RECRUITING: Iowa State Lands 2026 Punter Lucas Tenbrock

Iowa State lands 2026 Chris Sailer's No. 1 ranked Punter Lucas Tenbrock, their first specialist of the class.

MBB: Who Should Iowa State Want Their Basketball Rivalries To Be?

With just three home and home games each year in Big 12 play moving forward, who should Iowa State fans want to play?

I've got my list of 1-15 here. Would love to know your thoughts!

P Lucas Tenbrock Commits!

Looks like the punter for the class. Same HS as the three Barrett brothers.

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RECRUITING: Iowa State earns Commitment from 3-Star Safety Bryson Williams

Iowa State lands Bryson Williams and now has commitments from 6 of the top 10 players in Nebraska for 2026.

S Bryson Williams Commits!

Fast, long, rangy safety. Track sprinter, 10.88 100m.

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Sukup Indy race

Hy-Vee sent us an email informing us that we won two club passes for the 12th and 13th. We never signed up for anything, but we do shop at Hy-Vee occasionally and are perk members. My nephew races a IMCA Modified here in eastern Iowa, and I help with the car, so my wife and I are both race fans. I've watched Indy races on TV, but I've never attended one in person, so we decided to accept the passes and may go to the event.

Is it a good event?

Thanks!
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Williams & Blum: Welcoming Jake Brend to Cyclone Fanatic

Chris Williams welcomes new Chief Content Producer Jake Brend to the team by digging into the state of media, his past as a Cyclone fan, and what he will bring to Cyclone Fanatic. All this and more presented by Mechdyne.


CBS ranks CFB coaches

CMC is rated the top coach in Big 12 and #10 in CFB.


Interesting note on Scott Frost, he has been a head coach for 7 seasons and only has one winning season (which happened to be 13-0).

Alli Ragan St John appreciation thread

Today Alli ran a clinic for my Lewis Central girls wrestling program, and I just want to let everyone know what an amazing job she did!!! She is such a valuable asset to Cyclone wrestling and CRTC we should all be very grateful for her!

She made 40 LC girls wrestlers better today, and I can’t thank her enough!!

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Home Assistant Automaton

We're moving into a new house and I want to start using Home Assistant. Looking for what type of setup to run.

I have a Windows 11 NUC just laying around that I could use.

I have a bunch of smart lights. Some Hue.
The new house has Ecobee thermostat
I have a couple of Google nest Cameras
Today I use Google Assistant to control things and run routines.

I'm going to be buying probably 8 smart blinds from SmartWings. They are giving me the option of ZigBee or ZWave Plus.

Would this be a good use case for Home Assistant?
Should I use my NUC for this purpose? Will i have to constantly be updating it or is this set it and forget it?
Should I use Zigbee or ZWave?
Anything else I'm missing?

Williams & Blum: CF’s big move, comparing this summer to last in anticipation for ISU athletics

Chris Williams & Brent Blum discuss the state of local media and Cyclone Fanatic’s big announcement that Jake Brend is joining our team as a content creator. The guys discuss where 2025/26 ranks in terms of anticipation for Iowa State athletics compared to last offseason. Is Bill Self cooked? Is Kelvin Sampson somehow underrated? The Matt Campbell / Pat Fitzgerald comp and more, all presented by Mechdyne.


Please welcome Jake Brend to CF

Please help me welcome Jake Brend to our team at Cyclone Fanatic. Jake started with us full-time today. Think about what he has done for local TV covering the Cyclones over the years. Now he will do that digitally for CF - on steroids. We are heavily investing in our video and podcast production going forward. Of course, Rob Gray will still be on the ground for us in terms of writing about the Cyclones.

Youth Sports Costs

I have 2 young kids, 7 and 5, and am super excited that the young one will be out of daycare and going to kindergarten in the fall so I should be able to save quite a bit more money. I mention this to other people and they say well it just goes from daycare expenses to sports/activities costs. I know that these cost more, but it seems like all you hear about is kids doing tournaments/travel ball all the time. My neighbors are gone every weekend during the summer for baseball tournaments all over the state. There seems like there are competitions all over the place and that is the new norm even for young kids. I heard a commercial today for Des Moines softball tryouts for what I am assuming are "elite" teams that start at an 8 and under division. I can't believe that they have tryouts for specific teams at that age. Are the days of pee wee baseball with just kids from the local schools or other sports like that without having to travel all over the state done? I live in Ankeny so it is hard to believe that there isn't enough kids that they have to travel all over to play teams. I am all about kids playing sports but I really don't want to go crazy competitive and cost wise especially for super young kids. Any input from other Fanatics on this issue?

RECRUITING STORIES: Ajibola Afuye & Brysen Wessell

Our guy Jackson Pence together some recruiting news for you all.

Check them out! Enjoy!


https://cyclonefanatic.com/2025/06/recruiting-cyclones-earn-commitment-from-de-ajibola-afuye/

DE Ajibola Afuye Commits

Camp offer. Athletic rush end.

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DL Brysen Wessell Commits

Looks like the DE/DT combo of the class. Nice!

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Uncommitted June ‘25 Recruits

Quick Overview:

The (known) Official Visits who are still uncommitted 6/14. Will update as needed. Class of ‘26.

6/17 Visitor
TE Evan Jacobson 6’7” 220 Waukee (IA) HS
About a dozen visits total, going back a couple of months. At ND this weekend, Miami 6/15, then ISU, theoretically followed by KState (6/20) and KU* (6/23).
ISU legacy.

*With 6/6 visitor Kevin
Sullivan committed to them, KU now has two TE’s in the class.

6/13 Visitors
DE Ajibola Afuye 6’4” 234 Lake Elmo (MN) Stillwater HS
Camp offer, quick visit scheduled 6/13. Currently no other P4 offers or visits.

LB Kasen Thomas 6’2” 217 Sioux City (IA) Heelan HS
Arizona, Nebraska and now ISU. Iowa scheduled 6/20.

S Bryson Williams 6’4” 175 Omaha (NE) Westside HS
Visited Washington State, Vandy and now ISU. No other OV’s currently scheduled.

TE Ian Premer 6’5” 225 Great Bend (KS) HS
Visited KU* (6/6), ISU now, scheduled for ND (6/17), and KState (6/20).
Good relationship with Mouser & Co.

*see above.

6/6 Visitors
CB Darion Jones 6’2” 170 Omaha (NE) North HS
Visited Minnesota before ISU, now at Nebraska, next at Iowa (6/20).
Has a brother at Nebby.

DT/DE Jeremiah Benson 6’4” 265 West Bloomfield (MI) HS
Visited ISU, at Minnesota now, then scheduled for Iowa 6/20.
Was committed to Northern Illinois.

***Regardless of ranking or offers, these guys would all be nice adds.

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