Iowa State will go into fall practice with sophomore Jared Barnett and senior Steele Jantz still battling at the quarterback position after spring ball. Cyclone coach Paul Rhoads says that’s not unusual. ”
Even without having a couple of guys like we have, that have that experience that you know what each one brings, I don’t know if the springtime every gives you enough time — and situations more accurately — to put your guys in and say this is our guy,” Rhoads says.
He says you have to split up the snaps and you don’t have the full playbook in spring and that makes it tougher to narrow things down. Rhoads says Barnett definitely has everyone’s attention when he is in the game. “I think Steel Jantz has the ability to make more plays because of his capability and his ability to improvise on the run,” Rhoads says. He says the team recognizes the competition and understands it and they know it will make them stronger.
Whoever ends up starting at quarterback, there’s still a question mark as to whether they’ll be handing off to Shontrell Johnson. Rhoads says Johnson can work out, but can’t take part in the seven-on-seven drills as he continues to recover from a neck injury.
“He is fully cleared running, lifting and to do everything else with the team, he’s not cleared yet to do anything football wise,” Rhoads explains. He says anything involving contact is out until the doctors look at things again in July and then decided if he will be cleared. Rhoads says he can’t say for sure if the junior tailback will be cleared.
“You know speculation is probably that he will get cleared, but until that final round of x-rays is taken and viewed, we’ll just sit back and wait and see and let the young man train like he is gonna play,” Rhoads says. Johnson was hurt in the Texas game last year and had run for 247 yards before being knocked out of action.