Iowa State has big shoes to fill

If any team could spoil an expected Big 12 championship game rematch between Oklahoma and Texas, it’s Iowa State.

Media members picked the Cyclones to finish third in this year’s preseason poll. Expectations in Ames have rarely, if ever, been so lofty.

But for Iowa State to improve upon last season’s 6-3 showing in conference play it will need to find a suitable replacement for running back David Montgomery, who opted to forgo his senior season and enter the 2019 NFL draft.

Over the past two seasons, Montgomery rushed 515 times for 2,362 yards (4.6 yards per carry) and 24 touchdowns. He averaged 101.3 rushing yards per game last season and topped the century mark seven times in 12 appearances.

“For us, we certainly lose a tremendous football player, a young man in David Montgomery, a young man who was outstanding for us in every day,” Iowa State coach Matt Campbell said Tuesday. “Fortunately or unfortunately at times, we had to play without David last year, and I think the thing that was really good for us is it put some of these guys that are competing for that starting spot in position to have to step up and make critical plays.”

Campbell said it will be a five-man battle between three key returning tailbacks in Kene Nwangwu, Johnnie Lang and Sheldon Croney, and four-star freshmen Jirehl Brock and Breece Hall.

Montgomery and quarterback Brock Purdy (100 attempts for 451 yards) gobbled up most of the touches on the ground in 2018, leaving Nwangwu, Lang and Croney with between 23 and 39 rushing attempts apiece. Nwangwu made the most of his limited touches, picking up 157 yards across 12 games.

“You are looking for that running back that's the complete running back to emerge as the guy that is the guy in critical moments in that starting running back,” Campbell said. “So that will be a great battle that I don't know if we will find until fall camp.”