Wednesday night update - includes recruiting news

Hi readers,

Just a quick update regarding a number of things:

- Check out www.iowastatedaily.com on Thursday for the newest Daily Sportscast. In this edition, I conduct an exclusive interview with ISU freshman gymnast Megan Barnes regarding this weekend's meet in Stanford, Calif. against No. 5 Stanford, No. 15 Oregon State and unranked San Jose State. Barnes was actually recruited by each of the school's she's competing against, so it makes for, in my opinion, an interesting interview.

- Other online exclusives on Thursday include preview articles by Noah Schmelzer and Jessi Pierce for two home athletic events. The ISU tennis team competes in Ames on Friday against Creighton and Saturday against Gustavus Adolphus, while Cyclone Women's Hockey battles Rainy River Community College at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena.

- By the way, the Daily held a poll on its Web site to determine the most popular sport to follow at Iowa State. Surprisingly (or maybe not?), Cyclone Hockey came in first place with 323 votes, good for 30 percent of the vote. It beat out such notably popular sports as ISU basketball and football, so congrats go out to Cyclone Hockey men's and women's hockey.

- Football fans caught a glimpse of the future of ISU football today with the announcement of the latest class of recruits. Chock full of JUCO transfers, head coach Gene Chizik appears to now have the personnel needed to succeed at the offensive and defensive line, as well as running back positions. Be sure to read complete coverage by Grant Wall, Brett McIntyre and Chris Conetzkey in Thursday's Daily.

Here's a break down of all the newest recruits courtesy of Sports Editor Chris Conetzkey:

The focus of National Signing Day 2007 by coach Gene Chizik and his staff was most definitely on the defensive and offensive lines. Here is a position by position break down of how the Cyclones fared yesterday.

25 recruits. 11 JUCO transfers. Rivals.com — 1 four-star recruit. 9 three-star recruits. 14 two-star recruits

Offensive Line
Alex Alvarez 6-3 290 So. OL Houston, Texas (Kilgore JC/Clear Creek) — JUCO transfer. Rivals.com two-star recruit.
Trey Baysinger 6-6 290 Fr. OL Dallas, Texas (Carter) — Rivals.com two-star recruit.
Joe Blaes 6-2 295 Jr. OL Coffeyville, Kan. (Coffeyille CC/Cherryvale) — JUCO transfer. Rivals.com three-star recruit.
James Carpenter 6-4 300 Fr. OL Hephzibah, Ga. (Hephzibah) — Rivals.com two-star recruit.
Doug Dedrick 6-5 285 So. OL Scottsdale, Ariz. (Scottsdale CC/Corona Del Sol) — JUCO transfer. Rivals.com two-star recruit.
Joseph Klerekoper 6-6 295 Fr. OL Longview, Texas (Pine Tree) — Rivals.com two-star recruit.
Joe McMahon 6-4 290 Jr. OL Joliet, Ill. (Joliet JC/Downers Grove North) — JUCO transfer. Rivals.com three-star recruit.
Kelechi Osemele 6-5 298 Fr. OL Houston, Texas (Langham Creek) — Rivals.com three-star recruit.

Defensive Tackle
Jerrod Black 6-2 285 Fr. DT Houston, Texas (Cypress Falls) — Rivals.com two-star recruit.
Michael Tate 6-5 285 Jr. DT Brenham, Texas (Blinn JC/Arkansas/Washington) — JUCO transfer. Rivals.com three-star recruit.
Chris Weir 6-3 270 Jr. DT Miami, Fla. (Independence CC/Miami Beach) — JUCO transfer. Rivals.com two-star recruit.
Patrick Neal 6-0 225 Fr. DT West Des Moines, Iowa (Valley) — Ranked as seventh overall best prospect in Iowa by Rivals.com.

Defensive End
Christopher Lyle 6-4 255 So. DE Waldorf, Md. (Butler CC/Westlake) — JUCO transfer. Rivals.com three-star recruit.
Randy Kellman 6-5 260 Fr. DE Kissimmee, Fla. (Celebration) — Rivals.com two-star recruit. Runs 4.7 40-yard dash.

Linebacker
Curtiz Mathis 6-3 215 Fr. LB Harvey, Ill. (Thornton Township) — Rivals.com two-star recruit.
Anthony Green 6-0 220 Fr. LB Missouri City, Texas (Fort-Bend Marshall) — Rivals.com two-star recruit.
Fabian Brown 6-3 230 Fr. LB Des Moines, Iowa (Roosevelt) — Rivals.com three-star recruit.
Michael Bibbs 6-2 230 Jr. LB Atlanta, Ga. (Copiah-Lincoln/Booker T. Washington) — JUCO transfer. Rivals.com two-star recruit.

Defensive Back
Allen Bell 6-2 190 Jr. DB Tallahassee, Fla. (Independence CC/ James Rickards) — JUCO transfer. Rivals.com three-star recruit.
A.J. Matthews 6-3 185 Fr. DB/LB Clearwater, Fla. (Countryside) — Rivals.com two-star recruit.

Quarterback
Phillip Bates 6-2 189 Fr. QB Omaha, Neb. (North) — Scrambling QB that rushed for 517 yards. Rivals.com three-star recruit.

Running Back
Jamicah Bass 6-1 210 Jr. RB Altamonte Springs, Fla. (El Camino CC/Lyman) — JUCO transfer. No. 2 JUCO running back by SuperPrep. Rivals.com four-star recruit.
Cameron Bell 6-1 215 Fr. RB Round Rock, Texas (Stony Point) — Rivals.com two-star recruit.

Wide Reciever
Wallace Franklin 6-3 175 Jr. WR Beaumont, Texas (Butler CC/Ozen) — JUCO transfer. Rivals.com three-star recruit.
Alex Sandvig 6-0 180 Fr. WR West Des Moines, Iowa (Valley) — Rivals.com two-star recruit.

- Finally, a quick reminder that there WILL NOT be live coverage of Friday's gymnastics meet in this blog. Believe or not, the college newspaper I work for isn't paying the travel and lodging fees required to send me out to California for the meet. You're shocked....I know. Live coverage will certainly return for Iowa State's home meet against Oklahoma on Feb. 17.

Thanks for reading,
Cody Saveraid