Iowa State starting RB Jirehl Brock leaves team amidst gambling investigation
The annual Cy-Hawk rivalry game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and Iowa State Cyclones could be surrounded by some new storylines that continue to bubble up among each roster. Those storylines are the ongoing investigations that allege players on each roster made bets involving their own teams and teams within their universities.
The newest athlete involved is Iowa State starting running back Jirehl Brock. Brock has also been charged with tampering with records and is accused of making over 1,300 bets which are said to include Iowa State football games. News broke that Brock has chosen to voluntarily leave the team due to the investigation.
Starting RB Jirehl Brock has voluntarily left the Iowa State football team, per an athletic dept. spokesperson. He was being investigated in the gambling probe.
— Randy Peterson (@RandyPete) August 21, 2023
While this is an ongoing investigation, there are steep consequences should Brock be found to have placed bets on his own team. If Brock is found to have bet on the Cyclones while playing, he could be punished with permanent loss of eligibility from the NCAA.
Jirehl Brock has tallied 158 carries for 713 yards and four touchdowns as a member of the Cyclones. He was slated to be the starting running back and bring the most experience to the backfield.
Iowa State’s backfield now turns to a committee of talented, albeit young, backs to carry the load. Cartevious Norton is a sophomore that ran for 312 yards on 87 carries last year. Eli Sanders is a redshirt sophomore that had 47 carries for 197 yards.
For Iowa, it started with a trio of current and former Hawkeye players charged with tampering with records. That group featured backup kicker Aaron Blom, former Iowa baseball player Gehrig Christensen and former Iowa men’s basketball player Ahron Ulis.
In the weeks since, four more current or former members of the Iowa football program have been charged with tampering with records related to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation’s probe into sports gambling.
That group includes junior walk-on wide receiver Jack Johnson and student manager Owen O’Brien. Former Hawkeye wide receiver Arland Bruce IV and former Iowa defensive back Reggie Bracy are also among those four. Bruce transferred to Oklahoma State, while Bracy transferred to Troy.
Iowa State’s starting quarterback Hunter Dekkers is accused of placing bets on his own team and it is alleged that he placed these bets while under Iowa’s legal betting age of 21.
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