On the eve of the 2009 college football season, new Iowa
State Head Coach Paul Rhoads made a promise: we will be successful.
Immediately. With the Cyclones having dropped the last 10 games of the 2008
season and the wounds from previous coach Gene Chizik having departed for a
more prestigious job at Auburn, it was a difficult promise for the team's fan
base to believe.
It didn't matter, though; Rhoads went right on ahead and did
it. His squad eked out a winning record of 7-6 and went on to defeat Minnesota
in the Insight Bowl. Four years later, Iowa State is off to a 3-0 start and is
13th in the Nation in scoring defense, allowing an average of just
10.7 points per game.
What's more, they have not surrendered a touchdown in two
weeks. They let up 16 points in the first quarter of Week 1 to Tulsa but have
only allowed 16 more in the 11 quarters since.
How are they doing it? Rhoads' coaching and focus on winning
is certainly at the center of Iowa State's success, but it's not the only
reason they now find themselves on the other side of .500. A pair of
linebackers recruited in the coach's first season, Jake Knott and A.J. Klein,
have grown into one the top defensive duos in the nation.
''Coach Rhoads has been preaching since Day 1 about changing
the culture. To be a part of that and to be the foundation of that is huge,''
Knott recently told the Associated Press.
After receiving interest from only a few schools coming out
of their respective high schools, the two decided to come to Iowa State and
were surprisingly inserted into the lineup in every game of their rookie
season. They became starters in 2010 and have been recording turnovers and big
hits ever since.
''It was kind of crazy how similar we were when we got
here,'' Klein said. ''Our work ethic is alike. Our communication is alike, and
I think that is because we're humble people. We come from humble beginnings. We
weren't blown up. We were overlooked by a lot of teams and we wanted to prove
ourselves.''
Prove themselves they have. As good as the two have been,
though, it takes 11 men working together to have a successful defense. Luckily
for Iowa State, the other nine on the field have followed in Klein and Knott's
footsteps.
