AMES – There are plenty of reasons that Jaylen Raynor is now an Iowa State Cyclone.
After three years as a productive starter at Arkansas State, he was primed for a Power 4 shot. With his Red Wolves offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, Keith Heckendorf, joining the Cyclones, the relationship fit was there. With Rocco Becht following Matt Campbell to Penn State, the opportunity to step into a starting role was clear.
Don’t, however, underestimate the role the delicacies of the state of Wisconsin played in the process, either.
“The high school coach in North Carolina where Jaylen went to school, he’s actually from Wisconsin, which is where I’m from,” Heckendorf (Mosinee, Wis.) recalled of East Forsyth High School’s Todd Willert (St. Croix, Wis.). “It was the first high school I went into 16 years ago. I’m (coaching) at Western Carolina (University), and I stop at (Raynor’s future) high school and we just kind of hit it off. We started talking about beer and cheese curds.
“We didn’t take a player from that high school until 15, 16 years later, (Willert’s) like, ‘Hey, I’ve got this quarterback for ya.’”
Never underestimate a relationship built off Spotted Cow and fried mild cheddar, is the lesson here.
Now the hope is the pairing of Raynor and the Cyclones is just as complementary as Badgerland’s finest.
“Iowa State I felt like was the perfect fit with the pieces coming in and the type of offense,” Raynor said April 20 in his first meeting with the local media since arriving this winter. “I felt like this is a great way to prepare myself for the next level.”
Raynor would seem to have the inside track to starting for the Cyclones when the coach Jimmy Rogers era gets underway in August, though Oklahoma State transfer Zane Flores is competing this spring for the job. With Raynor’s connection to Heckendorf and a three-year run as starter, he’d certainly appear to be the favorite for the job.
If nothing else, Raynor is acting like it off the field.
One of the enduring anecdotes of the last three months, the story that seemingly every coach and player loves to share, is that Raynor was the first in the building to have learned and memorized every single one of his new teammates’ names.
Which sounds a little remedial and silly, but, hey, with more than 80 new Cyclones on the roster, that’s no small feat.
“I think it was probably a week and a half,” Raynor said. “I had to keep asking a lot, but now I have it down pat.”
Beyond being a fun parlor trick at those first team meetings, Raynor’s small but significant act established him as someone willing to take ownership and a front seat to the Herculean effort facing the Cyclones as they essentially build a team from scratch following the departure of Campbell and most of the roster in December.
Leadership is accountability and making the big play and having the right words at the right time, but it’s also about showing up in meaningful ways every single day. Even – and probably especially – when there’s not necessarily a clear path or blueprint to accomplish what you’re setting out to do.
So a QB racing to put names to faces matters.
“It’s a bunch of new people coming from all over the place,” Raynor said. “Learning each other’s names and having that foundational thing of something simple like that, I think was a great way to start and we’ve progressed so much since the beginning.
“It’s flying by, but we’re taking it day by day.”
Raynor is like many of his new teammates – trying to prove himself at a new level in a new place. He threw for 3,361 yards, 19 touchdowns and 11 interceptions last year at Arkansas State while also rushing for 423 yards and seven scores. He’s got good numbers, but not the kind that would guarantee success in moving up to the Big 12.
He, like just about everyone on this roster and a part of this coaching staff, will have to prove it.
“For any quarterback, it’s taking the people around you, and how do you elevate them?” Heckendorf said. “How do you make them better? I think he did a good job of that at Arkansas State. He elevated the people within that program.
“He’s ready to take advantage of that opportunity (to play in the Big 12).”
If it works out, the Jack Trice Stadium tailgate lots might just need to swap brats and Busch Light for some squeaky curds and Leinie’s in appreciation.
Iowa State columnist Travis Hines has covered the Cyclones for the Des Moines Register and Ames Tribune since 2012. Contact him at thines@amestrib.com or (515) 284-8000. Follow him on X at @TravisHines21.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Jaylen Raynor steps into leadership role for Iowa State football | Hines
Reporting by Travis Hines, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
