Lazard aiding Iowa State recruiting

When he committed to Iowa State last winter, it was obvious that Rivals100 presented by Under Armour wide receiver Allen Lazard would be the face of the Cyclones' 2014 recruiting class. The extent to which that was true was revealed this week.

Iowa State landed its 10th commitment in the 2014 class on Wednesday from Chicago (Ill.) St. Rita in three-star athlete Tommy Mister. In explaining his decision, Mister gave much of the credit to Lazard.

"I got a call from Allen, and he said how excited he was about Iowa State and he really got on me hard about the Cyclones," Mister told EdgyTim.com. "He made me realize what I would miss at Iowa State, and he reminded me of why I loved Iowa State in the first place."

Spreading the buzz about the program is a responsibility Lazard takes seriously, and he was obviously pleased with the outcome of Mister's commitment.

"I definitely take full leadership of my class," Lazard said. "That's the mentality I have going into Iowa State. I have high expectations for myself and the program, and I am doing the best right now to get the best players I can up in Ames with me so I can accomplish those goals.

"When I talked to Tommy for the first time, it was at the junior day. We just hit it off that day and took it from there. I tried to hit him up as much as I could to see how his recruitment was going. Whether he chose Iowa State or not I was going to be happy for him, but obviously I wanted him to be in Ames with me."

Despite his commitment to Iowa State, other schools have continued to pursue the nation's No. 1-ranked wide receiver prospect and he is listening to their pitches. He made an unofficial visit to Notre Dame this month and was impressed with what he saw from the Fighting Irish.

"I definitely enjoyed it, seeing all the history, the stadium, the players they've had, the national championships and everything there was really nice," Lazard said.

Since the trip to South Bend, Lazard has stayed close to his Urbandale, Iowa, home and put the recruiting process on the back burner.

"After the visit to Notre Dame, I decided to take recruiting really slowly and not really talk to many coaches," Lazard said. "I am just trying to enjoy my last summer right now. When the fall comes back up, I'll start getting more serious about it."

Official visits likely will be taken this fall when Lazard gets serious about recruiting again. He has talked with Notre Dame coaches about officially visiting for either the Oklahoma or USC game. With Iowa State, the Iowa and Texas games are possibilities. California, Oregon and Stanford could get official visits, but the number of official visits and the destinations have not been determined.

"It depends on how I feel about the recruiting process," Lazard said. "If I am feeling stressed out about it and know I am going to Iowa State, or if Coach Rhoads asks me not to do it, then I'm not going to do it. I am just trying to enjoy the whole thing and not get overwhelmed by it."

In the meantime, Lazard continues to be an outspoken advocate for the Iowa State program and to help the Cyclones build their 2014 class with top talent.

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