseason. Light at the end of the tunnel.
