The Cyclones have had a successful five days on the recruiting trail as Henry Simon, class of 2011 defensive tackle, signed his letter of intent and Luke Knott, class of 2012 quarterback, verbally committed to Iowa State.

Henry Simon

For ISU secondary coach and recruiting coordinator Bobby Elliott, recruiting Simon once wasn’t enough. Elliott got Simon to sign with San Diego State back in 2008 and will see him once again this summer as he reports for practice at Iowa State.

“I’ve always considered him to be a good person, he’s always had talent but he was raw coming out of high school,” Elliott said. “He was a basketball player, so he’s really come on here this year in junior college and we hope he can really help us.”

As a true freshman at San Diego State, Simon played in five games for the Aztecs while recording four tackles before transferring to Grossmont (California) College. The 6-foot-3-inch, 302-pound Simon recorded eight tackles for a loss and 5.5 sacks as a sophomore last season at Grossmont. Simon is the second of two late signings on the defensive line and with his experience at the college level, he could be an early contributor in the ISU front seven.

“We’ll see. He’s going to have to earn that,” Elliott said. “Henry is a quiet guy, a modest guy so the guys on the team are really going to like him.”

Luke Knott

Already with one Knott on the roster in junior linebacker Jake, the ISU coaching staff added another as Lee’s Summit, Mo. quarterback Luke Knott, Jake’s younger brother. Luke verbally committed to Iowa State on Saturday.

“He’s a natural leader too, everybody likes him,” Jake Knott said of his younger brother. “I mean he’s the popular guy around school and all that stuff, he’s just one of those kind of guys that leads and people look up to.” 

The younger Knott led his Lee’s Summit team to a Missouri 5A state title last season while throwing for 1,810 yards, 18 touchdowns and rushing for 725 yards and 14 touchdowns.

“I think it’s every big brother’s dream to show your brother the ropes of college, show him where everything is on campus and show him how practice is run. It’s definitely a dream come true for me and my whole family,” Jake said.

Older brother Jake plans to welcome Luke with some brotherly love regardless of which side of the ball he plays.

“I wouldn’t mind having him on the defensive side, but I wouldn’t mind hitting him a little bit on the offensive side either,” Jake said.