***Official portal tracker thread***

[Cydways15!]

Coming after spring like the rest of the freshmen that aren’t early enrollees.

 

[Letterkenny]

What happened to the Francois kid?

??? He's signed with us.

 

[BigLame]

??? He's signed with us.

His Jr year he was a running QB/Wildcat & then his Sr year he played primarily RB but had a number of downfield targets running WR routes. Videos give D Montgomery vibes, but do not know comparison of his HS competition vs what DM had

 

[bigsag]

??? He's signed with us.

Yes

 

[cyfan92]

Being from Ames, can Jeffrey Roberts be involved in any way this spring, despite not enrolling in January?

 

[clone52]

CW’s still saying on his latest pod that “the entire team left”. Those 44 players have to wonder— left for where?

Its still a very large percentage of scholarship players who left and an extremely large percentage of returning players on the two deeps. I'm really excited to see what the team can do.

 

[cyfan92]

Looking at hypothetical depth charts for the d-line, CJR needs A TON of credit for completely overhauling that position group.

Although loosing Big Citrus is going to hurt, as a whole that room could be the best d-line since the Mac era?

 

[Klubber]

CW’s still saying on his latest pod that “the entire team left”. Those 44 players have to wonder— left for where?

Pedo St of course. We're just a farm system program now since Campbell left according to the doom & gloomers. Those guys are just waiting for their call up to the big leagues from Matty C.

 

[Cyclonepride]

Looking at hypothetical depth charts for the d-line, CJR needs A TON of credit for completely overhauling that position group.

Although loosing Big Citrus is going to hurt, as a whole that room could be the best d-line since the Mac era?

We shall see, but I'm happy that we'll have two interior linemen to replace one Big Citrus.

 

[cyfan92]

Per Alec at 247:

Outside of the safety room, this roster breakdown shows really good age distribution across the team. Though that matters less in 2026 versus 2016, it's nice to not have only 1-year hired guns to look forward to watching this fall

 

[Klubber]

Star rankings tend to be more accurate on a macro level (team composite) than a micro level (each player).

If you give me a roster with of 25 recruits and 18 of them are 4 star, 2 are 5 star(only 25 each year I believe obtain 5 star) and 7 3 star rankings. Versus a recruiting class of 2 4 star 18 3 star and 5 star the first class probably has the most talented roster and the law of large numbers will probably win out more often over time but some of those 3 star and even a few 2 star will over perform.

ISU always needs a talent evaluator and talent developer as coach. If the coach doesn't exhibit those traits it isn't going to matter if he can improve on the Cyclones normal 40-45ish recruiting ranking to say a top 30 class. Think of it like playing fantasy football, and what would your chances be if you have to pick not at the end of the round but choose your roster after most teams completed their whole roster first. How good of a chance do you really have?

Hopefully, Jimmy Rogers has that trait.

I do agree there has the potential to be more under the radar players with NIL but the law of large numbers still prevails who starts off with a more talented roster.

There's also experience vs potential to consider as well. Indiana has only 2 4*'s who start (out of 7 total), 0 5*'s, or top 100 guys on the roster.

Cignetti's recruiting strategy targeted experienced guys (get old) who were mostly 3*'s that fit culturally and within his system.

 

[demoncore1031]

2025 Football Roster - Iowa State University Athletics

The official 2025 Football Roster for the Iowa State University Cyclones

cyclones.com

Updated roster: 44 returnees, 57 newcomers

Our LBs are really small. Stecker is listed at LB now, and so is the JUCO cornerback newcomer.

 

[Torks Pub]

Yes

got it!

 

[demoncore1031]

We shall see, but I'm happy that we'll have two interior linemen to replace one Big Citrus.

Moore is gonna be a stud and Hawk has been pretty good the last couple years. I like our DEs also. Verdon has a ton of potential. Terrell and the JUCO kid could both be all conference guys this year. Limbaugh returning is huge also.

 

[Erik4Cy]

Moore is gonna be a stud and Hawk has been pretty good the last couple years. I like our DEs also. Verdon has a ton of potential. Terrell and the JUCO kid could both be all conference guys this year. Limbaugh returning is huge also.

Huge props to you btw for keeping track of everyone In & Out of the program on this thread. I wonder if we'll ever see the need for a portal thread this big ever again. (I hope not )

 

[isufbcurt]

Per Alec at 247:

Outside of the safety room, this roster breakdown shows really good age distribution across the team. Though that matters less in 2026 versus 2016, it's nice to not have only 1-year hired guns to look forward to watching this fall

Seems overkill on TE's, but that's just my opinion

 

[cycloneman003]

Our LBs are really small. Stecker is listed at LB now, and so is the JUCO cornerback newcomer.

Speed kills baby. They have a type of LB they want and that’s FAST. Win up front with the 4 down lineman and have those LBs flying around.

 

[nhclone]

Our LBs are really small. Stecker is listed at LB now, and so is the JUCO cornerback newcomer.

They’ll be in that Sam/Nickel spot essentially making it a 4-2-5.

 

[Clonedogg]

Red vs Black print?

 

[Letterkenny]

Our LBs are really small. Stecker is listed at LB now, and so is the JUCO cornerback newcomer.

That 3rd LB is more of a safety in this system. 4 DL, 2 bigger linebackers, 1 smaller, faster LB, 4 DBs.

With Heacock we ran with 3 DL, 3LB and 5 DBs.

Stecker is pretty big at 6'-4". I'm guessing he ends up around 215-220lbs.