Iowa State's 'Lazard Effect' makes Cyclones legit contenders for country's top WR talents

AMES, Ia. — Wins on the field obviously go hand-in-hand with recruiting wins in college football. Matt Campbell and his staff are experiencing that first-hand by reaping the recruiting rewards of the Cyclones’ 8-5 season.

Those rewards are especially sweet at wide receiver — and it looks like it could stay that way for a while.

Because with Allen Lazard’s college success and NFL future, plus an offense built around highly athletic pass-catchers, Iowa State is establishing itself as a legitimate destination for the country’s best receiver talent.

MORE: Allen Lazard invited to NFL Scouting Combine

"A lot of the receivers in the Midwest have spoken very highly of Iowa State," said Allen Trieu, 247Sports’ head of Midwest recruiting. "A lot of them are considering Iowa State. When you look at where some of these guys have offers from, for Iowa State to be in the top group with these schools, I think, says something.

"They’re going to be in the conversation for several guys at the top of the 2019 board. They’re off to an early start in terms of offering and getting in with some of the top Class of 2020 guys. So I would have to think they’ll be a factor for the best receivers in the Midwest for the next few cycles."

Joseph Scates' commitment added an exclamation point to an already strong 2018 receiver class. Scates, a four-star prospect from Dayton, Ohio, picked the Cyclones over a host of Power Five offers (including Alabama and LSU) to become the highest-rated recruit of the Matt Campbell era.

MORE: Iowa State went the extra mile to land Joseph Scates

Scates is a 6-foot-4, 180-pound vertical threat built the same as Lazard. In fact, during his official visit, Scates tweeted out a photo of him wearing a No. 6 Cyclones jersey with the caption, "Baby Lazard."

"(Recruits) want to know they're going to go to a program that’s going to develop them and help them move on to the next stage of their career," said Josh Helmdoldt, Rivals' head of Midwest recruiting. "Well, when you have the evidence of that with a guy like Allen Lazard, that’s going to certainly aid your recruiting efforts.

"You can call it the 'Lazard Effect.'"

Scates was a Midwest star, but Iowa State isn't only drawing from its regional backyard.

Campbell went to Oklahoma to land Sean Shaw Jr., a 6-foot-6 three-star 2018 recruit who picked Iowa State over Kansas and SMU. He went to Texas for Carson Schleker, a 5-foot-9 three-star slot target who picked Iowa State over Utah, Arizona, Louisville, West Virginia and Wisconsin, among others.

In 2019 recruiting, three of Iowa State's four recruits are wide receivers — Bettendorf three-star Darien Porter, Arizona three-star D’Shayne James and Missouri three-star Maurice Massey, a top-50 recruit at his position who told the Register he is still firmly committed to Iowa State. He had tweeted out a decommitment on Jan. 30, which has since been deleted.

All three are tall, fast receivers in the same mold as Lazard and Scates.

"This offense — for years, we’ve had big receivers that have been mismatches," Cyclones recruiting coordinator Alex Golesh said in a December one-on-one with the Register. "We always thought, at Toledo, that was kind of a niche for us.

"We’re taking a lot of pride in recruiting those types of receivers. And we’re going to continue to do so."

Iowa State is also in the early running for four-star 2019 receivers Marcus Washington (St. Louis) and Cameron Coleman (Bradenton, Florida).

"People with talent want to go (to Iowa State)," said Massey, who holds offers from Iowa, Illinois and Kansas. "They want to get their talent exposed, and they know that going to that program, they’ll definitely have the chance to expose their talents and let everybody know what they’re about."

It’s not hard to figure out why, now that Iowa State has some success, high school receivers are taking serious looks at Ames.

In Campbell’s first two seasons, his offense has thrown for 6,654 yards, his receivers have put up four 500-plus yard seasons and Lazard eclipsed 1,000 yards in 2016 before piling up 941 this season.

Before Iowa State, Campbell produced three prolific wide receivers at Toledo in Corey Jones (plays in the CFL), Bernard Reedy (plays for the New England Patriots) and Alonzo Russell (plays on the Arizona Cardinals practice squad).

"They’re cranking out really good wide receivers and that’s also appealing for anyone that wants to play in the NFL, like me, or whoever has that dream of the NFL," said Porter, who projects as one of Iowa's top high school talents next season. "The future looks really bright for Iowa State. This is just the beginning of what we’re going to be able to do these next few years."

Matthew Bain covers college football and basketball recruiting for the Des Moines Register. He also helps out with Iowa and Iowa State football and basketball coverage for HawkCentral and Cyclone Insider. Contact him at mbain@dmreg.com and follow him on Twitter @MatthewBain_.