Spring Outlook: The Quarterbacks

AMES, Iowa - Spring football practice begins on March 8 and Iowa State head football coach Matt Campbell will get his first chance to work with his players in preparation for the 2016 season.

Campbell sat down with Cyclones.com to preview each position. Today we look at the quarterbacks.

Synopsis
With the return of junior Joel Lanning (6-2, 232, Jr.#, Ankeny, Iowa), Iowa State will have a solid base at quarterback in 2016. Lanning is the only signal-caller who has taken a snap, so the battle for his backup will be interesting to watch this spring. Dominic De Lira (6-1, 193, Fr.#, Austin, Texas), who is coming off a redshirt, is the only other scholarship quarterback returning. True freshman Zeb Noland (6-3, 210, Fr., Watkinsville, Ga.) and walk-on transfer Kyle Kempt (6-5, 225, Jr.#, Massillon, Ohio) are both enrolled in school and will compete in spring drills. So will sophomore Kyle Starcevich (6-3, 215, So.#, Altoona, Iowa).

Lanning began the season as a backup to Sam Richardson, but showed incredible promise when he was inserted into the starting lineup for the final five games. Lanning proved he could be a threat with his arm and legs, throwing for 1,247 yards and rushing for 330 yards, the second-best rushing total on the team.

Lanning tossed 10 TDs and completed 55.5 percent (107-193) of his passes in 2015. The offense responded to his leadership, tallying over 400 yards of offense in three of his five starts. In his first career start against Texas, the Cyclones shutout the Longhorns in a 24-0 victory. He threw for 188 yards and rushed for 64 yards in the win. He had a season-high 260 yards passing at Oklahoma and rushed for a season-high 130 yards and two TDs vs. Oklahoma State, the fifth-best single-game rushing total by a QB in school history.

Campbell On The Quarterbacks
“I think the top priority is to identify what can Joel Lanning do for us. We have been able to watch him and we have seen him have great success on the football field. We need to harness his ability. And then we have a great opportunity to watch what these young guys can do. We've been pleasantly surprised early on through some of the winter workouts of the athletic ability of a guy like Dominic De Lira and what he brings to the table. Zeb Noland is also an exciting prospect. Here's a young pup who will get some great opportunities this spring to really fit into the offense. We also have two walk-ons. Kyle Starcevich has great ability and has shown that he can throw the ball. Kyle Kempt, a young man who also transferred in at semester, is going to get some looks. So we have five guys who we will try to get as much reps to create competition in the 15 practices. The position starts with Joel, and we really want to see what he can do because we've already seen that he can win football games in this conference.”

Players Mentioned

Kyle Kempt

Joel Lanning

Zeb Noland

Sam Richardson

Kyle Starcevich

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