Brun, others prepared for expanded roles
Ernst Brun, Jr. runs the ball to score a touchdown for the Cyclones during the first quarter of the AutoZone Liberty Bowl game between the Cyclones and Tulsa Golden Hurricane at the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tenn. on Dec. 31. The Cyclones fell to Tulsa with a final score of 31-17.
April 2, 2013
When tight end coach Bill Bleil runs individual drills with his players, they are truly individual.
On the roster, the ISU football team has four tight ends, but only two that practiced on April 2, 2013 with Pierre Richardson and Ben Boesen, both of whom have yet to record a catch in an ISU uniform.
“It’s a great group,” Bleil said. “Very competitive and it’s a great meeting room right now because E.J. is on the learning end of it, but he’s extremely talented, maybe as athletic as any tight end I’ve been around.”
Ernst Brun has missed practice with a minor concussion, but should be back before the April 6 scrimmage, said ISU coach Paul Rhoads. Alongside that, E.J. Bibbs, a transfer from Arizona Western Community College, didn’t even make it through his first full practice before spraining his AC joint.
“I ran a flag route and landed on it really bad,” Bibbs said. “It was kind of a letback, but it happens.”
Brun returns leading the group, after tallying 26 catches for 330 yards averaging 12.7 yards per catch. Brun also tied for the team lead in touchdown catches with six.
“Quite possibly I’d answer yes to that,” Rhoads said when asked whether Brun was his biggest returning playmaker. “Especially with how he ended the bowl game and with the late part of the season, I’d say he is one of our top threats.”
The other one of two tight ends able to practice early in the spring with Iowa State is Boesen, a redshirt sophomore from Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines. Bleil called Boesen a high-energy guy who’s been great to have fill in with Brun and Bibbs banged up.
Bleil said over the last few years his idea of the tight end has changed over time. Brun is only listed as 6-foot-3, 251 pounds: only a little bigger than some of Iowa State’s longer wide receivers.
“At first when I came into coaching, I think everyone was looking for an extended offensive lineman,” Bleil said. “Now they’re looking for an extension of a wide receiver. We’re playing them unattached most of the time; they’ve got to be out there and play what a ‘Z’ receiver does for us all the time.”
