Iowa State Names Starting Quarterback For Season-Opener

As Iowa State prepares to open its 2014 football season, one of the most-asked questions of Coach Paul Rhoads is will start at quarterback when the Cyclones face North Dakota State on August 30th. Rhoads has made his decision.

Following a Monday morning (August 18th) team practice, Rhoads announced that Sam Richardson will be under center for the season-opening game.

The junior from Winter Park, Florida, was Iowa State's starting quarterback in the first eight games of the 2013 season, passing for more than 240 yards in the first four games. Injuries, however, hampered his productivity later in the season. Richardson was eventually replaced by Grant Rohach, who started the final four games at quarterback for Iowa State.

Richardson and Rohach have been competing to be the 2014 starter since the first snap of spring practice. Rhoads noted the poise and leadership Richardson emanated throughout the first two weeks of fall camp.

“Sam has displayed great leadership and that certainly includes poise in the pocket where he has been very much in control of our offense and of himself,” Rhoads said. “His understanding of the scheme and his decision making has really grown in the last two weeks, and maybe as much as anything, he is throwing a great ball, an accurate ball, a tight ball and a catchable ball.”

Richardson’s road to starting quarterback began in his freshman season (2012) when he replaced a concussed Steele Jantz in the first quarter of a game against Kansas. Richardson proceeded to dissect the J-Hawks' secondary by connecting on 23-of-27 passes for 250 yards and four touchdowns in a 51-23 Cyclone victory.

Richardson’s first four games of 2013 were solid, completing 62.3 percent of his passes and nine touchdowns despite tweaking his ankle in the season-opener against UNI.

Unfortunately, Richardson re-injured the ankle in a later game against Texas Tech game and his mobility and efficiency suffered throughout the remainder of the season. On top of the ankle injury, Richardson also played with a jammed thumb for much of the season.

One of Richardson’s strengths is his mobility. In his first six games as a starter, Richardson produced three games of 70 yards or more rushing. Despite his limited playing time late in the 2013 season, he still ranked third on the team in rushing with 356 yards.

Richardson is now ready to focus on North Dakota State.

“I’m excited,” Richardson said. “Obviously, going into the season this is what I wanted, so it’s a nice relief that I will be back there.”

Richardson has totaled 1,938 passing yards, 19 touchdown completions and 589 rushing yards in his Cyclone career. His total number of career touchdown passes is three shy of Iowa State's top-10. He had an eight-game streak of completing a touchdown pass end in the Baylor game last season, tying for the third longest streak in school history.