Is this the end? Because it's sure starting to feel like the end. It hasn't exactly been a great week for the Iowa State football program to say the least and it begs the question; is this how the end officially begins?
In the last week alone, Iowa State has lost two commits, which in and of itself isn't terribly alarming. After all, high school kids commit and de-commit all the time. But in that same time span, Iowa State lost arguably one of the most vital pieces of the program in strength and conditioning coach, Yancy McKnight. And if that wasn't enough, Duaron Williams Tweeted out on Friday that he has officially decided to leave the program.
Coming off a two-year stretch that's seen this program nosedive straight to the bottom of the Big 12, it pretty much goes without saying that this isn't the type of news you want to hear. More importantly though, is this past week the spark that starts the dumpster fire that Paul Rhoads just can't put out?
Starting with the loss of McKnight, you can argue until you're blue in the face about what his loss truly means to the program. The strength and conditioning staff spends more time with the players than any position coach or coordinator and losing an integral part of the program during the height of the off season lifting regimen is a substantial blow.
Then again, after watching two straight years of Iowa State's offensive and defensive lines getting repeatedly dominated by its peers, can we really call McKnight's lifting program a success? To be completely honest, I'm not sure that any of us can truly know whether McKnight got the most out of the roster personnel, or deserved the brunt of the blame for the downfall. Regardless, it's early January, spring ball starts in two months and the most visible member of the off season coaching staff is packing his bags.
Speaking of packing his bags, we bid adieu to Duaron Williams. Big Dawg, as he was known, never could consistently crack the offensive line rotation, but was a junior-to-be and could have possibly bolstered the interior line over the next two years. The fact that he rarely played given the amount of injuries on the offensive line over the last two years probably speaks volumes about the type of player he is, but he is the fourth member of the 2012 class to leave the program.
And then there's the losses of Anthony Nelson and Devine Ozigbo. Starting with Nelson, the Waukee product opted to flip his commitment earlier in the week, choosing to be a member of Iowa's 2015 class instead. Ozigbo, who many had pegged as the offensive lynch pin of this class, will be signing with Nebraska. Nelson and Ozigbo are the fourth and fifth known commits to renege on their vow to be Cyclones, leaving Rhoads with only a 13-man class just a few shorts weeks prior to signing day.
Neither Nelson nor Ozigbo were likely to see snaps as true freshmen in the fall and for a program in need of immediate reinforcements, these losses will have no impact on the 2015 campaign, but let's not sugar coat it, this has become the norm for this program.
2014 couldn't have gone much worse and early into 2015, it doesn't appear that things have turned for the better. Rhoads enters this coming fall on borrowed time and another abysmal season will likely be his last in Ames.
By no means is anyone rooting for that end, but the harsh reality is that it's starting to look like a long, drawn-out foregone conclusion. Unfortunately for we as fans, that agonizing journey appears to have already begun.