Iowa State senior offensive lineman Derek Schweiger (No. 64) signals for a touchdown as sophomore running back Jirehl Brock runs into the end zone in the second quarter against TCU on Friday, Nov. 26, 2021, at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames.
Iowa State’s offense is being forced to make a significant adjustment ahead of Wednesday’s Cheez-It Bowl match-up with Clemson in Orlando.
Luckily, the Cyclones have had plenty of time to prepare for a new face starting at running back after Breece Hall announced he’d forego his remaining eligibility, including the bowl game, and enter his name into the 2022 NFL Draft.
That means it is “next man up” time — and that man is Jirehl Brock.
“Certainly, we feel like we have options, but Jirehl [Brock] is a guy that’s played a lot of football for us,” Iowa State offensive coordinator Tom Manning said on Sunday. “Certainly, Breece [Hall] has carried the football a lot more, as we all know.”
To say Hall has carried the ball more is a slight understatement considering he’s been handed the ball 673 more times than Brock since the duo arrived on campus as members of the 2019 recruiting class.
Still, Brock has been solid when given opportunities. The redshirt sophomore from Illinois has turned his 45 career carries into 226 yards and a touchdown with a 5.0 yards per carry average.
That one touchdown was a 40-yard sprint to the end zone in Iowa State’s regular-season finale against TCU. He’s also caught eight passes for 54 yards and a score.
Clearly, Brock is a capable player and is expected to be a feature piece of Iowa State’s offense in the years ahead.
It also seems as though Iowa State will not shy away from burning the redshirts of true freshmen Deon Silas and Eli Sanders in this game.
Both players have already appeared in the NCAA allowed four games, but, in today’s age of college football, it would be hard to keep a guy off the field if they can help the team when a significant number of players, especially at a position like running back, will find their way into the transfer portal or move onto the NFL before their five years with the program are up anyway.
It remains to be seen exactly how Iowa State will handle the balancing act at the running back spot, but the one thing we do know is whoever steps into that void will have some massive shoes to fill.
“I think we have to get into the football game,” Manning said. “See where
we are at in terms of handing the football off and how much we can handle and make some decisions based on that.”
