Nebraska ATH is J-Day visitor
One of the longest recruited members of the Class of 2016, at least where the Cyclones are concerned, is an athlete from an Omaha suburb that turned heads at a summer camp following his freshman season. That recruit was on hand for a Junior Day event in Ames last weekend, and feels he's continuing to progress to receiving an offer.
Papillion (Neb.) La Vista South's Josh Manchigiah has been on I-State's radar for a couple years, and has done his part to remain in the mix as a defensive back or wide receiver addition for next February's class.
"It was another good trip up there and was more personalized one-on-one because they didn't invite many kids," said Manchigiah. "I went into a position meeting with Coach Mo (Linguist) and it was just me and another guy. I had some good conversations with the coaching staff. It was pretty cool to see the fan base at the West Virginia basketball game.
"At the end of it, they just said they were going to keep me informed. They'll be able to call me soon and they said I'd be hearing from them a lot more. They want me to come back on another visit in the spring, so that was exciting to hear."
The 6-foot, 190-pound Manchigiah is coming off a junior season in which he was named first-team Super State after racking up more than 1,000 all-purpose yards offensively and 60 tackles and three interceptions on defense. He's also bulked up 15 pounds since his junior season.
Although he has just one offer from FCS program South Dakota State, Manchigiah is hoping a Power-5 school like ISU comes through with one in the coming months.
"That's what I'm hoping for," he said. "I've been there a bunch of times now and have a pretty good relationship with all the coaches up there. Once they get everything settled and working with the 2016 class, I expect the offer to come eventually.
"They like the progress that I've had made, especially recently from football season to right now. I'm excited to see how my relationship with them progresses."
Manchigiah spent time with Cyclone coaches from each side of the ball.
"The meetings went really well," he said. "(Linguist) went through their philosophies on DBs and we watched a little film. I got a run-through to see how they do things again. Coach Mo didn't really specify if they like me as a corner or safety. Iowa State is one of the few schools that's also looking at me as a receiver, so I also talked to Coach Mangino.