Peterson: Iowa State’s Matt Campbell says the backup quarterbacks 'have done a great job'

Matt Campbell, as does everybody around the Big 12 Conference, knows what happened during the first Oklahoma State possession last Saturday against Tulsa. Quarterback Spencer Sanders was hurt. He tried to play through it, but eventually, the pain in an ankle became so severe that he watched the remainder of the victory from the sidelines.

Complicating the matter for coach Mike Gundy was that his backups — Ethan Bullock and Shane Illingworth — didn’t have a lick of Big 12 experience, which brings me to an Iowa State’s potential dilemma.

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What if, heaven forbid, something happens to Brock Purdy? He played at least the last third of last season with a bum ankle, so anything’s possible. His backups continue to be two true freshmen. His replacements continue to be players, albeit gifted, who don’t know anything about the extremely important speed of the game factor. The physicality they faced in high school in Iowa and Minnesota doesn’t translate to what they’ll encounter whenever they play their next game.

Both continue to share the backup line on the most recent depth chart. They’re getting close to the same amount of practice reps. They’ll be as prepared as practice allows, but it’s not the same.

Again, what happens if Purdy has to miss a series or two during Saturday’s 12:30 p.m., game at TCU? If you’re an Iowa State fan, you hope Campbell, quarterbacks coach Joel Gordon, offensive coordinator Tom Manning and anyone else with fingers in the Cyclones’ offense pot has successfully done their part.

There’s no wiggle room. It’s on. It’s one Big 12 Conference opponent after another. The next players at every position had better be prepared, regardless of how much experience they have or don’t have. No excuses allowed.

“From our standpoint, we’re really excited about the guys that we have that have come here and really developed,” Campbell said Monday. “Excited is probably the right word because they’ve both really done a great job.”

He’s talking about newbies Hunter Dekkers and Aidan Bouman, of course. Both came to college with gigantic high school headlines. Both, however, are as college-raw as raw gets.

“It’s like anything — until those guys get under the lights and perform, you don’t know exactly where they’re at,” Campbell said. “But I think the ability for those guys to do what they’ve done — they’ve done a great job. We’re very excited about their future, and we feel that both of those guys have a tremendous amount of talent.”

Neither has taken a non-high school snap. Campbell figures they’ll be OK, once shaking the initial shock of playing in a big-time game has worn off. Really, though, how does he know they’ll react the same as Purdy reacted when suddenly emerging to save the day at Oklahoma State in 2018?

Brock’s lone experience before that breakout and defining afternoon was one play — a rush for a minus-one yard against Akron. That’s it. Still, Campbell went to the bench when it was evident Zeb Noland wasn’t going to get the job done.

“He earned the right to be successful,” Campbell recalled about Purdy’s sudden entrance into the game. “Brock was a guy, much like these two young men ... who’ve earned that confidence and that excitement because of how they practice. There’s so much that goes into it, rather than just throwing a football. It’s the intangibles of getting the offense lined up, and having the ability to have poise under pressure. It’s all those unique intangibles that I think successful quarterbacks have, and Brock showed that. I think everybody was extremely confident for him to be able to go into the game.

“That’s the most exciting thing for us about what we have continuing to grow and develop in our program right now, is young men that we feel really confident in where they are in their development.”

That was pre-COVID. That was before practice schedules and routines were interrupted. It was before the coronavirus pandemic changed not only our lives, but also off-season football training.

“It’s really hard. Everything you do in the evaluation of a quarterback is not live,” Texas coach Tom Herman said. “That piece of it is important. At that position, some guys play a lot differently when they have a colored jersey on that says you can’t get hit. It’s really hard to gauge a guy’s toughness.

“You have to use a little bit of your gut.”

Iowa State columnist Randy Peterson has been writing for the Des Moines Register for parts of six decades. Reach him at rpeterson@dmreg.com, 515-284-8132, and on Twitter at @RandyPete. No one covers the Cyclones like the Register. Your subscription makes work like this possible. Subscribe today at DesMoinesRegister.com/Deal