Former Iowa State starting QB Jacob Park seeking transfer
Two months after taking a medical leave from Iowa State, quarterback Jacob Park says he’s pursuing other options for the final year of his college football career.
Park started the first four games of the season for the Cyclones but did not travel with the team for its Oct. 7 game at Oklahoma. The night before the game, the program announced Park was dealing with “personal medical concerns.” In an interview with the Des Moines Register, Park said he failed a drug test for marijuana and would have been suspended for the OU game anyway, but his time away from the team was due to more than just the failed test.
Park said the leave stemmed from problems off the field. He said the challenge of balancing school, football, fatherhood and living with the mother of his child became overwhelming. Park also said he failed a drug test because of marijuana usage and was facing a one-game suspension that was supposed to have been served in Iowa State’s game against Oklahoma on Oct. 7.
Park said he talked to the program’s coaching staff about his marijuana usage. The night before the suspension was supposed to be served, Iowa State announced Park had taken an indefinite leave from the team to “work through some personal health issues.”
“It was not something that was very easy to deal with when you have so much high-pressure situations that you’re being put into, as I do,” Park said Monday. “And it’s a coping mechanism that I understand now is not acceptable and that I’m still working on this to this day.”
Park, who has one class remaining before graduating, asked ISU for his release from the program and coach Matt Campbell told the Register he will grant Park’s request.
“We wish Jacob the absolute best, and he’s done a lot of great things, but if the situation is that he’s looking for a new start, then that’s the best situation for him,” Campbell said.
Park began his college career at Georgia and had a junior college stop before landing at Iowa State. He emerged as the team’s starter midway through the 2016 season and threw for 1,791 yards, 12 touchdowns and five interceptions. Park had 1,181 yards, nine touchdowns and five interceptions in 2017 before stepping away from the team.
Kyle Kempt stepped in as starter with Park away and famously led ISU to an upset win over Oklahoma, then ranked No. 3 in the country and now in the College Football Playoff. The OU win was the first of four straight for ISU, which cracked the Top 25 for the first time since 2005 before finishing the regular season 7-5. ISU will play No. 20 Memphis in the Liberty Bowl.
With Park out of the picture, Kempt, who is seeking a sixth year of eligibility, and Zeb Noland, who saw significant action in two games when Kempt was injured, will be the Cyclones’ top two options at quarterback in 2018.
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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
