Jason Essex enters transfer portal

[Connor_Ferguson]

Iowa State wide receiver Jason Essex has entered the transfer portal.

Jason Essex enters transfer portal

Iowa State wide receiver Jason Essex announced over social media Tuesday that he would be the latest Cyclone to enter the transfer portal. pic.twitter.com/ZlcekX7Mto — Jason Essex 4⭐️ (@Jason_Essex11) April 23, 2024 Essex saw limited action on the field in Ames and never officially recorded a

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[Cyclonepride]

I was pretty excited when I saw his film. Not sure why it didn't translate here, but we have a pretty stacked WR room.

 

[cyclone82]

Is the kid from UI hoks an upgrade and is he a legit talent?

 

[RagingCloner]

Is the kid from UI hoks an upgrade and is he a legit talent?

Not sure if either saw the field enough for us to be able to compare the two. However, every WR that transfers from UI typically does well in other systems

 

[Erik4Cy]

Not sure if either saw the field enough for us to be able to compare the two. However, every WR that transfers from UI typically does well in other systems

I have no clue how UI ever gets good WRs to commit there.

What is the sales pitch other than lie to them?

"Yeah, we'll get you the ball"

*under breath* "one target a game after you run block/decoy the other 75 plays. *cough*

 

[Cyclonepride]

I have no clue how UI ever gets good WRs to commit there.

What is the sales pitch other than lie to them?

"Yeah, we'll get you the ball"

*under breath* "one target a game after you run block/decoy the other 75 plays. *cough*

"We'll target you at least 5 times per game, and only 3 of them will be into the dirt"

 

[Clonefan32]

I have no clue how UI ever gets good WRs to commit there.

What is the sales pitch other than lie to them?

"Yeah, we'll get you the ball"

*under breath* "one target a game after you run block/decoy the other 75 plays. *cough*

"Since you never have to run a route beyond 5 yards we don't expect you to be in great shape"

That's about all I've got.

 

[clonedude]

I really wanted to see Essex excel here, but he must have seen the writing on the wall unfortunately. Wish him luck!

 

[coolerifyoudid]

"We'll target you at least 5 times per game, and only 3 of them will be into the dirt"

"The fourth will only be overthrown by a yard or two. But the fifth one...."

 

[RagingCloner]

I have no clue how UI ever gets good WRs to commit there.

What is the sales pitch other than lie to them?

"Yeah, we'll get you the ball"

*under breath* "one target a game after you run block/decoy the other 75 plays. *cough*

Im convinced they just show old film of Tim Dwight, Hinkle, DJK, and Mcnutt and tell them "this could be you"

 

[cyclo120]

Receiver has been a really interesting spot for us in recent years. Some of our higher rated high school recruits it seems but just never developed to get on the field. Luckily the staff has done a good job the in the portal to supplement the position. Hoping Ngoyi will the one to break us out of this in the coming season.

 

[Letterkenny]

O

Receiver has been a really interesting spot for us in recent years. Some of our higher rated high school recruits it seems but just never developed to get on the field. Luckily the staff has done a good job the in the portal to supplement the position. Hoping Ngoyi will the one to break us out of this in the coming season.

Our high school WR recruiting has been really bad. Who have we hit on? Deshaunte Jones, Jalen Noel and maybe Daniel Jackson? Butler and Lazard were both brought in by the previous staff. I had high hopes for both Essex and Gaines and neither amounted to anything.

We've nailed down every other position but can't seem to figure out WR and OL yet. At least we've hit homeruns in the transfer portal so far, and Hutchinson from JUCO.

 

[cyclone1209]

O

Our high school WR recruiting has been really bad. Who have we hit on? Deshaunte Jones, Jalen Noel and maybe Daniel Jackson? Butler and Lazard were both brought in by the previous staff. I had high hopes for both Essex and Gaines and neither amounted to anything.

We've nailed down every other position but can't seem to figure out WR and OL yet. At least we've hit homeruns in the transfer portal so far, and Hutchinson from JUCO.

Beni Ngoyi appears to be the next great one. We have had to use the portal to supplement it.

 

[Aclone]

O

Our high school WR recruiting has been really bad. Who have we hit on? Deshaunte Jones, Jalen Noel and maybe Daniel Jackson? Butler and Lazard were both brought in by the previous staff. I had high hopes for both Essex and Gaines and neither amounted to anything.

We've nailed down every other position but can't seem to figure out WR and OL yet. At least we've hit homeruns in the transfer portal so far, and Hutchinson from JUCO.

We signed lots and lots of projects over the years.

Scates was an academic gamble. He and Gaines turned out to be…bad fits. I’m just glad Joe managed to put together a decent year in…that was his sixth, right?

I suspect Essex decided there weren’t going to be a lot of balls to go around after Noel, Higgins, Alston, Jackson and Ngoyi. I honestly think he’ll help someone this year.

I thought Gaines, Essex and Adams were a step up in recruiting in ‘22, but they’re all gone now. Speaking of Adams, I’m pretty sure he had something else going on since his sophomore year, but no one ever talked about it—and I’m not going to speculate.

Ngoyi, Parkes and Black seemed like another half step up, and Beni certainly seems to be. Black was coming off a knee injury, and Parkes hasn’t played football for long, so we’ll see.

The ‘24 guys, Brett Eskildsen and Dom Overby at first looked like more of the same, or another half step up…but then then the 6’2” 175 Eskildsen just ripped off a 10.54 100m, and 6’4” 190 Overby a 24’7” LJ, a 47.07 (iirc) 400m, and has a 10.7 range 100m thus far.

Those are Kene, Abu and Darien type numbers.

The same kind of sheer athleticism Beni puts on display (without the track times).

And yeah, Jayden looks like a day 2 draft pick, and Isaiah Alston has that kind of utter athleticism.

The times, they are a changin’.

Oh…did I mention that Zay Robinson fits right in?

Grab that pitcher of Kool-Aid, boys and girls!

 

[Boxer007]

CW had some good things to say about Essex in his podcast. Thought he was looking very good in the spring. But like others have said there are a few WRs that are standing out. I’m guessing this is a decision based on assumed playing time. I’m not even sure Essex can be considered a miss. Around the time he finally starts to develop physically and he hits the portal.

 

[Frak]

We’ve had 4star guys and guys that were total projects and pretty much none of them work out. But the portal and juco guys have been really good. The main exceptions are Noel and Deshaunte Jones. Man, other than that, HS WR recruiting has been bad. They’ve really struggled with evaluation and development. Even a guy like Beni…he’s supposed to be the next big thing. Yet he barely played last year and if he was going to be ready, they wouldn’t have brought in Alston. Honestly I’d be more surprised if he finished his career at ISU than if he didn’t.

 

[dafarmer]

Hard to recruit TOE receivers in the portal, game film only has them waving their hands trying to get Qb’s attention.

 

[madguy30]

We’ve had 4star guys and guys that were total projects and pretty much none of them work out. But the portal and juco guys have been really good. The main exceptions are Noel and Deshaunte Jones. Man, other than that, HS WR recruiting has been bad. They’ve really struggled with evaluation and development. Even a guy like Beni…he’s supposed to be the next big thing. Yet he barely played last year and if he was going to be ready, they wouldn’t have brought in Alston. Honestly I’d be more surprised if he finished his career at ISU than if he didn’t.

There's obviously more to it with reads, etc. affecting everything but ISU's receivers/routes over the years have looked almost robotic in movement or space.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

We’ve had 4star guys and guys that were total projects and pretty much none of them work out. But the portal and juco guys have been really good. The main exceptions are Noel and Deshaunte Jones. Man, other than that, HS WR recruiting has been bad. They’ve really struggled with evaluation and development. Even a guy like Beni…he’s supposed to be the next big thing. Yet he barely played last year and if he was going to be ready, they wouldn’t have brought in Alston. Honestly I’d be more surprised if he finished his career at ISU than if he didn’t.

CW talked up Beni on his last pod. We'll see how he gets utilized this year.

I think (hope) that last year's play-calling was conservative based on not knowing exactly how well our QB situation was going to be going into the year. I'm not expecting us to start airing it out by any means, but I'm guessing the playbook will open up a bit now that we've seen Rocco operate for a year.

 

[Frak]

CW talked up Beni on his last pod. We'll see how he gets utilized this year.

I think (hope) that last year's play-calling was conservative based on not knowing exactly how well our QB situation was going to be going into the year. I'm not expecting us to start airing it out by any means, but I'm guessing the playbook will open up a bit now that we've seen Rocco operate for a year.

I mean, I thought it was opened up quite a bit after the Ohio game. I really wouldn't call it conservative from then on. You just hear people pumping up these WRs like they're the next big thing or the light bulb is coming on and then they flame out and transfer. Meanwhile, portal guys like Higgins or JUCO guys like Hutchinson are taking all their snaps. There's some kind of disconnect either in the staff's evaluations or in their development.