Iowa State football: Tom Farniok will play in NFLPA Collegiate Bowl
By Brian Spaen
For the second straight year, an Iowa State football player will be represented in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl in mid-January.
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Cyclones center Tom Farniok will be participating in the event, which will be in its fourth season. Linebacker Jeremiah George was invited and played in the game last year. From the press release at the official Iowa State athletic website:
"The NFLPA Collegiate Bowl was established in 2012 and has already gained a reputation as one of the premiere post-season all-star games for draft-eligible college football players. Farniok is the second Cyclone to play in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, joining current Jacksonville Jaguar and former All-Big 12 linebacker Jeremiah George (2014)."
Farniok is now one of two Iowa State players that will be participating in postseason all-star bowl games. The other one will tight end E.J. Bibbs in the Senior Bowl. The Senior Bowl tends to be one of the more prestigious of the all-star games as NFL Network as full week-long coverage leading up to it, including showing practices.
The NFLPA Collegiate Bowl is ramping up coverage though. Formerly a bowl sponsored by the NFLPA and called Texas vs. The Nation, the association created its own all-star game. They did have Texas vs. The Nation in 2013 after the Collegiate Bowl started, but didn’t return in 2014. Previously, there has been limited coverage of practices on ESPNU leading up to the event. A time, date, and TV network has yet to be assigned, but it will likely be on one of the ESPN Networks.