Iowa State football QB Brock Purdy is college football’s most underrated player

Iowa State football’s Brock Purdy is so underrated.

Why don’t we talk about Iowa State Cyclones quarterback Brock Purdy more?

College football has so many excellent quarterbacks that even great players like Purdy tend to get lost in the shuffle. Though all top signal-callers are living in the shadows of the Clemson Tigers’ Trevor Lawrence and the Ohio State Buckeyes’ Justin Fields, Purdy is every bit deserving of being mentioned among the next tier of college quarterbacks.

Despite playing for one of the surprisingly better programs in the Big 12, it’s easy to overlook the magnificent job head coach Matt Campbell has done in four years at Iowa State. The Cyclones have gone bowling the last three seasons, never finishing worse than fourth in conference play since 2017. While it has been defense and toughness that has guided them, Purdy is special.

Purdy is entering his third year at Iowa State, poised to become the greatest quarterback in program history. He has already surpassed Iowa State legends like David Archer, Sage Rosenfels and Seneca Wallace in all major passing statistics. If he can get the Cyclones to 10 wins or a conference title bout before he turns pro in a year or two, Purdy will be the new Mayor of Ames.

Brock Purdy deserves more respect among college football quarterbacks.

The Gilbert, Arizona native earned Second-Team All-Big 12 honors as a sophomore. 2019 was his first year as the Cyclones’ full-time starter, as he completed 65.7 percent of his passes for 3,982 yards, 27 touchdowns and nine interceptions. As a freshman in 2018, Purdy played in 10 games, completing 66.4 percent of his passes for 2,250 yards, 16 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Iowa State enters 2020 about where it finished a year ago. Yes, the Cyclones are looking up at about roughly three teams, firmly seated in the middle class of the Big 12. Even though more prestigious programs like the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys and the Texas Longhorns get more respect nationally, it’s not like the Cyclones are afraid of any of their rivals.

In fact, Iowa State has knocked off each of the Big 12’s “blue-bloods” once in the last three years. The Cyclones defeated Oklahoma during Baker Mayfield’s Heisman Trophy campaign. Iowa State handed Mike Gundy’s team a defeat in Purdy’s first year with the program. Last year saw Texas lose to Iowa State for the first time in a long time. Can Purdy beat two of these three rivals?

Outside of the road date at Kinnick for the CyHawk vs. the rival Iowa Hawkeyes, the Cyclones should be able to rack up a bunch of easy wins during the regular season. This is a team going 8-4 with Purdy as its star offensive player. If they can win two out of three between the Cowboys, Longhorns and Sooners, it’ll be the Cyclones going to Arlington to face one of them in a rematch.

Iowa State has Oklahoma State and Oklahoma back-to-back in mid-October. The road date at Stillwater is tough, but if the Cyclones can win in Kinnick, they can surely win there. Beating the Sooners in Norman is never easy, but the Cyclones did it three years ago. Who’s to say they can beat them at Jack Trice this year in a battle between Purdy and Spencer Rattler?

Though the Texas date is in Austin, it’s toward the end of the year and the Cyclones may be rolling by that point. While their season-slate is incredibly front-loaded, Purdy is the quarterback Iowa State needs to run the gauntlet. 2022 might be the year he becomes a national star, but college football fans will know all about him in 2021. He’s too good to be ignored any longer.

Get used to the name Brock Purdy. He’ll win a ton of games for Iowa State this year and next.

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