Student section wows lineman Loth

Iowa State's whirlwind recruitment of Encino (Calif.) Crespi offensive lineman Ben Loth spun to its highest level so far this weekend. The Cyclones hosted Loth on an official visit and made quite an impression. Was it enough to make Loth commit to ISU? Here's the very latest.

The 6-foot-5, 275-pound Loth just collected an offer from Iowa State in recent weeks and managed to get in on an official visit weekend with his high school teammate, tight end Pierce Richardson. The duo traveled from Southern California to Ames and back again together. Loth said Sunday that he saw more than he expected at and from ISU.

"It was awesome, everything was really cool," Loth said. "The game atmosphere surprised me the most. The student section there is four times bigger and louder than anything I've seen before. I've been to games at UCLA, USC, Washington, Oregon. None of them compare to the students at Iowa State. They are crazy.

"More important than that are the coaches," added Loth. "Coach (Bill) Bleil is a great coach and he would be my position coach, of course, if I went there. Their offensive line dominates. I really like my recruiting coach, Coach (Chris) Ash, and Coach (Paul) Rhoads is really down to earth."

Loth has also been offered by Fresno State and UNLV and although he doesn't have official visits scheduled to either school at this time, he is leaning towards trying to take more visits for comparison's sake. He said Iowa State is the gold standard.

"It looks really good for Iowa State," said Loth. "I really enjoyed it and I felt like it could be the place. I really want to sit down with my family and talk about it. I only want to make one decision. I'll probably visit Fresno and UNLV if they will have me, but I don't have anything set up right now."