Head Coach Dan McCarney Announces 2004 Recruiting Class

Head Coach Dan McCarney Announces 2004 Recruiting Class

02.04.2004 | Football

By: Iowa State University

AMES, Iowa - Iowa State head football coach Dan McCarney announced the addition of 28 student-athletes to the Cyclone family Wednesday. Recruiting analyst Tom Lemming noted, "Iowa State might have the best collection of running backs anywhere. [ISU's offensive line signees] are small-town players, but they're good players, players a lot of people like. They (the coaching staff) work hard in their evaluations. That's why they have been successful."

Due to technical difficulties, audio of Coach McCarney's opening remarks to the media will not be available.

Dan McCarney Comments On the 2004 Cyclone Recruiting Class

"I like this group of young men. With a couple of exceptions, we have been recruiting this class for a long, long, time. Some of these young men who made commitments early don't get those high ratings because they signed early. I could care less. We got a great bunch of young men and we got a good start on this class long before we began the 2003 football season. I'm proud of my kids, I'm proud of my staff I think it's going to be a good bunch to watch. Many of these kids could play more than one position in college."

On the five runningbacks:
"One of the reasons we were able to attract some of the best runningbacks in the country is the guy who coaches them every day, Tony Alford. Through recruiting, those young men want to come play for the guy who they will be in a meeting with each day. When you see Tyease Thompson over 2,000 yards, you see Jason Scales, two years over 2,000 yards. Some of these guys have 4,000, 5,000 and 6,000 career rushing yards -- and they are all in the same class. We have a need with only Stevie Hicks returning who has shown me he can play winning football in the Big 12. The other thing we have is an opportunity to play in a well-balanced offense. Under (ISU offensive coordinator Barney Cotton) we are going to get back to where we were when Texas, Wisconsin and Iowa State were the only schools to have seven straight seasons with a tailback who rushed for 1,000 yards.

Webster Patrick brings speed to the program. With Brent Curvey and Brandon Brown already here from the same high school and doing well here, it helps. Greg Coleman is a great football player. He is a great wrestler. The others runningbacks we've had here who were runningback/wrestling combinations were Troy and Darren Davis -- they didn't turn out too bad. Jason Scales and Greg Coleman were great skill position players who happened to be in Iowa."

On junior college recruits:
"We didn't look at it has 'we had a bad year, lets go get some junior college guys'." We were way down in interceptions last season. So we go get the top two junior college interception leaders in Josh Hargis and Jerry Gair. Five of the six are on defense. We are going to give Terrance Highsmith a shot at quarterback. If he can't be our No. 1 quarterback then we'll get him at receiver, he could be an all-Big 12 receiver.

Fabian Dodd had matured. He has matured since being at Iowa and has handled himself well at Iowa Central.

Tim Dobbins looks great. I'm thrilled about him and LaMarcus Hicks coming. There are a lot of good guys coming out of Mississippi. (ISU defensive coordinator) John Skladany wanted a big, fast, experienced linebacker and we got Dobbins.

On recruiting:
With high school kids, we asked them, 'Do you want to play now or play on a scout team somewhere?' 'Do you want to be the next Jason Berryman, who plays, starts and becomes the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year? We are not afraid to play young guys. People know that."

On the offensive line:
"It's rare that an offensive linemen comes in and starts right away. These guys are on the way up, we've all seen them play. Will they come in and start? Probably not. But we have more experience coming back there than we did a year ago."

Name	Ht.	Wt.	Yr.	Pos.	Hometown (HS/College)
Chris Brown	5-11	175	Fr.	WR	Gainesville, Texas (Gainesville)
Adam Carper	6-2	200	Fr.	S	Clarinda, Iowa (Clarinda)
Bobby Chalk	5-9	175	Fr.	CB	Garland, Texas (Garland)
Greg Coleman	6-0	212	Fr.	RB	Iowa City, Iowa (West)
Tim Dobbins	6-1	245	Jr.	LB	Nashville, Tenn. (Glencliff/Copiah-Lincoln CC)
Fabian Dodd	6-3	315	Jr.#	DT	Lauderhill, Fla. (Piper/Iowa/Iowa Central CC)
Collins Eboh	6-2	240	Fr.	DE	Des Moines, Iowa (Roosevelt)
Travis Ferguson	6-4	230	Fr.	DE	Waterloo, Iowa (East)
Nick Frere	6-2	215	Fr.	LB	Muscatine, Iowa (Muscatine)
Jerry Gair	6-0	200	Jr.	S	LaPlace, La. (St. Charles/West Hills College)
Jordan Goos	6-6	290	Fr.	OL	Treynor, Iowa (Treynor)
Brandon Gunn	5-10	190	Fr.	RB	Omaha, Neb. (Central)
Josh Hargis	6-2	170	Jr.	DB	Vista, Calif. (Vista/Palomar College)
LaMarcus Hicks	6-0	190	Jr.#	CB	Clarksdale, Miss. (Clarksdale/Southern Miss/Coahoma CC)
Terrance Highsmith	6-1	175	Jr.#	QB/ATH	Highland Park, N.J. (Highland Park/North Carolina/Fort Scott CC)
Brandon Hunley	5-10	180	Fr.	S	Grandview, Mo. (Grandview)
Brandon Johnson	6-3	285	Fr.	OL	Rushville, Neb. (Rushville)
Mack Kimble	5-11	185	Fr.	WR	New Madrid, Mo. (New Madrid County)
Kody Kuehl	6-6	310	Fr.	OL	Hartley, Iowa (Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn)
Will Lewis	6-2	200	Fr.	S	Baytown, Texas (Lee)
Michael Main	5-11	175	Fr.	WR	Muscatine, Iowa (Muscatine)
Jason McGinty	6-1	300	Fr.	DL	Fort Worth, Texas (Calvary Academy)
Webster Patrick	5-8	200	Fr.	RB	Spring, Texas (Westfield)
Jason Scales	5-9	205	Fr.	RB	West Des Moines, Iowa (Valley)
Landon Streit	6-5	330	Fr.	OL	Manson, Iowa (Manson-Northwest Webster)
R.J. Sumrall	6-1	186	Fr.	WR	Winter Park, Fla. (Winter Park)
Tyease Thompson	5-10	180	Fr.	RB	Lakeland, Fla. (George Jenkins)
Joe Vanstrom	6-7	300	Fr.	OL	Ham Lake, Minn. (Blaine)