Lane Danielsen needed a little help after the Missouri game to keep himself up to date on his progress at Iowa State.

The junior receiver has been posting big numbers all season, but he said the thought didn’t cross his mind that he might stack up among the best ever to wear an ISU football jersey.

“One of my buddies from high school said ‘you know, I was looking on the Internet, and saw that you’re getting close to some records,'” Danielsen said. “And I was like, ‘Really?’ I didn’t even know.”

Danielsen knows now, after racking up 974 receiving yards this season, that he’s well within reach of the mark for most yards in a season.

With the regular season finale and a bowl game looming ahead, he needs just 78 yards to push Tracy Henderson into second place.

Barring injury, Danielsen will likely break the record for career-receiving yards early next season. Henderson also stakes his claim to that mark with 2,048 yards from 1982 through 1984.

The stocky Danielsen stands 6 feet tall, and uses his size and speed to his advantage.

Danielsen helped the Cyclones upend Iowa for the fifth consecutive time earlier this year with 131 yards on five catches, a new career high for him at that time.

He has come on especially strong in November, with 152 yards on eight catches against Missouri and 133 yards on eight receptions in the loss to Kansas State.

He caught seven balls at Colorado for 73 yards.

“To me, he’s an all-Big 12 performer this year,” ISU head coach Dan McCarney said. “He’s just an outstanding player, and it’s every week. He’s tough. He’s physical, great routes, outstanding hands. He believes he can make a play every time the ball’s in the air and usually he does.”

Danielsen’s statistics are staggering for someone who had no Division I football offers out of Dike-New Hartford High School. He said it was hard for him to get exposure to college coaches at his small school, but he still thought someone would show interest in him.

But that wasn’t the case.

“My high school coach told me I could play at this level, but I never knew for sure,” Danielsen said.

“When no Division I teams gave me any looks, it surprised me. I kind of thought to myself, ‘maybe I’m not good enough.'”

But he was good enough, and Danielsen decided to walk on for the Cyclones in 1999.

He said he didn’t place very high expectations on himself at that time, and never thought he’d be in the position he is today.

“Coming in here, I was hoping to play my junior and senior year on special teams and maybe a little receiver,” said Danielsen, who earned a scholarship in the spring of 1999. “It’s worked out well for me.”

And it has worked out well for the receiving corps as a whole.

With Seneca Wallace engineering drives at quarterback and Danielsen, Lance Young, Jack Whitver and Jamaul Montgomery catching his passes, the Cyclones have established the conference’s third-best passing offense at 246 yards per game.

Personally, Danielsen is tops in the conference in yards per catch, averaging 17.4 yards per reception.

“It helps when you’ve got NFL quarterbacks throwing you the ball,” said Danielsen, who has been Wallace’s favorite target the past two seasons after teaming up with current Miami Dolphins quarterback Sage Rosenfels in 2000.

That year, his first at the collegiate level, Danielsen appeared in seven games, catching five passes for 151 yards.

His late game heroics against Oklahoma State helped seal a win for the Cyclones that season. With 18 seconds left, Rosenfels hooked up with Danielsen, who darted to the end zone to complete a 33-yard pass play for a touchdown. The score lifted the Cyclones to a 33-26 victory and helped send the team on their way to its first bowl bid in 22 years.

“Without him, I don’t think this program would be where it’s at today,” offensive lineman Bob Montgomery said.

McCarney took the praise for Danielsen a step further.

“If he doesn’t play another snap, he’s already left a great legacy in Iowa State football and here we have him for the rest of this year and all of next year,” McCarney said. “I can’t imagine that there has ever been a better receiver at Iowa State than Lane Danielsen.”

Danielsen attributes his success to a hard work ethic and “never being satisfied — always wanting to do better.” He said he hasn’t thought about the possibilities of an NFL career yet.

“It’s all moved pretty fast for me,” Danielsen said. “I sit back to look and see what I’ve accomplished so far, but I never thought I would accomplish this much in my career.”