Iowa State football: Paul Rhoads rips schools trying to recruit Allen Lazard after commitment

Iowa State head coach Paul Rhoads sounded off to the media on schools that were trying to rip away high-prized recruit Allen Lazard.

Nov 30, 2013; Morgantown, WV, USA; Iowa State Cyclones head coach Paul Rhoads walks on the sidelines during the first quarter of the game against the West Virginia Mountaineers at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Lazard committed to the Cyclones back in December of 2012, but that didn’t stop schools from reaching out to him and trying to flip his commitment. Rhoads wasn’t happy at all, and vented after the 4-star wide receiver from Urbandale signed his letter of intent.

From USA Today Sports:

"As Rhoads began talking about his recruiting class, the Cyclones football coach waved Lazard’s national letter of intent at a room full of media members, coaches, and boosters.“He’s (Lazard) not going to a school in Northern Indiana,” Rhoads said. “Boy, they wasted a lot of time and money. He’s not going to another school in this state who feverishly tried to call him about a half a dozen times in the last week.”According to Rhoads, they weren’t the only ones disappointed in Lazard’s commitment to Iowa State.“Much to the dismay of people in this room who wasted a lot of space and time challenging his words of commitment, he’s going right here to Iowa State University,” Rhoads added."

As the article points out, Rhoads never mentioned the schools by name, but one can assume that Notre Dame and Iowa were the schools that the head coach was making an example of.

Rhoads again is backing his player immediately. He announced that Lazard will be barred from the media during his freshmen year.

There’s a lot to process here. While it’s great to see Rhoads defend his talented recruit and try to keep him away from the national media vultures, he’s a bit hypocritical. Tommy Birch brought up an excellent point of Rhoads going after Jake Campos despite him committing to Missouri.

Let’s just be glad that Lazard stuck with Iowa State, as it’s ultimately his decision until National Signing Day, and get ready for the season.