There is so much to write about these days. Iowa State is a phenomenal team to cover too because players and coaches are made available to the media five days a week. Because of the 24/7 media cycle that we live in these days, quotes become old, fast.
Because of that, today we’ll empty out the quotebook. Iowa State offensive coordinator Mark Mangino spoke to the media last Friday. Here’s what the veteran coach had to say that we didn’t get around to writing about.
Mangino on Iowa State’s young running backs…
“I think there’s a lot of talent there. Those guys are working hard to get ready. If a couple of those guys end up being really good players for us this year, no, that wouldn’t be a surprise. I think they’re talented.”
On Iowa State’s No. 2 quarterback competition between Grant Rohach and Joel Lanning…
“We’ll see how that works out, how Joel progresses. Grant knows our offense as well as anybody around here. He’s a valuable guy in a lot of ways, so we think that’s going to need up being a pretty good situation, the guys behind Sam.”
Will the pair share snaps going forward?
“Maybe, maybe not. That was today’s (last Friday) plan. … (We’ll) see if we want to continue that way. Probably will for a period of time and then we’ve got to get to a point where somebody’s working with the twos every day to get ready because if No. 1 would go down, two gotta play and we can’t share that position.”
On the tight end position…
“They’re competing. There’s no question that Ben Boesen’s experience, the hard work that he put in to the offseason, he’s one of the most improved guys that we have. Now, Ben is not a great athlete. He’s what I call a blue-collar player. He plays on this team because he’s smart and he works hard — he cares about it. So right now Ben and Justin Chandler and Cole Anderson are all in there probably on the 3-deep right now and how much we use, we’ll just see as we go through camp, but they’re all capable and the one thing is they’re all capable blockers. What we want to do in our run game, we need a tight end that will block.”
On how the Big 12 has changed over the years…
“It’s still the Big 12. The heart of it is still right out here in the middle of America. And I think the people out in this part of the country take their football seriously. They probably don’t get as much credit as, perhaps, in the south, but I’ve enjoyed coaching in hits league. There’s not a bad community that houses a Big 12 team. I mean, they’re all great little — some are little, some are big — college towns. But as far as the conference changing, I think it’s obvious what has changed. Style of play? Nah, it hasn’t. It’s been the same for about 15 years or so.”
On Quenton Bundrage’s comeback…
“Quenton, being injured, he had a chance to take a step back and observe the program. And he’s had some interesting insights that he’s shared with me and other coaches. It’s in house stuff I don’t want to share with you, but I think he really matured as a player and he realizes the right way to do things and the wrong way and he’s committed to doing them the right way. We’re looking forward to him having a good year.”
