As a huge fan of Iowa State Football, one of my favorite things about the season is seeing players who come out of nowhere and have a huge impact. At just past the haflway point in the season who do you think is the "surprise guy of 2024?"
Midterms - Surprise guy of 2024
- Thread starter nrg4isu
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I went with Carson brown assuming you meant Hansen. if not im also checking other and saying Hansen.
Guys I'd never heard of:
Rylan Barnes - absolute stud, he's climbed up the depth chart regardless of other guys coming back from injury
Carson Brown - Looks like a Jaylin Noel carbon-copy. I suspect he'll probably start next year
Beau Goodwin - limited action, but really flies around, might be our fastest LB
Heard of them, but exceeding expectations:
Jaylon Jackson - Honestly I didn't think he'd play RB much at all.
Cael Brezina - Stud! Injury prevents him from being higher on my list
Tervor Buhr - tough to grade an OL guy, but I didn't expect him to play at all this year
Rylan Barnes - absolute stud, he's climbed up the depth chart regardless of other guys coming back from injury
Carson Brown - Looks like a Jaylin Noel carbon-copy. I suspect he'll probably start next year
Beau Goodwin - limited action, but really flies around, might be our fastest LB
Heard of them, but exceeding expectations:
Jaylon Jackson - Honestly I didn't think he'd play RB much at all.
Cael Brezina - Stud! Injury prevents him from being higher on my list
Tervor Buhr - tough to grade an OL guy, but I didn't expect him to play at all this year
I meant Carson Brown the WR. I'd never heard of him coming into the season. Hanson has far exceeded expectations as well, but I think we all knew he'd be at least the backup to Sama coming into the season
Wasn't sure what to expect from our new LT, but he's been better than I expected. Also Jontez Williams and Porter have been a pleasant surprise. Other than ucf the line play in general has been very good so another surprise.
Obviously Barnes is huge because he’s a walk on and has played well. But I picked Brezina because he came right in and didn’t just play well, he was downright dominant at times. Plus I don’t follow recruiting any more, so I don’t really know the Fr until they start playing.
I had Jaylon Jackson as my #1 surprise. With Rylan Barnes and Beau Goodwin being pretty close 2nd and 3rd. I had a feeling Trevor Buhr would be good b/c he was a solid recruit with solid offers.
I have Jaylon Jackson as my biggest surprise because in some big time moments - the Iowa game when we were behind, the Houston game while it was still tight, the West Virginia game.. Jaylon Jackson reingited the running attack. He has a great feel for "now I need to pick up the easy 4-5 yards" versus "I can juke and go for a big gainer outside". That instinct can't be taught. He is just so conistent at getting those 5 yard pickups. He is better than I ever would have imagined coming from eastern michigan.
For the young linebackers - Beau Goodwin/ Cael Brezina / Rylan Barnes, i honestly think they have been so good some of the older guys (not all) may find it hard to get their starting jobs back. These three guys to me move way better than a Jack Sadowski. Sometimes it's a good thing in the program when younger talent leapfrogs more senior guys. This is happening in LB room some I feel.
Jontez Williams and Gabe Burkle , both Redshirt Sophomores, as guys who've made unanticipated (to me but probably not the coaching staff) jumps in playing time and productivity. Rylan Barnes as the small-town Iowa walk-on who stepped in when needed and made plays. There's literally nobody who could say they saw this coming, other than possibly his family and HS coach! 
I picked Brezina. I'm hoping he can be the linebacker equivalent for an ISU career similar to Freyler. Freyler came right in as a freshman and was a stud, continued on to become a top 10, maybe top 5 defensive player for Iowa State ever. Brezina has the potential to do that as long as he can stay healthy. Being ready right away as a true freshman is huge. Not many guys can do that.
No Konrardy? He doesn't hit that 54 yarder none of the conversations we've been having about playoffs would be happening. All in all a lot of nice surprises. Depth at LB is aving our butts this season, and bodes well for the future. Not only will those guys play D, but will be playing special teams also. Hard to pick just one but Barnes being a walk on has got to give him a little over the rest of the list.
Konrady is doing good at 75% FG percentage especially as a freshman. That is tied for 62nd best FG percentage. I'm sure that's not the whole story, but he does miss about half the time at 40yd+.
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i did jackson and "other" and my other would be jontez. He had expectations this year, but he's so far beyond those expectations that its a surprise, imo.
I'll go with Hansen. Him passing up Sama and basically becoming our #1 running back was a big surprise to me.
Some have mentioned Travis and Jackson but I had heard that Travis was a guy possibly playing on Sundays next year and I had also heard Jackson was really tearing it up in drills.
I would have to go with any and all of the very young LBs that have been thrust into heavy duty. Not just plugging holes but excelling...
I would have to go with any and all of the very young LBs that have been thrust into heavy duty. Not just plugging holes but excelling...
If you're talking about SURPRISE, Carson Brown is the first answer - Jackson & Brezina have performed awesome this season & we all expected them too - Barnes is a bit of surprise mostly b/c most people had no idea who he even was - Brown was a known factor, he played all of last season, he was a guy doing a job & no one but his parents were really excited when he came into the game; his performance against last year's is outstanding & the most SURPRISING performance of the year thus far
I would put the whole linebacking corps in a separate category - it's not so much surprise as utter shock and amazement. Playing a BigXII game with three basically brand new, Iowa Class A football guys - and playing well - is insane.
For just "surprise" guys -
-Jontez looks much much better than last year.
-Hansen has more "pop" than I expected
-I'd throw in Tyler Moore from the TE/FB room - the running game wouldn't be the same without 3-4 interchangeable guys in that role
- One more - Higgins was good last year and I was expecting about the same, but he's made a big leap. His ability to make the catch and make the first guy miss EVERY TIME is unique
For just "surprise" guys -
-Jontez looks much much better than last year.
-Hansen has more "pop" than I expected
-I'd throw in Tyler Moore from the TE/FB room - the running game wouldn't be the same without 3-4 interchangeable guys in that role
- One more - Higgins was good last year and I was expecting about the same, but he's made a big leap. His ability to make the catch and make the first guy miss EVERY TIME is unique
