"There might be a few jokes," said Iowa City West High School's Jacob Gannon. "Some of the people give me a hard time about being a Cyclone fan but I'm not too concerned."The 6-foot-6, 255-pound offensive tackle ended his recruitment today with a phone call to Iowa State head coach Paul Rhoads. "He's was real excited today when I called but I think he was definitely expecting me to commit," said Gannon. "He was just happy that I made the decision and he told me that he was excited that I was becoming a Cyclone."
Jacob's dad Mike also played football for Iowa State during the late 1970's but according to Gannon that did not have the greatest influence on his decision. "He's definitely proud that I'm following in his footsteps but my decision was really based off my relationship with the Iowa State coaches," he said. "They were my first offer and really became my leader from the start because they really did the best job of pursuing me."
Jacob says the Iowa State staff recruited him on a consistent basis but never tried to pressure him into a decision. "Coach Messingham talked with me a lot but he was never pushy about it," said Gannon. "He's just a very good communicator and he also gave some good advice along the way."
Jacob says that he also has developed a very solid relationship with Iowa State offensive line coach Bill Bleil and that he can't wait to play for Coach Rhoads. "I just like his energy and the fact that he has always been honest with me," he said. "He told me what he thought about me as a player right from the start and he's just really easy to talk to."
So what does Rhoads like about Jacob as a player? "He said that he likes my size and how I move," said Gannon. "He told me that I have good feet and that they want to pack some more muscle on me."
Jacob likes the football aspect of Iowa State but he was also very clear that education is his top priority. "I'm real excited to play football there but I wanted to make sure that I found a school that had my major," said Gannon. "Iowa State is good academically and has a great computer science program which is what I'm going to major in and really I just love the campus and everything about it."
Jacob says he's content with his decision and is now just ready to focus on his senior year of high school football. "Getting my recruitment over with definitely played a role in my commitment today because I definitely wanted to get it done before school started," he said. "Now it's off my mind and I can just focus on helping my team win some games. Last year we went 0-9 but I think we're going to have a good year and really surprise some people this season."