Potentially heading into the 2020 season as the Big 12’s top quarterback, why doesn’t Iowa State football’s Brock Purdy get more love?
Conference honors are nice and Brock Purdy is no stranger to those. While he wasn’t named either first or second-team All-Big 12 as a freshman, he earned the latter recognition in 2019.
Purdy was arguably the most effective passer in the conference and statistically, he was the more prolific. He finished the season as the conference’s top passer, throwing for 3,9 82 yards and 27 touchdowns with just nine interceptions. He was first in yardage and third in touchdown passes as a sophomore, but if you asked the casual college football fan to name the top quarterbacks from the Big 12, they’d likely say Jalen Hurts and Sam Ehlinger.
Those are two very good quarterbacks and only one returns for 2020, but you probably wouldn’t hear many people say Purdy’s name.
Why is this? That’s actually a valid question because, well, he’s the best quarterback in the conference heading into the 2020 season. The answer isn’t clear, though. It could be due to the fact he played for a 7-6 team in 2019 and Iowa State isn’t known as an elite football program. If he played for let’s say Oklahoma, he’d probably be considered a top draft prospect.
Heck, if he played for Texas or Oklahoma State or even Baylor, he’d get more love.
But since Iowa State hasn’t won a conference title in over 100 years, there’s not going to be a ton of attention paid to him. He has put the Cyclones on the map under Matt Campbell, though. He won eight games as a true freshman and managed to make a bowl game last year despite losing some key members of his offense from 2018.
Purdy is going to get his respect in 2019, especially if he can lead the Cyclones to an 8-4 season, like I predict he will. If he can pull off an upset of Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State or even beat Baylor, he’s going to get some recognition.
His time will come — he’s too good for it not to.
While he may never be a household name like Hurts or Ehlinger, he’s going to stamp his name near the top of college football’s best passers in 2020.