Iowa State’s Brock rushes for 104 yards against SEMO

AMES, Iowa (KCRG) - Iowa State’s passing game was impressive Saturday afternoon as the Cyclones threw for 293 yards in their victory over Southeast Missouri State. The run game might have gotten lost in the shuffle, but Iowa State added 176 yards on the ground.

Redshirt junior running back Jirehl Brock led the way with 104 yards on 16 carries. His best run spanned 23 yards. The very next play, he scored his second career touchdown. It was quite the start for the new face in the backfield who backed up Breece Hall the past three seasons.

“I just go out there with the mentality not to get tackled and just try and get to the end zone every time, just to help this team,” Brock said. Nobody wants to go down to the ground, so I’m going to try my hardest not to.”

“We have a lot of faith in Jirehl Brock,” Iowa State football head coach Matt Campbell said. “I know I’ve said this a couple times, from the winter, to the spring, to fall camp - I really feel that he has just continued to grow and get better. I think you saw that really with his complete product of what he did today. I think he caught the ball out of the backfield well and I think he blocked well and I think we all know he can run the ball.”

Brock said after the game that he had some extra motivation to run well on the sidelines as two former ISU backs visited Jack Trice Stadium before they start their NFL seasons.

“When you have guys like David Montgomery and Breece Hall, you want to put on a show. Show that the running back room is still in a really good spot and I feel like we did that today,” Brock said.

The Cyclones visit Iowa City for the first time since 2018 on Saturday for the Cy-Hawk game.

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