AMES - For linebacker Sullivan Schlimgen, the path back to Iowa State didn’t take the straight line he once hoped for. It wound through a summer camp, a near miss, a commitment to South Dakota State he never turned into a snap, and then two coaching stops that kept pulling him toward the same people.
Back when he was a junior in high school, Schlimgen came to Ames hoping for the kind of day that ends with a scholarship offer from then-head coach Matt Campbell and the Cyclones. That didn’t happen. Iowa State told him it was only planning to take one linebacker in the class, and Schlimgen had to keep moving.
Texas Tech was his only Power Four offer, but he still felt he had found the right fit when he committed to South Dakota State to play for Jimmy Rogers and Jesse Bobbit.
"I told my parents, Schlimgen said, 'You know, I think I'm a Power Four linebacker,'" Schlimgen said. "But I love Coach Bobbit and Coach Rogers."
He never suited up for the Jackrabbits. Instead, he followed Rogers and Bobbit to Washington State, where Rogers had been hired after two successful seasons at South Dakota State, including an FCS national title in his first year.
Then the carousel turned again. Campbell left Iowa State for Penn State in December, Rogers was hired to take over in Ames after one season with the Cougars, and Bobbit came along as his defensive coordinator. Schlimgen eventually followed them once more, landing at the place he had originally wanted all along.
Now the school that once passed on him is the one giving him the chance he wanted, and it’s happening with the same two coaches who helped convince him to trust their development plan from the start.
"To do that at a school that I originally wanted to go to with those two coaches, I mean, it's a full-circle moment," Schlimgen said.
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