Anthony Rise is back at Iowa State, and like plenty of walk-ons before him, his value may show up more in the building than in the box score.
Rise logged one made shot against Colorado and grabbed two rebounds against TCU, but his place in the rotation is expected to be limited. T.J. has long leaned on a familiar kind of player: the end-of-the-bench teammate the crowd pulls for late in a blowout, the guy whose biggest job is often to keep the energy up. Rise looks set to fill that role.
That doesn’t make him unimportant. Quite the opposite. Players like this are part of the glue inside a program, even if they rarely shape the game directly once tipoff comes.
If Rise does end up seeing meaningful minutes, it would probably mean the roster has been hit hard by injuries, or that he has somehow tapped into a hidden gear and turned into a surprise force on the way to an undefeated season. That isn’t meant as a knock. It’s just the reality of being a walk-on.
Rise had another path available, too. He could have played at Northern Michigan at the Division II level, but chose instead to walk on for TJ Otzelburger.
To understand what that kind of role can mean, look at one of the most recognizable examples of the archetype: “Chief Energy Officer” Conrad Hawley. A former backup quarterback at Kansas, Hawley became a key part of the culture in Ames by bringing energy and backing up his teammates through whatever the season threw at them.
Hawley described that mindset to We Are Iowa, saying, “You can still find a way to provide great value, and you can still provide a way to have your teammates back and to make the group win, even if you’re the lowest person.”
That’s the lane Rise appears to occupy. He may not get many chances to prove it in games, but he can still matter by helping shape the atmosphere around the team.
In Big 12 basketball, where the highs and lows come fast, that kind of presence travels. The best teams are usually the ones that actually like being around one another, and that kind of culture can start with anyone - even the last guy on the bench.
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