National Signing Day 2015: Iowa State picks up stealth RB from California
By Brian Spaen
National Signing Day went pretty swift and smoothly for Iowa State football. No players jumped the boat after making their commitment, and there was even a surprise thrown in.
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The Cyclones picked up Sheldon Croney, a 3-star running back from California. He didn’t commit to a school and 247Sports predicted that he would end up at Stanford on January 15th.
Publicly, he wasn’t given an offer by Iowa State. Running backs coach Louis Ayeni was the guy recruiting the prospect and, despite limited communication, loved the guy.
Iowa State RB coach Louis Ayeni helped lock up Sheldon Croney: "I love him to death and I’ve only met him a couple of times." #Cyclones
— Alex Halsted (@AlexHalsted) February 4, 2015
Croney passed up offers from Boise State, Oregon State, Colorado State, and UNLV. There was stronger interest reported with the Broncos, Beavers, and Cardinal.
The running back checks in at 5-foot-11 and 207 pounds with a 40-time of 4.8 seconds. On 247Sports’ composite rankings, he ranks as 128th overall at running back and 182nd in the state of California. In 2013, the back recorded 2,377 rushing yards and had 28 touchdowns.
Croney may not be the biggest player, but he’s known for his running power. Here’s a highlight video from senior year on his Hudl profile.
The prospect was official just a minute prior to the two JUCOs from Coffeyville, offensive lineman Jaypee Philbert and defensive tackle Bobby Leath, at 9:42 AM Central time. It appears that signing day wrapped up by announcing the two walk-ons, wide receiver Wyatt Rhoads and defensive back Jack Bergstrom, three minutes later.
Including all the former signees and walk-ons, and assuming no more players pop up later today, there are 24 players in the class of 2015 for Iowa State football. We’ll have a full recap on all the signees later today on the blog along with Rhoads’ comments after his press conference.