Defensive Player To Watch vs. TCU: Latrell Bankston

Coming off a loss to Louisiana, Iowa State’s defense was hardly the problem two weeks ago. The usual suspects were out and some new faces emerged as contributors, including one big one in the middle of the defensive line.

Latrell Bankston was one of the best junior college players last season, and was a big time pickup for Matt Campbell last year on the recruiting trail. We got a bit of a sneak peak against Louisiana, but Bankston is going to have to be a force against TCU on Saturday.

Against Louisiana, Bankston recorded one sack and three total tackles, and spent time in the rotation with Joshua Bailey, who also played pretty will in the middle of the defensive line. Between those two, it already felt like there was more presence of disruption in the middle compared to last season. Bankston is only going to get better as the season goes on and he already has the potential as an NFL prospect. Those types of players are hard to come by.

Given the uncertainty at QB for TCU and the horses the Horned Frogs have at running back, the defensive line for Iowa State will be busy. Bankston is going to go to have to eat up blockers and not allow TCU’s offensive line to make clean second level blocks. I suspect TCU will try to establish the run early, and the more havoc Iowa State presents up front to a newly configured TCU offensive line, the better.