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Sam Richardson Named Iowa State's Starting Quarterback

By CanAzn
Jukey McSunshine
Jukey McSunshine
John Weast

The QB carousel we've all come to know and love hate during Paul Rhoads' tenure at ISU has stopped (for the time being) again, this time landing exactly where it landed last summer: junior Sam Richardson. Iowa State announced the news via Twitter.

Richardson was anointed the starter after the 2012 season as he had taken the reigns of the offense after a masterful 4 TD performance against Kansas and the graduation of Steele Jantz and transfer of Jared Barnett in the offseason. Unfortunately, injuries and a Messy bout of inconsistency to begin the 2013 season led to Richardson's questionable demotion to situational running quarterback as Grant Rohach led the Cyclones to a dominant performance over Kansas at home and the bright ending to the season, a comeback overtime win over West Virginia in Morgantown.

Rohach had the early lead going into the fall with a strong spring, but all indications have been that Richardson has elevated his game and leadership qualities significantly in the past week or two, cementing last year's leading passer (in yards and TDs, but not rating, as that honor belongs to Kirby Van Der Kamp) as the starter going into another season. Richardson should be happy to see his former high school teammate and USF transfer D'Vario Montgomery in the fold this fall as an option in addition to rising junior Quenton Bundrage and preseason All-Big 12 tight end E.J. Bibbs as his receiving options. Perhaps the biggest addition (not a fat joke) to Richardon's tools for success that he didn't have last year is a Big 12 proven offensive coordinator in Mark Mangino.

As we all know, Paul Rhoads has been quick to switch his signal caller, and time will tell if Sam Richardson will be given the leeway to make mistakes and learn from them, but at face value, his words indicate that Rhoads will not be eager to go to Grant Rohach even with hiccups in the road.

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