Notebook: Jarvis West a bright spot in Cyclone offense

AMES — It took Jarvis West 20 games in an Iowa State uniform to find the endzone. Now that he’s been there, good luck trying to keep the little guy out. 

In a season that the Cyclones have struggled with consistency on the offensive side of the football, West has been a major bright spot over the last two weeks, scoring four touchdowns in two games. West caught three touchdown passes in a win over Baylor and ran for a 19-yard score in a loss to Oklahoma. 

West’s recent success comes as no surprise to his teammates. 

"Jarvis is as quick of a person as I have ever seen in my life," said running back Jeff Woody. "He can go from a full sprint to a dead stop to a full sprint in two steps. It is unreal.”

Safety Durrell Givens, who has defended West in practice, agrees. 

“I’ve played Jarvis and when I see Jarvis in the open-field, I’m like ‘oh man,’" said Givens with a smile on his face. 

West isn’t the only young Cyclone wide receiver that has thrived over the last few weeks. There’s also redshirt freshman Quenton Bundrage, who only caught one pass in the first six games of the season. He’s caught 11 in the last three games. 

“Bundrage as a redshirt freshman, he looked like he was going to catch on right away but it is always different from practice to the games," said center Tom Farniok. "He is figuring it out and he is still very young. I think he’ll have a very good career when it is all said and done.”

A combination of factors has led to these underclassmen seeing more responsibilities on their plates. Guys like Aaron Horne have struggled recently. Josh Lenz has been injured, etc. But seeing explosiveness and play making ability from two young wide receivers is awfully encouraging for the future of Iowa State football. 

Disciplined football

Did you know: That the Cyclones have only committed 27 penalties for 202 yards on the season? That average of 33.7 penalty yards per game ranks Iowa State second in the Big 12 in penalty yardage. 

“We’ve always taught with discipline and practiced with discipline and not allowed those things to slide," said Paul Rhoads in his Monday press conference. "There are consequences for that kind of play. I think we are smarter. I think our approach to the game is where it should be. That’s reflected in our lack of penalties.”

Jansen Watson’s status

Iowa State is calling the injury to junior cornerback Jansen Watson an MCL sprain…or strain. 

"I don’t know what the difference is," said Rhoads. "It was loose but from the time that it happened to the end of the game, it had already tightened up a little bit. They are very hopeful and we’ll treat the heck out of him.”

Rhoads labeled Watson’s status for Saturday’s date with the Longhorns as "day-to-day."

“He was out there on the field yesterday and learning the game plan with hopes as we go one day at a time that he’ll be ready.”