Iowa State’s Joel Lanning was the iron man America needed on Saturday against Oklahoma.
You know, there used to be a time in the game of football where players would play both ways. Yes, you heard that correctly. Players were tough and they played both offense and defense, and heck, in some cases, they even put some special teams work as well. We don’t see much iron man football these days on a somewhat consistent basis, but Iowa State’s Joel Lanning changed that on Saturday.
Iowa State is on the road with a tall order on their hands in the form of the Oklahoma Sooners, and on Friday night, we learned that Cyclones starting quarterback Jacob Park was not with the team, as he has taken a leave from the program to deal with unspecified health issues. Very thin at quarterback, they turned to someone very familiar in Lanning. As you’ll remember, Park took the job from Lanning late last year, and from there, Lanning made the unusual move from under center to linebacker.
Lanning entered the game in the first quarter to spell starter Kyle Kempt, and at the same time, he stayed on the defensive side of the ball as well. Oh yeah, he dabbled in some special teams, too. So, how did Lanning fare? Well, not too bad actually, all things considered.
Joel Lanning with 4 carries for 18 yards. Complete 2-3 passes for 25 yards. Played 32 snaps on defense, 7 on offense and 3 on special teams.
— Tommy Birch (@TommyBirch) October 7, 2017
The numbers aren’t mind-blowing by any means or anything like that, but you still have to respect the effort of Lanning here. Nowadays you don’t see this pulled off very often, and maybe in some cases, some players might be a bit apprehensive at the thought.
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But not Lanning. No, he embraced this challenge head-on in the first half against the vaunted Sooners, and for that, he should be commended.
On Saturday in Norman, Oklahoma, Joel Lanning was the Iron Man that college football needed!