The Iowa State football team continues to make signing the best in-state talent a priority, landing the top quarterback in Iowa for the third straight season.

Alex Manske, a four-time all-state selection for Algona High School, was among the 19 players who signed with the Cyclones on early signing day Wednesday. 

“We’re really excited about the class coming in,” Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell said. “The staples, and what we’ve always believed in, we didn’t waiver from those. This class has guys that are winners, that come from great high school football programs and our coaches did a great job recruiting within a six-hour radius of our doorstep. We wanted to continue to find guys that fit what Iowa State is about, and I think we did that.”

The Cyclones finished with six of the Top 10 recruits from within the borders, adding Manske’s teammate, Jack Limbaugh, to the defense along with Gilbert High School star Will Hawthorne. 

Manske is regarded as a four-star recruit and ranked 42nd overall in the nation by On3. He is the highest-ranked Big 12 recruit by that outlet.

Along with Manske, Limbaugh and Hawthrone, Campbell and Iowa State added West Des Moines Valley wide receiver Zay Robinson and three-time state champion receiver Sam Zelenovich from Southeast Polk. 

Spirit Lake’s Ethan Stecker and Will Tompkins of Cedar Falls round out the Iowa preps. 

Here is a look at the early signees for the 2025 Iowa State football recruiting class:

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For the second time in less than a year, a sanitation contractor for Seaboard Triumph Foods LLC in Sioux City was found to employ children doing dangerous work at the pork processing plant.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa approved a consent order and judgment Nov. 27 with Qvest LLC. Under terms of the agreement, Qvest must pay $171,919 in child labor civil money penalties, hire a third-party to review and implement company policies to prevent the employment of children and establish a process for reporting concerns about the illegal employment of children.

In an emailed statement, Seaboard Triumph Foods (STF) said that none of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) filings included their company. It said it has not contracted with Qvest, “who had express contractual requirements to follow all labor laws,” for more than a year.

“STF did not employ any of the alleged individuals and has no evidence that any underage individuals accessed the plant,” the statement said.

The statement, which quotes former head of DOL’s Wage and Hour Division and current Seaboard counsel Paul DeCamp, also pointed out that employers across the country are struggling with the problem of people, including minors, being able to obtain jobs through fraudulent identification documents sophisticated enough to fool even the federal government’s E-Verify system.

“Businesses are victimized by this fraud,” DeCamp said in the statement.

“Safety, ethical practices and compliance with regulations and industry standards are of paramount importance to STF. We expect the same from our vendors and partners, and we will not tolerate any vendor’s use of underage labor within our facility, and will also take measures to prevent fraud against our company,” the statement said.

Qvest did not respond to emails seeking comment.

Federal law forbids children under age 18 from being employed in dangerous jobs common in meat and poultry slaughtering, processing, rendering and packing operations.

A DOL investigation determined that 11 children had been employed during the night shift and were using corrosive cleaners to clean head splitters, jaw pullers, bandsaws, neck clippers and other equipment within the facility. The DOL did not provide ages of the child workers.

Earlier this year, the federal court levied nearly $650,000 in penalties against Fayette Janitorial Services of Somerville, Tennessee, after hiring 24 children, some as young as 13, to clean dangerous equipment at Seaboard Triumph.

Seaboard Triumph announced in February it was cancelling its contracts with Fayette after the DOL investigation found the children working in the plant and sought a court injunction to stop it. Fayette had taken over the sanitation duties from Qvest in September 2023 and rehired some of the children that Qvest previously employed, according to a DOL new release.

Seaboard Triumph contracted with Qvest for cleaning services from 2019 until September 2023, when it hired Fayette.

JBS USA announced in April 2023 that it would start its own sanitation service at its meatpacking facilities including Marshalltown, cutting ties with Packers Sanitation Services, Inc., (PSSI) after it admitted employing approximately 100 children at several JBS plants throughout the Midwest and was fined $1.5 million.

PSSI admitted having workers ages 13 to 17 clean 13 slaughterhouses, although none were in Iowa.

“The U.S. Department of Labor is determined to end the illegal employment of children in our nation’s workplaces,” DOL regional solicitor Christine Z. Heri said in a news release. “We are committed to using all strategies to stop and prevent unlawful child labor and holding all employers legally responsible for their actions. Children should never be hired to perform dangerous and prohibited tasks.”

In fiscal year 2024, the DOL concluded 736 investigations uncovering child labor violations that affected 4,030 children, and assessed employers more than $15.1 million in penalties for violating federal child labor laws, an 89 percent increase since 2023.

Kevin Baskins covers jobs and the economy for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at kbaskins@registermedia.com.

AMES – The past two weeks were a grind for the Iowa State women’s basketball team. The Cyclones faced two in-state opponents, took on the reigning national champions and participated in a tough trip to Florida.

This week offers a little bit of a let-up and a chance for the Cyclones to regroup.

The 19th-ranked Cyclones took care of the first bit of business by dominating USC Upstate in a 92-35 victory at Hilton Coliseum on Tuesday night. Iowa State improved to 7-2.

Audi Crooks finished with a double-double, tallying 15 points, 13 rebounds and five assists for the Cyclones. Iowa State’s Addy Brown added 14 points, six rebounds and three assists.

It was just what Iowa State needed after a two-week stretch that included a rough road loss at Northern Iowa, a close call with Drake and an ugly setback to South Carolina in the Fort Myers Tip-Off.

The losses sent the Cyclones, once a top-10 team in the Associated Press and USA TODAY Sports Network Coaches polls, tumbling in the rankings. Iowa State certainly looked like a top-tier team Tuesday, however.

The Cyclones were in complete control over USC Upstate, which fell to 2-8. Iowa State made it clear from the start that it was the dominant team, opening with a 7-0 run.

The lead blossomed into a 25-3 advantage after an 18-0 run by the Cyclones later in the quarter. Kelsey Joens, who finished with 11 points off the bench for Iowa State, highlighted the run with a pair of 3-pointers.

Iowa State led 32-11 after the first quarter. But that was just the start.

The Cyclones opened the second quarter with a 9-0 run to take a 41-11 lead. USC Upstate, which managed just two points in the quarter, shot 1-for-13 in the frame.

Iowa State’s lead morphed to 48-13 at halftime. Brown hit a 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter buzzer to give the Cyclones an 81-30 lead.

USC Upstate never got on track offensively. Iowa State’s defense suffocated the Spartans, who shot just 31.3% from the field.

Iowa State, which has now won three of its last four games, closes out the week on Sunday by playing Central Michigan at noon at Hilton Coliseum.

Tommy Birch, the Register’s sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He’s the 2018, 2020 and 2023 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468