Iowa State Football: Cyclones beat out Texas A&M for QB Brock Purdy
Iowa State football, Matt Campbell picked up a huge commitment in Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year Brock Purdy over Texas A&M.
Brock Purdy is someone that burst onto the scene In January when UCF offered the Gilbert, Ariz., native. He then continued to reel in more offers from Power Five schools. Iowa State offered on Jan. 11 and Illinois offered on Jan. 23 before the national champs joined the race. Alabama offered Purdy on Jan. 26 and finally the last offer came in for Purdy on Feb. 1 from Texas A&M.
The 6-foot-1, 197-pound pro-style quarterback eliminated the Tide last week leaving Iowa State and Texas A&M. The Aggies only offered six days before signing day and Purdy visited last weekend.
Iowa State went full steam ahead on the recruitment of Purdy sending staff down to Arizona on a weekly basis and often multiple coaches.
Many were very surprised when Purdy quickly eliminated the Tide from consideration. When you go in depth, however, it’s not a surprise. Purdy is looking to be in a quarterback friendly offense and looking to play as soon as possible. Alabama has two good quarterbacks that are both relatively young in Jalen Hurts and National Championship hero Tua Tagovailoa.
The Tide are more of a power-based offense and are not just going to throw the ball around like your typical Big 12 offense.
The battle for Purdy came down to Texas A&M led by Jimbo Fisher and Iowa State led by Matt Campbell. Fisher and the Aggies landed four-star quarterback James Foster shortly before Purdy made his announcement only making Cyclone fans more confident that Purdy would be coming to Ames.
Purdy put up video game numbers this past season, passing for 4,405 yards, 57 touchdowns and only nine interceptions. Being a pro-style quarterback, Purdy has surprisingly good legs. This past season he ran for 1,017 yards and nine touchdowns showing flashes of having dual-threat potential.
With Purdy’s commitment, Iowa State now sits with three scholarship quarterbacks plus the incoming freshman. Quarterbacks Zeb Noland and Devon Moore have both been in Iowa State’s system for at least a year.
Purdy joins dual-threat quarterback Re-Al Mitchell as quarterback commitments in the 2018 class. Purdy will add significant depth to the quarterback room and should have a chance to compete for the starting nod as Iowa States quarterback battle will unfold throughout the offseason.
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This is a very notable and defining commitment for Iowa State and Campbell. This is the second recruit Iowa State has beaten out the national champions, the other being wide receiver Joseph Scates. Matt Campbell and staff are proving to be really good recruiters and showing they are afraid of no one. A fun time to be a Cyclone fan should continue to get better as this 2018 class should be something special.