Rhoads recommended football call-ups to Hoiberg

By Chris Williams, CycloneFanatic.com Publisher

Fred Hoiberg called Paul Rhoads on Sunday night in need of a big favor.

Hoiberg needed to borrow a couple of Rhoads’ players…For the rest of the season.

“He mentioned Drew Mitchell as a guy who played a little bit in junior college,” Hoiberg said after Iowa State’s 72-63 win over Northern Illinois.  “We brought him in for a workout this morning.”

And?

“I ran him through a ball handling drill where they went in and finished against a pad. Drew Mitchell went three times and said ‘hey coach, can I get a drink?’”

“He wasn’t in the greatest basketball shape,” said Hoiberg.

Mitchell did play basketball for Iowa Central during the 2006-07 season, where he averaged 2.1 points and 1.3 rebounds per game.

Along with Mitchell, reserve sophomore quarterback Austin McBeth suited up for the Cyclones in last night’s win. McBeth’s basketball background dates back to his high school days in Wayland, Iowa. Both players played one minute of action in their Cyclone debuts.

Keep your expectations low regarding these two gridiron warriors Cyclone fans.

“We need bodies for simple drills like running the three-man weave,” Hoiberg said. “Those guys are both world-class kids. That is the big thing that Paul said.”

The Cyclones are experiencing some major depth issues right now. DeMarcus Phillips transferred away from the program last week. On Monday, Hoiberg announced that freshman post Jordan Railey had been suspended for a violation of team rules. Junior guard Scott Christopherson missed Monday night’s game with an elbow injury.

Iowa State defeated Northern Illinois with only six scholarship players on Monday night. Red-shirt freshman walk-on Bubu Palo played 30 minutes in the win.