I saw a line in ESPN’s recap of Green Bay’s 23-22 victory against Detroit Monday night that intrigued me. Relative unknown, the reporter wrote about former Iowa State star Allen Lazard, and that’s accurate when addressing the general NFL population, but around here in central Iowa?

Lazard is still famous — and I was reinforced this even before his breakout during a game in which Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers actually lobbied for the former Urbandale High School star to be on the field.

I was in the downtown Des Moines skywalk Monday afternoon when a friend, Tyler Steinke, stopped me.

“You going to watch Allen tonight,” Tyler inquired.

Absolutely, I shot back at my buddy, who just happened to have graduated high school with Lazard.

“Good,” Tyler told me. “He’s going to have a great game.”

More:Former Iowa State receiver Allen Lazard has big game for Packers

Four catches for 65 yards and a 35-yard touchdown catch during a game that ended with Mason Crosby’s last-second field goal.

Oh yeah, Lazard had a great game, all right — another vibrant example of hard work and dedication and patience to his craft. Good things happen to good people — like what happened to this second-season NFL free agent on MNF.

They replayed the Rodgers-to-Lazard sideline touchdown pass about a gazillion times on "SportsCenter" throughout the early morning. I saw it. You saw it. I’m sure Tyler Steinke saw it, too, but it didn’t happen without Rodgers’ sideline campaigning to the Pack’s receivers’ coach during which he wondered if “13 could come in” — and when a player like Rodgers requests something, he usually gets his wish.

“I may have put in a good word there in the fourth quarter to get him some opportunities,” Rodgers said.

Touchdown Packers. Touchdown Allen Lazard.

“(Rodgers) threw an amazing ball. He put it right there in my breadbasket,” Lazard said on a video that’s on the Packers’ website. “It was an awesome moment to get my first touchdown.

“It fulfilled a journey of just being able to be here and playing for this amazing organization. Being able to catch a touchdown in a critical moment and come up huge — it’s something that as a kid you dream about, and it feels great to fulfill it.

“This is only the beginning.”

You know the story: Undrafted after his senior season in 2017 — despite almost every so-called draft expert predicting him to be picked. Free agent contract with Jacksonville. Waived by Jacksonville. Signed by Packers the following day.

Hard work. Dedication. Patience. Extremely loyal.

Everyone knows Lazard's storybook rise to the NFL.

Even after accepting then-Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads’ scholarship offer, other programs were persistent in trying to flip Lazard's commitment, even as late as the week before the 2014 signing day. Lazard would have nothing to do with it, and on the day when coaches announce recruits, an emotional and demonstrative Rhoads told reporters this while holding Lazard’s signed letter of intent for all of us to see:

"He’s not going to a school in northern Indiana," Rhoads told us. "Boy, they wasted a lot of time and money. He's not going to another school in this state who feverishly tried to call him about a half a dozen times in the last week. Much to the dismay of people in this room who wasted a lot of space and time challenging his words of commitment, he's going right here to Iowa State University."

He graduated Iowa State as one of Iowa State’s top receivers, a team captain and with a resume chuck full of big catches.

Similar to the one me made in the fourth quarter Monday night.

Randy Peterson is the Iowa State columnist for the Register. Reach him at rpeterson@dmreg.com, 515-284-8132, and on Twitter at @RandyPete. No one covers the Cyclones like the Register. Subscribe today at Des Moines Register.com/Deal to make sure you never miss a moment.