Randy Peterson
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April 20, 2025
Iowa State had zero NFL Draft choices in 2000. The Cyclones had no selections in 2015. That’s zippo and zippo. During the program’s 2015 to 2018 draft drought, each Big 12 team had at least three players picked.
So, with the three-day 2025 draft starting on Thursday, I use those head-shaking statistics to show just how far this program has come since Matt Campbell became the coach before the 2016 season.
Under Campbell and his staff, Iowa State has had 11 picks since receiver Hakeem Butler went to Arizona in the 2019 draft. Those 11 are as many Cyclones selections, combined, over 17 drafts before the culture, recruiting, coaching and player development took an abrupt turn for the better.
The 11 Iowa State picks under Campbell, are two more than the school’s entire total throughout the 1990s. And you thought Brock Purdy was irrelevant. The school from which he graduated, barely made an NFL dent during those drafts.
Need more affirmation about the Iowa State football program Campbell leads so well? If major 2025 mock NFL drafts mean anything, his Cyclones could boast the highest pick of anyone that played last season in our state.
That’d be receiver Jayden Higgins, who most major mocks predict could be as high as an early second-rounder – just a few picks ahead of former Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson.
If it happens, and that’s a big if, it would be the first time Iowa State had our state’s first pick since Reggie Hayward went to the Broncos in the third round of the 2001 draft. The Hawkeyes’ top pick in that draft was sixth-rounder Kevin Kasper.
It’s not exactly huge news. It doesn’t mean a bunch in the large scheme of our state’s Cy-Hawk rivalry -- unless you’re one of those fans who base opinions with nonsense comparisons to a rival. And then it could mean something.
But, allow me insert right here, that mock drafts are more speculation, than bet-the-mortgage done deals. They’re a guide into what we might see, starting Thursday. They’re a preview of who to watch – not of what people should expect.
Remember back a few years to the Allen Lazard draft weekend drama – to when we received further confirmation that NFL draftniks don’t know as much as they think they know.
Back in 2018, they all speculated Lazard would be picked in the top four or five rounds. Finally, Iowa State would have its first draft pick since Jeremiah George to the Jets in the 2014.
Well, none of the 33 receivers picked in that draft had the last name Lazard. None. That draft’s last pick was even a receiver – not named Allen Lazard.
“What ended up happening was something I never predicted and never contemplated,” Lazard told me during a one-on-one before accepting the prestigious 2023 Pillar of Character Award.
“Maybe it was me being naïve. Maybe that was it, but to this day, I still don’t know what happened.”
You better believe, Allen Lazard got the last laugh. According to the spotrac web site, the former Urbandale High School star has made $28.3 million over seven seasons with the Packers and Jets.
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Meanwhile, a consensus of the mock drafts I scanned show that at least 11 Iowa State and Iowa players have legitimate chances of having names called this weekend:
Iowa State -- Jayden Higgins, Jaylin Noel, Darien Porter, and Jalen Travis.
Iowa -- Kaleb Johnson, Connor Colby, Luke Lachey, Jay Higgins, Jermari Harris, Sebastian Castro, and Yahya Black.
One of the CBSSports pickers, even had the Cyclones’ Porter going No. 27 in the first round.
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And meanwhile . . .
Don’t always believe what you read on mock drafts.
(Award-winning columnist Randy Peterson can be, and has been, reached at randypete4846@gmail.com or at any Okoboji-area beverage/food establishment between the hours of open and close.)