Iowa State picked up its latest 2026 commitment over the weekend from Brayden Thomas, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound safety out of Lakewood, Ohio.
Out of everything that secured the commitment for the program that finished at No. 15 in the country, less of it had to do with football.
“Just talking with coach Campbell,” Thomas said. “I really like (the staff), and they were making everything a top priority for me and stuff like that. When I got there, I liked everything about it.”
The conversation that Thomas had with head coach Matt Campbell while he was in Ohio to visit played a big role in landing the prospects commitment.
“The biggest thing to me was that it wasn’t just about football for him,” Thomas said. “He asked a lot of questions about how my life was outside of football. I’ve talked to many different coaches and he asked me a ton of questions that no one ever asked me before.”
Thomas is rated as the No. 51 safety in the class and chose the Cyclones over offers from Toledo, Akron, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Miami-Ohio, UMass, Eastern Michigan and Kent State.
Safeties coach Deon Broomfield forecasts Thomas as a field safety on Iowa State’s defense, and also played a big role in landing the Ohio talent.
“From a position coach standpoint, coach Broomfield was the only coach to contact me and set up a date to introduce himself to my mom,” Thomas said. “That meant a lot to me.”
Thomas was in town over the weekend for Iowa State’s second round of Junior Days – an annual pair of recruiting weekends the staff hosts.
The family atmosphere stuck out to Thomas.
“It shocked me,” Thomas said. “I wasn’t thinking about the facilities or anything like that, but the thing that stood out to me the most was the people there. Everyone’s friendly. And the basketball game was packed and sold out. It was like something I’ve never seen before.”
Part of the visit included a trip to Hilton Coliseum to see the No. 3 Cyclones MBB team take on K-State, and the support fans had despite a losing result was notable for him.
“Even though they lost, everyone was still cheering like that,” Thomas said. “It was cool to see that the fans were still there for the team, no matter the result.”
But the whole weekend made it official for Thomas, who’s now one of seven commitments to the 2026 class in Ames.
“Coach Campbell coming down to Cleveland to see me and the conversation we had – it was just very meaningful,” Thomas said. “When I got to Iowa State and finished my visit, I knew that was the coach I wanted to play for.