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The 5 best NFL players of all time from Iowa State football

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2 years ago

June 24, 2024

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The 5 best NFL players of all time from Iowa State football

From Charles Heileman in 1939 to T.J. Tampa in 2024, Iowa State football has had 139 players selected in the NFL Draft.

There are no Iowa State alumni in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but a few have enjoyed prolonged periods of elite success at the next level.

Here’s a look at the best NFL careers of all time from former Cyclone stars:

More: Four potential breakout players in Iowa State football’s 2024 campaign

Matt Blair (LB, 1974-85)

After a terrific career at Iowa State, which saw him be named Most Outstanding Defensive Player of the 1971 Sun Bowl and a 1973 All-American, Blair was selected in the second round, 51st overall, by the Minnesota Vikings in 1974.

Blair earned by far the most recognition of any Iowa State alum during his NFL career. He notched six Pro Bowl nods (1977-82) and one first-team All-Pro (1980) selection in his 12 seasons, finishing his career with 160 games played, 130 games started, 23 sacks, 16 interceptions and 20 fumble recoveries.

He ranks third in NFL history with 20 blocked kicks on special teams, the most notable being his blocked punt against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl IX that resulted in a touchdown — the Vikings’ only points in the 16-6 loss.

Blair was also an integral part of Minnesota’s 11-2-1 1976 squad that sported the league’s second-ranked defense and returned to the Super Bowl. The former Cyclone during that season tallied two interceptions and five fumble recoveries, as well as two fumble recoveries in the Vikings’ 24-13 NFC Championship victory over the Los Angeles Rams.

Blair was inducted into the Iowa State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Minnesota Vikings Ring of Honor in 2012.

He died on October 22, 2020, at the age of 70.

More: Former Iowa State, Minnesota Vikings football star Matt Blair remembered as a kick-blocking pioneer

Keith Sims (G, 1990-2000)

Sims’ Cyclones career was stellar, making him the 39th overall pick by the Miami Dolphins in the 1990 draft and an Iowa State Hall of Fame inductee in 2006.

The guard was an integral piece of the unit that blocked for Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino. Sims earned three consecutive Pro Bowl selections from 1993-95, as well as second-team All-Pro honors in 1994.

Sims played his last three seasons for Washington after eight seasons in Miami. Overall, Sims started in 133 of his 142 career games, as well as all seven of his playoff games.

More: Iowa State football schedule 2024: Ranking the Cyclones’ six most compelling games

Marcus Robertson (DB, 1991-2002)

Robertson totaled 257 tackles, six interceptions and nine forced fumbles during his ISU career, good enough for the Houston Oilers to pick him in the fourth round, 102nd overall, in the 1991 NFL Draft. Iowa State inducted Robertson into its Hall of Fame in 2009.

He mostly played free safety during 12 professional seasons, with his best campaign coming in 1993 when Robertson was named first-team All-Pro. That year he notched 82 total tackles, seven interceptions, two forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries for a league-leading 107 fumble-return yards and one TD.

Although he never replicated that production again, Robertson remained a steady starter for more than a decade. He remained with the organization when it transitioned from the Houston Oilers to the Tennessee Titans and was a key piece of the team’s run to Super XXXIV, although he missed the game after getting injured during an interception in the AFC Championship Game.

Robertson played his final two NFL seasons with the Seattle Seahawks before retiring at age 33. Overall, he started in 144 of his 162 career games and finished with totals of 24 interceptions and 72 passes defensed.

Robertson remains involved in professional football. He began as the Titans’ director of player development, and he and his staff received the Winston and Shell Award in 2006 for innovation and commitment to player development.

The former Cyclone then shifted to the sidelines and is currently the defensive backs coach for the New Orleans Saints. He was also a coaching staff member for the Titans, Arizona Cardinals, Denver Broncos, Oakland Raiders and Detroit Lions.

Kelechi Osemele (T, 2012-20)

Osemele vaulted up draft boards after his 2011 Cyclones season garnered him All-American honors from Sports Illustrated, as well as a first-team All-Big 12 selection. He was chosen in the second round, 60th overall, by the Baltimore Ravens in 2012.

Osemele started all 16 regular-season games as a rookie and all four playoff contests en route to the franchise’s Super Bowl victory over the San Francisco 49ers. The ex-Cyclone had back surgery during his sophomore campaign, missed 13 games over the next three seasons and was not resigned by Baltimore, making him a free agent. He eventually landed with the Oakland Raiders in 2016 on a five-year, $60 million deal.

In 2018, Osemele was the second-highest-paid left guard in the NFL.

He played the best football of his career in the silver and black. Osemele was named to the Pro Bowl in 2016 and 2017, and earned first-team All-Pro honors in 2016 for a Raiders offense that had the sixth-best rushing offense in the league.

Injuries then piled up for Osemele. He played in just 19 games over his final three seasons and was traded from Oakland to the New York Jets in 2019, and later signed with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2020 before retiring.

Brock Purdy (QB, 2022-23)

“Mr. Irrelevant,” the 262nd and final pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, has already etched himself onto the list of greatest NFL players from Iowa State.

Purdy’s three All-Big 12 selections and 32 Cyclones program records weren’t enough to garner significant interest from pro scouts, but just as he did when he began his ISU career, the Arizona native rose from the bottom of San Francisco’s depth chart to starter and never looked back.

In just two seasons leading the 49ers’ talented roster, Purdy has taken the franchise to consecutive NFC Championship Games and Super Bowl LVIII. In 25 career games, he’s thrown for 5,654 yards, 44 TDs and just 15 interceptions.

He has a 17-4 regular-season record as a starter, and his only playoff loss when playing a full game came in the Super Bowl against back-to-back champion Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in overtime.

When it’s all said and done, Purdy could be Iowa State’s greatest NFL product.

Gus Martin is a Digital Producer/Content Director for The Des Moines Register. Follow him on X at @GusMartin_DMR.

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Iowa women’s wrestling star Kylie Welker on competing for official NCAA championship

Published

10 hours ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

Iowa women’s wrestling star Kylie Welker on competing for official NCAA championship

Wrestling-Women

March 5, 2026

Iowa women’s wrestling star Kylie Welker on competing for official NCAA championship

March 5, 2026

Kylie Welker chats with NCAA Digital’s Sophie Starkey about the success of Iowa women’s wrestling and the possibility of winning the inaugural NCAA sanctioned championship.

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Iowa House OKs ‘3 strikes’ bill with 20-year prison terms. What to know

Published

22 hours ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

Iowa House OKs ‘3 strikes’ bill with 20-year prison terms. What to know

Iowans who commit multiple serious crimes would face a mandatory 20-year prison sentence under a “three strikes” bill passed by House lawmakers.
Republicans said the bill would keep Iowans safe and “prioritize victims and public safety over criminals.”
A nonpartisan state agency says the bill would disproportionately impact Black Iowans and could require the state to spend millions to build a new prison.

Repeat offenders convicted of multiple serious crimes would receive a mandatory 20-year prison sentence under a bill passed by House lawmakers.

House lawmakers debated for more than an hour about high costs, lack of prison space and the bill’s impact on Black Iowans before voting 68-23 to pass House File 2542, sending it to the Iowa Senate.

Seven Democrats, including Minority Leader Brian Meyer, D-Des Moines, joined Republicans in voting in favor of the bill.

“It will put public safety first,” said the bill’s floor manager, Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison. “It will ensure that the debt to victims and society is paid. It will prioritize victims and public safety over criminals. It will establish real and effective deterrence that is nonexistent in our current system. It will reduce chaos and violence in our society.”

Here’s what to know about the bill.

What would the House Republican three strikes bill do?

Iowans who accumulate three strikes would face a mandatory 20-year prison sentence, with no parole, under the bill.

That would replace Iowa’s current law that says habitual offenders must serve a minimum three-year prison sentence before they are eligible for parole.

All felonies, as well as aggravated misdemeanors involving sexual abuse, domestic abuse, assault and organized retail theft would be considered level-one offenses that are worth one full strike.

Other aggravated misdemeanors, as well as serious misdemeanors involving assault, domestic abuse and criminal mischief would be considered level-two offenses worth half a strike each.

Lawmakers amended the bill to remove theft, harassment and possession of a controlled substance from the crimes that would count toward a person’s strikes.

And the amendment specifies that the bill would only apply to convictions that occur beginning July 1, 2026.

If someone is arrested and convicted of multiple offenses, only the most serious charge would count towards the defendant’s strikes.

Convictions would not count toward someone’s total if more than 20 years passes between a prior conviction and their current conviction.

Rep. Ross Wilburn, D-Ames, tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to say that only a violent crime would qualify as someone’s third strike, but Republicans rejected the amendment.

“The bill still scores murder, felony embezzlement and felony theft the same, even though they are very different crimes,” Wilburn said. “One point is one point and three gets you 20 years with no ability for parole or judicial discretion.”

Holt said the legislation leaves room for judicial and prosecutorial discretion.

“There are deferred sentences, there are plea bargains,” he said. “There is plenty of opportunity for grace and judicial discretion in the legislation that we are proposing.”

Bill could cost millions, require Iowa to build a new prison, agency says

A fiscal analysis of the bill by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency said it could cost Iowa nearly $165 million more per year by 2031 based on the cost of housing inmates for longer prison stays.

FY 2027: $33 million
FY 2028: $66 million
FY 2029: $99 million
FY 2030: $132 million
FY 2031: $164.9 million

The agency said if the bill had been in effect between fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2025, there would have been 5,373 people who qualified for the 20-year mandatory minimum sentence.

“An increase in the prison population due to increased (length of stay) will require the DOC to build additional prison(s),” the agency states. “The size, security and other features that a future prison may require cannot be determined, but costs would be significant.”

The analysis noted that South Dakota appropriated $650 million last fall to build a 1,500-bed prison.

As of March 1, the Iowa Department of Corrections’ website describes the state’s prison system as being overcrowded by 25%, with 8,705 inmates compared to a capacity of 6,990.

The Office of the State Public Defender could see a projected cost increase of $1.6 million due to an increased number of trials resulting from the legislation.

But the agency’s estimates come with a caveat — the Department of Corrections did not respond to its requests for data.

“The LSA has not received a response to multiple requests for information from the DOC,” the note states. “Without additional information, the LSA cannot estimate the total fiscal impact of the bill.”

Holt called the fiscal note “an embarrassment to the Department of Corrections” and “an agenda masquerading as math.”

“It is clear, in my judgment, that because they did not like the legislation they went all out and extreme to create a fiscal note that cannot be taken seriously in its assumptions,” he said. “It assumes that nothing will change, that there will be no deterrent factor and that the numbers will continue as usual.”

Black Iowans would be disproportionately impacted by the law

The Legislative Services Agency analysis says the bill “may disproportionately impact Black individuals if trends remain constant.”

Of the 29,438 people convicted in fiscal year 2025 of felonies and aggravated misdemeanors that constitute a level one offense under the bill, the agency said about 70% were White, 22% were Black and 9% were other races.

Iowa’s overall population is 83% White, 4% Black and 13% other races, the agency said.

It’s not clear how the bill’s impact would change to account for the House amendment removing some crimes from counting towards the three strikes.

“Expanding three-strike laws will intensify disparities — and that’s what this statement shows — by mandating longer sentences, limiting judicial discretion,” Wilburn said. “We already have a habitual offender statute. We already have one in place. We have a 10-year low in recidivism in our correctional system.”

Rep. Angel Ramirez, D-Cedar Rapids, said California’s three strikes law, passed in the 1990s, worsened racial disparities, and “Iowa is about to repeat the same mistake.”

“I urge every member here, do not pass legislation that our own minority impact statement tells us will deepen inequality in our state,” Ramirez said.

Holt said minority communities in Iowa are impacted by crime and that the legislation “will make citizens of all colors safer.”

And he said the minority impact statement “tells only one side of the story, doesn’t it? It tells the criminal’s story. What about the victim’s story?”

“What about the mother who will continue to tuck her kids in at night and read them Bible stories because she never became the next victim of a violent career criminal?” he said. “Where is that data point in the minority impact statement?”

House lawmakers also approved separate legislation that would increase Iowa’s statewide bond schedule, Senate File 2399.

That bill passed on a vote of 74-19.

Iowans could see more information on judges’ rulings

Iowans would have access to more information about judges’ rulings ahead of the state’s judicial retention elections under a separate measure, House File 2719, which passed on a 73-19 vote.

The Iowa secretary of state’s office would be required to publish information including:

The percentage of cases in which the judge set a bond amount lower than the state’s bond schedule
The frequency that the judge releases someone on their own recognizance for a violent offense compared to a nonviolent offense
The frequency that the judge’s final sentence is lower than statutory recommendations or a prosecutor’s recommendations
The number of times the judge issues a deferred judgement, deferred sentence or suspended sentence
The number of times the judge’s rulings are reversed on appeal due to abuse of discretion or error of law
The average time it takes the judge to rule on a motion or case
The number of cases the judge has resolved compared to the number of cases on the judge’s docket

The data would have to be displayed with a five-year trend line beginning five years after the bill takes effect.

The Secretary of State’s Office would also be required to maintain a searchable database of all judicial opinions and orders for the judge’s current term and the preceding six years. The decisions would be redacted when appropriate.

And judges would have the opportunity to write a 2,000-word personal statement on their judicial philosophy or data trends present in their rulings.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on X at @sgrubermiller.

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Man sentenced for killing 4 people appeals his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court

Published

1 day ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

Man sentenced for killing 4 people appeals his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Luke Truesdell’s attorney has filed as of Sunday to appeal his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court.

Truesdell was sentenced last week to three consecutive life sentences plus 50 years for the deaths of four people killed in rural Linn County.

A jury convicted Luke Truesdell, 36, in November on the first-degree murder of Brent Brown, 34; his girlfriend, Keonna Ryan, 26, of Cedar Rapids; and Amanda Parker, 33, of Vinton. They also found him guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Romondus Cooper, 44, of Cedar Rapids.

His attorneys previously argued multiple reasons for a retrial that could potentially be brought up again.

They said that one juror was overheard talking about news on the case.

They also said the prosecutors inflamed the jury, rather than focusing on the facts.

His lawyers said there is no direct evidence that Truesdell committed the murders.

Truesdell’s defense also pointed to Truesdell’s father, Larry Tuesdell, who was found covered in blood at the scene but never fully investigated. Authorities have not been able to locate Larry.

The state disagreed, citing overwhelming evidence including DNA on the murder weapon, eyewitness testimony and video of Truesdell entering the garage where the four people were found dead.

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