“Oh no he didn’t!”

That thought went through offensive coordinator Tom Herman’s mind as quarterback Austen Arnaud threw into double coverage towards junior wide receiver Jake Williams with less than a minute left in the game on Saturday.

That thought was quickly dismissed as Williams made a fantastic catch in the end zone, giving the Cyclones an opportunity to tie the game on an extra point that was ultimately blocked.

Although Williams didn’t see much of the field last season, he has emerged this season as one of the team’s biggest surprises.

“I made the comment during camp, when fall camp started, I didn’t know who he was,” Herman said. “Coach Wells keeps saying, ‘That’s Jake Williams.’ Okay, I knew who Jake Williams was on the video screen, but if he were standing right in front of me I couldn’t have told you who the heck he was. But he just kept making play after play after play and had a good spring and a great fall camp.”

Although Williams is just 6-foot-1 and doesn’t have blazing speed, Herman said Williams is effective because of the effort he puts forth.

“He is a guy that is always going to be in the right place at the right time,” Herman said. “He catches the ball well and blocks well and hustles his tail off. He does all the little things right.”

That has helped Williams become the second leading receiver on the team behind Marquis Hamilton with 14 catches and 162 yards this season. He is tied with Hamilton for the team high with two touchdown catches.

“We view him right now as our most productive receiver,” said coach Paul Rhoads. “He brings consistency, he brings accountability, he brings a competitive spirit about him and he makes the regular plays as well as the big one right now.”

Although his coaches have faith in him now, Williams is not letting his recent success go to his head.

“It’s awesome that he has that kind of trust in me. I still have a lot of things to work on, but it’s good to know that he has that kind of trust in me,” Williams said.

Robinson ahead of schedule —

Injured running back Alexander Robinson did not practice with the team on Tuesday, but he did run and the coaching staff is expecting him to be ready by Saturday.

Last week Robinson didn’t practice until Thursday. This week the coaches were planning on getting him some reps during Wednesday’s practice.

Bo Williams —

Iowa State sophomore running back Bo Williams was expected by many fans to play a pivotal role in this year’s rushing attack but has yet to see the field this season.

“The other guys have practiced and preformed better then he has, quite simply,” Rhoads said, referring to Robinson and freshman Jeremiah Schwartz.

With injuries hampering Robinson, however, Williams may get his chance to show the Cyclone faithful what he can do.

“Potentially if Alexander is not able to go, there might be a spot for him because he has a little more explosive speed then Jeremiah does,” Rhoads said.

Pressure cooker —

The Cyclones had trouble getting to Kansas State quarterback Grant Gregory, registering just one sack. Rhoads said that they will try to get more pressure this week against Todd Reesing and the Kansas offense.

“We need to bring a little bit more pressure,” Rhoads said. “When we got the sack we brought five. We need to mix in a little bit more five man pressures and even blitz a little bit with six guys.”