Jarvis West politicked to throw touchdown pass

Remember that 29-yard touchdown pass that Jarvis West threw to Allen Lazard in Iowa State’s 32-28 loss to Kansas State last Saturday? Of course you do. T’was a thing of beauty. 

That was supposed to be Quenton Bundrage showing off his arm though.  

During fall camp, Bundrage, who tore his ACL in a week 1 loss to North Dakota State, was the guy who was supposed to throw that pass and West was supposed to catch it – not Allen Lazard.

So when Iowa State installed the play into its offense for a week 2 matchup with Kansas State, a quarterbacking tryout of sorts occurred.

“Obviously he (Bundrage) went down,” West explained. “I told them I could throw it." 

Apparently, so did Dondre Daley.

“Dondre throws a nice ball too,” West said. “We haven’t seen it in a game but in practice he throws a nice ball.”

As the story goes, West, Daley and others politicked to be the “quarterback” on this double reverse pass that is featured in Mark Mangino’s back of tricks.

West, who played quarterback sparingly in high school, ultimately got the job done but an additional tidbit to this story is notable. It’s a darn good thing that Allen Lazard is 6-foot-5. 

“Just for like a split second (he thought he had overthrown Lazard) but I figured he was tall enough for anywhere I threw it he could go up and get it,” West said. “We practiced it all week so when he called it, I was excited. I’d finally get to throw it. I saw Allen and I just threw it to him.” 

For the record, West’s current quarterback rating is 673.6. Not bad Jarvis. Not bad.