Williams Blog: Persistence pays for Rhoads in recruiting

During one of, if not the most impressive stretches of Iowa State football recruiting in history, one aspect of the process has become crystal clear. In the competitive, grueling and sometimes cruel world of college football recruiting, persistence pays.

That’s especially been the case for Iowa State over the last month as two of the premier commitments in its 2013 class have flipped from other programs. 

It all began with linebacker Alton Meeks (Orlando, Fla. Dr. Phillips), who had originally committed to Cincinnati. Then we saw the same from the top prospect in the state of Iowa this year, West Des Moines Valley offensive lineman Jake Campos, who originally committed to Missouri.

In post-commitment interviews with Cyclone Fanatic, each prospect essentially said the same thing about their recruiting process.

“Iowa State just kept recruiting me really hard and stayed with me,” said Meeks, who according to Rivals.com, also had offers from the likes of Florida State, Arizona State, UConn, Duke, Illinois, Michigan State, Minnesota, N.C. State, Pittsburgh, South Florida, Temple and Wake Forest.

"He (Paul Rhoads) stuck with me through all of the recruiting," said Campos. "He didn’t back down one day. He was always positive. He was supportive of my decision (to commit to Missouri) but said ‘we’re not going to let you go that easily.’ I have a great relationship with him right now. There’s no head coach in the nation I’d rather play for."

On the trail, Paul Rhoads and his staff have been persistent and so far while putting the 2013 class together, that has paid. 

Two commits having second thoughts

Remember that competitive, grueling and sometimes cruel recruiting world that I outlined earlier? It works against Iowa State too. Two current Cyclone commits have reportedly taken visits elsewhere recently. 

— Accoridng to the Twitter feed of 247 Sports national recruiting analyst Brian Perroni, Iowa Western Community College running back Aaron Wimberly is currently on a visit to TCU. Wimberly is reportedly considering Boise State and TCU, along with Iowa State at this time. 

— According to the Twitter feed of Rivals.com’s Gabe DeArmond, Tampa, (Fla.) Gaither defensive end Ernest Suttles recently visited Missouri.