Iowa St. signs a pair of JUCOs

City College of San Francisco quarterback Steele Jantz, who threw for 3,075 yards and 23 touchdowns while leading his team to an 11-1 record in CCCAA play and two-time all-conference offensive lineman Samuel Tautolo of Saddleback Community College, have signed national letters of intent to play at Iowa State.

Both players sent in their letters of intent Wednesday and will enroll at Iowa State for the spring semester and be in Ames for Cyclone spring football.

"We have signed a pair of outstanding athletes, who were NCAA qualifiers out of high school and will be with us for spring football," Iowa State head coach Paul Rhoads said. "Steele is a winner, and led his team to the California junior college title game. Steele has outstanding athletic skills and he overcame missing most of his senior high school season to find a place at a great program like CCSF and show what he is all about. He has the frame (6-4, 220) that you like to have at that position as well."

Jantz also rushed for 601 yards and 14 touchdowns in 2010, leading CCSF to the California State community college title game. On Nov. 27, Steele ran for four touchdowns and threw a 20-yard TD pass as the Rams crushed Fresno City College, 52-15, to claim the Northern California Football Association title.

Jantz has overcome considerable adversity to be ranked as one of the nation's top junior college quarterbacks. At Nevada Union High School the native of Grass Valley, Calif. played linebacker and wide receiver as the backup quarterback his junior season. The starting quarterback as a senior, he missed the first game and then suffered a season-ending injury in the third game of the season.

Jantz walked-on to the Hawaii football team in 2008 but elected to transfer to CCSF, where he completed 15-of-29 attempts for 194 yards and two touchdowns as the backup quarterback in 2009.

Tautolo, a 6-4, 305-pound standout from Valley View, Calif., played center at Saddleback. His father, John, played in the NFL with the New York Giants after competing at UCLA. Saddleback was 8-3 in 2010 and averaged more than 400 yards of offense per game.

"Sam fills an immediate need at center for us," Rhoads said. "He has great genes as his father was an NFL player. We needed to meet the demand we had at that position with three centers, Ben Lamaak, Alex Alvarez and Sean Smith finishing their eligibility."

National signing day for the balance of the Iowa State recruiting class is Feb. 2.