KNOXVILLE, Iowa — While Iowa State football has been hot on the recruiting trail over the last few months, happenings for current players haven’t been quite so fast paced. That will change next week when most of the team will arrive in Ames to start their summer workout plans.
Matt Campbell and his staff will have eight weeks to work with players before the start of fall camp, and being that it is the first summer session of Campbell’s tenure, it is a pretty important eight weeks.
“We’ll start Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, lifting and running,” Campbell said during the Cyclone Tailgate Tour stop in Knoxville on Monday. “We’ll take that time when we get the opportunity to work with our kids a little bit and use that time throughout these next eight weeks and try to do a great job of it. I think most importantly, lifting, getting in great physical shape and getting ourselves in great condition for fall camp. It’s huge for us.”
The month of June will be a busy one for the Cyclone coaching staff while they balance the current team with camps — in Ames or otherwise. Iowa State will host nine camps in Ames throughout June, plus an Eastern Iowa/Illinois showcase in Dubuque and a Western Iowa/Omaha showcase in Council Bluffs.
They will also be involved in a number of satellite camps, including the one with Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh in Addison, Texas on June 13.
“I think that’s what’s still interesting about recruiting. It’s never an exact science,” Campbell said. “I think kids continue to develop and I think that’s where sometimes coaches have gotten lost in the recruiting process. I think even though we’ve certainly gotten off to a jump in terms of recruiting, we’re still always evaluating. Really seeing young men continue to develop themselves. Really, that’s what’s fun about this month of June. You get to go out, you get to watch a ton of camps and watch a ton of kids perform. You can see what strides have they made and really carry that into their senior year.”
Of course, they will be hot on the trail for the future too.
“I think we’ll always still continue to find guys and certainly evaluate the young guys coming up as well,” Campbell said. “2018, 2019 guys.”
