A little background on AJ Klein...

[cyfan964]

Iowa State fan here to give you guys a little bit of background info on AJ Klein.

I know a lot of you on here were questioning the pick up of AJ and I completely get it. I agree that the Panthers probably had other holes that needed to be filled, but I honestly think the Panthers thought AJ was the best available... and he very well may have been.

He was the rock of our LB'ing core for 3 years. As a sophmore he had 111 tackles, 116 as a junior, and 117 as a senior. Those are some pretty impressive numbers with the competition of the B12. He also had 5 INT's in his career, 4 of which he took to the house. He's got above average speed and he is very smart.  I don't know that I ever saw him completely blow a coverage or take a bad route to the ball. Our special teams was weak for a couple years of his career so he filled in as a freshman and sophomore.  Most of his sophomore year he played full time defense AND special teams. He was also co-defensive player of the B12.

He came out of Wisconsin and played with a chip on his shoulder at ISU because Wisconsin didn't offer him a scholarship. He went on to be one of the best LBers in the B12 and one of the best ever at ISU. Now people are questioning why he was taken and that just gives him something else as motivation.

Just so you guys know you got a hell of a teammate, a leader, and a workhorse. You may be questioning the pick now, but you'll get it come football season. This guy will give you everything he has, every play, whether it be on defense or special teams. You also now have about 45,000 Cyclone fans that will be cheering for the Panthers every Sunday.

 

[fieryprophet]

I liked the pick, and hope he continues the tradition of strong Panthers linebackers.

[Fox007]

I saw Iowa State this year in a few games and they had an underrated defense.

 

They had a stud CB whose name escapes me and Klein...both of those guys were in on what seemed like every play.

[rayzor]

just the kind of thing i was wanting to hear and was expecting.

 

we'll be glad we drafted him.

[cyfan964]

I saw Iowa State this year in a few games and they had an underrated defense.

 

They had a stud CB whose name escapes me and Klein...both of those guys were in on what seemed like every play.

 

The CB you were thinking of was probably Jeremy Reeves.  He could have gone to any school he wanted if he wasn't 5'7".  We gave him a shot and he was an absolute lockdown corner for us for 3 years.  Ball never went his way.  It's fun watching a 5'7" guy completely lock down a 6'3" receiver.

 

Also when you are 5'7" it allows you to do awesome stuff like this:

 

[Mr. Scot]

Sounds good, though to be fair I wasn't one of the folks critical of the pick,

[OchoNueve]

Thank you for the warm, fuzzy feeling.  Hope he is as productive and consistent in the NFL as he was for the Cyclones.  Seems like he is the high-character type player that the Panthers aim for.

[cyfan964]

Thank you for the warm, fuzzy feeling.  Hope he is as productive and consistent in the NFL as he was for the Cyclones.  Seems like he is the high-character type player that the Panthers aim for.

 

You hit the nail on the head there.  He was the player going above and beyond and really meshing with the community.  He was the guy going to the local hospitals, the high school games, and coming out to the tailgate lots after the game to sign autographs and shoot the s***. 

[CAVSS]

He also played all three LB positions in college. I dont understand how anyone could think that LB depth isnt a huge need for us. When was the last time we ended a season with three healthy starting LB's? Love the pick.

[Fox007]

I wasn't really against our draft it's just funny as hell that we drafted another LB/RB

[cyfan964]

He also played all three LB positions in college. I dont understand how anyone could think that LB depth isnt a huge need for us. When was the last time we ended a season with three healthy starting LB's? Love the pick.

 

Duh, can't believe I forgot to mention that.  We were plagued by injury in the LB core.  He was originally a Will LB, but was forced to switch to ILB when we had our starter there go out with a broken leg, he then filled in at SAM when another LB was out with extended shoulder problems.  He's a prototypical ILB, but has the speed to fill in if necessary.  He's also hugely underrated in coverage in my opinion although I'm incredibly biased. ;)

[tiger7_88]

He was coached by Paul Rhoads?

 

I'm in.

 

(I'm a huge fan of Paul Rhoads.)

[CarolinaNCSU]

Loved the pick myself (especially with TD/Beason's health concerns).  Fully expect him to make an impact whether it be next year or down the road. 

[mwright350]

I find it difficult to be critical of the pick myself - considering that we might need a LB if one of our two oft-injured projected starters has an injury bug relapse.  I liked what I was of him when I was watching highlights and I'm glad to hear the kind of endorsement Iowa State fans have given.