What Keyshawn Feazell’s Decommitment Means for Iowa State

Coach Prohm’s 2017 recruiting class was given a shake up last night as 3-star power forward, Keyshawn Feazell, took to Twitter to announce he was flipping his commitment to Mississippi State and would sign with the Bulldogs this fall.

While this news is a little deflating for Iowa State, I’m personally not overly disappointed. Losing a recruit always sucks. I can’t deny that sentiment and I’m not here to tell you that this is a “good thing,” but I also don’t think it’s time to panic. Here are some reasons why I think the Cyclones’ 2017 class is still in good shape.

Cameron Lard

With Cameron Lard now expected to be in Ames in December and redshirting this spring, he effectively becomes a 2017 recruit. While there’s no telling that this news affected Feazell’s recruitment, the timeline can’t be denied as the announcement of Lard’s projected arrival and Feazell’s decommitment are just nine days apart.

Lard is 6’9”, 220 pounds and will have a semester of practice under his belt. He was the 145th-ranked recruit and 36th ranked PF by 247Sports. Feazell is 6’9”, 225 pounds and would not have had the aforementioned experience with the team when he would have gotten to campus next summer. He’s the 226th ranked recruit and 51st ranked PF by 247Sports.

Feazell was effectively recruited over on accident.

Stokes & Wigginton

It’s no secret how hard ISU is recruiting 4-star point guard, Lindell Wigginton. They’re also heavily involved with 4-star power forward, Isaiah Stokes. Personally I would rather take either of those two (hopefully both) than Feazell.

Typically, recruiting isn’t an either/or process, especially when you’re talking different positions like PG/PF, but this isn’t a normal recruiting process. Coach Prohm has six roster spots to fill next year - effectively half the roster. Would you want half your roster to be freshmen and 9/13 spots to be underclassmen next season? Probably not.

The Cyclones already have McNeill and Lewis on board, and Lard will be a redshirt freshman if all goes according to plan. If they can snag both Wigginton and Stokes, they would still have 2 spots left and with JUCO recruiting starting to pick up and the always entertaining “transfer season,” ISU will have options down the road to balance the class out with some upperclassmen.

Filling six spots with all freshmen isn’t sustainable in this day and age. Kids will transfer, and having a roster that young, even for a year, isn’t setting yourself up to be competitive in the Big 12. Best case scenario is all six stick around and then in four years you’re scrambling to fill half your roster again.

Again, I’m not here to say this decommitment is a good thing, but I think positive things surrounding Lard, Wigginton and Stokes have played a part in all of this. Iowa State will be fine, I don’t think this is an indictment of the staff’s ability to recruit the southeast region, and if Prohm closes on Stokes and Wigginton, while adding some depth with JUCOs or graduate transfers, I think everyone (Feazell included) will be better off.

As an aside — please stop tweeting at recruits.