RECRUITING: Campbell eyes quarterbacks early in his tenure

Let’s talk about the quarterbacks for a moment.

Basic football tells me that if your team has a crappy quarterback or its line cannot protect a decent one, without knowing anything else about this team, my guess is that it will struggle.

Quarterbacks are critical. 

Matt Campbell was announced as Iowa State’s head coach on Monday and has had a heck of a 48-hour span when it comes to the most important position in all of sports.  

Less than 12 hours after his introductory press conference, Campbell received his first commitment as head coach of the Cyclones, a 2017 quarterback named Devon Moore out of Waterloo West.

Then on Tuesday, Campbell lost his backup quarterback as Iowa State announced that Grant Rohach, a guy who has won games as a starter in the Big 12, was transferring.

No there’s no question that Joel Lanning will be Iowa State’s starting quarterback in 2016 but without Rohach, there isn’t a guy on the roster with any experience at all behind him. 

The only other scholarship quarterback on the roster is Dominic De Lira, who redshirted last year and  has a ways to go before being ready to play in the Big 12.

For the sake of depth, Iowa State needs immediate help at the position and I’m told that the program will target both a junior college and high school quarterback for the 2016 class between now and National Signing Day. 

A couple of possibilities:

— Iowa State offered South Florida commitment Chris Oladokun on Tuesday night. Oladokun is a Tampa product with offers from Nebraska, Bowling Green, Temple, Toledo, South Alabama, South Florida and now the Cyclones.

— On the JUCO side, keep an eye on Riley Ferguson out of Coffeyville C.C. in Kansas. He committed to Tennessee out of high school before leaving the team and eventually going the junior college route. Ferguson, 20, currently has additional offers from Temple and Arkansas State.