Matt and Miller (1460 KXNO) Interview Tom Herman

Tom Herman

Des Moines, IA – Iowa State Offensive Coordinator Tom Herman was optimistic about the 2009 Iowa State Cyclones offense in an interview with Matt and Miller earlier today. Herman’s Cyclones take on North Dakota State on Thursday night to kick off the 2009 college football season for Iowa State. See what he had to say in this exclusive interview.

• Listen to the interview

Here are some highlights.

• Tom Herman said Rice QB Chase Clement was the best he has been around, but he thinks Austen Arnaud and Jerome Tiller have the capability to be better.  FYI – Clement rewrote all of the record books for the Owls.
• We are not likely to see gaudy numbers like Clement, Jarrett Dillard and James Casey put up at Rice. Herman said Dillard and Casey were pretty much all they had.  He feels Iowa State has a great tailback (Robinson), 5-6 really good wide receivers and two very capable tight ends.
• He feels truly blessed that he inherited two really good tight ends at Iowa State (Catlett and Franklin).  The Rice offense heavily featured the TE and it made the transition much easier for him.
• Coach Pope calls Beau Blankenship “a rolling ball of butcher knives”.   He is the 4th tailback at this point, but he will play this year.
• The starting five OL are the best he has been around at understanding the big picture.
• He has no idea what they will see from the North Dakota State defense.  The new Defensive Coordinator comes from Wyoming and he ran a completely different scheme then what the Bison have been running the last few years.

Coach Herman thinks Arnaud has the potential to be the best he's coached.