Alright, ladies and gents. I’m starting to run out of the spice for some of these hot takes.

Just kidding. We’re just hitting the peak of hot takes. We’re at about a 5 out of 10 right about now, so how about we ramp that up to the next level, shall we?

Record-breaker: Hunter Dekkers?

One of the few Cyclones passing records that Brock Purdy couldn’t quite eclipse was the single-game passing yards record set by Austen Arnaud in 2008 against the Kansas State Wildcats. Arnaud set that record with 440 passing yards, surpassing Todd Bandhauer’s record of 437 from 1998.

We’ve seen Dekkers’ arm in the past, showing a few nice throws (particularly down the field) in his little bit of playing time over the past 2 seasons. He went 2/2 for 51 yards with a nice TD throw to Joe Scates vs. Kansas in 2020 in a blowout Cyclones win and stepping in for Brock Purdy this past year (2021) against Iowa, Dekkers threw for 114 yards (in basically just a quarter) on 11 of 16 passing with yet another score, this one to Tarique Milton. Now, both Milton and Scates will be playing elsewhere this year, but if Dekkers has shown me anything in his short playing time, it’s that he has an absolute cannon. I mentioned in the first edition of BOLD takes, that I thought they’d start out kinda slow. “Dink and dunk” ball with a lot of Jaylin Noel and the backs... but I’d venture to guess that there’ll be a game towards the end of the year (Texas Tech maybe?) where Hunter Dekkers unloads on the opposing defense. He’ll hit 441 this year. Just you wait.

Finally, the NFL Draft curse is over... in a BIG way

Some of you who follow me on Twitter may have noticed that I believe school name matters when it comes to being drafted into the NFL. Is it everything? Absolutely not... But I think it’s crazy to think that it doesn’t matter at all...

But that’s a discussion for another day. What I’m saying today, is that Iowa State will FINALLY have a player drafted in the first round. Not only that, but I believe this player will be a top 15, maybe even top 10, NFL Draft pick.

Will. McDonald.

Currently, Will is tied for 2nd in the Big 12 Conference for sacks in a career with 29... and he’s still got a full year to go. Von Miller currently holds the record with 33 sacks over a career. That means Will is already ahead of Big 12 stars Emmanual Ogbah (OkSt), Alex Okafor (UT), Brian Orakpo (UT), and even the great Ndamukong Suh (Neb).

Doubling Down!

Will has the whole season to leave his mark on Iowa State, the Big 12, and even college football as a whole. The official sack record was set in 2018 by Louisiana Tech’s Jaylon Ferguson with 45, meaning McDonald would need 16 to tie the record. While his current season-high is 11.5, set last year, it’s not entirely impossible for him to hit 16.5 to take sole possession of the NCAA record. (Yes, the unofficial record is 52 set by Alabama’s Derrick Thomas and Arizona’s Teddy Bruschi, but sacks weren’t officially tracked by the NCAA until 2000,)

So let’s do a little doubling down here. Will McDonald not only ends the Cyclone 1st round draft curse... He’s going to set the OFFICAL NCAA sacks record with at least 45.5 total sacks, eclipsing 16 sacks this season.