Down the Pipe & Natty Lite - Episode 9: A Sit-Down with Jake McDonough

With Cole in New Zealand for the next few weeks, and Marchie preparing to return to Dallas Cowboys training camp on Monday, Levi decided to sit down with former 1st-Team All-Big 12 nose tackle Jake McDonough.to talk all things Cyclone football.

First we talked about what Jake’s been up to since he left Iowa State, including a stint in the Arena Football League. Jake says playing in the Arena League is actually more difficult than playing on the grass field. Also, Jake’s contemplating a return to the NFL, so he walks us through the process of trying to make that comeback, including showing teams his recent 225 lb bench press set of 47 REPS.

Then, Jake gave his persepective on Joel Lanning and how incredible his double duty at linebacker and quarterback last season was.

After our brief discussion about Joel, we talked about how the impressive 2017 recruiting class is already pushing their way into the gameplan, and what the new redshirt rule means for their development. Even true freshman offensive lineman Trevor Downing has already forced his way into the deep of a position that traditionally redshirts every single offensive lineman for the first season.

So how is Matt Campbell building this depth? Jake says one of the main reasons that Iowa State is now competing for recruits with some of the larger schools, is because he can sell one of the most passionate fanbases in the country. We talk more about Matt Campbell’s love affair with the Iowa State fanbase, and why he we think he turned down larger schools to not only come to Ames, but to stay after seeing interest from some blue-blood programs.

Before we wrapped things, we played Buy or Sell, and Jake suckered Levi into telling his embarrassing story about his first time playing “flippy/flip cup.”