Iowa State’s strongest unit in 2017 will probably be its wide receiver corps. By now, everyone knows the long list of receivers.

The man everyone looks to first is Allen Lazard, who had 69 catches, 1,018 yards and seven touchdowns last year. Lazard turned down a shot at the NFL last offseason and decided to return for his senior year.

With Lazard’s 6-foot-5 frame, Iowa State’s size and experience is apparent. Playing on the outside with Lazard are 6-foot-6 sophomore Hakeem Butler and 6-foot-4 junior Matthew Eaton.

But size isn’t the only thing this group is returning.

In the slot, senior Trever Ryen has 55 career receptions and nearly 600 yards receiving in two years. He will team up with Deshaunte Jones, who tallied 37 catches, 536 yards and six touchdowns as a true freshman last season.

“I like having a good balance,” wide receivers coach Bryan Gasser said. “At the end of the day you need guys that can be playmakers. And what we do offensively, we’re gonna play fast, we’re gonna play with tempo, we’re going to try and stretch the field and be explosive.”

Then there are guys like Marchie Murdock. Murdock spent his first three years at Illinois before coming to Iowa State last summer as a graduate transfer. He didn’t arrive last year in Ames until the day before players were supposed to report for camp and hadn’t been through consistent workouts during the summer.

“It was like a hurricane,” Murdock said.

Murdock spent his final semester at Illinois trying to get enough credits to graduate so he could play immediately at Iowa State without having to sit out a year.

“It was really tough just because I was trying to look ahead to working out and getting film from coach and trying to learn the offense,” Murdock said. “But at the same time I have to focus on school because if I don’t get my [degree] done then I can’t be enrolled here.”

Because of that short turnaround, he didn’t play much as a junior for the Cyclones, but that’s going to change in 2017.

“If you talk about guys that have had great offseasons, his has been incredible,” Gasser said. “Even spring ball, he was hot in March. We were calling it March Madness, not because of the tournament but because of what you were seeing him do in practice. He was probably offensively the MVP of what we did in the spring.”

This is a level of talent and competition at wide receiver that Iowa State hasn’t seen in years. Every position has talent at the top and depth beyond it. Aside from Lazard, nobody in the wide receivers room has a starting spot locked up, but many people will play.

According to Hakeem Butler, however, the focus isn’t only on winning a starting job. It’s on getting better as a unit.

“It’s less competition in the room and more versus the defense, just trying to get better than we were yesterday,” Butler said.

Butler added that Monday’s practice was extremely good for the wide receivers, and said everybody was “scoring left and right.”

Butler, who has gone from 205 pounds last year to 220 this year, could see a bigger role than a year ago when he caught nine passes for 134 yards and two scores.

In the end, the receiving corps still revolves around Lazard. Where No. 5 goes, the defense goes, and that can open up lanes for other players. If Lazard is able to improve this year like he did from 2015 to 2016, he could see his NFL stock rise in a hurry and Iowa State’s offense will be even more dangerous.

According to Gasser, Lazard has handled the pressure well so far.

“I think he’s challenged himself mentally as well as physically and athletically to be able to go out there and have the senior season that we all know he’s capable of having.”