Iowa State Puts Wrap on 2020 Class with Florida OL Smith
It came as no surprise that Iowa State’s Wednesday morning was a quiet one, as the coaching staff added one more February signee that rounded out a 2020 class that’s been nearly full since mid-December.
Lakeland (Fla.) interior offensive lineman Anthony Smith faxed in his letter-of-intent shortly after 6 a.m. central time, becoming the 22nd student-athlete to join the class. Two additional gray shirts were announced in December, which technically brings that number to 24.
The 6-foot-3, 270-pound Smith, who will play either guard or center, had been committed to Florida Atlantic head coach Lane Kiffin. However, that offer was taken off the table and converted to a grey shirt upon the arrival of Willie Taggart in Boca Raton.
At the time of his commitment to FAU, Smith had offers from Army, Coastal Carolina, Hawaii, Kent State, Navy, Samford, South Florida and Southern Miss. Tennessee, Florida State and Florida showed interest, but didn’t extend offers.
I-State head coach Matt Campbell pointed to his winning pedigree, as Smith played a key role on a Lakeland squad that advanced to the Class 7A state title game and was led by a legendary head coach in Bill Castle.
“Our entire program is thrilled to welcome Anthony Smith into the Iowa State football family,” said Campbell in a release. “Anthony comes to us from an outstanding high school program, and will be a great addition to our offensive line as we continue to build our offense. We look forward to his arrive to campus in June.”
The Cyclones’ abbreviated February class nearly included two additions, but Pittsburgh head coach Pat Narduzzi flipped week-long placekicker commit Ben Sauls last night. The Tipp City (Ohio) Tippecanoe senior de-committed from a school for the second time, after backing away from his Boston College pledge and later ending up with ISU following a late-January official visit.
Sauls saw his original grey shirt offer upgraded to a traditional one by Narduzzi, and that combined with the short proximity of the Pitt campus to his hometown, seemed to make the difference. While adding a big leg like Sauls’ would have been a plus, the Cyclones still have scholarship kicker Conner Assalley back in the fold and will now hope for improved production on kickoffs with the additions of Drake Nettles and Eddie Ogamba, or perhaps go the graduate transfer route for a quick fix.
Of I-State’s 24 incoming recruits, the offensive line (five), wide receiver (five) and secondary (four) positions represented the biggest target areas for the coaching staff. The group of offensive linemen was led at the top by Greene County (IA) three-star Tyler Miller (5.7 rating) and Emporia (Kan.) three-star Hayden Pauls (5.6 rating).
Miller and JUCO transfer Latrell Bankston were the two highest ranked members of the class, as Bankston joined the offensive lineman in attaining a 5.7 rating. In addition, Rivals.com considered Miller the 46th offensive tackle nationally and third overall prospect in Iowa for 2020. The network pegged Bankston as the 20th overall JUCO prospect nationally.
As of Noon on February 5th, Rivals.com ranked the Cyclones’ group of newcomers the 45th nationally and sixth in the 10-team Big 12 Conference. If that ranking holds, it would be the second-highest class of head coach Matt Campbell’s tenure, as the 2017 group finished 44th. That class featured six three-star recruits with 5.7 ratings (O’Rien Vance, Richard Bowens, Ray Lima, Cordarrius Bailey, Matt Leo and Keontae Jones).
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