Iowa State's Tamatoa McDonough continues the Ivy League pipeline
Iowa State defensive lineman transfer Tamatoa McDonough has impressed his coaches since the first day he stepped on campus in Ames back in May.
"He is very sharp and very intelligent," Jon Heacock, the Iowa State defensive coordinator, said.
Intelligence is one of the attributes that sticks out the most for McDonough. Before transferring to Iowa State, he was enrolled at Yale, where he was a member of the football team and graduated with a degree in political science.
He is the second player in as many years to transfer to Iowa State from an Ivy League school. Offensive lineman Jalen Travis made his way to Ames via Princeton. Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell likes his players who can hit the guy lining up across from them as much as they like hitting the books.
"I like guys that are smarter than all of us," Campbell said.
During his senior season at Yale, McDonough recorded 6.5 sacks and 27 tackles.
Despite his academic background, McDonough emphasized the competitiveness of Ivy League football. "I feel like Ivy League football is really slept on; these teams in that conference are really good," he said.
And he is proving that in the Big 12. During the Cy-Hawk game, McDonough had the best game of his season, racking up back-to-back sacks to seal the game for Iowa State. His performance earned him the Big 12's defensive player of the week.
"It feels great, I feel like it's a result of how hard our defense played on Saturday to allow me to get back there and get those sacks," McDonough said.
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