Though the football season has long been over, a group of Iowa State students is diligently working to bring top football recruits to ISU.

The Cyclone Recruiters is a team of 29 student volunteers responsible for “convincing prospective students that ISU is a great place by showing them the advantages not just in athletics but in academics, as well,” said Cyclone Recruiter Jocelyn Alexander, sophomore in journalism and mass communication.

Bob Carskie, director of football operations, defined the group as “students who volunteer with the hosting of players, particularly during home games.”

Aside from helping with visiting recruits during the fall games, recruiters assist in registering players and other activities within NCAA rules, Carskie said.

“In the off-season we are still involved. We meet each Tuesday night in the Jacobson [Athletic] Building and work with the coaches by sending e-mails, videotapes and clippings to recruits all over the U.S.,” Alexander said.

The group helps with the 800 to 1,000 office mailings sent out of the football office weekly, Carskie said.

Joe Taylor, junior in biology, has been a Cyclone Recruiter for three years and said he has found there is a “false impression that the recruiters work with the coaches in picking the players.”

“Our purpose is to represent the university to prospects on game days by fielding questions and by making the recruits feel comfortable here,” Taylor said.

Alexander said they greet the recruits and their families upon arrival and sit with the players in the reserved recruit section at the games.

“The Cyclone Recruiters visit with the prospective football players and let them know things that they may not hear from the coaches, for example, specifics about residence hall living,” Carskie said.

The group consists mainly of upper-classmen and is comprised of mostly women, Taylor said.

Alexander and Taylor both said they were informed about the organization by word of mouth.

“Any interested student can attain information by going by the Jacobson [Athletic] Building,” Taylor said.

Student applicants go through an interviewing process in the spring, Carskie said, “to make sure they are committed to the cause.”

Alexander said it is important to be knowledgeable about football in order to fulfill the position.

“You need to know the game, the plays, the players,” she said.

Once the recruiters are selected, they must go through summer orientation in order to teach the policies and procedures, Carskie said.

“We receive packets of information. The training level is appropriate for what we need to know,” Taylor said.