RECRUITING: Lipsey receives first offer of Otzelberger era at ISU

Ames’ Tamin Lipsey makes a jump shot during 4A quarterfinals between Ames and Council Bluffs Lincoln on March 10, 2021. (Oliva Sun, USA Today Sports Images)

The first priority recruit of T.J. Otzelberger’s tenure at Iowa State is a familiar one.

Otzelberger reaffirmed Iowa State’s scholarship offer to Ames High School star Tamin Lipsey during a Zoom call on Saturday, making the 6-foot-2, three-star prospect the first prospect to receive an offer from the Cyclones’ new head coach.

Otzelberger’s early-pitch to Lipsey has centered largely around the fact he’s the staff’s first offer and will be the staff’s top priority moving into the 2022 recruiting cycle, a source told Cyclone Fanatic. The early focus on Lipsey also confirms Otzelberger’s statement in his introductory press conference that the Midwest, and specifically the state of Iowa, will play heavily into the new staff’s quest to return Iowa State to its prior level of success.

Lipsey averaged 16.3 points, 5.0 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game to earn consensus first-team All-State honors this past season for the Little Cyclones while helping Ames High reach the Class 4A state semifinals.

He is considered the No. 172 player in the country, No. 27 point guard and No. 1 player in Iowa for the 2022 recruiting cycle, according to 247Composite. Once considered one of the top players in the class nationally, Lipsey’s recruiting metrics took a hit while he sat out most of last year due to an ACL tear suffered in June 2019 that forced him to miss his entire sophomore season.

Former Iowa State head coach Steve Prohm made the Cyclones the first program to offer Lipsey when they did so in June of 2018, prior to his freshman season at Ames High. Nebraska, with former Iowa State head coach/player and Ames native Fred Hoiberg, joined the Lipsey sweepstakes roughly 10 months later then Minnesota extended an offer last June.

Stay tuned to Cyclone Fanatic for more on this story.