With each of Iowa State’s recent additions to the offensive line and backfield, assistant Nate Scheelhaase has tweeted one simple phrase that is not new to the program but carries extra emphasis in this 2019 class: #PoundTheRock.

What has already been known is becoming more apparent in recent weeks: The Cyclones hope to be a run-first team in the up-tempo Big 12. That motto has additional evidence with two commitments in the last week from Top247 running backs Jirehl Brock and Breece Hall, the four-star tandem that Iowa State hopes will ultimately combine to be a 1-2 running back combo to be reckoned with.

“They compliment each other in the sense that you can’t have too many good running backs and Iowa State has the opportunity here to bring in one of the best running back classes in the country at a position where they have one of the top running backs in the country this year and he won’t be around next year most likely,” 247Sports Director of Recruiting Steve Wiltfong said. “So these young men will be counted on right away to come in. You saw at Georgia and other places where even backs with similar skillsets get a lot of burn.”

In today’s college football, one workhorse running back isn’t enough. Iowa State ran the ball 47.2 percent of the time and averaged 69.5 plays per game in 2017, but Matt Campbell’s pedigree shows those numbers are likely just the start. When Campbell had things humming in his final season at Toledo, the Rockets’ offense ran the ball 54.5 percent of the time and ran 75.2 plays per game.

Those numbers indicate where Iowa State is likely headed in the future — an offense that runs the ball at least or more than 50 percent of the time — once the pieces are all in place and the offensive line is fully developed. Those play counts and fast-paced offenses are the reason many programs are taking two running backs (and in some cases three) to help offset the high workload.

“With tempo offenses and stuff, you’re running a lot of plays,” Wiltfong said, “and there’s opportunity for multiple backs to make an impact.”

Iowa State could lose two 1,000-yard rushers following the 2018 season between the graduation of Mike Warren and the likelihood that David Montgomery will have the opportunity to be an early entry into the NFL Draft. The resumes of Brock and Hall to replace that outgoing pair speak for themselves.

The 5-foot-11 Brock, who 247Sports ranks at the No. 7 running back, rushed for 1,588 yards and 22 touchdowns last season in Quincy (Ill.) and fits Iowa State’s spread offense. The nearly 6-foot-2 Hall, who 247Sports ranks as the No. 11 running back, rushed for 2,082 yards and 32 touchdowns last season in Wichita (Kan.) while also splitting out wide at times, something he could do in Ames as well.

“They’re both physical backs and productive backs, guys that are extremely tough to get on the ground, physical in-between the tackles, have make-you-miss ability in space, but their strength is in their physicality and their ability to make things happen after contact,” Wiltfong said. “Good speed, very productive players.”

Campbell’s history has proven that a 1-2 running back combination is not only preferable, but also expected. That trend is now following him from Toledo.

In 2013 at Toledo, running back David Fluellen had 167 carries (and 1,121 yards) while Kareem Hunt received 137 carries (for 866 yards) and three other players had at least 37 carries (both Fluellen and Hunt made it to the NFL). The following year Hunt had 205 carries (and 1,631 yards) while Terry Swanson stepped up for 113 carries (for 732 yards). And in Campbell’s final season at Toledo in 2015, Hunt garnered 173 carries (with 973 yards) while Swanson got 143 (and 923 yards). In both 2014 and 2015, a third back had at least 80 carries.

All that is to say, with Campbell’s Toledo teams averaging nearly 518 carries per season in his four full seasons as its head coach, there was a need for multiple workhorse backs and in many years a versatile piece like Iowa State’s addition of athlete Leonard Glass, who can play slot and be a scatback. In the 2018 recruiting class, Ohio State signed the Nos. 4 and 6 backs, Auburn signed Nos. 5 and 10 and Cal signed Nos. 12 and 16. The Cyclones currently have the Nos. 7 and 11 backs in 2019 in similar fashion according to 247Sports' current rankings.

"They have a really good running back in David Montgomery right now who I feel is probably the best running back in the nation," Brock told KHQA after his commitment. "He's likely to leave after this year, so I feel like me and Breece Hall, another running back commit, will be able to fill that void."

With Brock and Hall committed, Iowa State hopes the duo can become that next 1-2 threat to lead the backfield in seasons to come. Brock has long been a Top247 prospect while Hall has recently joined his company with a boost to the four-star ranks.

Time will tell if the pair can become the next Fluellen and Hunt-like duo.

“I think that when it’s all said and done, Breece Hall has the chance to be one of the best running backs in the Big 12 and then if not America. He’s got that stock-up for 247Sports,” Wiltfong said. “Then we’ve always been high on Jirehl, who has really had some eye-popping runs with amazing physicality.”